I don't think the N Clark Hema's is much better. We ordered delivery from them a month ago and it was terrible.

dfawley wrote: I lip-read a fellow diner from across the room saying "God Damn It!" after receiving their, (I'm speculating) incomplete order..

My husband and I had a similar experience tonight dining at Bhabi's Kitchen. I was saying the same thing. When we are hungry for Indian, Bhabi's is the place we go to, so we've been there many times. One thing that has been consistent through our visits is that his wife almost always forgets to bring us our rice (plain rice! It shouldn't be so difficult). We eat rice with our entrees because of all the sauce, so to us, its a main ingredient in our meals at Bhabi's. Needless to say, by the time we get our rice, our food is either cold or gone because waiting ten minutes after your food is delivered to your table to get your rice is ridiculous. They hardly ever come out of the kitchen so it makes it difficult to even bring it to their attention. Tonight we even tried a different approach by ordering the rice first before we told her which entrees we wanted, but it still didn't do any good. It's become a running joke everytime we go there. If the food wasn't so good we probably would have stopped going a long time ago -- however, this was our first visit post-Check, Please.

dfawley wrote:This restaurant is a prime example of the "Check Please" effect: a formally good restaurant gets featured on "Check Please" whereupon the increased traffic overwhelms the capabilities of the restaurant..

I don't think the staff at Bhabi's can handle to amount of traffic they are getting. Tonight was a good example of that. Over half of the tables were full by 5:30pm, which we have never seen before - usually we are the only ones there! A few tables were full of diners who, you could tell, have never even eaten Indian before so Bhabi was taking extra time explaining his ingredients, ect., as I'm sure many of you have heard if you've ever dined here. It's great that he does that, but not when people have been sitting for a while, waiting for someone to take their order. Bhabi seemed a little more stressed than usual tonight, not his normal happy self. They just need some more staff.

dfawley wrote:They first need to fire the blissed-out teenager. Then they need to either hire a consultant or simply invest some money and time to increase their capacity without sacrificing quality or else others, like myself, will never go back.

Speaking of the teenager, he was clearing our table and the only thing left on it was the tablespoon that was used for the rice. He asked us if it was ok if he could take the spoon after he had taken everything else, even the entree dishes with food still in it -- you'd think he'd ask if its ok to take that instead of a spoon!

Unfortunately we probably won't be going back to Bhabi's for quite a while. As good as Check, Please can be for businesses, I think it can also ruin smaller businesses who can't handle the crowds. If your food is lacking in flavor and you keep hungry people waiting, no one will come back and the word will get out. Although they have some of the best vegetable samosas I've ever had, its not enough for me to go sit and wait and wait and wait. Our entrees tonight were just ok, and we've never had 'just ok' at Bhabi's, we've always left very happy. We ordered the Chicken Masala and the Aloo Palak, which was very tasteless and disappointing, I had to salt it, and I rarely salt food. The naan was wonderful as always, but still not enough for us to go back anytime soon. Hopefully they hire more staff and get it together, but in the meantime, we'll be going back to Viceroy!

Okay - I wanted to revive an old post to get some feedback on any recent Bhabi's Kitchen experiences. I went a couple of years ago with some friends and everyone loved it. But since then, I've been trying some other joints along Devon. My sister and brother-in-law are coming in town from Mexico City and we have quite the restaurant itinerary planned. They want Indian one night, and I'm struggling with this one (they are drinkers so that leaves out Chopal and Usmania). I'm considering returning to Bhabi's (or possibly Tiffin), but would love to hear some recent experiences. By the way..... my sister wants tandoori chicken - so a room full of gringos isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Bhabi's long ago fell of my preferred list due to a huge disparity in price quality. What once used to be a quaint, hole-in-the-wall, value-priced place that served up some homey food is now a crowded, overpriced, clunky operation.

If you're set on drinking and don't mind vegetarian, I'd recommend BYO at Mysore Woodlands. I've always had a flavorful, hearty meal there and they had no problem with BYO.

Best,
Michael

Mysore Woodlands
2548 W. Devon Ave.
Chicago, IL
773.338.8160

Michael:

Thanks for the feedback. Is Mysore Woodlands veggie only? I got some meat eaters coming to town.

thanks,

rmtraut

rmtraut wrote:Thanks for the feedback. Is Mysore Woodlands veggie only? I got some meat eaters coming to town.

It is totally vegetarian with a southern-Indian focus. I wouldn't let that immediately disqualify it. My wife and I are unabashed carnivores and often find ourselves gravitating toward Mysore when we're on Devon. A meal there is rich, flavorful, and satisfying--I never miss meat there. Plus, there are very few BYOs on Devon which makes it all the more attractive.

Dosa, uthappam, soups, curries, breads, and a large variety of (deep-fried) appetizers--there's a lot of variety to choose from.

Menu is online here

Best,
Michael

Service was admittedly terrible this weekend, but I cannot gainsay the quality of the food at Bhabi's. Both the beef and vegetarian samosas are homemade standouts, with real pulpy tamarind and spicy cilantro sauces, and I love their fried chicken and vegetable patties with garlic-yogurt dressing. They make one of the best okras I've had in the city, and Syed had the kitchen make up a special bagarey that had eggplant, chickpeas, and bell pepper, combining three menu items, for the Pakistani couple with whom we were dining. Smooth, ungreasy, beautiful with the excellent breads (particularly the onion / garlic / jalapeno pepper naan).

They've just knocked into an additional room to the south, and he's considering knocking through into the north as well for additional kitchen space and staff (which is needed badly). Aside from a few visits from Syed, every other staff interaction was extremely poor; they were harried, took forever to seat us and take our order, and did not understand special requests or even basic questions. Still, we were there for three hours and at the end of the meal Syed came to sit with us and personally wrapped up the leftovers with a few extras from the kitchen. If you can go off-hours, I still highly recommend Bhabi's. I think they make the best breads on the street, and would love to hear anyone's take on who makes better handmade meat samosas.

Yes, Bhabi's consistently has by far the best naan bread offerings in and around Devon Avenue - no place else is close. I also think their food is pretty good, but clearly overpriced compared to similar offerings within walking distance.

I also find it somewhat amusing that Bhabi's gets roundly criticized for trying to market itself to the non-Indian/Pakistani/Etc. thereby somehow being labeled "inauthentic". You have to give them credit for branching out to try and accomodate tastes of their non-obvious client base and introduce this wonderful type of food to more people.

Also, I know some places may have religious reasons for not being BYOB, but, again, you must give credit to Bhabi's for breaking through and allowing BYOB which is a really big plus in my book.

Bster

My wife was a big fan of Bhabi's, so that's where we went. Our last trip up, I coaxed her into trying Khan's, and now there's no turning back. Even if she doesn't eat any of the meat there, she much prefers Khan's ghee-soaked vegetable dishes and naan.

Bhabi's was one of the first places I'd read about on LTH, and intrigued me, so when we decided to go down to Rogers Park (for a show at Uncommon Ground that turned out to be sold out), that's what I chose.

Alas, it is no more.

They looked open from the street, but the place is emptied out, and the owner was in the doorway.

We asked where he'd recommend going, and he said "Hema's Kitchen is the first place after us," so we went down the street a couple blocks.
(more on the Hema's thread)

JoelF wrote:Bhabi's was one of the first places I'd read about on LTH, and intrigued me, so when we decided to go down to Rogers Park (for a show at Uncommon Ground that turned out to be sold out), that's what I chose.

Alas, it is no more.

They looked open from the street, but the place is emptied out, and the owner was in the doorway.

We asked where he'd recommend going, and he said "Hema's Kitchen is the first place after us," so we went down the street a couple blocks.
(more on the Hema's thread)

This is bad news. For a Pakistani family with whom I'm close, this was as near to home cooking as they could find in the city, and having enjoyed some special dishes with them, I can vouch that this restaurant was capable of putting out some richly savory items to accompany their well-lauded bread offerings. I'm especially surprised since the had just knocked into an additional dining space last year. Hema's and Khan's will be my consolation.

D'oh -- I forgot to mention that the owner said he hopes to open a new restaurant in the Andersonville neighborhood.

Hi,

I have a friend who knows the owners very well, she advised, "Mr. Sayeed lost his lease and is looking for a new location. Iin the meantime the cook ( his wife), Bhabi, is offering catering services. She can prepare and delivery anything from small lunches at an office to large parties. and be reached at 773 260 2815."

Regards,