Indian Food

We had heard great things about this place from friends and seen the reviews (""Best Indian Food In St Louis"" for 2007), so we finally stopped in on a Friday night. Indian Food is in a strip mall on Olive Blvd, surrounded by Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and even Japanese restaurants. The restaurant itself is simple, but immaculately clean and very pleasant. Having eaten at quite a few Indian places in Chicago, we immediately noticed that the short menu actually contained a few unusual items. We order the Alu Pakhora, a vegetarian entree of zucchini and the specialty of the house, nahari (ours was with lamb), as well as tea and a mango lhassi. The pakhora arrived quickly and was clearly hot from the pan: it was mildly flavored and filled with a creamy layer of potato. We enjoyed that with our drinks and some mixed pickle (I love pickles of all nations). The nahari consisted of chunks of very tender lamb (none of the usual gristle to fight with here) in an almost creamy currry topped with slices of fragrant lime. \r \r Our server turned out to be the owner, and he gave us a few words of explanation about each dish (urging us to squeeze the lime juice onto the nahari, for instance, to give it a better flavor). He and another fellow checked our table frequently, obviously concerned that everything was up to snuff. The nahari was delicious, as was our zucchini entree, which was a blend of clearly very fresh vegetables, sauteed simply with just a nice hint of aromatic spices. \r \r Dinner for two with all the extras was about $30 and I'd call it a very good value: fresh food, authentic flavors, and great service!\r \r Note: the other review of this place is so off the mark (Afghani restaurant?) as to make me think that the writer has confused this restaurant with some other place. Pros: authenticity, service Cons: ? more

Even though the restaurant is named ""Indian Food"" this is actually an Afghani restaurant. Or, so the owner/cook/waiter told me. The craziness began when we ordered our drinks and were looking over the menu. I ordered a coke. He brought me a Diet Coke. I said, ""I'm sorry, this is Diet."" He said, ""That is all we have, you drink it. Okay?"" No, not ok. :( Did he think I wouldn't notice? I went with the H2O. Then came ordering... We were presented with Menus... which apparently didn't have any of the dishes they were actually offering. Finally, after much guessing on our part the owner/cook/waiter told me they only had 2 dishes. Goat or Chicken? Chicken it was! The food was actually not bad. And the owner/cook/waiter was very nice, but it was truly a bizarre experience. I've never been to a restaurant that didn't serve ANYTHING on their menu. It makes me wonder why they bother to print them... or give them to customers. \r Overall, the name, the menu and pretty much everything was unrepresentative of what was actually there. So, I say go there only if you are very brave and don't mind someone else choosing what you will be eating. Or if you like goat... Pros: affordable Cons: Bizarre! more