From the name of it, I instantly recognized it to be Indian. The same week my wife wanted some Indian biryani and so I decided to get some food to take home from this restaurant.I went there when it was about 1:00 PM on a sunny Thursday. The bad part was, instead of walking I was driving. It was very difficult to finding a parking on this block. I had to drive around for about 30 minutes before I could find a parking. If only I could see this as an omen for how the food would be.
I went inside and found the restaurant to be quite busy for 1:30PM. I really hoped the food was good. The interior was not well designed. I expected a little more from a newly opened restaurant. From the looks of it, one can clearly make that it is place for quick and cheap Indian food. The color of the walls was pink and ceiling was sky blue - Horrible combination. No wall paintings or any other decorations. The sofa next to the food counter was torn already. There were a lot of tables though. It is a self service kind of place or an Indian fast food joint if you prefer to call it.
I waited in line for about 15 Min's before I could order. As I said before there was quite a number of people inside. I ordered vegetable Biryani, Chicken Curry, one Kulcha and Masala Chai. As I mentioned earlier I had ordered these to take home with me. The people behind the counter were courteous and smiling. There were 2 ladies behind the counter, the older one for taking the order and younger lady was cashier or vice versa. There was a little confusion between them in getting a handle of taking the order, delivering food and taking the money. It looked like a story of Marie and Debra from Everybody Loves Raymond and cook in the kitchen must have been Ray hiding.
I took Masala Chai for my drive home. I was expecting Masala chai to have some spices like cinnamon in it. I guess for a $1.30 I should not complain as much.
Biryani sucked big time as they mostly do with Indian restaurants. The problem with Biryani at Indian restaurants is that they are not biryani but a concoction of vegetable curry and white rice. I think they should take biryani out of their menu and say curried rice as they say in Malaysian and Thai restaurants. But the fact is this tasted just like the $15 biryani that I had from other expensive Indian restaurants. The biryani here was only $7 and the same taste as a $15. Well for some that would be a bargain but that surely does make it only compromise of a Biryani to me.
After that shock called Biryani, I had horror waiting for me by the name of Kulcha. What I found on unwrapping the aluminum foil which was supposed to contain Kulcha was nothing but toasted peta bread. The peta bread called Kulcha was $1. I could buy a whole 5 pack of peta breads from nearby Trader Joes for under $2. After this I said I am not going back to this place again.
Chicken curry was acceptable though. It was not spicy but the chicken was well cooled and the gravy was tasty. The chicken curry was a saving grace to this place that was really cheap at $7 also.
The only positive is that the prices of items are really low. But the taste and ambiance has a lot to improve upon. It truly is caters to the typical American who wants an occasional bite of Indian food and not get burnt by the spices. But to me an ethnic place has to have some authenticity to them in the food and taste and not just in their names.
They had some snacks that looked great while others were ordering like the potato Samosa and Chana chat. To conclude I would not recommended this place at all except for the price for Indian stuff which is about half the regular Indian restaurant costs. You give something and get a lot less for what you give with this restaurant.
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