Well, I live in Lake County ... if my boyfriend and I want Indian ... I would go to the Peacock in Vernon Hills. James and I went there on our 4 month anniversary ... and the food portions were HUGE!! ... OMG ... their mint chutney is SO good ... the only thing I didn't like was like the wait staff were like HAWKS making sure that we always had water and enough mango leese (spelling) ... I love their samosas and their lamb tandorri!! Always good food!

I agree -- Peacock is excellent. Everything is fresh and of very high quality. I once interviewed the owner, and she's a neurosurgeon who opened the place to accommodate family members, as she comes from a long line of highly regarded Bombay restaurateurs. I've never had a bad meal there.

For those in the far north, another great option is India House in Buffalo Grove. They have one of the most extensive lunch buffets I've ever seen (in fact, the only one's I've seen that were more impressive were in India). And the buffet changes all the time, so you don't get bored. Of course, they always have a few standards -- including tandoori chicken, but other dishes change, and they even offer some southern Indian specialties, which is unusual. The menu is also extensive -- the most extensive in Illinois, the owner claims -- with more than 200 items. The huge amount of traffic here ensures that things are fresh, and the food is excellent, with a heat range from mild to very zippy.

The owner of this restaurant has another location in Schaumburg, but I haven't eat there. I can't imagine, however, that it wouldn't be good -- especially given the large Indian population in Schaumburg.

India House Restaurant
228 McHenry Road
Buffalo Grove 60089
847-520-5569

As implied above, India house in Schaumburg is indeed very good. Like the Buffalo Grove location, the buffet is a real standout, far and away the best I've tried in the area. An excellent choice in the NW burbs.

Went to India House On Wed for lunch buffet for first time. Decent. DEFENITELY going back. Work close - finally got around to trying it out.
Not sure if the spice (heat) levels run the same every day, but there were a few "spicy" dishes that I got jazzed up about, but they didn't have a really good kick to them. Really liked the lamb dish, and the chicken dish they had that day. - Actually now that I remember it, the lamb dish was excellent. Entire table commented on it. The staff seemed to not be impressed with the fact that anyone was there that day - another thing the entire table commented on, but whatever. Tandoori chicken impressed us also. I'd recommend to anyone who is in the area. Not a place to seek out if you are already close to a good source, but if you're around this area, and a beef sammich and fries for lunch is already costing you 8 dollars anyway, this place is EASILY worth the 9.95 lunch buffet. For the area, this is a VERY good spot.

Besides India House, there are a couple other Indian restaurants in the Schaumburg area:

Udupi Palace Restaurant
730 East Schaumburg Road
Schaumburg, IL 60194-3508
Phone: (847) 884-9510

Gaylord India Restaurant
555 Mall Dr.
Schaumburg 60173-5103
847-619-3300

Has anyone tried the new India House on Butterfield Road in Oak Brook? Do they also have a huge buffet?

sazerac wrote:Ghareeb Nawaz is good overall, but not necessarily the best in its class or for any particular dish. While some dishes may not be good, overall it is a great value. Ordering wisely you can leave very satisfied. A further note of caution, since you mention Gujarati food – the chapati or roti (at GN and most places) is very different from the Gujarati roti (or rotli; pronounced rote+lee). The ones you will get are much thicker than the thin soft light as air puffy Gujarati rotlis. (Although recently I saw some ladies churning out good looking chapatis).
As c8w mentioned recently, it's unfortunate that with the large Gujarati population there aren't any places known that serve good Gujarati meals. Sukhadia has snacky items – I've liked the theplas with methi (fenugreek) when fresh. While on this topic - I have liked the Nirav brand "Homemade Chunda Pickle" (really Chundo; pronounced choo (to rhyme with shoe) + 'n + though). (picture here) – much better than any other commercial brands to my taste. This is a mildly hot and sweet 'pickle' with grated mango. I've only seen the large bottles at Patel bros.

There was a talk on Jain food recently and pdaane mentioned Village hut (maybe he or someone can advise on this place). I'm curious about the thali because freshly prepared Gujarati food can be a wonderful (in spite of being vegetarian* )


*I recall seeing somewhere that they serve non-vegetarian food, which made the authenticity of the Gujarati food from the same kitchen suspect and so I haven't tried it. I can't find that link now, so I maybe I'm totally off. Still reviews elsewhere seem to be mixed, though it seems one may get a discount certificate at restaurant.com.

K (the better half) and I went to Village Hut a couple of weeks back. We were referred to it by a couple of Jain friends. It's also known among the Gujarati/Jain community as Zupdi (variation of Jhopdi which basically means village hut).

We had a mixed experience. We got there pretty late (around 9 PM) on a Saturday evening. We were seated promptly (probably because we'd made reservations), but that was pretty much the only thing that happened "promptly".

The food is pretty good Gujarati food. Most of the clientele is Gujarati. There is no menu to choose from. You're basically served a meal in several rounds starting with a yogurt-based drink (variation of lassi/chhach), and then moving on to appetizers, main course (which itself is a set of vegetarian dishes - like a thali) with rice and roti (bajra roti I think), and dessert. You can get seconds (and thirds) of anything that you like. The food was a tad spicy, but I kind of like that. They might tone down the spice a bit if requested.

I quite liked the decor and ambience, which were suggestive of a roadside eatery in rural Indian setting (the type that you'd find surrounding any transportation center like a bus depot in a small town). They even had modas - these are like single-seater armchairs made of bamboo cane with leather/rubber piping (in some cases, discarded bicycle tyres). Major deja vu back to my college days in India (sazerac probably knows what I'm talking about).

Now for the part I didn't like. If I said the service s**ked, it'd be a gross under-statement. The problem is that they're severely short-staffed. Most of the time, I just saw the owner and one other guy serving all the tables (around 20 tables). Another guy popped out of the kitchen once in a while to help. It took about 20 minutes to be served. I think they make some of the food fresh after a table is seated. The whole meal took a little under 2 hours, with most of that time spent not eating. I'm sure this level of service is going to put off a lot of people. But, if I'm in the mood for a relaxed meal with friends, I wouldn't mind going back there. In fact I might be going back this weekend with friends visiting from out of town. I'll try to take photos and post.

I had a chance to chat with the owner for a bit. The place is not open for lunch on weekdays. Weekend nights are the busiest. He suggested coming in early (7 - 7:30 PM) for faster service.

130 E Army Trail Rd
Glendale Heights, IL 60139
(630) 893-5800

Well, if you don't mind a dive and very authentic atmosphere, Baba Palace is a lot closer then Devon Street. It's at Chicago and... Orleans? I found the food to be good, although nothing totally outstanding. The place is usually filled with cabbies watching football games, which I think is fun.

jow wrote:Has anyone tried the new India House on Butterfield Road in Oak Brook? Do they also have a huge buffet?

I have, its not a bad lunch option for the area, the branch on Grand in Chicago is better food (I found a few of the dishes oily, which hasn't been the case downtown),

rbhatta70 wrote:There is no menu to choose from.

This is pretty typical of many traditional Indian veg restaurants of this type in India, where you are offered a set thali. Even when there is a menu it tends to be short, but with either you get unlimited portions of whatever you chose.

jpapua2001mk wrote:Well, if you don't mind a dive and very authentic atmosphere, Baba Palace is a lot closer then Devon Street.

Baba Palace is Pakistani food, not Indian (there's a significant difference) & definitely not the most veg friendly place.

What are some of the differences between Pakistani and Indian food? On Devon many of the restaurants are "Indo-Pak." When in Usmaniya we asked our waiter what the difference between the two cuisines were, he said they were pretty much the same except for maybe spice level.

Also, while you're at it Zim, c8w, Athena, et al, please explain the differences between each ethnic, regional, and other subcategory of Indian and Pakistani food with brief explanations of the Indian versions of other cuisines (e.g., Chinese, Southern fried chicken, pizza, etc.). 500 words or less, please.




PS, no knock intended on the post above. It's just that this is such an incredibly complicated thing. I really would like to see the explanation I asked for, though it would take a very long time to read, I bet.

In simplest terms, Pakistani cuisine is built around Muslim traditions & meat, particularly beef, lamb, goat. And that meat will be halal (i.e. killed & prepared according to Muslim procedures - its similar to meat being kosher). Because of the high amount of protein available you see much less emphasis & variety on vegetables, dairy & lentils in the cuisine & when present traditionally these are also cooked in meat fat (for example, haleem - wheat & meat porridge or biryani). Which is why many Indians (hindu, buddhist, jain etc) won't eat at Pakistani establishments - "Indian" cuisine is more vegetarian-oriented because Hindus don't eat beef at all & often won't eat lamb, goat or chicken either. They also won't eat in an establishment which even offers beef & won't risk that the "veg" dishes have animal fat in them. The meat emphasis when present in Indian cuisine is usually due to an outside influence i.e. the Portugese/Christian for Goan use of seafood & pork, Muslim influence in Hyderabdi cuisine, Panjabi/Sikh & Muslim/Pakistani/Arabic influence in north Indian cuisine. "Indo-Pak" places tend not to offer beef & will cook vegs in veg fat & offer Indian-style dahls & dairy dishes such as raita but what they offer is very much an artificial restaurant cuisine.

By contrast, Indian Hindu/non-Muslim food tends to be exclusively vegetarian & has a huge emphasis on combining lentils, veg, rice & dairy to get a proper protein balance - hence dishes like dosas & idlis or serving styles such as thalis with a multiplicity of small amounts of many dishes which do not occur in Muslim/Pakistani cuisine. Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine has probably the best descriptions of classic strict Hindu (Indian) veg cuisine.

Baba Palace, for example, specifically advertises that all its meat is halal. So does Sabri Nehari which marks it as Pakistani/Muslim food (hindus don't cook or eat nehari) You'll also see the term zabihah or zabihah halal to describe the meat/food. Sorry, but what the guy at Usmania told you is rubbish - and Usmania is also a zabihah establishment. So is Tahoora.

Sukhadia, on the other hand, is Indian Gujarati & therefore its a veg place, unlike the above.

[This review refers to the downtown Chicago location]
A year ago, my wife posted in this thread about our first dinner experience at India House, which we thought was quite good, even if your paying extra more for locale than superior quality.
Well, I tried the lunch buffet this Saturday. It was one of the more disappointing Indian experiences I've had.

My biggest complaint was the total blandness of every dish. The mini-samosas were spiceless wads of potato in an undercooked pastry. The saag was full of canned corn, which added color (and filler), but diluted what little flavor and spice was there. Besides, I just don’t want corn in my saag. The mixed veggies, chickpeas, paneer Korma, fish masala, and chicken tikka were all colorful but bland. Not one dish even qualified as mildly spicy, and my heat index is about average. Most dishes were just overly sweet from too much cream and/or sugar. Maybe the biggest let-down was the lamb dish, which was ground lamb and peas stir-fried in what tasted like taco-bell seasoning stored in a jar that once held Indian spices. I'll concede that everything was rather greaseless, with fresh ingredients and a large quantity of different looking options. However, that quantity did not mean real variety, since 14 pans of blandness isn’t much different than 1. The one real positive note was the sizzling hot and moist Tandoori Chicken brought to the table.
Overall the taste experience had much in common with the soulless and sanitized KennyG-esque Bombay Muzak they were playing. It wasn’t worth the calorie intake, let alone the $15 price tag. I doubt my Indian tastes are that far off from those who’ve praised India House buffet, so maybe something has changed. Although, I did read a few reviews elsewhere that were consistent with my very bland experience.

I just don’t want corn in my saag.

I hate it when that happens.

Santander wrote:

I just don’t want corn in my saag.

I hate it when that happens.

It is however a very authentic North Indian dish and one that is very popular with Indians.

Sadly, India House buffet has declined a bit recently. A nice NW suburban buffet option can be found at the mostly Pakistani Paradise on Golf and Higgins. Sometimes they even include a decent Nehari.

Re: India House
Griffin / Kuhdo -
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Griffin, you are referring to Buffalo Grove Location?
Kuhdo - Schaumburg?
I work close to BG location, and haven't been in quite a while. Been thinking about revisiting.

My post above refers to the downtown Chicago location.

I have heard bad things about Khyber Pass at Columbus and Wacker, but I haven't been there myself yet, will let you know.
Eric

Athena wrote:
It [saag with corn] is however a very authentic North Indian dish and one that is very popular with Indians.

Funny, I almost made the accusation that the food was "non-Indian", but then thought better of it since I've had Indian at about 50 places in 6 countries, but never India. Although it seems a bit odd that the one of the only Indian places I've been to that caters mostly to non-Indians would be the only place serving a very authentic dish that is popular with Indians. Regardless, I'm not concerned with authenticity, but with flavor and I'm glad that this particular bit of authenticity isn't all that common in the West. I suspect that I might have had less objection to the corn, if the saag wasn't already lacking in character.

There's also a newly opened Indian restaurant east on Tuohy just past the old Grandmart called Tandoor. Might be a closer trek than Himalayan which used to be our old Niles standby when shopping at Super H-mart and Niles Costco runs. We think the chef at Himalayan has changed; I got a cryptic answer from one the waiters when I inquired once after noticing that the dishes were done differently, as well as the disappearance of certain others.

ericwfrost wrote:I have heard bad things about Khyber Pass at Columbus and Wacker, but I haven't been there myself yet, will let you know.
Eric

I haven't been to the Khyber Pass in the city, but I've been a regular visitor to their Oak Park (and I believe, original) location since it opened in the early-mid 90's. The buffet there is acceptable, though usually not great. I tend to pass on it unless the chicken makhani is offered, in which case it becomes a coin flip if I am particularly hungry.

Ordering from the menu always leaves me happy though, and while I have tried to work my way through it over the years there definitely are some dishes I come back to often, like the chicken makhani. The akbari dinner and tandoori mixed grill are 2 favorites for the variety of foods included.

My wife is Indian, and has been a regular visitor to Khyber Pass as well since early in our dating years. KP is one of her two favorites in the Chicago-land area, the other being New Delhi Restaurant in Schaumburg. Some of her particular favorites at Khyber Pass are the lamb tikka masala, the gosht tikka, and the keema naan, all of which I enjoy quite a bit as well. We both eat home-cooked Indian food quite often, but those dishes are especially loved by her because they are among the few that she has found to be prepared better than what she or her parents make.

Sukhadia is by far one of the worst places to eat...because of it's cleanliness. I've know a few family members that have worked there and they had nothing good to say about the fast food area of the store(and they weren't of the disgruntled kind when they left either). IMO, if you wanted "indian street food," go to Kamdar Plaza a few blocks west. The restaurant portion of the business is shared with the grocery store.

I guess the one good thing I could say about Sukhadia (i'm about to have a schizophrenic moment) is that their sweets are really good. If I am celebrating a special occasion, I don't think I would go anywhere else for them. My relatives did say that this is the one area of the business that take so much pride in that they are meticulous about it. It just pains me to hear about the two polar opposites.

If you want good Gujarti food, go to Rasoi in Melrose Park. The majority of their business is catering so they don't have much of a sit down area. I recommend getting it to go. The food is always spiced perfectly and well priced. I pick it up when I'm missing my mom's home cooking.

Sukhadia is by far one of the worst places to eat...because of it's cleanliness. I've know a few family members that have worked there and they had nothing good to say about the fast food area of the store(and they weren't of the disgruntled kind when they left either). IMO, if you wanted "indian street food," go to Kamdar Plaza a few blocks west. The restaurant portion of the business is shared with the grocery store.

I'll second this - personally Ive always preferred Kamdar to Sukhadia's for snacking as well. (OTOH, maybe its slight regional differences too...a friend who is now in SF and gets very good Indian-style snacks there still recalls Kamdar with great fondness because they think its more "Bombay-style" versions of the same snacks than those found in SF - thats probably my bias too.

I guess the one good thing I could say about Sukhadia (i'm about to have a schizophrenic moment) is that their sweets are really good. If I am celebrating a special occasion, I don't think I would go anywhere else for them.

Hm. What do you consider to be Sukhadia's best sweets, BTW? My fave spot was (by far) the dear-departed Ambala - IMHO the best ras malai and kaju katri and freshest jalebis in town. I dont really have a real replacement spot for those items yet - Tahoora can be a little hit-or-miss on them for one. I cant think of anywhere to find a fresh jalebi, unless youre really lucky and happen to wander in at exactly the right moment. Or even properly non-dry rasmalai's.

If you want good Gujarti food, go to Rasoi in Melrose Park. The majority of their business is catering so they don't have much of a sit down area. I recommend getting it to go. The food is always spiced perfectly and well priced. I pick it up when I'm missing my mom's home cooking.

Good to know, thanks! - zim and me were attempting to guess about this spot (with no first-hand knowledge of it) only a few days ago :-0 Do they actually have food everyday, being a catering spot? Much of a varied menu at all?

c8w

kuhdo wrote:Sadly, India House buffet has declined a bit recently. A nice NW suburban buffet option can be found at the mostly Pakistani Paradise on Golf and Higgins. Sometimes they even include a decent Nehari.

I had first posted about Paradise' buffet being maybe the best of its kind (ie heavily meat-oriented) in town a long time ago, when it first opened... had tried it then and it was great. However, zim's old theory of buffets being great at all *new* Indian restaurants for the first couple of months I thought had held true.. it wasnt quite as good the last time I tried it (sometime last year). But that was only a one-off sample, so YMMV.

OTOH, I just had what was to me the best Indian/Pakistani buffet Ive had in quite a while only this weekend. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was really really hungry at the time, and it fit my tastes remarkably well.. but it was quite excellent

Unfortunately Iam blanking on the name of the place at the moment... its the Kabab-restaurant that is in the spot that Khan BBQ used to occupy in their original incarnation. Devon Kabab, maybe? I'll try and check for the name.. its across the street from Hema's Kitchen, at the start of the block that also contains Usmaniya and Chopal.

Anyway. This is one of those meat-oriented places, sort of like Usmaniya, Sabri Nehari or Khan's (except they dont do buffets). It has not been open as long as the others, and they have recently started offering buffets only on weekends... starting Friday at 3pm (actually immediately post Friday-prayers), thru Saturday and Sunday for lunch and dinner IIRC. It is a heavily meat-oriented buffet (there were maybe a couple of veggie dishes, but I didnt try them and cant say what they were... one was a channa dish of some kind IIRC). What I did try was a sort of shami kabab.. not bad, slightly dry. Some samosas and rolls (which Iam sorry to say I also didnt try). A tandoori-masala chicken - which was very good (it was very fresh, just replished at about 8pm on Sunday night). There was a beef nehari, which was solid. A chicken-haleem (I love haleem, but not sure Ive had a chicken-haleem before!).. the chicken-haleem was actually quite excellent! There was a kadai-gosh kind of dish, which was also excellent (the goat was excellently cooked - this was probably my fave dish of the night, a little oily but quite outstanding, though admittedly the chicken-haleem surprised me with how much I enjoyed it). They also had paya, which I found well cooked but a little blander (in the gravy) than I like. Their naans are not at the buffet table - they are brought fresh and hot to your table when you ask for them (and they were good accompaniments). There was also a chicken biryani, which was solid.

For dessert they only had carrot-halwa I think.. I was stuffed by the end, having over-eaten substantially (in my completely altruistic desire to try all items for LTH-research purposes), but I still made myself have a couple of bites of it at the end, and thought it was quite solid as well. Overall a quite excellent buffet - they even had The Family Guy on the flatscreen!

When I was completely done with this excellent buffet, couldnt eat another bite (thats what happens when you have a combination of very very hungry, and an all-you-can-eat buffet featuring the Holy Trinity of Haleem, Nehari and Biryani, with bonus paya to top it off), and I staggered up and called for the check (of the princely sum of $6.99 plus tax)... the owner suggested I sit back down, because they were just about to replinish the buffet (at 9pm!) with what he claimed was one of their specialities, a very good freshly-prepared Chicken 65! Iam ashamed to admit that I actually turned him down - the first time in my life Ive turned down a Chicken 65 I think - because I really couldnt eat another bite.

How long this buffet is going to stay this good, I have no idea - zim's theory may well kick in sometime, as of this weekend they were excellent (and very busy - a group of about 10 walked in a little before I left, at 9pm-ish on a Sunday). I do hope to investigate again in the next couple of weeks, however, just to make sure, as well as to try and redeem myself for the Shameful Chicken 65 Incident.

c8w

c8w wrote:OTOH, I just had what was to me the best Indian/Pakistani buffet Ive had in quite a while only this weekend. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was really really hungry at the time, and it fit my tastes remarkably well.. but it was quite excellent

Unfortunately Iam blanking on the name of the place at the moment... its the Kabab-restaurant that is in the spot that Khan BBQ used to occupy in their original incarnation. Devon Kabab, maybe?

c8w,

Devon Bar-B-Q & Grill is in the old Khan space, sounds terrific, I'll certainly try soon.

Devon Bar-B-Q & Grill



Enjoy,
Gary

Devon Bar-B-Q & Grill
2262 W Devon
Chicago, IL 60659
773-508-4444

c8w wrote:Iam ashamed to admit that I actually turned him down - the first time in my life Ive turned down a Chicken 65 I think - because I really couldnt eat another bite.

Speaking of which, a couple of Sundays ago I had a fantastic Chicken 65 at Hyderabad House that would easily qualify for the "Best Thing You've Eaten Lately" thread. I've said in the past how much I like HH's C65, but this was just-made and in a class by itself. HH has really been firing on all cylinders for me of late.

Anyway, I recommend that the next Chicken 65 you don't eat should be at Hyderabad House.

a place called Chilli's Garden probably has some of the best indian food i've had in the city or suburbs. we usually order chicken curry and biriyani with garlic naans. i prefer their food to some of the more popular places on devon. they have a website up:

http://chillisgarden.com/

Chilli's garden
Indian Restaurant & Bar
8971 N. Potter Rd.
Des Plaines IL 60016
847-296-0777

its on the southest corner of potter and ballard. order the food spicey; everytime we have, its been delicious.

G Wiv wrote:

c8w wrote:OTOH, I just had what was to me the best Indian/Pakistani buffet Ive had in quite a while only this weekend.
Unfortunately Iam blanking on the name of the place at the moment... its the Kabab-restaurant that is in the spot that Khan BBQ used to occupy in their original incarnation. Devon Kabab, maybe?

c8w,

Devon Bar-B-Q & Grill is in the old Khan space, sounds terrific, I'll certainly try soon.
Devon Bar-B-Q & Grill
2262 W Devon
Chicago, IL 60659
773-508-4444

This is indeed the place- Devon BBQ, in the old Khan's spot.

Might modify my rave-review above slightly - tried it again Friday with some friends for the buffet, and it wasnt quite as great. But that was at least partly our fault, because we went at the worst possible buffet-time (about 5pm Friday evening - post-Friday-prayers, about 2-3pm is probably the best time to go, or else dinner Friday would have been good, we hit the time right in between when things werent at their best). Probably because of the time we went, food wasnt quite as good, and the items on the buffet were a little different too... no tandoori chicken, for example, only broasted chicken (Sunday night there had been both); no nehari (there was a chicken-gravy-dish instead, which was decent but not great); and no Chicken-Haleem. I tried a couple of the appetizers - the samosas were ok (but not as great as they would be when warm, at a different time), and they had some kind of Indian-spring-roll-concoction, which I found terrible (no meat, some cabbage-style stuff, no crispiness due to being on the steam-table for a while, ate only a quarter of it).

It was still decent overall - the matka-gosht (same as on Sunday night, verified it was matka-gosht, not kadai gosht) was good, broasted chicken fair etc. Once again we finished up, ate the dessert (gulab jamuns this time, decent again)... and then, closer to 6pm now, they were starting to replinish the buffet and the Chicken-Haleem made its appearance! None of us were hungry anymore, but on urging from the owner we tried a couple bites of it and it was very good again - there was much regret expressed by friends for having shown up at the wrong time, they all would have liked to have actually been hungry when the Haleem arrived

This remains a buffet I will try again soon - only next time I'll try and be sure to get there at either lunch-time or dinner-time, not smack-dab in between the two The meat-oriented dishes are still solid, they seem to rotate dishes and bring new stuff in often during meals, and at $6.99 for an AYCE it remains one of the better values around.

c8w

MBK wrote:a place called Chilli's Garden probably has some of the best indian food i've had in the city or suburbs. we usually order chicken curry and biriyani with garlic naans. i prefer their food to some of the more popular places on devon. they have a website up:

http://chillisgarden.com/

Thanks for the rec - Ive actually stopped in at Chilli's Garden before, but it was between meals (they were closed after lunch, and not yet open for dinner), and so only picked up a menu Its in the same spot where a Keralan-style restaurant used to be a while ago (might have had a similar name, but Chilli's is under different management and not very Keralan with its food anymore, only a couple of Keralan-style dishes on the menu. They did have a few intriguing items, however - Chicken Madras, a couple of unusual-ish Fish dishes etc). Ive ended up never actually eating at this place, mostly because when the mood for Indian-style food strikes when Iam in the area, my default-spot has been Tandoori Restaurant (which is round the corner, about a quarter mile away from Chilli's Garden).. or else Ive just headed for carryout at Malabar Catering (about a mile away). Its nice to hear a positive first-hand report on Chili's Garden though, I'll try and make it a point to stop here instead the next time in the area


c8w