Vayal's Indian kitchen (RESTAURANT & CATERING)

Fantastic food! It's so hard to find good South Indian food in Phoenix and this place delivers! Everything we've had has been fantastic! My go to is the chicken milagu curry and Kerala porotta. The erral thokku (spicy shrimp) is really good too, as are the dosas. It tastes exactly like it did growing up in India. The wait staff are attentive and friendly. This is one of our favorite restaurants!

So delicious! Had the Masala Dosa (which was cooked to perfection and each of the sauces delicious!), the Chicken Tikka Masala (always a favorite with rich spices and fairly spicy), and Sambar Vada. I can't wait to go back and try more! Portions and service were good! It was a little warm when we got there but doable.

Overall a solid Indian restaurant with many South Indian options. I had a masala dosa and cup of chai. I'll start with the chai... it was good! A bit too milky for my taste, but still a good cup of chai. Keep in mind they make it with sugar, so taste it first before adding any more. Now, the masala dosa. The dosa was HUGE and it came with four chutneys + sambar. I appreciated the portion size. The dosa itself was nice and not too oily... it did taste like it was made fresh, but I wonder if it sat for a few minutes before being brought out to me because it wasn't that piping hot temperature I was hoping for. The coconut chutney was delicious, and the sambar was very good. The other three chutneys were meh. Most disappointingly, the aloo masala was just fine... I was hoping to be wow'd by it.

The service was attentive, and the ambiance was pleasant, creating a comfortable dining environment. I ordered dishes with a medium spice level, but they were still too spicy for my palate. It's worth noting that Vayal's specializes in South Indian cuisine, known for its bold and spicy flavors, which might be intense for some diners.

Friendly service and nice vibe, on the quieter side. Food was fine, will probably come back.

I'm not sure how I haven't written a review for Vayal's yet! This is a family favorite and I have one incredibly picky eater who will ALWAYS choose Vayal's, and in fact, asks to come here almost every week. At our last visit the waiter knew what my kid was going to order, which is hilarious. We've tried several Indian restaurants in the area and this is by far our favorite, and conveniently located near our home which is a bit of an Indian food desert in midtown Phoenix. Kids always order butter chicken and love it. Parents always order garlic naan and it's hot and fresh and delicious. I just tried the saag paneer and it was INCREDIBLE. I was trying to be "healthy" and get some greens in and expected it to be the usual slightly bitter taste, but this one was INCREDIBLE - the spices were just right and the texture perfect with absolutely no bitterness. Samosa chaat is also great if you're not sure what you want - it has a lot of flavors and textures and hits just right when I'm indecisive. Spice level is 0 to 10 and pretty accurate. We stick with 3 and are happy. I love that there are unique South Indian and other regional dishes here. There aren't a lot of local Indian restaurants that serve a variety of dosa, plus there are things I've never tried or seen anywhere else in restaurants. I appreciate the variety even if we order the same boring North Indian dishes that we love. My mom, who is from South India, also likes it, and we've eaten here with her a few times. That's high praise because she cooks excellent food herself. We always eat there though they do a lot of takeout orders, and though it's small, if we go early, there's always space. Lunchtime is another great time to go as well. There's a huge parking lot in the back so it's easy - don't bother trying to find a spot in front as that's trickier. Highly recommend it.

Have been here 2 times since this location is just 3 miles away from my office in downtown and our experience has been great as of now. I highly recommend this place. I may be trying to go here almost everything when I feel Indian food craving while being in office. Here are my takes: Food/Drinks: The lunch special is great here it lets you choose your choice of curries and comes along as a plate combo including naan. I have tried chicken and lamb curries, both were good tasting. Even the samosa chat was good tasting. We also took mango lassi one time and it was great tasting as well. Service: Quick service and nice welcoming staff. Ambiance: Not a very big establishment but it can accommodate a good amount of guests. It is well decorated inside with an Indian theme. Hygiene: Overall, everything was clean and tidy. Price: Reasonably priced in the area for good Indian food.

I always like to support a small local restaurant. I enjoyed the chicken tikka masala and the garlic naan. It's not super fancy, but it's nice authentic South Indian food. The tap water was horrible though. The service was quick and nice welcoming staff. Overall, reasonably priced in the area for good Indian food. Will be back to try other dishes.

Anyone who rates vayals less-than 5 stars has bad taste buds. Everything at this restaurant is mouth-watering deliciousness. Don't forget to try the kerala perotta you will fall in LOVE.

I love Vayal's. I've only ever ordered to-go, but I have more times than I'd like to admit. I'm not kidding when I say this, I would drink that Chicken Tikka Masala gravy straight from the to-go bowl. Like, sometimes I consider telling them, "Hold back on the meat." But not really, because I need the protein. AND I have never ever had a weird piece of meat from here (texture eaters - iykyk). It's always super tender. Also every flavor of naan is insaaaane.

This is a really cute place in a strip mall. Their lunch specials are amazing and the service was very good. I will be back.

Yum! Fantastic soft and fluffy naan, flavorful curries and delicious crispy samosas. Will be back

A new Indian restaurant in central Phoenix, sign me up! There was definitely a need in the area. South Indian focused and we went with the chef favorites. We will be back !

This is a cute little Indian restaurant that serves atypical restaurant style Indian food - atypical as in non-greasy but yet tasty. Their lunch platters used to be awesome - you choose an entree which is served with rice, naan and 2 curries/sides. Not awesome any more because they no longer serve the saag paneer as one of the sides. The server stated that the curries were potatoes with cauliflower (aloo gobhi) and shahi paneer. What was served was 2 or 3 small pieces of paneer with some peas (therefore, nor shahi paneer but mattar paneer which also was not fresh or tasty). My entree of Chana masala was awesome though. While leaving the restaurant the main host/server informed me that on account of cost they do not plan to offer saag paneer on their lunch platters but it could be ordered off the menu. This is ridiculous for 2 reasons. First - you are offered the lunch menu that does not list saag paneer on the menu. The dinner menu is not offered so how is any customer expected to know that it is even an option? Second - order a lunch platter and then add a dinner entree if you want saag paneer? Seems crazy, right? That being said the service is friendly and for the most part the food is quite good. I hope the restaurant survives because there are many Indian food choices in the area - and many serve food that is as tasty if not better than here and in many places at better prices.

Excellent food and service. Don't let the area and exterior facade fool you. Once you get inside, the environment is cool and menu is quite extensive to choose from. Try this place.

After visiting India this past year, I can easily say this is the best Indian food I've had outside of India. I took my girlfriend here and I was so excited to introduce her to some authentic Indian cuisine. We started with a ghee roast masala dosa and onion chilli tomato uthappam. South Indian specialties!! Both were freshly made and served with Sambar and chutneys. SO GOOD. For entrees we ordered saag paneer and chettinad chicken (recommended by our server). Both of these dishes were incredibly flavorful and went perfect with our breads, wheat paratha and kerala parrota. The chettinad chicken was one of the best chicken dishes I've ever had. The flavors were deeper the Indian Ocean. My girlfriend said the saag paneer was the best she's ever had too! And of course, we ended the meal with a chai. Overall, this meal brought me back to being in India and I can't wait to go back! Thank you guys for bringing real Indian food to PHX!

This place was REALLY good and lived up to the somewhat muted hype. Had the Masala Dosa and the Saag Paneer and both were amazing. The chutneys that came with the dosa were also remarkably good. Will update after trying again but this was the best Indian I have had in Phoenix so far.

They were busy when we went. Dosa was great. I loved all the chutneys except coconut as that was way too watery. But the taste was amazing. Pav bhajji was disappointing because the masala was not mashed properly. Overall it was good. I'd come back for dosa.

Food and service are always very good. I met a friend here for lunch today and the staff were attentive and also let us linger over a much needed conversation. Thank you for taking care of us today.

We ordered our meal which came over $70. At no time did anyone ever come over and say how is everything? At no time did anyone ever come over and say can I get you anything more to drink? After the meal was ordered it was like we were nonexistent. VERY POOR SERVICE. I WILL NOT BE GOING BACK THERE EVER AGAIN

We go to Vayals a lot. The food is amazing. We ordered the potato dosa, chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken, goat masala, and another shrimp curry dish. We also ordered the garlic naan and mango lassis. It's not super fancy and it's in a strip mall, but it's nice authentic South Indian food. Pro tip: check out their lunch buffet.

Highly recommended! The naan had a nice crispy bottom and went so well with the Paneer. The Lamb was super tender and the goat briyani was very flavorful. We stayed in the 3-5 spice range and could have went spicier but I enjoyed being able to taste all the flavors of everything we ordered.

I hesitated in writing this review for many reasons, but ultimately felt the need to post my review. For background context, my family is entirely gluten free (celiac) and my family of five loves to eat and Indian food is always at the top of the list. We often cater dinner from one of the local spots we found some years back. Their food is delicious and always feels like a home cooked meal, giving us that warm fuzzy feeling. Last week my youngest son took an alternative route to school and send a text that read "check this out!" It was a picture of the front window of Vayals. Holy smokes I thought! Vegan and gluten free?!? Dude we have to try this! We immediately make plans to go have dinner on Friday, November 8th, we walk in and there were two other parties in the dining area. My son and I sit down and the waiter comes over with water and menus. The menu has all of these wonderful beautiful gluten free choices and I literally feel as though I'm going to burst from excitement! We were saddened that the Biryani was not GF, but that did not stop us. I decided to order a classic, butter chicken (8 heat level) and a masala dosa. My son was undecided and asked the waiter for his recommendation out of the two dishes he had narrowed it down to. He finally makes a choice, curry chicken (8 heat level) and told the waiter he wanted to try their donuts (savory) but would hold off. By now the dining area is getting filled, we tell each other that we picked the perfect time to come. Orders start coming out and alas our order of butter chicken and the curry gets delivered to our table. The smell alone is delightful. The waiter leaves before my son can place another order of rice, he didn't catch that his curry dish didn't come with any. I told him no problem we'll share and when we see him we'll call him over. So we dig in! Wow! Like honestly wow. The butter chicken was really nice, the curry even better. We could taste all the spices and flavor and goodness was it good. I'm seeing more dishes getting delivered to the tables, my son asked me did you order the dosa after all, to which I respond I did! When the waiter comes we'll ask for the rice and the dosa. We see dosas being delivered, my son had originally thought maybe their machine wasn't working. So we finish our food, the waiter never came to check on us, so my son never ordered his side of rice and we haven't had the opportunity to ask for the status of our dosa. Finally after we placed all the dishes on the side of the table another waiter comes out, looks at the empty dishes and asks if we need to go containers. I'm so confused by his question but quickly dismiss it with a no we're actually just waiting for the dosa. You ordered a dosa? Umm yes we did. He tells us okay let me check. I told him before he left we also wanted to order the donuts, the waiter never came back and we wanted them to go. He tells ohh the kitchen is full, it'll take about 20 mins. I tell him it's fine, first let us know the status of the dosa. It's taking a long time to get an update and I tell my son, you know what go an order the donuts for sure. It's going to be a minute anyway. He does that and comes back to the table. A third waiter finally appears with a beautiful dosa and my son and I are both smiling just waiting to dig in. At this point we don't care that it was late. Well as the waiter was about to set it down, a woman comes out of the kitchen and yells from the front "NO THAT IS FOR TABLE ONE!!". Mind you table one arrived after we did. The waiter walks away with our dosa and delivers to table one. My son and I get up from the table and ask for our check. They give me my check, no apology, the woman just glaring up front. I review the check, I'm being charged for the dosa. I tell him umm your charging me for the dosa and we clearly never got it. He asked so you don't want it? Umm sir I would like to leave your establishment. We took it off here he tells me, it's on the screen just use the card. Ummm it's still has the dosa listed on there. The woman finally speaks to the waiter, so you don't want the donuts? I just about lost it! Finally they remove the items they didn't deliver on and I paid. Honestly, this has got to be one of the most disrespectful things I have experienced in my life. The customer service lacked all around and maybe it was that way because we were newbies to the place, but what about first impressions? I was so disgusted with the service and upset with how it all happened that the food made me sick to my stomach.

Folks, the search for good Indian food in the valley is over. I was thoroughly impressed! Everything was fresh, came out piping hot, flavorful and nothing was too oily and /or creamy (a common issue with Indian restaurants in the US). Been craving South Indian foot since getting back from Tamil Nadu in December and the South Indian staples did not disappoint. Got the Chili onion uttapam (with legit chutneys and sambar), kothu parottta, a malai kebab for my non-veg self. All were greeeeeeeaaaat (especially uttapam)

*do not go here!* first impression they get no stars walk in to go order with naan & veg samosas waited more than 35 mins. no apologies given first time customer they gave our orders to other indians first or they choose who they want to serve. no explanation given. couple still waiting to order was ignored and they have been waiting for over 35 mins. then the staff asked them to move to accommodate a large indian family. wife went out twice to look at the picture posted outside. a delivery driver was waiting for a customer order and they did not tell the driver that the customer canceled their order. they cherry pick who they want to serve based on certain features and attributes. you are better off going to avondale, tempe or mesa. never will go back here no matter what other people say.

Very tasty and authentic Indian food! Can't wait to eat there again! Also friendly service.

A friend of mine and I decided to come here on a Sunday night for dinner and it did not disappoint. Not many Indian restaurants around the Valley and when this one is on Thomas Rd, I didn't give it a try until recently and loved the flavor and it is small but intimate. The service was great and they were able to accommodate us and making sure we have everything to enjoy the dinner. I recommend this place for anyone needing Indian restaurants in Phoenix.

Greatest take out to happen to midtown. Every dish is delicious. It's a must try. The staff is friendly. Check it out.

Ordered takeout from here tonight. The restaurant is located in a quant no-frills strip which I can appreciate. My order: Saag Paneer - extremely flavorful with a good amount of paneer. 8.5/10 Butter Chicken - good flavor with a good amount of chicken. A little on the sweeter side. 7/10 Garlic Naan - warm pillow like naan with strong garlic presence. 9/10 Butter naan - standard naan, would go garlic or some other flavor next time. 6.5/10 Rice - perfectly cooked white basmati rice. 9/10 Overall good experience and good portions for what you pay, which was less than $45 for my total order. Will be back again.

Been to this place dozens of times and have never had a bad experience. Dining in or delivery, the food is always perfect. Best Indian cuisine in the valley

Samosa (5/5) Medu vada with sambar (4/5) wish they omitted the dry spices inside like peppercorn Goat Curry (5/5) very tasty and lots of meat Paneer butter masala (5/5) Naan and rice (5/5) Easily one of the best Indian restaurants in the valley. Nothing stale, greasy or salty.

Awesome food. We had the butter chicken and samosas. Everything was delicious! We will be coming back try other dishes.

Dinnner at Vayal's Indian Kitchen. New Indian restarant on Thomas at 5th Ave. Had Chicken Vindaloo, Butter Chicken Masala, Garlic Naan, and Vegetable Pakora. All of it was outstanding. Sorry for that aftermath photo... we devoured it.

We ordered take out from here and the food did not disappoint. I called in my order and it was quick and easy. The restaurant is located in an unassuming plaza with a few other restaurants across from St Joseph's hospital. The butter chicken and aloo gobi were both delicious with so much flavor. The garlic naan was my favorite. Possibly my new local favorite Indian food restaurant.

I'm going to have to give this place a 5. It's a small spot that has big flavors. We really enjoyed Mysore masala dosa! It comes with 4 chutneys. The portion sizes for the price are insane.

I really liked the food. Felt fresh & home made. Samosa Chaat & Kadai Paneer was awesome!

Overall rating: 4/5 Wait: 4.5/5 Arrival time: Friday 12pm Food: 4/5 Order: Chicken Tikka masala platter Service: 4/5 Price: 4/5 Worth it, would come back Vayals Indian Kitchen is a gem that shines with the vibrant flavors of India, nestled right in the heart of Phoenix. The **Chicken Tikka Masala platter** I ordered was a delightful journey through the subcontinent's rich culinary landscape, with a spice level that was pleasantly mild yet flavorful. The freshness of the ingredients was evident in every bite, making it a meal to remember. The service was attentive and swift, ensuring a seamless dining experience from start to finish. With prices that are just as pleasing as the food, Vayals is a place where both your palate and wallet leave satisfied. It's a spot that's definitely worth the visit, and I'm already looking forward to my next meal here.

Honestly, the food is amazing. Their younger female server is unbelievably rude. Not sure if she is forced to work there or what.

We walked by the storefront and could smell garlic, curry, and roasted meat. That was enough to convince us to try Vayal's. I had no idea that it was their first week of business in this location. Everything was delicious! We especially liked the samosas, channa masala, and the chicken tikka masala. The nan was light and airy and delicious and the owner was there and was exceptionally friendly and helpful. Welcome to the neighborhood, Vayal's! We are so happy to have great Indian cuisine near home again!

Service today was much improved. Dishes came out in the right order and at appropriate intervals. We had bread alongside our main course instead of as dessert. Food was extremely delicious as always.

Best Indian food I've had in Phoenix! I can't believe they've only been open a month. We had the Madras Curry, Butter Chicken, garlic naan, and wheat paratha. Everything was delicious. The menu is large and offers many things I've never heard of or tried! The restaurant was clean and bright. I also appreciate that they're open until 8:30pm on a Sunday. Our server, I think she may have been the owner, was really friendly. She helped us figure out what spice level we wanted and invited us back to try the many different curries and gravies they offer. We'll definitely be back!

Food was excellent. Service was excellent. We came with a large group and they understandably added a 18% charge. This is common to add gratuity to large parties. The server, however then told us that it is not given to the servers but instead the establishment pockets the money. So the price for a lunch special was essentially doubled as I obviously tipped again if that was true. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth if the establishment is essentially stealing tips from the servers and adding hidden charges.

I have visited before the New Times article and had amazing food. Went in on the Sunday before memorial and every table was filled. Service and food were still impeccable. So happy Phoenix is seeing this gem shine!

Nice little gem hidden in PHX. I have been looking for really good Indian food and I found it finally. Tikka Masala was amazing as was the garlic Naan. I got a 7 out of 10 heat, but I will try it hotter next time.

I love a good suggestion and the server said the madras chicken was his favorite. We had the order with some samosas and garlic naan, everything was really great, sad we didn't find this place sooner living so close. Definitely coming back

These guys are the worst. Never order online. EVERY TIME I order online they 1) accept the order, 2) take the payment, 3) wait about 30 minutes, 4) cancel the order. Never again. I will be reaching out to the BBB. Scam!

I love this restaurant. I'm usually not an Indian food fan but they changed my opinion. I love their mushroom mutter meal. My mouth salivates just thinking about this place!

My wife ordered the Butter Chicken Masala, and I ordered an authentic Chettinad Chicken, and one garlic naan. Both dishes were requested as a medium heat level. My wife never wants to leave a review, this time she requested I show some love and give this place the 5 stars they deserve. The food was outstanding! Prices were also very reasonable, which is partly what made us choose this place for the evening. 04/05/2024

The food was good and we did not have to eat on the floor like in some Indian restaurants. The food was tasty but there was not as much spice as I was expecting.