Recent stopped by Desi Dhaaba just because I've never been in there before. I knew it was a grocery store but I was surprised when I saw there was a whole Indian restaurant on the inside. I tried chicken 65, butter naan, and the mango lassi. The food was good and the chicken 65 had a good spice level. When ordering food just know everything will need to be purchase separately, such as rice, or naan, nothing comes with the entrees. There was no pricing listed anywhere on the menus so it's hard to see what anything cost. There was no togo menu. The server was able to answer a few of my question and the food came out with 7 mins once ordered. I took a lap around the grocery store to see what items they sell there. The seating is very limited, maybe enough to fit four family's. I would go back again to try a different curry. read more

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Fantastic food and owner! Definitely recommend this kitchen to satisfy your cravings! It's a little restaurant inside of a grocery store, but they sure pack a punch when it comes to their delightful cuisine. read more

To me, two stars means that I'm not actively shouting for people to avoid a place, but that I will recommend against going there if asked. Starting with presentation, they bring you your food in plastic or styrofoam to-go containers, even if you are dining in. The butter chicken, which should be finished with a ring of heavy cream, is just a hue of red on top. As for flavor: * The mango lassi tastes like "Dannon Fruit on the Bottom" yogurt, put through a blender. It tastes first of sugar, with a backdrop of mango. A good lassi should taste first of the distinctive fruit, then of the tangy yogurt, and finally have a light sweetness. * The goat biryani tastes heavily of cloves, almost to the point of numbing your tongue (if you have ever bitten into a whole clove, you know what I mean). * The butter chicken sauce is sooooo salty. While the chicken is nicely charred, it is also overcooked and dry. Eating it with rice (instead of naan) does help cut some of the saltiness, but even then the flavor is unimpressive. Having had a lot of very good Indian food, I was hoping to find Desi Dhaaba to be a little gem, but I was sorely disappointed. We are still on the lookout for a good Indian restaurant in the Lake County area. read more

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Cheap and good eats - very basic cafeteria style ambiance. Limited Menu so call ahead for menu. read more

we eat a lot of Indian food. There are times when it's been every single week of our lives. we lived in the Chicago area at that time. Eaten Indian food all over the country and all over the world.: it's possible that this is the best chicken biryani I've ever had. The butter chicken is great. Also the samosas are a little bit greasy. The mom is delightful with a beautiful smile. The girl at the counter is angry and bitter and hates people who are not Muslims. She cannot say "thank you" and she cannot say, "you're welcome" I don't get it. Sensational restaurant, but not when you really want to sit there with foam plates and plastic utensils but to take back your home, you're going to lose some of the flavor. If they actually opened up a restaurant, it would be hard to get in. That's how good it is by the way the menu is limited. They have a chalkboard menu for today's menu, which indicates they have no concept of marketing. You don't know it's available until you get there. so I have to go by the online menu. Because we take the food back to our home which is only 10 minutes away, the food is always cold. Aside from the fact that they have no competition in this community, the food is truly worth it. read more

The food was amazing. There's not one thing I ordered that I didn't love! Be open to trying new food and you'll enjoy! Butter chicken was moist and flavorful, the broth was yum even to spread it over rice. Mango lassi was delish. Twas a milkshake and smoothie combination, and it's healthy too. Make sure to brining cash for small orders of food. There's also a grocery store connected! Feels very home like inside. read more

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Best samosas in Chicagoland area. Make sure you call ahead and they fry them fresh for you. It is a party standard in our circles

This place was so amazing. The service was great, food was fantastic, and everyone was so friendly and welcoming. I always appreciate a good hole in the wall spot that has authentic dishes. 10/10 would recommend if you're in the area read more

Desi Dhaaba - pakork - Indian Near Me - Gurnee, Illinois

Decent indian food for our regular get together. The owner is nice and friendly too.love samosas from this place. Food wise fav is tawa fry and malai kofta and also paneer read more

We recently stopped here for lunch. This restaurant is small attached to an Indian grocery store. Our food was delicious Samosas butter chicken and goat rice dish. We will be back the ladies working there were friendly and this place is clean read more

The chicken biryani is such a value. I had to have at least 4 whole chicken thighs in my meal (it does have bone, you have to work. You will survive). The order could seriously serve 3 people. I wish they gave more sauce. The chicken was spicy and tender. The rice had just the right levels of saffron, masala, and garlic. The star though are those samosas. Flakey, perfect crust that wasn't too oily and a well mixed mix of veg. The spice sold it; daring with a good, but not overpowering heat. The best I've had on this continent. I'm not saying go in and get 3 for $3 but you wouldn't regret life if you did. If you get 4 feel free to bring me one. read more

Go for aloo puri, Choley puri on a weekemd from this place!! Brunch: Although small but good place with a room for improvement. I have been ordering Aloo puri and Choley Puri from their weekend special menu and they have never dissappointmented me. Although my motivation was shaken when I tried Paneer butter masala , Dal tadka ( order lunch). Lunch: Dal was no where close to actual dal tadka. It was watery and had almost nothing that claimed to be tadka. The othet paneer curry was also not great. As the paneet was really tight. My friend who prderd Chicken curry( i forgot the name) said that it was great though. As I am a vegeterian I cannot comment on its taste. Snacks: Bhel puri : Ok to good ( a littlr on sweet side) Aloo tikki Choley Chat: Ok( Aloo tilli was a little tight seemed reheated and frozen) Even after a bit of disappointment on the veg lunch and even snack. I likey exp of aloo puri and choley for brunch. Love the Aachar they give with it. Its worth a shot. read more

All staff needs training on customer service. They talk over you, don't let you even get your order out, then tell you all the cooks are busy and can not answer the phones for pick up orders. Then gives you multiple numbers to call which they don't answer and when you call the main line back had the audacity to tell me to be patient. I didn't even get to order any food. Then yells, "well what do you want?" I said my order and then stated, "they have nothing I want for the rest of the day", like wow! All that in 25 mins plus still no food read more

This place is legit! The food is spicy and outstanding. Plus the portions are huge. Definitely authentic! Check out the grocery store after ordering for some real gems read more

I had a craving so my step mom brought me some food from here. We tried a little bit of a few different dishes and it was all amazing. I'm not one to just hand out 5 stars, but tell everyone about this gem! read more

Strange mix of five star and one star reviews here. I think this is an A-OK place given what it is, a grocery store quick eats Indian joint. The chat, biryani, samosa, all competent and what I would expect from a place like this. It's maybe halfway between Milwaukee and Chicago so it's one of my choices to break up the drive. read more

Food was the only decent thing there, but wait, there's more. The location does not seem clean or organized at all. Their drink fridge was packed with other things including an egg carton on top of a pile of other stuff that aren't drinks. Dingy would honestly be an understatement. The customer service from the cashier herself was TERRIBLE. She had no name tag, but she's black with a heavy African accent. I approach the register with a smile and she's just staring at me with a dead expression. I brushed it off. Keep in mind that I have no experience with Indian food, so I politely asked her about some of the dishes to which she responds with no emotion at all and even looks me up and down twice. Brushed it off again. I asked her what a Simosa was and all she says is "vegetables", so I ask for more clarification on what it is exactly and she actually scoffs and says "it's a snack"...... I just drop it and finish up my order. I felt so uncomfortable after the interaction that I ended up just taking my food to go. The prices were also outrageous for the portions! Two small containers of curry, a bowl of rice, and a few pieces of garlic naan came up to $40. Their menu board didn't list any of the prices. I give their "restaurant" 2 stars for their flavorful food, but everything else lacked quality control and it's not worth it, in my honest opinion. No thanks. read more

Amazing Indian food! Goat Biryani is our favorite. Curries and naan are delicious also.

Because the business owner decided to leave a snide response in reply to my previous review, here are some follow-up points. - Greasy food is not my style; it is precisely why I gave your place a low rating (I'd mentioned the excessively oily puri in my original review) - Calling flavorless food home-style food is disrespecting millions of homecooks who can produce great flavors in smaller kitchens Maybe take a closer look at your food/hygiene/processes, benchmark against what other neighborhood places have to offer, and get some more honest/neutral feedback instead of trying to be smart with your replies? Best wishes! read more

Nice Indian restaurant (take away only) and grocery store. I tried their vegan meals and I loved every one of them. Four stars for the untidiness and no sitting area. read more

I've been eating at this place almost weekly for over a year and have never been disappointed. Pre-COVID the staff was always incredibly kind, during COVID the delivery is always expedient and the food is still consistently delicious. 12/10 would (and do) recommend. read more

The woman that I always order from is warm and helpful. The food is always good. No complaints

Authentic, very flavorful and delicious. I was happy it didn't take forever to prepare. I love that it's a grocery store also. So if you want to make your own Indian food- you can get the ingredients there too! read more

A dhaaba is a roadside restaurant in India that are situated right off of highways and generally serve local cuisine. This is definitely located just west of Skokie highway, but instead of local cuisine, they are open every single day to bring us Indian cuisine with an attached grocery store. My wife and I got their chicken biriyani, chicken 65, and roti to go. They have a simple menu that is relatively easy to follow. The prices are pretty low compared to other Indian restaurants nearby. It is a small location, that stands true to a dhaaba. They probably have 6-8 small tables, but instead of sitting and waiting, we decided to walk through their grocery store. By the time we were done catching up on our Indian grocery shopping, our food was already prepared and ready to go. Service was quick and efficient, and once home, we were impressed with their serving portion. Both the dishes has the right amount of spices, with the right amount of heat for us. For how quick the food came out, I was really surprised with how well these dishes were prepared. The chicken for both dishes were tender and infused with flavor. We are definitely looking forward to our next visit. For us, having an attached grocery store is what makes this place stand out. read more

Desi Dhaaba - Indian Near Me - Gurnee, Illinois

Awesome food, owners are super nice. I like that they make a variety of dishes each night and it's always different (plus the staples everyone loves.) I don't live that close, but make a point to go out of my way to get food from here! read more

Didn't get to taste their food. We ordered dinner around 11 AM via Grubhub. It said that the latest they could deliver dinner was 515 PM. We figured it was OK. We placed the order. I just received a notification from Grubhub that the order was unexpectedly cancelled by the restaurant. It's 455 PM. My wife called the restaurant and someone told her that they closed at 3 PM!!!??? They knew they had this order early today. The right thing to do was to call us to let us know of the order. No clue on what the food is like, but their service is definitely awful and have no regard for their customers. read more

Desi Dhaaba - Email from Grubhub - Indian Near Me - Gurnee, Illinois

It's a small place as a part of grocery store, we had veg thali which is a plate meal with 2 sides, choice of roti, rice and dessert for awesome price too. Also we ordered papdi chat. All were delicious and freshly made, this will be my go to place, if I am in these areas. I have already been there 3 times read more

Small place located beside a Indian grocery store. And it's recently opened. Vegetable cutlets, chicken 65 and sev puri were good...idli was just like homemade. We liked the food. But it's a very small place for families. You can't really sit and enjoy the food. It's better u take the food home and eat. read more

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We were searching for a great Indian restaurant and we found one! The chicken and the vegetarian samosas were amazing. Must try. The combo.platters are the way to go. Two dishes serves with rice, pita and a small dessert. The owner was very helpful in helping us decide what to order as well. read more

Fresh delicious homemade tasting food. Attached to the restaurant is a market with organic veggies and an array of organic spices. Will not disappoint!! read more

I called in  2 orders of butter chicken and naan bread. I went to check out and questioned if rice came with the dish? It did not, you have to pay separately for rice which is odd to me because you are selling a dish that is served with rice. I got home and saw the amount of oil just pooled up on the butter chicken. I called the restaurant and spoke with one of the girls and she informed me that butter chicken uses a lot of butter and that's what I'm seeing, and overuse of butter. That is true, you do use butter in the recipe but it should never be so much that you have pools of oil floating on top of the dish. From my perspective, it looks like overuse of actual oil. She said that I could come back in 30 minutes for a new batch that she's making but I have already made it home and the drive is 30 minutes in each direction for me. I think to charge $32 for greasy tasteless butter chicken and to charge extra for rice, not to mention the amount of naan bread is an actual joke! The naan was cut really odd as well and it was tasteless. I would have loved to leave a great review! P.S. we are still in a pandemic, not one person had a mask on and the women in the kitchen cooking didn't wear them either. This business is lacking standards. read more

I went to Desi Dhaaba for the first time finally and was really excited to try it. Indian cuisine is one of my favorites and Ive been to many local Indian restaurants as well. I did carry out vs. dine in and the interaction with the person who took my order was very nice, she explained the menu and was really helpful. The food: I ordered the Butter Chicken lunch special (butter chicken in a medium sized plastic deli-like container), a small side of white rice, and 2 pieces of garlic naan. The rice was warm and as expected but the butter chicken wasnt warm, more like room temperature. (that worried me seeing I only had a 5 min drive back to work) The butter chicken was ok. Not bad, but I've had better. The garlic naan was a big disappointment. I LOVE garlic naan and its usually so soft and warm! The garlic naan here is soft and warm....but ONLY on 1 side and then like a rock on the other. I couldnt believe I had to put effort into tearing it apart. Out of all 6 of my cut up pieces only 1 was soft on both sides. Ive never run into that issue anywhere else. It was like it was burnt. The price was a bit expensive. $17+ for 1 meal that consisted of 2 plastic deli like containers (one rice/small + one butter chicken/medium ) and 2 pieces of garlic naan should never have been that expensive. I really wish it was better because its just so close to my work! read more

We went with less expectations! But the best choice we have made... my personal favorites are chicken 65 and Salt Lassi! read more

Desi Dhaaba - Salt Lassi! - Indian Near Me - Gurnee, Illinois

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Not tasty food plus tooo much oil on plate so I won't suggest this place plus I realised that grocerry is also not fresh here so I stopped buying from them.If you return something which is not good then they show attitude on face so don't go this place read more

Not too happy with this place. They over charge way too much for everything on the menu. $1.29 for naan. You would think it's one of those long gourmet naans. This place cuts regular naan into tiny triangles to make it seem like it's more (3 pieces equal 1 naan I was told). So essentially I paid for 4 naans but got 2 and a half. I appreciate small businesses trying to make it but this is not right. Charge a fair amount and maybe you'll get more business. read more

Great home cooked food - straight up no frills. Samosas are awesome app to start. Have catered once and eaten couple of times. Only thing is a downer is the garlic naan we had once other than that everything has been a hit read more

Mmmmmmm authentic Indian food in Waukegan. A reclusive little sit down area inside of the Desi grocery store hides some great tasting tradition. There's only a handful of tables and if you're equally reclusive well, they have takeout too. You can't miss either way. The butter chicken was delicious, portion felt appetizer small but with everything else we ordered, it didn't matter much. The wait can be long at times so having a good conversationalist to wait it out (and assist with eating) is a good idea, unless you don't like to share. Don't be stingy, these flavors are definitely meant to be shared. read more

Best Biryani after a long time... I am from hyderabad and I can say this place serves best Biryani. For me if someone can make such a great Biryani, other dishes will also taste yummy. Karahi chicken was also superb. read more

Really lovely staff and the food was pretty good. I think one of the best around here. Not sure why bad reviews, food is authentic and tasty and perfectly priced. One of the dish didn't taste well, they felt so bad about it and gave us desired drinks free. They serve really fresh hot rotis(bread). The biryanis are really good, and their veg curries were so tasty. One mix veg was very oily but so so delicious. I'm health conscious so wouldn't eat everyday but once in a while I would definitely go here! read more

Fantastic food with extraordinarily friendly and patient people. Came with 8 little kids and they were accommodating and friendly. Food is amazing and they're happy to help you know what each item is. Will be back for sure. Try something new and eat here! read more