Swadesh

I love this place! The dude behind the counter is usually pretty nice. Not trying to please you over the top, but courteous enough. Food is awesome. They put effort into the food everyday. I suggest you take the food home to eat instead. No one can judge you eating huge amounts of rice and tandoori, pounding away at the delicious raita they serve (best raita). Also, it is one of the cheapest eateries. I think I spend around 9 dollars. It lasts me for two meals! Hole in the wall with authentic food, just try it.

Swadesh has GREAT tandoori chicken, and I don’t even like tandoori chicken. I’m not really sure how they pull this off, given that it’s just chilling in a warming pod before they pull it out, heat it up, and stick it on your plate.
There are two different kinds of goat curry — neither knocked my socks off, but both had utterly different flavors and a good amount of marrow to spoon up. It was just that the meat was very tough.
I loved the eggplant curry and it spicied my tastebuds right off, so it was a good thing I ate it last.
Fish soup was basically inedible for the amount of bones that permeated every bite. I’m used to bony fish dishes, but this was really another level of boniness.
This is worth the visit just for the variety of dishes on offer and the low price — if you don’t like it, so what? Maybe you spent $ 5 on 3 different kinds of meat and a few spices you’ve never tasted before.

i have zero knowledge of this kind of cuisine but the lamb biryani was business and i have to commend it. if anything negative i’d say its quite fatty and would recommend say like a squeeze of lime or herbs or a good vege side to go with it. but it’s super noms and has a rustic home cooked feel.

You know you will get good authentic Bengali food when you see a gang of older Bengali men hanging out in front of the restaurant (and in this case market as well). When older groups of men linger, it means the food is decent, and they are enjoying themselves too much to go back to work! These are all good signs, and it means good food is nearby yippee!
I came here with my mom to buy some food and do some shopping. We stopped by in the evening so, a lot of their hot prepared food had been sold out. There were a few curries still left so we ordered some lamb curry, tendori, and a few pieces of roti for carry out. My mom and I also bought some mishti (sweets) and groceries for home. The food was pretty good when we tried it at home. Roti was still hot and flaky by the time we ate dinner an hour later. The lamb curry was good and spicy, and the meat was well cooked and didn’t taste gamy. The tendori was decent, tasted better than how most places make it. The marinade had more ginger flavors, which I enjoyed and made it taste more homemade. I wish we could’ve tried the biryani and shingara, which my Bengali friends raved about when they first tried this place out. Guess I will have to stop by earlier in the day, before everything is sold out!

We had a great experience at Swadesh, this is an unassuming hidden gem amidst Koreatown. Have no expectations for wait service, here you order at the counter and grab a table. We ordered a little bit of everything, but definitely order the Roti bread (made to order), and some of their vegetarian side dishes. My husband loved the goat with rice, I was a big fan of the lentils with beef. And an absolute must is the chicken tikka!

I ve ordered chotpoti & chingara from them, they did an excellent job. The guy who took order from me was Mr. Reza. The food was fresh & warm & my desi guests were very satisfied. I highly recommend this place.

It’s my second time here. And also it’s my second time in LA. The foods here are authentic Bangladeshi food. Had the best chicken roast in the US. The rui fish was also pretty good. Last time I tried more regular food like vegetables, kachki (small fish). They also have traditional Bangladeshi sweets and free chai. The sweet was okay. But again what better would you expect outside of Bangladesh? Only complain I have is that the place could be a bit cleaner and there should be more fans. It’s late August and LA is literally boiling with heat. During my both visits, I saw non Bangladeshi people coming here for meal.

True authenticity! This is the place for Bangladeshi comfort food and the full working class Bangladeshi experience, including the dirtiness, flies, no understanding of any customer service whatsoever and upset stomach right afterwords. Yup, right in the heart of Koreatown, lies a little bit of Bangladesh. This ain’t fine dining, that’s for sure but I’ll trade all that fanciness for a plate of bhaat, daal and ilish maach. Oh and some goat biryani too please!

This review is for the grocery and not the eatery inside the grocery.
The items are not organized and it’s hard to find prices for the items. On the plus side, it has plenty of exotic spices and items.
Oh and most of their Basmati rice only comes in small 10 lbs bags. I am Asian. We eat a lb of rice at each meal.lol. While this was an interesting trip, I wonder if I will be back.
TIPS:
1. Turn right on HARVARD. The parking is one way only. It is in a plaza.
2. Also… put 4153 W. 3^rd on your GPS. If you fail to put the «West» …you’ll be in Arlington Heights which looks like it come out of the movie «Straight out of Compton».

The food did not look very fresh. Looks like leftovers heated up many times. But other then that, very good food.

Native Bangladeshi here. I made the rounds at other desi eateries in ktown and Swadesh without a doubt feels the closest to a home cooked meal. The beef curry, goat curry, the biryani, okra, daal are all great. Everything I’ve had here has been excellent and the portions are super generous!

I guess finally the owner learned that customer is the business. The service is much better now. Didn’t have much complain about their food before, don’t have now.

Happy chance that brought us to Swadesh, a Bangladesh restaurant. Great for vegetarians. Delicious puff pastry filled with mildly spiced chicken. Big plate of rice with multiple vegetable dishes surrounding the rice. Samosas and mango yoghart rounded out the meal. don’t let the grocery store front dissuade you, there are tables in the back. Very inexpensive, our bill for three was $ 17 and that included a couple of take home chicken pastry. Will definitely go again.

Bangladesh
Great costumer service but I thought the food was less than satisfactory. I love South Asian cuisine, so I was very much looking forward to this place.
The restaurant combined with grocery store definitely reflects authenticity, so it’s worth a try. We ordered a samosa, chicken tikka, chicken biryani, veggies and paratha. The food was somewhat cold, and noticed he had to microwave some of the food. The chicken tikka was seasoned very well, but the chicken biryani was cold and the flavors did not come out well. I thought it was unsanitary to serve food like that, but I pushed through.
Overall the place definitely has some good things to offer given to the plethora of good reviews, but my experience was not that great. My stomach was not sitting well after my meal. Despite the food, the customer service was good. He explained the prices and what each item was all about.

The good:
Food is usually excellent, but sometimes no more than «pretty good». Depends on the day/​time of day.
One of the guys who runs the spot is very pleasant to deal with, fair with portions and an all around nice guy. Don’t know his name but he looks 30-​something, has thinning hair and usually works nights. As for the other guy…
The bad:
The other dude that runs this place (probably early 40s) is kind of an a-hole…stingy with portions, not friendly at all and appears to not like customers in general. Probably the owner as he has an air of «I don’t give a shit, I’m the boss» about him. Once I spent about $ 50 on food (to go), and after he’d charged my card, I realized that I had forgotten to get a small packet of some spice… the item cost about 70 cents. He wouldn’t charge my card for such a low amount (sort of understandable), and I didn’t have cash on me. Could’ve just «comped» me the packet (or just said «pay me next time»), but he waited as I had to go look in my car for change… again, for a 70 cent item after spending $ 50. I mean, I get it – it’s a business and I shouldn’t have that expectation in the first place, but if I were in his shoes, I would’ve just given such a tiny thing away, just so my customer wouldn’t have to go through the hassle.
The ugly:
The décor (if you can call it that) is kind of ugly, and gives the place an «untidy» vibe (although the food seems to be kept under decent conditions. The «B» grade (at least at the time) from the Department of Health doesn’t help either. However, in a weird way the ambiance also makes you feel like you’re eating at some random mom n pop shack in Bangladesh… which kind of adds to the authenticity of the place (I feel a bit coo-​coo spinning the untidiness into a positive aspect, but it is what it is).

Awesome cheap Chicken Tandoori. A large piece of Leg & Thigh costs just $ 3! If you’re on some weird Paleo Diet or doing the Atkins Protein only that’s a pretty damn sweet deal when you’re craving food with flavor that isn’t super unhealthy without spending a ton.

There’s no specified vegetable plate, but the proprietor started loading up all kinds of vegetarian dishes onto a plate for me. Consider it «off the menu» hehehe. Anyway, can’t quite remember what I had, but it was tasty and hella cheap. We saw later that there was some amazing bread that people had ordered, so we’ll def have to get it next time.
Place is a bit sticky and dive-​y, but doesn’t mean the food isn’t good.

Let me begin by saying don’t even think about taking a girl out on a date here. If you even thought about it, punch yourself lol. If you aren’t down to try new food and some real ethnic food. DONT COME HERE.
As soon as I walked in, I swear I was in Bangladesh lol. There’s raw meat, flies, and Bangladesh people.
The food was pretty good. I had the curry goat. Shit was LEGIT. But… I can definitely assure it tastes very ethnic. If you prefer a PB n j or in n out. Don’t come here… You aint Anthony Bourdain homie!

If i have to read one more comment about service… at a buffet area … .of a grocery store… in little bangladesh… Y’all are a funny bunch seriously. Go to Bangladesh and see what kind of service you get. Take ‘ethnic’ food for what it is, authentic in every way is what you should be striving for and what’s what Swadesh is.
Perfect curries, veggies, chicken, and super sexy fresh rotis and parathas. I couldn’t believe the place (and my heartburn confirmed it later) and can’t wait to go again and again.

Probably like half of the other reviewers here, I drove by this place everyday and then saw it featured on No Reservations so made an effort to check it out as its in my neighborhood. From the outside, you would have no idea hot food is available for take away inside.
The food is average curry and starch dishes but pretty tasty. They have several options for meat and sides in large pre-​prepared pans. For $ 6 for a large 3-​compartment Styrofoam container, you can’t beat the price. Maybe it’s because I am not Bangladeshi, but service is pretty bad. I tried to make small talk with the guy making my plate but he was less than interested. Explaining what each dish was took all the effort he could muster. I suppose it’s an option for the future but like the employees, I won’t make much of an effort to give my business to people who don’t appreciate it.