Restaurant Review: Taste of India

Our visit to Taste of India was unplanned and absolutely delightful.

We try to eat out only once a week, and I usually have a plan as to where I want us to go. This night, the plan was to go to Loca Luna. But, we started our evening late and by the time we arrived at 8:00ish, there was a 45 minute wait. I couldn't handle a wait that long when I was famished. We used the Urban Spoon app on my phone and despite the bad reviews, we decided to give Taste of India in North Little Rock a try. It didn't hurt that a lot of the negative reviews were absolutely ridiculous. One reviewer complained that the manager told him to stop throwing samosas at other patrons. I hope that review was a joke, but really??? I hate when something gets a bad review because of something silly.

We get there and the restaurant was fairly empty. Never a good sign for a Saturday night. There was one large party and a few small groups. We were quickly seated, and our server brought over a pitcher of water and an appetizer of papadam crackers and a trio of various chutneys. This was a pleasant surprise. Of all the Indian restaurants we've been to, we've never had these and they were so good. They were crispy, peppery and especially good in the tamarind chutney.

For an appetizer, we went with our usual, the vegetable samosa. These were good, but not great. The outside was perfectly crisp, but the inside was a little dry. They also weren't served with any sauces, and the server had taken away our trio of chutneys.

For my entree, I went with my standby, the chicken vindaloo. When it came out, I was genuinely confused about why several reviewers complained about portion sizes. The dishes of food in front of us were HUGE. We were given a large bowl of rice to share, and then our two dishes. My husband ordered something with goat. I don't remember what it was, and since they don't have a website with their menu, I can't figure out what it was. He wasn't thrilled with it. The meat was too gamey for him, and the bones were a distraction. He finished it and said it was okay, but he wouldn't order it again.

My chicken was absolutely PERFECT. Oh my. The chicken was completely fork tender. I barely had to touch my fork to it and it was falling apart. The sauce was delicious. It was spicy, but not so much that it was inedible, like other spicy dishes I've had. I would order this again, and again and be totally happy.

We ordered a side of plain naan to go with our dinners, and that was delicious too. In fact, I made chicken tikka masala tonight for dinner. I didn't have any bread flour to make my own naan, so I stopped by Taste of India on my way home and oh my God. The ride home was torture; it smelled so amazing.

We really enjoyed our dinner here, even with a few oddities (i.e. they bring you a pitcher of basically room temperature water (with no ice) for the table, and it you want anything else you have to ask for it. I ordered a diet coke, and it was fairly flat and not nearly enough ice). The decor was light and understated, unlike most ever other Indian restaurant I've been in lately. The tv's blaring Indian music and tv shows was a little distracting. But the most important part of our experience was the food, and it was delicious. We'll definitely be back!