Best Indian food I've had. A taste of India used to be my go to for Indian, but this is just as good maybe better

This place HAD amazingly good Chicken Tikka, but changed the menu item to Chicken Sizzler which tastes completely different, in a bad way. Please change it back!! read more

Disappointed in the changes made in the last few months :( my favorite dishes are not even recognizable. The chicken korma has almost no flavor at all. They took out the depth of flavor and cashews (one of my favorite parts). The rice also has no flavor now. The naan feels thinner. The samosa is completely different and seems way less quality. Couldn't finish the samosa. Really a shame. Sad to likely not return :( read more

I am so sad. I've loved this place since it originally opened in Coralville. We haven't ordered for a few months and we're surprised by the changes in the food. The rice has no flavor or peas. The chicken tikka masala is brown with a gritty sauce. I couldn't decide what it's weird flavor was until my child announced that it tastes like a packet of Kraft Mac and cheese powder was put in it. I will be looking for a new spot for Indian food. read more

From someone who's been to India and has a good base of Indian food from living in Los Angeles - I will say this is a decent spot for Iowa City. Masala is also very good as is the buffet next to Englert Theatre; but when it was snowing and I wanted somewhere quick on the west side, I saw they had their own website so I placed a to go order. The butter chicken was very good. The sauce was authentic, although the consistency was a little watery. The rice it came with was very fresh. The standout was the chicken Mommo appetizer, which looks like an Japanese/Asian dumpling, but it's traditional to North Indian and Nepalese cuisine. Overall the portion of chicken with rice, the dumpling and an order or roti was $30. Could have been cheaper but fed 3 people even though it's an American portion of 1. The roti was not good. I'd try the naan next time. Hence the 4 stars and the butter chicken sauce was too watery like a soup. read more

Exotic India is a gem living in Coralville. Open daily for both lunch and dinner Exotic India offers up all the classics for dine in, carry out or delivery (via the Yelp app)! I ordered delivery one Thursday evening and got the chicken tikka masala (spicy) and butter chicken (medium spicy) as well as a duo of vegetarian samosas and some naan. Food came on time and freshly made, it was piping hot! The spice level was appropriate on the two main entrees I ordered-- though I may go spicer on the butter chicken next time. I was delighted by the samosas. Divine. Compared to other Indian must-haves in the area, I think the pricing is a bit steep for the amount of food you get. Exotic India is mouth wateringly good! I can't wait to try more on their menu. read more

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Soooo sad! We have faithfully eaten here for years and tonight, every recipe was changed and it is terrible. The Chicken Tikka Masala was brown instead of orange and the awesome white rice doesn't even have the little peas in it. Crushed. Sure hope this isn't the new norm... read more

Exotic India - Chicken Tikka Masala?! - Indian Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

Great food, service has been good the times I've gone, and I do feel like you get good portions for the price. I'd check this place out if enjoy Indian food or want to try it for the first time! read more

First of all, we went expecting an Indian buffet as some comments indicated, but just like Haveli's there was no buffet and no sign of one on other days. We are vegetarians and eat lots of Indian food. What we ordered was quite good. We had a veg biryani, fancy dal, a vegetable curry with nuts in the sauce, and butter naan. Everything was very good and of course we spent way more than we would of at a good Indian buffet. I think this place is way better than the places in downtown Iowa City but in truth since I never thought much of them we haven't been to them in years. If you are headed to the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids from the south, Exotic India is right on the way. I think Bawarchi in W. Des Moines has the same level of quality of food, but they have a buffet. But we weren't in Des Moines so no use thinking about what if...... BTW the quantity of food was astounding, and I even got a take home tray, something I never, ever do. Most people who eat Indian vegetarian food think of dal as a rather thin soup eaten with rice. Not here! The dal was thick, had different legumes, and was very tasty! read more

I'm still thinking about our takeout from Exotic India in Coralville! We got Karahi with chicken⁣, Punjabi Bhaji, Exotic platter⁣, and Paneer stuffed naan⁣. Was super difficult to choose a favorite because everything was so good! I got the Punjabi Bhaji and it would be difficult to not get again but we're excited to go back and try more! We got medium spice and felt it was perfect. There is not much better than fresh naan either. It was very easy to order as takeout and our food was ready right at the quoted time despite it looking pretty busy in there when we picked up. read more

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Great food, carry out time was a little longer than expected but nothing crazy, I got the signature chicken exotic dish and it was so good!

Oh. My. God. I love this place! Very home-y feeling and the server was a great guy! So delicious I can't even put it into words! If you can get past the sketchy location you will be rewarded greatly! We will be back again. And again. And again for sure! Attached photos should be labeled. read more

Exotic India - Paneer Stuffed Naan Bread and Meat Samosa - Indian Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

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I ordered the Chicken tikka masala and Vegetable samosas, Basic? Yes. But that means I know a good tikka masala, and a good samosa. First thing's first the tikka masala wasn't Bad, but there is better out there. I had to season it a little bit at home which is okay, that just means it lacks a little flavor. Another thing to note; there is chunks of onion/tomato and Red bell pepper? I believe. Most sauces get pured in a blender and simmered without the vegetable chunks, so if you're a texture person this might not be for you. NOWWW for the Samosas. I was a little disappointed because the samosa is my favorite part of the meal, it has the crispy but soft shell with seasoned potato and pea's.. That wasn't the case Here. :( Unfortunately this place doesn't use traditional samosa wraps they use egg roll wraps & you can taste the difference. If you enjoy egg rolls, you have a higher chance of not minding these. However the potato and pea didn't have much flavor, the chutneys were okay. read more

Exotic India - Veggie samosa potato and pea - Indian Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

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Monday night in Coralville, IA. Had to work late, and restaurants started closing around 9, and I was extremely hungry. Found this place after looking at seven or eight places that were closed or closing. Walked in and got a table (eating alone sucks, but hey, this is a business trip.) Ordered the Aloo Chat for an appetizer- holy crap that was good. Asked the server for a recommendation and he suggested the Karachi, or something like that. Asked if I like it spicy-got the Medium + level. Ok. That is spicy! But so good!! Super happy I came here!! read more

Exotic India - Aloo Chat appetizer! Holy smokes this is good! - Indian Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

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They're the best Indian food in town. Yes their pickup time was off by 30min. But after trying multiple Indian places in town, this tastes the best and the pricing is *chefs kiss*. So I still love you, exotic india. read more

Outstanding service and food. While the waiter had many tables, he still continued to pour water and our order was delicious and accurate. We got the tikka Masala and butter chicken. I will say each entree really does feed two people. It comes with rice. We also ordered vegetarian samosas for an appetizer. Overall, a wonderful experience with amazing spacing. There's a chance you may need to wait as they do spacing and bring you a bottle of hand sanitizer. read more

Exotic India - Rice and tikka masala (in the bowl) - Indian Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

First time eating here. My sister recommended this place. AAAAND HOLY CRAP! ITS SOOOO GOOD! I was an Indian food virgin bc I hang out with picky eaters, but I had an hour to kill. The butter chicken was phenomenal read more

The food is absolutely wonderful. The garlic Naan is so tasty and the spinach paneer is a fav too. But the best tikka masala I've ever had is at this restaurant! Exotic India is my fav place in town. read more

Exotic India is where my love for Indian Food began. The buffet typically features a soup option, tandorri chicken, another meat curry, along with three or four vegetarian dishes. There's also an appetizer available, along with a small selection of cold items. On my most recent visit, it was rice pudding, lettuce salad, chutneys, and aloo chat, a combination of marinated potatoes, chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, all in a dressing. There was also a warm dessert available,a sweetened carrot dish. You also get a basket of freshly-baked naan; its not on the buffet line itself. For dinner, individuals curries are available, but I highly recommend the "dinner thali". The vegetarian variant includes a veggie dish of your choice and either matar paneer or saag panner. You also get naan, dal, rice, raita, salad, and your choice of rice pudding or gulab jamun. The non-vegetarian variant allows you to pick either chicken or lamb curry, along with your choice of a meat curry. $15.99 for the vegetarian option, $17.99 for the meat option. Its plenty to eat. All dishes are well-seasoned and are obviously made by someone trained in the art of preparing Indian food. I highly recommend this restaurant and am sorry to say I probably won't be visiting any of the other area Indian restaurants. read more

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Amazing food and authentic! Food. Made my order quick since I was on a road trip. Thank you for the service read more

I'll start by saying that I used to live in Berkeley where Indian food is almost on every block and if you're not at the top of your cooking game, you don't stay in business very long. So I became a bit of an Indian food foodie having so many great restaurants to choose from. Well, little did I expect to find a restaurant on par with some of my favorites right here in Iowa! I wish it wasn't Covid time and they had their buffet up and running as I'd love to sample more of their delicacies, but in the meanwhile it's a couple of dishes at a time as we waltz more slowly through the menu. We order take out about every 3 weeks since finding it. They ask if you want mild or medium (never hot) and so at first I just said "medium" as I figured maybe inquiring about "hot" would be a mouth burner. But I found that their "medium" was pretty mild for my taste buds. Now I say "medium hot". Having returned to Iowa a year ago after a long time away, I believe this is regional taste thing as I've ordered medium salsas in Hispanic restaurants that had little heat at all. Now I get the hot. Some day this might prove a wrong hypothesis and I'll be crying as my taste buds dissolve in scoville flames. But so far, it's been pretty on point for my West Coast heat tolerance. Anyway, back to Exotic India. Go there. Get food. You'll love it. Some of my (so far) favs are Matar Paneer, Saag Paneer, Lamb Biryani, Exotic Curry. read more

It was a mixed experience for us. We ordered a Samosa chaat for appetizers, Lamb biriyani, Butter Chicken, garlic Naan and Paneer Jalfrezi for our main course. Samosa Chaat was bland and tasteless, especially after adding the yogurt and watery chutneys. The Lamb Biriyani was flavorful and it had a good amount of meat compared to other Indian places around (according to my boyfriend), though not sure if I would call it Biriyani, it was more like well flavored masala rice. The Butter Chicken was the saving grace, I could see and smell a thick layer of Butter on top of the gravy but a little on the sweeter side. Thr garlic Naan was kinda okay, slightly thicker, chewy and with a very mild hint of garlic. Paneer Jalfrezi lacked flavor, we struggled to eat it honestly. It tasted nothing like a Jalfrezi gravy, I wouldn't suggest ordering it. read more

The food is always delicious and the service the same. I moved to the Minneapolis area years ago but I always stop by here when I am in town. Never disappointed!! Love the food and the folks there. And try their mango lassi's! So so good! read more

This is based solely on the service, or lack thereof, because we did not actually get to eat. I Read a review on here about how they were open later and the food was great. Got there at 8:55pm & they are open until 9:30 on Sunday. We were told that they would not seat us, that we could only order to go. Carry-out only when you are open? Huh? So,, what time would we have to be there to get a table- because that's the time you actually close. You turn away customers and they may never return. read more

Oh no. Back in Iowa City for Graduation weekend, we looked forward to lunch at Exotic India with friends. Arriving on a Friday at 12:30, the place was empty. That should have turned me around. Second, no buffet. Folks, we're way past the pandemic. Why no buffet? Ok, so we'll order off the menu. Vegetable pekora was a nice mix of cauliflower, squash and mushrooms coming out of the fryer crisp and light. Tamarind and mint chutneys on the side were fresh and balanced. Saag Paneer and dal makani were fine. They were accompanied by yesterday's rice microwaved (this you can tell when the rice is more beige than white, has a chewy texture and some translucent lumps. No steam or fluff. Yuck! Chile chicken was unmistakably reheated leftover tandoori chicken with a sauce added. Double yuck. I'm sad to see this generally good restaurant serving what should never come out of the kitchen to a long time regular. Note to self- when a place is empty during prime dining hours, there's a reason. read more

The first three times we drove by this place, we thought it said Erotic India and while we quickly realized our mistake, our visit was absolutely amazing. We'd been searching for a good Indian spot and this is officially our place. We started with the exotic naan and simply said, it was incredible. I found myself wishing my mouth was larger so I could have more in at one time. Great with the cilantro sauce. For a main dish we had the mango curry and the Kharahi and both were delightful. Served over the Basmati rice, it was delectable. The flavors were just right and the 3 and 4 stars of hotness we had were masterfully done. Heat, but with flavor, just like Mama makes....if you're mom is from India or works here. The Chai was really good and complimented the meal very well. The only improvement would be making it $5 and having it be an unlimited refill Chai! The waiters were great, very attentive, but not there too much. The made great recommendations and were very friendly. Bottom line: We'll be taking friends here in the near future. It rivals some of the better Indian food I've had on this half of the country and is a definite must try! read more

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This place is beyond amazing I recommend the panned tikki masala or the paneer mango curry! Super friendly staff and very covid compliant and cleanly. Very flavorful food! read more

So good!! Help could not be nore friendly - Placed take away order - arrived a little early - they hand delivered to my car! Food was fresh, flavorful and exactly what I ordered. Definitely will get my return business! read more

Yummmmm!! I love this place! It's a bit hidden, but well worth a stop by! I am a huge fan of their curries. I have ordered a few! Their chicken is extremely delicious in curries, so tender! And thepaneer is also good. I order butter chicken usually because it is sooo good. I also love their kormas. Also delicious! Naan is up to par! All curries come with basmati rice. What to try: paneer anything! Water review: 6/10 read more

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I love trying ethnic foods and the indian food I've experienced, I've liked, for the most part. I really like the idea of having a buffet so I can sample lots of different things and not commit to one thing I may or may not like, which is why we went here. Coralville doesn't haven't a ton of options anyway so to find indian food in the middle of Iowa and for it to actually be good, that deserves a few stars all on its own. The outside looks a lot scarier than the inside. The decor is fairly nice and the food was quite yummy. There weren't a ton of choices on the buffet, it's one line, but there were plenty of things to try out and we didn't leave hungry. read more

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Very friendly servers and the best naan and chicken tikka masala I've had across the the country. A routine stop for my wife and I each month. Highly recommend! read more

Went in and my whole party ordered butter chicken, mango curry, chicken biriyani, ice masala chai. The butter chicken was the worst dish we ordered, the sauce tasted really funny and the chicken felt like salmon. The water had a very funky and disgusting after taste, the best way I could describe it is it tastes like old pasta water. The roti was too burnt and crunchy. Other than that the place was very good read more

This place is located in the same plaza as Tabooleh and right next to a Mexican restaurant. They have lunch buffet everyday until 2 pm for $9.99, they also give you a side of fresh naan bread too! You can also order from their menu, which is what I did. I ordered butter chicken and it was really good and flavorful. I also ordered the garlic naan bread (there are several different flavors you can choose from). Both were a good sized portion. I really liked their mango lassi as well! read more

The buffet food was very bland/ The spicy chutney wasn't spicy, the tangy chutney wasn't tangy! I let the staff know and they said that the food in the buffet is kept bland on purpose and that we should order from the menu if we want (which was food with some taste). The selection of dishes is very limited as well. On the plus side, the service was fast, the food was refilled quickly and they have decent WiFi. read more

Exotic India - Buffet food - Indian Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

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Divine. The bhindi masala might as well be added to my "last meal" list. My husband had the saag with tofu, medium spice, and said it was too spicy. Depending on your preference and familiarity with Indian spices, it might be good to start out with the mild on your first trip. The naan was beautiful and light, and the basmati perfect. My only complaint was that we had empty water glasses. read more

Exotic India - Bhindi masala - Indian Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

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An outstanding Indian restaurant. The mixed grill meat was carefully grilled, juicy and fresh tasting. I love the creamy hot tomato curry. Freah warm naan and fluffy white rice round the meal out. Modest prices provide excellent value; most main dishes are around $10-15. The buffet seems to be down for the Covid period. read more

Don't let the first look turn you away. We tried the Butter Chicken, Gobi and Naan with garlic. We left stuffed and with "to go" containers. Service was excellent as well. We couldn't believe how many take out orders came through as we sat and ate. read more

The best Indian food I've ever had! Best in Iowa City for sure!!! Malai kofta, chicken tikka Marsala, butter chicken, vegetable manchurian and vegetable samosas! Can't go wrong! We love this place so much l! read more

My in-laws previously lived in England and enjoyed Indian food while living over there - now living in the CR-IC area they were wanting to find a good Indian restaurant. I was recommended to try out Exotic India. Pulling up the the restaurant I was a little nervous - very outdated on the outside. Walking into the restaurant it was also pretty simple. We took our seats and appreciated the social distancing of patrons! They appeared to be short staffed as there was one gentleman taking orders and brining out the food, thus service was a little slow. We went with samosas veggie and meat - absolutely amazing - crispy and flavorful! For dinner by in-laws each had a different curry, my husband also tried curry with lamb for the first time, and I went with tandoori chicken. Everyone's meals were very good - great portions and the naan bread was delightful as well! We concluded we would definitely come back! read more

Exotic India - Half-Tandoori Chicken - Indian Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

Delicious food and very friendly staff! The samosas are massive and absolutely packed with flavor and their chicken korma is creamy and flavorful. I also love their rasmalai which is sweet and nutty. I would definitely recommend this place to any and all Indian food lovers read more