Siri - Indian food in UIC Medical District

I was there for a weekend Buffet and was very pleasantly surprised. Usually I don't do buffets, but this place looks kinda unique. They have four separate open times; with different menus! Plus the dishes looked unique. I am a Vegetarian so I have no opinions on the meat stuff. But the veggie selections were really good. They had two South Indian and two North Indian options. The Southie stuff was very authentic and tasty. They had a Mango Dal (Khairi Daal from Hyderabad); that was outstanding; and the Sambar was Andhra style and tasty too. Plus I heard the Owner say that they change the menu for the buffet all the time; so I may end up going there more often just for that. The Biryani was pretty good too, unlike the Ghareeb Nawaz variety. They offer unlimited Naan, two desserts (the Mango Kulfi was good); but no Tea!

I have a feeling that I will be going to this place as often as Egg-O-Holic from now on. Between these and Kaybee on Division and Halsted; Devon may be out of rotation for me. I have not had the dinner menu here; but from the Buffet taste; I am very eager to try that too. Plus the breakfast looks tempting too; especially the Idly/Vada/Dosa that I grew up on!

To paraphrase Gary: SIRI- Count me a fan.

Breakfast
(Saturday- Sunday): 06:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Indian Street Food Nights
(Every Tuesday/Thursday) 06:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Monday - Sunday
Lunch Buffet. . . . . . . . .11:30 AM - 02:30 PM
Snack Time. . . . . . . . . . .02:30 PM - 05:30 PM
Dinner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .05:30 PM - 10:00 PM


Address: 1520 W. Taylor St Chicago, IL-60607
Phone:312-766-SIRI (7474)
Email: info@sirichicago.com
orders@sirichicago.com
https://sirichicago.com/gallery.php

Plus, it looks like there is another Siri in Wheeling. They may be related as the signage looks similar.

Edited to change Breakfast timing.

I hit up the Siri in Wheeling a few weeks ago - weekday lunch buffet. Pleasantly surprised as well. I plan to go back as soon as I can, but not around there frequently. Maybe once per month.

Thanks for the intel. I had tried the lunch buffet on the weekend and had a very enjoyable meal. I like Egg-o-holic but I always feel terrible eating it (way too rich) and a number of the dishes are kind of bland. Siri didn't make me feel that way and it is just west of our apartment making it our defacto best spot for the occasional Indian food craving without treking very far north.

The vegetarian dishes were better than the chicken options (tikka masala, tandoori and madras). I particularly liked their sambar, a very spicy and very good vegetable soup. In fact they do not hold back on the spice here, even during the buffet. Another highlight was some stir-fried cabbage, but I love cabbage and may be biased.

The biryani was very flavorful and I say that as someone that finds most very disappointing. A paneer curry was quite tasty, however, I still feel like every time I eat paneer I wish it were tofu but maybe that is just the East Asian in me (this is a joke, I am very white). The chutneys were kind of bad though.

Anyway, good stuff and reasonably priced for a buffet.

I'll add that the dosa and chaat nights--Tuesday and Thursday, respectively--are really great, albeit not for fans of seamless logistics. It's an AYCE setup: they set up a table back by the buffet line, and you choose from about five typical options (e.g., bhel puri, papadi chaat, samosa chaat on Chaat Night); a cook makes your order in front of you. Good stuff--maybe not the greatest chaat, but fresh and really great to eat a variety of them in one sitting. And watching the assembly is half the fun.

$10. Good deal. Fair warning: this is no longer a secret. With one cook working the chaat or dosa line, things back up quickly; waits, both for a table and to get food, can back up quite a bit during primetime. Our waiter recommended going before 6 or after 8:30.

Very-very busy on Tuesday eve. for Masala Dosa night.
When we exited- around 9pm- the line for the buffet- was at least 13 folks deep.
Extraordinary.
Truly tasty - but smallish Dosa's- with a super tasty warm Ginger-Chutney sauce-
and a very savory veg. Rasam as well.
Lots of Dosa fillings offered - I "invented" one-
Chili (chopped Jalapeno or Serrano's)
with the addition of cheese. Highly recommend it.
The Potato filling is quite good- and
I "borrowed" an "ask" from the two Indian guys ahead of me- in requesting The Dosa Maker-chop each Dosa in half- so I could share them later with my dining companions.
Between the 5 or 6 Internet Food Delivery Services entering and exiting-
the front door- these guys are super busy.

The Lunch buffet is always busy- too.
And if you are looking to meet a Doctor or a Medical Professional- this is your place to go-as it's patrons then, are a lot of folks with UIC or Rush name badges.

Hombre de Acero wrote:Very-very busy on Tuesday eve. for Masala Dosa night.
When we exited- around 9pm- the line for the buffet- was at least 13 folks deep.
Extraordinary.
Truly tasty - but smallish Dosa's- with a super tasty warm Ginger-Chutney sauce-
and a very savory veg. Rasam as well.
Lots of Dosa fillings offered - I "invented" one-
Chili (chopped Jalapeno or Serrano's)
with the addition of cheese. Highly recommend it.
The Potato filling is quite good- and
I "borrowed" an "ask" from the two Indian guys ahead of me- in requesting The Dosa Maker-chop each Dosa in half- so I could share them later with my dining companions.
Between the 5 or 6 Internet Food Delivery Services entering and exiting-
the front door- these guys are super busy.

The Lunch buffet is always busy- too.
And if you are looking to meet a Doctor or a Medical Professional- this is your place to go-as it's patrons then, are a lot of folks with UIC or Rush name badges.

Visited the Chicago Architecture Biennial. For us, disappointing from the previous two versions. IMO, a stretch that this was billed as an architecture event. We were ready to leave and thought an early dinner may be in order. Remembering Tuesday was dosa night, we headed over to Siri.

Arrived at around 5:45 and the place was quiet, but just about filled when we left. As mentioned above, a LOT of food delivery people in and out.

Really enjoyed the dosa's and agree with Randall on the winning ginger chutney. We were next to a table of 8 UIC students who did some serious damage with the dosas. Eight dosa's per person seemed to be the norm at that table and they started out larger, three per griddle. By the time my wife went up for a nutella dosa, the cook went to a bit smaller dosa, four at a time. A great deal at $11.99.

@AL- glad that you got to try "Dosa-Night" at Siri.
The food's constantly good- and their Dinner Menus-
offers a lot of items from
the south of INDIA- (Andhra Pradesh) as well as a few items served in Kerala.
Their Andhra Cashew Chicken Fry (Marinated diced chicken sauteed with cashew nuts, chilies and authentic Andhra spices.) from the A.P. region, on the appetizer menu is really quite tasty (& spicy- too!)

Make sure to try the Indian Street Food Night Special on Thursdays too!
Chaat Night
06:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Pani-Puri- etc....... for $9.99 each.