Chaat & Curries

Came in here just before a groupon was ready to expire back in November 2011 and boy was I sorry for it at first. Über slow service as a result of there being only two people running the spot; one in the kitchen and the other taking orders. Fortunately, the food was decent though. I ordered the Chicken Tikka Massala dish and was pretty satisfied with it.
The Deal: Groupon was $ 10 for $ 20 Worth of Indian Cuisine.
( – ) slow service
(+) solid chicken tikka massala
(+) good location (right off of University)

OOB

I’m sorry this place has such bad reviews. It sounds like that is mostly about the service. I used a Trubates coupon and they were kind enough to let me use it for take out instead of just dining in. So all I got was the take out service which was very nice. I also came in right after they had opened for dinner, around 4:30pm so I wasn’t competing with anyone else for their attention.
The food blew my mind. The chicken tikka masala curry was so good, really unique rich favor. It was perfect with the raisin naan, the moderate heat and creaminess of the curry with the perfect naan that hits you with a little morsel of sweetness every other bite– you can’t get more satisfying than that. Bringing that kind of flavor-​balance and variety to a single dish is what amazing food is. The saag paneer was deep green in color and bright in flavor. I think the chaat samosas would have been good had I eaten them there. I thought the portions were more than adequate. I got 3 meals out of my order of tikka masala, saag paneer, chaat samosas, and naan.
I think there are a lot of high end restaurants out there that we put up with incredibly long waits, rude servers, acoustics so bad you can’t have a conversation, sitting cheek by jowl against strangers as they pack the place. That’s not this place. It’s clearly a family joint. Speaking with the proprietors it seemed to me they were probably immigrants at some point. Their daughter was so friendly and really eager to help her mom total up my bill. Maybe if you are looking for a perfect dining experience this isn’t the place. But if you want to eat amazing food, in a warm family environment, supporting local, 99%-er folks, and you can deal with service that is not perfect but certainly not rude or dismissive then come to this place. I think it’s lovely.

This place is really unbelievable, and not in a good way.
In general, everything was overpriced, undersized and under spiced. I was under whelmed.
The samosas looked like little Jabba the Huts. There were two, and they came with tiny plastic cups of sauces that were really too small for dipping. Both tasted like watered down versions of whatever they were supposed to be. I’m pretty sure my samosa had nothing but boiled potato in it. No other veggies and definitely not enough spice or flavor. We ordered the saag paneer and chicken tikka masala. Both were horribly bland and watery. The chicken was slightly better than the saag paneer, but both were awful. For about $ 13 per a la carte dish, the portions were really small, and it didn’t include rice. We placed one order which set us back $ 2 and received about a cup’s worth. The mango lassi was okay, and for another $ 2.50 I got a mug of chai tea. No refills of course.
The husband called the food «aggressively bland». I just couldn’t believe this food was made by an actual Indian person.
The interior is a little dingy and dated. The service was a little slow and not particularly friendly.
Something good?
Parking was easy. The garlic naan was fluffy and light. There was a little 11 year old girl who was helping out to seat people and bring drinks at 8pm on a Sunday night. She was a pleasant conversationalist and obviously very intelligent. She was, in fact, the most delightful thing about our experience. My only regrets about writing a review this bad is that I hope her family can still make enough money to send her to college!

We used a Groupon and unfortunately hit the place two days before the Groupon expired. Everyone else had the same idea apparently and they ran out of professional service.
Even though the place was not very busy when we got there, we waited a long time to get an order taken and a REALLY long time before our food came. Scratch that – before somebody’s food came. Turns out it wasn’t our food. Scratch that – some of it was ours and some was not but we didn’t know the difference and by the time we were done, we had a wide array of stuff that was well beyond what we’d ordered.
We tried to explain it to our waitress but since she was probably in elementary school (and no, this is not an exaggeration. She was doing puzzles and reading when she wasn’t waiting on people), she really had no concept of what was going on.
At one point things really got crowded – this was before most of the customers got tired of waiting and just walked out. There was only one open table and it was right in the center of the restaurant. A couple walked in and our waitress said to them, «Where would you like to sit?» The woman looked around and said «How about here. It’s the only table available.»
Right about this time, I started looking for hidden cameras because I thought maybe we were being punked and someone was intentionally doing everything they could to see how bad it would get before people would leave. At one point, my wife’s food shows up (she ordered a vegetarian plate) and our little waitress set down a plate that obviously contained meat. When my wife asked about it, the girl said, «No – this is your vegetarian plate.» Turned out it was lamb.
Close.
On the positive side, some of the lamb was decent as was a chicken dish. I think it might’ve been chicken briyani (sp?) but since we didn’t order it, I don’t know for sure. Some people from another table came over to us when they heard me telling the waitress that we didn’t order some of the food. The other customers told us that we probably had their food but by then it was way too late. They left without eating and said they’d waited an hour.
In the end, we paid as quickly as we could and left. As for the Groupon, well, they forgot to take off the $ 20 but after I got them to cut the bill in half for the food we never ordered (as well as an item or two on the bill that we never got), we sped away.
It may not be a real word in Hindi, but can you say «fiasco»?

Like so many others I also fell into the Groupon trap with this one. So I will just second what others have said through all of these posts, which I clearly should have read before I bought my Groupon:
–Small portions (although price was reasonable, but I’d rather pay a little more for more food).
–Somewhat bland
–Décor was clearly lacking (although it was not as scuzzy as I expected)
Our waitress was really sweet, she might be the owner’s wife. With so many other Indian places I can skip this one.

I try not to give one stars, but compared to all the other Indian restaurants I’ve been to, i must.
The word of the night is BLAND.
There was a random live band playing… that’s all i have to say about that.
The restaurants isn’t very big, there’s a dinner buffet set up but we went with a Groupon and decided to order off the menu.
Malai Kofta and Paneer Tikka masala arrived at our table, with a side of rice and plain naan. HUGE EMPHASIS ON PLAIN.
Most plain naan still has some butter brushed on it, but this was kinda dry and tasteless.
The rice, was plain white rice. Not the basmati rice you order at other indian places with spices and herbs mixed inside. This was your made-​in-​the-​rice-​cooker white rice. It was terrible to eat with curry too.
The two curries we got weren’t fabulous either… They were the same color and the flavors weren’t bold and orgasmic like it’s supposed to be.
Malai Kofta is a potato/​cheese ball mixture that’s supposed to be very flavorful, these were literally balls of potatoes that had no flavor and neither did the curry. Same for the paneer…
Anybody that likes this place has to try Indian food, because it’s truly amazing.
There’s so many other indian places even just next door, across the street, and down the street. This had to be the worst of the entire area.
Also, i think all the pictures of the food with the raving comments are fake, just a guess. :)

Oh, I wish I could give this place 5 stars b/​c the proprietors are so nice and friendly. But nice don’t make your food taste good, and frankly, the food could be better.
Sub-​par Indian food. Meh.

This is the worst Indian restaurant I have ever been.
I am not an Indian food expert, but after living in the Bay Area for so long and have tried 30+ Indian restaurants, this is the worst experience ever.
First of all, the service was extremely slow. A kid in the restaurant seated us (which was cute and nice). But then they refused to give us a menu but just a piece of paper which they called «special» of the day without a price on it.
Second, the «special» was not good at all. It came with two small dishes with rice, and my friend ordered naan as replacement of the rice. I ordered extra naan. Both of them were cold and burnt. I also ordered mango lassi. It was watery and not cold.
Finally, this is probably the worst part. They did not want to take our Groupon ($ 10 for $ 20). The reason is that we didn’t order over $ 20. Our final bill was $ 17 something, which means we didn’t take advantage of the whole discount and now you said you would not honor it unless we order over $ 20?! I don’t think I ever had that experience with Groupon before. In addition, because they are running this one day only (as they claimed) special so Groupon cannot be used. We were never informed of that, and it is not stated on the Groupon itself.
At the end my friend and I had to argue with the woman there. We settled with paying only the taxes. I will never go back there again.
This tells you that it’s either they don’t understand how Groupon works or Groupon didn’t educate their participating merchants well enough. Maybe they just simply don’t know how to run a restaurant business.

I went on a friday afternoon for lunch at this place (I work nearby), and what a disappointment this place turned out to be.
I ordered a chicken biryani, and what I got was some white rice sloppily mixed with what looked like pre-​cooked chicken curry. Whatever that was… it wasnt Biryani. On top of that, on confirming with the server if a biryani was what I was served, he brought out a recipe book in my face, practically telling me I dint know what a Biryani was. And I am originally from India and have spent time in Hyderabad (where you get the mother of all biryani’s).
Oh wait… Haven’t I mentioned yet that the taste of the biryani was revolting. I wont recommend this place to anyone ever. Its an utter disappointment!

Take the money and run?!
Jesus, I bought this Groupon (apparently like all the other disappointed folks on here) and tried to eat here… TWICE!
The first time someone was there but, not serving.
Although, strangely enough, we were seated then left alone for 15 mins.
No one ever came out. So, we left.
Then tried a second time only to find it was locked with the lights out.
What the hell?

NO! NO! NO! and NO!
Don’t eat here ever!
Absolutely one of the worst restaurant experiences of my life. If I could give this restaurant a NEGATIVE 10 stars, I would. We ordered naan which they NEVER brought and after 20 minutes of waiting, I had to ask a child to find the waitress because she disappeared. The child returned and told us that the person that makes naan WAS ON BREAK, and so we would not receive any naan. The waitress NEVER appeared.
The amount of food was just a JOKE! I left hungry. Eleven dollars for 4 tiny pieces of lamb and huge chunks of spices which I nearly choked on. We were ROBBED! Do NOT go to this restaurant EVER. The waitress just did not care a bit. She did not even tell us that we would not get any naan. If she had, I would have ordered another dish.
I will NEVER return here. I am honestly angry that we paid so much money for such tiny plates of terrible food served by a waitress that just doesn’t give a damn.
I hope they go out of business.

Well if this place isn’t a testament to the power of Groupon, I dunno what is.
I, along with half the reviewers on this page, also purchased the groupon for this place. I agree with what the majority of people are saying: long wait, not the most organized, somewhat small portions, incorrect bill calculations etc but at the same time, places like this hold a soft spot in my heart.
It’s clear that this establishment had no idea what it was getting into when it signed up to be part of the Groupon whirlwind. It’s a family owned business run by people who are probably learning as they go rather than being restaurant entrepreneurs. And I can respect that and sympathize with it. The problem is, they’ve been open for some years now and I would expect things to be a little more organized by now…
The calculations for your bill are questionable. But I don’t think it’s done in a malicious way to try and nickel and dime you like some others seem to suggest. Does that make it okay? Not really… though looking over your own bill is something you should do anyway. Forget all the comments about the need for math literacy; though true, people will make mistakes until they’ve been corrected right? =/​
The young girl sitting in the back doing her homework — clearly the owner’s daughter — reminded me a bit of myself when I was little hanging out at my mom’s work. She was so friendly, trying to help customers get napkins and relaying questions back to the kitchen, and really just brought out the family-​owned-​business vibe.
I feel for them after the backlash that was Groupon but I do hope they see the silver lining in all of this. Through the snide comments and the snark, there is some truth to what Unilocalers are saying that could be used for improvement.
Even though I gave this place a 2, I would consider coming back at a later time. Just make your portions a little bigger, be careful when calculating tabs, and try to get the communication between staff and kitchen down so that there aren’t excessive wait times.
And hey, at least they’re nice. You can’t teach nice (:

Like other previous customers, the only reason I checked out this place was because I had a Groupon.
We came in around 8:30pm, stood in the door for a minute and decided to sit ourselves down. Between sitting down, getting a menu and the waitress taking our order 15minutes. I know there was only one waitress but no, «I’ll be with you shortly» or «would you like something to drink?»…I wasn’t expected 5 star service but some sort of acknowledgement would have been nice.
We started off with the Bhel Puri which was surprisingly pretty good and thought we were in for a good dinner. Wrong!
For the main dishes we had the Paneer Tikka Masala Curry and the Malai Kofta Curry with rice and naan. I was very very underwhelmed by both dishes. Not only were they $ 8.99 and $ 9.99 respectively, there was barely any substance to them.
The Paneer Tikka Masala had very little Paneer (about (8) ½″ cubes) and not much sauce. It was tasty but for the price you’d expect alot more.
The same with the Malai Kofta Curry. There were (4) 1−½″ diameter balls in the same sauce as the Paneer Tikka Masala. Again, for $ 9.99 you’d expect alot more.
Not once did the waitress check up with us to ask if we needed anything.
Before the Groupon discount the bill came to $ 31 for not much.
TO SUM IT UP:
–SLOW SERVICE
–INATTENTIVE WAIT STAFF
–FOOD OVERPRICED
–SMALL PORTIONS
Even with another Groupon, I wouldn’t be back.

We would not have sat down here if we didn’t have a Groupon. It was dead on a Saturday evening. Not even music, it was a downer atmosphere. The waitress didn’t know anything about the menu.
The dishes were tasty but small. The nan too crispy, not chewy on the inside. The prices were high $ 13 for a small plat of Biryani with a couple small pieces of lamb in it.

So we bought a Groupon for this place. $ 10 for $ 20 worth.
We went tonight and will never return.
Strike one — our dish came out with a big fat hair in it. It was a combo platter and when it came back it didn’t have all of the items and instead had doubled up on one dish.
Strike two — very slow service and no water refil
Strike three — and most important… all of the food was bland and just not tasty. I love indian food and in general, it doesn’t have to be the best of the best — most places suit my fancy.
Furthermore, they added in a tip (15%), at least the waitress was kind. If she had been rude, I would have left no tip due to the hair, water, taste and time.
Personally, India Palace in Alameda is the best Indian food I’ve had in the East Bay. It’s well worth the extra drive!

I tried this place because of a Groupon.
Most of the food was pretty tasty, but judging by the fact that several dishes had the same combination of green beans, corn, carrots and cauliflower, I’m guessing it came from a big ol’ frozen bag of «vegetable medley».
The service was lacking too. There were only 2 other occupied tables in the restaurant when we arrived but our food came out
one
dish
at
a
time
with the appetizers arriving mid-​stream. The papadam were stale (and not free!), the Samosas were filled only with potatoes, and despite the fact that the condiment dish had 2 sections they were both filled with the same Tamarind chutney.
When we finally got the waitress to bring our bill, and we presented the Groupon, she recalculated it to add in 18% (there were only 2 of us) as if we they didn’t trust us to leave a tip based on the full amount of the bill.
Berkeley is rich with Indian restaurants, so this one can be avoided.

We stopped in for a buffet party held in the restaurant on Monday night. There were some new dishes available. The chicken dishes were flavorful and tender.
The naan was perfectly crispy yet soft and warm inside.
It was very heartwarming to see Pradeep (owner) hand a hungry homeless man a basket of that delicious naan, too.
I forgot to order the chai tea, but I know it is superior, as Pradeep puts some extra spices in it (pepper?).
We’ll be heading back to Chaat & Curries on Sunday, as my son has requested we go there for dinner when he’s home for Spring break, from college.

I want to give them 3 stars cause all the waitresses (owners?) and whatnot were sooooo nice! But the food just didn’t do it for me. I love Indian food. I love eating it AND making it and Chaat & Curries just didn’t live up to my standards.
Paneer pakora: Good paneer, really light and crispy batter and yummy dipping sauces. This was good but I wish I got more!
Regular naan: Eh. Too soft and doughy. I like it with a slightly crisp outside.
Pesto garlic naan: No garlic flavor. Texture was good though. Nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Saag paneer: Not very good. It was more like a spinach purée. It wasn’t nice and creamy. Maybe not enough paneer?
Chicken tikka masala: I make better at home. Chicken was dry and the flavor was severely lacking. I added one of the yogurt raitas into it and it was much better after that.
Chicken choila: Lackluster flavor.
Chicken biryani: Unmemorable. No really. I don’t even remember what it tasted like it was that boring.
I expect Indian food to be fragrant and rich! Chaat & Curries was bland and just lacking in the flavor department overall.

Can’t really tell you I was too fond of this place. Was hovering around the super busy corner of Univ/​San Pablo, for here is a West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library.
And a little birdie told me that one can access a database online called MANGO, and learn foreign languages. All it takes is a library card. Haven’t had one from Berkeley for quite a while… Rosetta Stone pulled its once contract with them, and the powers-​that-​be have replaced it with MANGO. Thought would be a handy adjunct to my efforts to learn Russian…
Parked right outside of Chaat and Curries, so sure… haven’t had chicken vindaloo for a long time. why don’t I try it out? Sandwich board in already fading ink at the early hour of 1120 said $ 7.99, served with rice and naan.
Step in, no customers. I proceed to verify that they’re serving vindaloo as a special. The lady shook her head and said no. NO?! Then why on Earth didn’t you update your board outside? (That was the cardinal sign to 180 and get OUTA there… they’re so confused). I pressed on, and she unmuddled herself…
but not for too long (poor me)
I ordered the vindaloo mild… did I get that? oh no!!! so was not mild… ended up getting creative and added my own Spanish eggplant and diced tomatoes to even out the burn…
Then she asked me whether I wanted rice. Uh… I’m supposed to get that. Plus naan! I told her, don’t bother with the rice. just put more naan inside, because I have rice at home (though not basmati). But if you can’t do that, then just give me the rice with it. (And NO… I’m not pulling a Sally from Harry Met Sally!)
Get home, and all there is is vindaloo… hot (in temp), and hot (in flavor)… and no… no rice, and no naan!!! Despite there being none of the two that are clearly written out on the curbside sandwich board, the lady didn’t even bother putting more of the sauce and stew inside the container. So for close to $ 9 when including tax, I got this half-​filled aluminum container of spicy, hot vindaloo.
Giving them 2 stars because at least the chicken was quite nice, very flavorful and cooked right… and the sauce’s consistency was rather OK, although I did have a Brita pitcher next to me after I completed doctoring it up.
Won’t be seeing me again!
PS Did get one piece of pappadam in a bag from them… quite the frustrating experience. I shoulda known better at the first few exchanges. Where was my interlocutor?!