Showing posts with label Indian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian. Show all posts

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Tandoor India

I just finished my last final of junior year in 35 minutes when it was scheduled for three hours! Which means I can now blog about restaurants!

Tandoor India is another in a long list of mediocre Indian restaurants--nothing spectacular but hardly unsatisfying. The food is fairly bland but okay. The prices are satisfactory.
The outside completely belies the inside.You expect some pretty good hole-in-the-wall authenticity, and I kinda love the neon window painting, but inside the decor is like the inside of your grandmother's very pastoral home with a few token Indian motifs thrown in. Plus, it is way too dark.They automatically serve you this chip-like bread before your meal. I don't like them at all. They are so crispy that they quickly disintigrate into crumbs and don't have much taste. They are a bit spicy but don't have any real flavor.See how those two bowls of chicken curries look exactly the same? Well, they are according to the menu two different dishes. They do taste the same though, except the Chicken Makhni, which is the one in the upper right corner, tastes a little buttery. At the risk of being too repetitive, the sauces don't have enough flavor and the naan is too greasy. I do have to hand it to them, though. Those little bowls manage to disguise a very good amount of chicken.

Tandoor India 2622 Pico Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90405 (310) 581-9964

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Chutneys Indian Fast Food

A review of Tacos La Flama is coming, but for today we'll talk about its neighbor, Chutneys Indian Fast Food. The idea of Indian fast food is great. I love Indian food and am frequently in a rush. However, I already have a favorite Indian restaurant (Nizam) which has a lunch buffet for $7.99 and you can eat that pretty quickly, too. I went into this ready for a new place, but Chutneys didn't win the challenge. I don't imagine myself going back unless Nizam is closed for some reason.
The above picture is what Rachel ordered. They do have a lot of vegetarian options, so yay for that. Nevertheless, I don't think she enjoyed her meal. Perhaps she will weigh in in the comments.
I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala. Overall, it was satisfying, but it wasn't great. The sauce was too watery and oily--which you can see in the above picture was kinda grossly separating as it sat there. Also, there wasn't enough chicken in it. It did come with an ample amount of rice and salad and naan for quite a reasonable price. It was also very speedy. Their restaurant name is, indeed, correct. But it just wasn't good enough.

The 0% juice Lemonade was also a bit disconcerting. ;-)

The restaurant has a Barrington address but its door faces Pico, so it still counts.

Chutneys Indian Fast Food
2406 S Barrington Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Beware, the parking lot is a disaster.