Yesterday my friend Lola and I found ourselves in Berkeley, browsing through art supplies at a store on University Ave., when we decided it was time for lunch. India Chaat & Sweets Indian Cuisine was just across the street from the store we were at, it got OK reviews in Yelp and it offered a lunch buffet. After trying it, we have to agree that this is an OK place to have lunch – not great, not bad, a bit expensive, but fine.
India Chaat has two small dining rooms and its lunch buffet offers limited choices. In addition to daal, rice and naan, there were a couple of vegetarian choices, a lamb curry, chicken tikka massala and chicken tandoori. I partook of the last three (with rice and naan). The lamb curry was quite good, the bone-in lamb was tender and the sauce had a pleasant acidic flavor to it. It wasn’t outstanding but pretty good. The tikka massala sauce was also perfectly alright – unfortunately the chicken was so dry as to make it nearly inedible. The chicken tadoori was quite good, moist enough and flavorful. Lola who tried the vegetarian offerings wasn’t too impressed, her general opinion was that they were fine – but not great.
The biggest disappointment might have been the cokes we ordered (a regular and a diet). They both had an off taste, the diet was pretty much undrinkable.
Lunch wasn’t particularly cheap. It came out to about $25 for the two of us after tax and tip – I’d expect something considerably better for that sum, in particular in Berkeley. I’d probably wouldn’t return.
India Chaat & Sweets Indian Cuisine
824 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
(510) 704-1200
Note: You can get a gift certificate for India Chaat at restaurant.com (remember to always google for restaurant.com deals before buying – currently you can get a $25 GC – minimum purchase and restrictions apply – for $3 by using the code FRESH).
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