Charles P.
Yelp
It pains me to give a two star review, especially to a place my beloved cousin said was his favorite.
Walking in, the interior looked pretty nice, sorta weird dark ambiance although it was lunch. Seemed nice enough though, no complaints.
I'm by no means an Indian food connoisseur, but I've had my fair share around the country and abroad. I've never had questionable or not-so-good Indian food until now.
The first thing I thought was odd was they didn't have samosas on the menu. I've never been to an Indian restaurant that didn't have them. I asked the waitress, and she gave me a smug look and said "we don't know how to make them". We were sitting directly in front of the open kitchen window, and I could see 4 cooks from south of the border, and I don't mean India's. That was also another first. I've never been to an Indian restaurant before that wasn't owned and ran (and cooking) by Indians. I know the owners here are, but they aren't cooking. The owner or manager did come by and see if we were ok during the meal, which I commend.
I can't say the food was good or not good due to the cooks' homeland, it was just an observation.
When asking about naan, we were told the choices were plain or garlic. Another weird thing to me. Never been to a place that only offered two options. Thought I would ask if they had peshwari naan (just in case), she looked at me like I was crazy. Asking for two things that weren't on the menu, yikes.
Started with the mango lassi, which was really good. To be fair, I have never had a bad one my entire life. Perhaps even a bad lassi is still a good lassi.
The rice was pretty good, but as others have said in their reviews, sorta pricey and stingy of the place not to offer it as part of the meal. You are paying a somewhat high price IMO for the entree, rice would normally come with it.
I know chicken tikka masala is the chicken teriyaki of the Indian World, but that's what was recommended, so I thought I would give it a shot. This is another dish I have never had done poorly before today.
I was shocked, it looked like tomato soup with about 5 tiny chunks in it. The meat to curry ratio was like 98 to 2. Very bizarre. For the price of the dish, surely chicken can't be that expensive to hold back on. I've never had a chicken-less chicken tikka masala before. Now I can say I have. I actually had to order a second order of rice just to try and finish the curry- it was just liquid.
I feel horrible that this spot was so disappointing. I had wanted to like it so much more than I did. I guess the one good thing, is now I know I can show my cousin some really good Indian food next time he visits me.