This place had some highs and lows. It took a while for someone to acknowledge us and take our…read moreorder at the front, which wasn't the best first impression. The food had good flavor, but it was much greasier than I'm used to for this cuisine. I also felt the portions could have been a bit larger considering the price, as it seemed expensive for what was served.

Amazing place for your Indian cravings. First time visiting Houston, and we got the paneer butter…read moremasala, side of rice, garlic naan, and crispy manchurian. Everything was wonderful. We went home and ate the leftovers for dinner. Inside the service is also pretty good. Nice people, warm and welcoming atmosphere. The tables were pretty clean and we didn't need a ressy to dine in. Would definitely try other items on their menu next time we visit.

This is a FANTASTIC restaurant!! J and I were so excited to check it out for a Friday happy hour…read moreafter hearing about it from some friends. I was particularly interested by the Indian fusion concept. We arrived right at the start of Happy Hour on a Friday evening. We were surprised to be the only diners there - though I will say, this is a difficult spot to access! Driving here involved quite a few u-turns. There's some parking available right next to the restaurant, which has a patio . The inside is spacious with ample seating - high tops and regular tables. A host quickly seated us, and our server explained the happy hour and regular menu to us. We decided on the paratha smash burger, spaghetti bolognese, and for drinks the lusty monk and mango uncensored. Our drinks came first - we thoroughly enjoyed the lusty monk which was essentially a spiced margarita. The mango uncensored was more of a miss - it tasted nice but seemed a bit bland for a full-price cocktail. It comes with a small piece of mango sweet on top of the ice cube which didn't do much for me. Now the food - which was fantastic. The standout here was the paratha smash burger - I've never tried a paratha burger and I absolutely loved it!! The meat was seasoned very well and I loved the onion and cheese pairing as well. The paratha was buttery and went so nicely with the rest of the ingredients. The masala fries were crisp and made a lovely pairing with the chutney. The spaghetti bolognese was also very tasty - the keema was nicely seasoned and I also enjoyed the cheesy garlic bread that comes with it. That being said, the bolognese didn't strike me as a particularly impressive or unique dish, though the flavors were excellent. We've been talking about making the drive out here again soon to try more items from their menu!

Sooo tasty (but a bit overpriced). Recommend reservations because it was busy even on a weeknight…read more Additionally, I highly recommend using inkind (app) for this to get a good deal - message me for more details if you are curious! Food (rice and naan are additional charge and not included in the entrees except for cauliflower manuchurian which I was not a fan of): - lamp chops - 10/10, my favorite of the night, super flavorful and tender, I want to return just for this - infladita- 7/10, fun spin on pani puri where you can diy your own - paneer tacos- 9/10, very delicious, must get on your first time - cauliflower manuchurian- one of the few vegetarian dishes, I tried the sauce and was not a fan (American Chinese taste) - lamb shank - I tried the sauce and it had a bit of a kick! I think the lamb chops were tastier - naan - good, nothing special Ambiance: perfect for a date night or more upscale outing. Very chilly so I recommend dressing warm. Service: the food took awhile to come out. The owner/manager came to each table at least 3 times to check up which was a bit much. Parking: Free lot in the back but a little hard to get in and out of

As I am a picky eater and this is my first time trying Indian food ever in life, I was quite…read moreimpressed with the portion size and taste of my order. Since this was my first time, I decided to try a kid's meal: Chicken Tikka Curry Bowl. It was dressed in mild masala curry over basmati rice. The meal also included their freshly made strawberry rose and mango lemonade. The service was great. I appreciate the cashier being patient with me and offering recommendations such as a side of the garlic naan to go with the entree.

Just want to be careful with this place on what you order all appetizers (chicken & veg pakoras,…read moresamosa chaat)felt they were cooked a day before and were stale. portion, quality and price is decent but would not say its fair. Loved their sweet lassi, beyond keema biryani but had too many peas and portion was too small for $17 beyond keema had too many potatoes and peas which impacted the flavor iced chai was horrible and the tea was curdled(spoiled) Will not go back or recommend there are other good restaurants that have good quality, taste and portion for beyond keema biryanis like Monks(heights)

Enticed by the promise of flavors, I ordered a chicken tikka kati roll and a paneer naan pizza. I…read moreinitially thought the color of the chicken in the tikka roll was a little off putting (a shade of pink instead of the classic orange), and the flavor wasn't quite right. but then I realized they had given me a chicken cilantro wrap instead. The meat needed some flavor, and there weren't any sauces or dips (which would've helped a bit!) to save the day. The naan pizza was essentially a perfectly flat store-bought naan with the texture of a slightly softer version of a Lunchables pizza crust. The paneer was bright red but didn't have much flavor. The bits of onions and melty cheese were the highlight. MT said it was like bad school cafeteria pizza, but I'm easily satisfied with melty cheese on bread (although this one was quite dry) :) I liked how the food was hot and fresh, but it was pretty pricey for the quality, lack of flavor, and amount of food. I'm a little bummed they messed up my order. Probably would try something else at Lyric Market next time!

If you've ever been to the lower east side of Manhattan, then you've heard of Kati Roll. Nobody can…read morereplicate it. Kati Roll Wala is not at all like the Kati Roll in NYC, but the smells and nostalgia in the mango juice rings true. I found their tikka bowl little spicy but their wraps add enough carbs (sorry not sorry) to soften the spice. My husband, however, will devour any and all food from Kati Roll Wala. He even commented, "your mom would enjoy this" - that made me laugh. No matter what you order, definitely get a mango juice. The service is quick and this is a a great stop before theater, symphony, or ballet.

Historically significant for Houston. A decades old…read moreinstitution and, for many, their first experience of the food of North India. Curries don't necessarily photograph great so I'll just post two photos. Consider the lunch buffet for your first visit. Mickey Kapoor is known for his humorous observations on the sign outside. Great staff and service. Lovely music snd ambience.

Our go-to Indian restaurant in the area. Have had almost everything on the menu and never been…read moredisappointed. Our favorite dishes are the chicken tiki masala, chicken Biryani, or the butter chicken if we're feeling bad. Most items come with nice side of cucumber salad that is refreshing. The samosas are great also, and everything heats up well for leftovers. The staff is nice and welcoming

My husband and I visited Tarka for lunch, and the place was clean and easy to navigate since you…read moreorder right at the counter. The menu isn't traditional (it's more of a fusion style) and they even offer bowls with rice and the protein of your choice. We ordered the "Not Biryani" lamb, which is basically a fried rice dish with tender, flavorful lamb, and it was very good. We also tried the coconut curry chicken, which had mild, delicious flavors and came with basmati rice. The garlic naan was another highlight; they make it fresh to order, and yes, you do pay for it since it's not complimentary. Overall, it was a great experience.

Tried out Tarka Indian Kitchen recently and honestly... I'm a little confused…read more The service was friendly, the place was clean, and the food came out much faster than expected. We picked up our order about 3-4 minutes after getting the "ready" text and it was still before the estimated pickup time, but the food honestly wasn't that warm which is wild because everytime I pick up Indian food from any place even if I am a bit late it is piping hot or pretty hot. I don't think they even have a heat lamp or have the AC on too high. The smell of garlic when we walked in had me excited, but unfortunately the garlic naan ended up being the best part of the meal. We ordered medium spice since we were sharing with a younger family member who likes spice but doesn't want to sweat through dinner like we do. What we didn't expect was how sweet everything would be. The tikka masala tasted like sweet yogurt with a little garam masala for color. The chicken vindaloo was even more confusing. Vindaloo is usually tangy and vinegary, but this one was also sweet. It honestly tasted more like sweet tomato sauce than anything resembling a vindaloo. Nothing tasted bad in a spoiled sense, it was just very Americanized and very very sweet. The two stars are for three things: the clean location, the fast friendly service, and the garlic naan. If you have a very mild palate or prefer sweet food, you might enjoy this place. But if you're hoping for bold, tangy, flavorful Indian food, this probably won't be it.

Pondicheri is always a favorite! The vibes are just right, comfortable, vibrant, eclectic with a…read morestrong sense of modern Indian culture. I love how much south Indian food is on the menu, and most tastes homemade. Service was friendly, knowledge about the menu, and responsive. We'll keep coming back! Validated arking is in the garage but be sure to scan the QR code in the restaurant to check in for parking - helpful to get your license plate number to check in.

Haven't been here for awhile and I can see food hasn't improved much…read more This time we ordered the lamb chops and got very disappointed since most of it are fat and got charged $38 for 3 pieces of poor quality meat. I understand the cost for the business but honestly it should be removed from the menu since you can't deliver the quality on it. The Thalis wasn't good neither The only good dish was the alleppey shrimp. There is not much of a service since we get everything on ourselves from plates, to silverware to water.

We had the best experience for a date night! We got the lychee ceviche, prawn Manchurian toast and…read morevegetable seekh kabob. All were good but the prawn toast was the best! For dinner, we got the butter chicken experience, dal musaafer and paneer rizala. All were good but I liked the paneer rizala the best. We got naan and rice (both basmati and carmelized onion to share!) For desert, I would highly recommend the rasmalai and gulab!

What a wonderful experience we had with the family…read more As we took the elevator to the second floor to the reception area, I noticed right way I think I stepped into a different world. The reception area was small and almost claustrophobic, but very ornate. There were a few chairs for you to wait. We didn't wait long, probably less than a minute. As the hostess lead us into the main dinning area, I was shocked on how big the place was (it reminding me of the big meat market restaurants in NYC). The first room was bright from the outside sunlight, almost like an outside cafe. Our table was in a different area, where it was a little darker and decorated a lot differently from the previous room. As I looked around, there were other sections at this restaurant that kind of represented different places. The section we sat in had a very long table...which I'm guessing can host a very big family or corporate party. It sat right next to the open kitchen. Our waitress, Yaretzy, was very nice. She explained how the owners traveled to the different states of India and want to share that experience at Musaafer. Yaretzy would provide an explanation for each dish. Some of them were mixed/put together table side. Everything was delicious, and not too spicy. Musaafer is fine dining, so it's not something we can do ever weekend. But we will be back. Getting here was a little tricky if you are not familiar with the area. The restaurant is located in the Galleria. The entrance to Musaafer is on the first floor inside the mall, down the hallway closest to Saks Fifth Ave on the right (if facing Saks). You will need to take the private elevator to the second floor or walk up the stairs. There is valet parking if you prefer to do that. I think there is a small parking lot in front of the restaurant that might be free, but we went into the underground Purple garage. If you park right after going down the ramp into the Purple garage, you will see an elevator into Saks Fifth Ave, which you take up and walk outside with a short walk to Musaafer. The only problem with what we did was when Saks closes, we couldn't take that elevator back down. There were stairs back down to the purple garage, but it stank! There had to be another elevator that will take you into the mall.

Wonderfully spicy spicy chicken combo. Awesome flavor. The curry and naan were SO GOOD. Crispy naan…read morewith dried herbs. Better than most places I've been to in Houston. And notably: awesome PRICE. For what you get--at least, for me so far--this is the best Indian food in Houston. I have a super high spice tolerance and get the spiciest thing I can get from most restaurants--but the spice on the curry here is phenomenal and still makes me sweat a bit, and not in a painful way! Service is chaotic because the line is chaotic and goes out of the McKinney Place food court. Gotta love a service that is nice even when they're slammed. Ambiance is a tunnel food court, not much to say there. McKinney Place food court is probably the worst in terms of looks out of all the food courts I pass on my walk. So I guess what I'm saying is, don't come for the ambiance--it's not romantic.

Located in the tunnels and very popular due to it being the only Indian style lunch option for…read moredowntown. The food is... okay. It's not great but it's there. It's located in a food court and plenty of dining hall style seating. Get ready for congested lines and very bland Indian style food.

I've been wanting to try this restaurant for a little while now and since I had training in The…read moreHeights for work. I had my opportunity to. Parking is on the opposite side of the temple. The grounds of the temple is well manicured and neat with flowers. A big red sign read, "Govinda" was positioned so that I wouldn't miss it. As soon as I walked in at lunch time, the restaurant was damn near empty with only two families. The host immediately sat me at a table front of the buffet line. There was a strong lingering smell of pine-sol and Mr. Clean in the air. Of course, that indication told me that the restaurant was clean. The items on the buffet line was plenty, but limited. I got the rice, tofu curry, chaat marsala, and some vegetables. Everything except for the chaat was bland. It wasn't very easy to eat while the smell of cleaning supplies was in the air. It reminded me of sitting in a bucket of cleaning chemicals while eating a meal. The tofu curry tasted only like turmeric, but no salt or pepper or anything. The rice was super bland. The chaat marsala was very tasty and well seasoned. I finished off with desserts which both options were tasty. I hope to return to try their holiday menu, but I think today was a bad day for the cooks.

Nut allergy warning: I can't recommend eating here if you have a severe allergy. Although dishes…read moreare clearly labeled with ingredients, I still had an allergic reaction with a dish. Since the dishes are different every day, there's really no guarantee that you'll be safe, and cross contamination is a possibility since it's a buffet line. I tried to email ahead of time but never got a reply. We arrived around noon on a Wednesday and there was plenty of seating inside. There is a lot directly across the street for Govinda's customers. Cafeteria buffet-style line. Don't overcrowd your plate, just go back for seconds. Since the menu changes daily, I don't think there's much of a point to review specific dishes. I will say that there's a nice variety of salad, soup, and homemade feeling Indian dishes that everyone really liked. I particularly enjoyed the salad dressing (an avocado cream), the veggie lentil soup, and the spinach potato dish. Unfortunately, the special of the day or a dish near it (the soya Manchurian? Or the curry?) triggered some kind of inflammatory allergic reaction for me, so I had to stop eating. I did try some of the mango cake, which had a great soft and moist texture that I'd definitely have again. -1 star because of the allergic reaction but overall, everyone I went with really enjoyed the food and the service was welcoming and attentive for a buffet. The ambiance is great and it's a lovely setting all around.