Chaat Cafe Express

I have been here twice and both times are pretty good and food are tasty and fresh. Service depends what time you get here, lunch time can get very busy. Perfect timing to come is around 1pm.
Food:
Chicken Briyani– it was quite tasty and very interesting to have cashew and raisin in it. It a little bit on the spicy side but very flavorful.
Chicken Tikki Masala– very tasty. I wish it has a little bit more chicken because its too much sauce but still very good.
Lentil soup – not a fan. I had the first time, not that good. My friend ordered the other day, she doesn’t like it either.
Samosa– Thought it was pretty good with a little bit of the tamarind chimney.
service:
since i came here around 1pm on both times, service was super quick. My friend came here during lunch rush hour, she said it takes a while to get their food. I guess it really depends what time you go.
atmosphere:
pretty roomy, great for take out or eat at the sitting areas outside of the restaurant. During a nice day, you should eat at the roof top, its very nice out there.

I don’t get what the hating is about. The food was fantastic — had a CTM combo that was reasonably priced, and the veg of the day (pea/​potato thing) was plentiful and good.
only reason for deducting a star is it was slooooow. long time in line (was mobbed) and very long time to get food. but it was worth the wait.

Went here for lunch today and ordered the paneer wrap. The wait took forever when the place wasn’t that crowded. The paneer was bland and the wrap greasy. The «cucumber salad» also had no taste. They put like 3 pieces of paneer in a large wrap so that the bread to paneer ratio was very high. I wasn’t too impressed and won’t go back.

Have eaten few times here but no dish comes to like «wow» and everything ends up with just average taste. Today tried their Vegetarian plate and was surprised to see BIG chunks of cauliflower and potatoes which were missing with their proper spice/​masala level. Potatoes just had the yellow layer, very bland and tasted like boiled ones. Seems they made in a hurry without keeping in mind the quality of food.
Have tried earlier their Cholay bhature where the cholay (chick peas) are again not upto the mark and salt level is comparatively high. Lamb kathi roll is average but for some folks the spice would be pretty high. Will be restricting my visit after trying them few times.

Great value and tasty, fast Indian food. Whenever I crave Chicken Tikka Masala or a Chicken Tandoori wrap for lunch, this is the place I go. Both are about $ 8. With the Chicken Tikka Masala, you have a choice between basmati rice or naan — I recommend you ask them to split it between the two (best of both worlds and no extra cost). I think this is also one of the better-​tasting versions of this dish that I’ve had around SF — better than DOSA, and cheaper cost. There’s also mint chutney that you can serve yourself in small sauce containers by the wall.

Location, ambience and service are excellent. From the dishes I tried, Chhole Bhature is good enough but not the best I had in SF. Saag Paneer was not good

I have been a long time customer, eating here at least once a month, but after today’s experience I will not likely be back. I ordered and paid, and waited. And waited. After a good 10 minutes and not seeing any activity in the kitchen, I went up and asked if my food would be out soon. Apparently the kitchen never got my order. I could forgive this if not for the fact that I was the only person in the place and would have hoped that any one of the four guys working there would have come over to me and asked me if I was waiting on an order.
Worse yet, while I was still eating, one of them started mopping the dining area with very smelly cleanser, so now my food tasted like the cleanser. I asked the guy to stop but he just moved to another spot. I told another employee that they shouldn’t be mopping while someone is eating. He said «so sorry» but didn’t do anything.
The only reason I gave 2 stars instead of 1 is because the food was still good (at least until the guy started mopping). Don’t bother with with this place, they clearly have idiots working there.

I came to this place three times to grab a quick lunch and after today I will not be going back. The quality of food went down from mediocre to awful: the three pieces of chicken tandoori were undercooked, almost raw, therefore inedible, cucumber salad was tasteless and bread was soggy. Stay away!

I really like this place. The food is tasty and consistent. The tandoori chicken plate with tikka sauce it a great lunch meal. It’s not the most flavorful indian in SF, but compared to other lunch choices it’s a pretty good option. If you crave indian food, it’s a good spot.

Lord help me, I told myself I wouldn’t write negative reviews anymore but this place has got me straight buggin’. I’d never been in before because I noticed that of the Crocker Galleria eateries, this one is always almost empty. Now I know why. Hands down, the worst chicken tikka masala I have ever eaten. The flavor is *almost* there and the color is about right, but the texture of the curry is strangely paste-​like. And the chicken, Lord forgive me, the chicken is downright disgusting. Instead of being roasted or baked or however the hell it’s cooked at most Indian restaurants, this stuff tastes straight boiled! Instead of having a crispy outside, it’s slimy and I don’t know what cuts of chicken they’re using over there, but each bite seemed to have a few veins and a chunk of gristle attached. This was chicken I wouldn’t feed to my own dog and I don’t even have a dog I have a cat but the thought of feeding this chicken to my cat is just too painful to imagine. This chicken makes your body do that thing while you’re chewing it where you stop all of a sudden and get a worried look in your eyes and something inside of you knows that you’re not supposed to be eating this, you’re doing something wrong. I ate a few pieces of this slimy chewy chicken, each time hoping the next would be better but encountered no such fortune. I’ve had a lot of chicken tikka masala (I’m white, isn’t chicken tikka masala kinda like the kung pao chicken or california roll of indian food?) and this is truly the worst. What makes me especially unhappy about this, is it was expensive! I spent $ 12 on this slop that is now sitting in my garbage can stinking up the place. So now I have to be hungry AND broke.
I will give them one star for the naan though – the naan was very soft and good.
Also, the young man who served me was very polite.
But please, people of Chaat Café Express, get your shit together.
I am appealing to you here now: I didn’t want to write anymore bad reviews but you made me do this, you forced my hand, because of that horrible chicken tikka masala. Please figure it out. I don’t want to see you fail. I know how hard it is to keep a business afloat (well I don’t know personally because I’ve never tried, but I bet it’s hard!). So heed my advice and change the recipe and buy some better chicken. I’d never been in before because I noticed that of the Crocker
Get it right, Chaat Café Express, and stop making people write bad reviews when they promised themselves they wouldn’t!

I have been this place a few times and thought the food was pretty decent… Until today.
I got a paneer wrap and a samosa for lunch and was extremely disappointed. The paneer in the wrap was complete burnt, it tasted very bitter. Even the samosa was overlooked and very chewy. I probably will not be going back there again.

Extremely Pathetic service by the lady on the Couter… They are serving Rotten COLD food. Don’t know for how many days they cook the food for and keep serving that to the Guests.
Double Triple Frying the same Samosas and selling that for a price of a Dollar when you take a meal. And accepting that they are selling the old stuff. I have made the video of their Bad attitude and service.
The Rice is so hard and inedible. When asked them to refund my money, they were so rude and said they can’t do anything. Even they are not bothered when i said i will write my bad experience on Unilocal. The comment comes from them is you’re more than welcome to do whatever.
BIG NO NO for this Place.

Chaat’s sorta where it’s at. For like $ 8 I got a nice big bowl of chicken Tikka, a side of rice and a half piece of naan that I watched being made in an authentic naan oven. In the mall. Come on people. The food was really nice, not like blow your mind outrageously amazing but quite good, no complaints at all! The service was very courteous and warm and I’ll be back!

Next stop on continental exploration of FiDi is India, a cuisine that I don’t have all that often. Have been here a few times for lunch now, and it’s really good! The meat is tender and the naan is fresh. I like that they offer the half and half for naan and rice, which is still way too much for a serving.
Minor beef (not literally beef) happened today is that I ordered rice, which was very undercooked. The freshness of the naan more than made up for it.
Great prices and the seating area is relaxing and quiet respite from the office.

don’t know much about Indian food. But I know they have a pretty darn good sekh kabab wrap.
So why two stars:
— sometimes I get my wrap with TWO sekh kababs inside. Other times I only get with what seems like HALF of sekh kabob inside. there’s def. no consistency in terms of portion
— Really expensive. that wrap with a bottle of water costs almost $ 10

Chaat Café is a solid Indian option in FiDi which is priced just right (lunch items about $ 7 – 8). I had the vegetable kofta — those little «dumplings» of veggies aren’t available everywhere so I was happy to see it on their menu — which was pretty good and a sizable portion.
Given that the food is already prepared, the wait was a bit long — had to wait 10 – 12 minutes for my food, but I believe you can order ahead (which is what I will do next time).

Express is the key word here. I came here with two of my coworkers on a Tuesday around 1:30pm. No line. We each ordered and got our orders within less than 10 minutes.
We each ordered a curry with the half basmati and half naan option. The only complaint I have is I wish there was more paneer in my tikka masala. It’s a good place for lunch if you’re looking for reasonable prices and fast service.

Hey! It’s another lunch option with good food, friendly service, reasonable prices, and the not-​so-​common ample seating area! You can expect a rush during the dreaded 12−1pm time margin, but they’re quick and you’ll be sitting down chowing on some potato salad and desi wrap in no time. And I do mean chowing; the portions are sizable, and considering the general heft of Indian cuisine, you’re gonna feel a healthy food baby develop. Maybe take a walk before you head back to ye olde desk if you have the time to loosen that chow up.
Don’t forget to grab yourself some tamarind sauce and mint chutney at the self-​serve stand, sauce it up kids.

(Before you go accusing me of suggesting this place just because I’m brown, I’ll have you know that I rooted for Miss Kansas in the Miss America pageant. So whatever, haters.)
So now that that unpleasantness is behind us, I have to say that that Chaat Café Express — tucked away on the topmost floor of the Crocker Galleria — is an excellent choice to pump some life back into that humdrum lunch you insist on eating every day. How many kale salads can one person eat?
Lots of stuff on the menu, but I was curious and grabbed the samosa chaat ($ 6). It weighed as much as a preemie and was steaming hot. Great get by me. They also have chhole batura, papdi chaat, bhel puri (!) and a series of wraps and curries too.
Pretty affordable and very quick. I was in and out of there in about 10 minutes. There’s a huge seating area too, but the ambience is so-​so. I can’t wait to return.
Obligatory Title Pun: Let’s CHAAT.
Menu Readability: Pretty boring affair looming over the counter, in the colors of the German flag for some rason. Nice job Indians.
Need to mention: Filled with brown people in front of and behind the counter. Thumbs up. Also: they serve Thums Up! And Limca!
What this place teaches me about myself: I actually give zero fucks about the Miss America pageant. Relax.

There’s starting to be a proliferation of Indian food places in the FiDi. I noticed a new Indian burrito –roti shop (burroti?). But it’s comforting to find a well-​established spot that serves up quick and tasty Indian food.
Chaat Café Express is a small shop in the Crocker Galleria that serves both wraps, rice dishes and salads. Something for everyone. I noticed quite a few people with a rice dish with a side entrée (spinach, curry, tandoori). Just thinking of all the options makes my mouth water. Prices are very reasonable and go as low as around $ 6! I enjoyed a chicken wrap that had grilled chicken, cucumber and tomato today. Yummy.