I’m used to breakfast joints like Calico Cupboard or Old Town Cafe where the rustic charm meets healthy and tasty. I was looking for that. While The Brown Bag Cafe doesn’t have that same flair, it is good. I think, in this case, it is a matter of personal breakfast choice. I would recommend this place to a breakfast feaster wanting good potatoes and eggs for breakfast.

I won’t spend a lot of time talking about Kanishka Cuisine of India because it was bad. Not just non-impressive bad, but frozen Indian dinner bad. Our food was bland. The service was bad. They want to charge customers $2.50 for extra rice (not that they’re very generous). The biggest turn-off, our silverware, our dinnerware, and our glasses were dirty with stuck-on food. I would be willing to try their restaurant again to see if I came on a bad night but with dirty utensils, I’m turned off completely. There are far better Indian restaurants out there. Go to those.

Using my favorite Indian restaurant, India Cafe, as my litmus test, Raga Cuisine of Indiais not so great. My boyfriend still complains about the service and the price. I still complain about the chicken.

We visited this restaurant on a snowy Sunday. We went there desperately trying to find a decent open restaurant. Raga is decent and it is clean. It isn’t horrible but if you’re a seasoned Indian foodie, you’re not going to appreciate this place as much as you could.

The food: Indian food is not a spur of the moment type food. Indian food takes preparation–soaking meats and paneer in their respective spicy yogurt marinades. I ordered Chicken Tikka, a marinaded white meat kabob cooked in the Tandoori oven. If done right, the spice, a bright orange, would be soaked through several millimeters of the chicken. Unfortunately, Raga didn’t give the right length of marinade time on the chicken. I actually don’t think they marinaded the chicken at all. If I’m going to pay over 10 dollars for marinaded Tandoori chicken, it better be marinaded.

I don’t know if our pale skin made us look like spice wimps or if Raga doesn’t spice much, but our food was very very mild. All of us in our party are seasoned Indian foodies and can handle heat. We even mentioned we wanted our food on the hotter side. It didn’t happen. Mikel wasn’t too happy.

And then there’s the service. Our waiter couldn’t speak up. We all had a hard time listening. He didn’t write down our orders and even got them wrong. My friend, Rob, was given lamb when he ordered chicken. We were one of the only people in this restaurant and our glasses were empty more than they were full. Also, when our waiter brought out the wrong dish, the owner/manager, yelled at the waiter in Hindi. We thought that was terribly unprofessional and uncomfortable. We ended up taking pity on the waiter.

I would be happy to visit this place again should there be improvement. At this time, unless they work on their food and their service, there are far better restaurants (Royal India) that are close to Raga, in the area that I would recommend.

EDIT: Mikel would like me to mention that the stuffed naan we had was delicious. Indeed it was.

Indian food is my favorite. After moving to King County, I needed to aquaint myself with the local Indian restaurants so Mikel and I have been on a food journey. We have gone to four other Indian restaurants other than India Cafe, my personal favorite. Two restaurants are subpar, one works but not impressive, and one has knocked my socks off! Royal India is on its way to being the best Indian restaurant I have visited.

What makes Royal India fabulous? Royal India is beautiful, the food is impressively good, and the service is spot on. Royal India focuses on detail–as a diner, you can appreciate these details. Read on.

When Mikel and I walked in, I wasn’t expecting to see a canopied table with seats on the floor or saris draped on thoughtfully placed floor screens, I was was expecting to see the same awkward decor I see at every Indian restaurant. Even my favorite Indian restaurant, India Cafe, is awkwardly decorated. Royal India is not only beautiful but it’s clean and it’s well organized.

Sometimes, when we visit an ethnic restaurant, we feel like we’re intruding. This was not the case with Royal India. Our waiter waiter warmly greeted us when we walked in and immediately made us feel comfortable. He sat us at a nice table and started filling our water glasses. Here’s where the attention to details really started kicking in. Bear with me, you’ll start understanding why I point out small things. The waiter used a clean pitcher to fill our water glasses and left us the pitcher to take care of ourselves when our glasses empty. Mikel’s my urologist’s dream of a water drinker because he drinks a heavy amount of water. A waiter typically has a hard time keeping Mikel’s glass filled (note: India Cafe has that covered also). The details keep coming on but I wanted to point out that the pitcher was clean.

The waiter gave us a couple of minutes and then took our order on queue–meaning, I had closed and laid my menu down and without skipping a beat, he came right on over. After taking our order, he discussed our order, showing us he was knowledgeable with the dishes he served, to ensure we knew what we were getting into. Shortly after, our Chai tea arrived.

I’m tea snob. Some people are uber picky about their wine, some about their beer, others about their coffee, but me, I’m picky about my tea. Don’t get me wrong, if I’m desperate for my fix, I will drink Lipton, but I won’t buy it. I travel to Canada to pick up my tea. Now I mention the tea snobbery to help you understand that I’m going to be a bit more critical at what people wouldn’t otherwise notice about tea. This tea passed and I will buy more Chai from Royal India again, but, there is room for improvement. It seemed dumbed down for Americans. I want spicy spicy Chai. It must harmonize with my spicy dinner. The tea wasn’t as spicy as I would have liked. Or as strong. Ehh… nobody can be perfect.

We ordered veggie samosas for our appetizer. Comparing India Cafe’s samosa and Royal India’s samosa is almost like comparing apples and oranges. Both are equally good but for different reasons. Royal India’s samosa is dry and the seasoning is spot-on and complicated (complicated is good). The chutney Royal India serves with the samosa is delicious and beautifully plated. You’ll want the chutney with the samosa.

We just barely finished our Samosa when our entrees arrived. Two dishes of bright orange are brought to our table and a nice platter of basmati rice accompany them. The entrees are the real test. I don’t care about awkward decor, tea, or samosa, if the entree isn’t good, the restaurant is a waste of time. Brace yourself. Okay, I didn’t know chicken, especially white chicken, could be this tender and moist. The curry was fantastic but the chicken is what has me raving. The chicken is so tender, you don’t need teeth. Paired with the basmati rice, also tasty and perfectly flavorful, I believe I have had the best Butter Chicken ever. Oh man, so good.

The garlic naan rocked also.

The waiter was the icing on the cake. I appreciate that I didn’t have to ask for more tea, it was offered. He didn’t over approach, he didn’t under approach, and he took time to visit with us. He acquainted us with the restaurant, asking us if this was our first visit, advising us the restaurant is 15 years old, and letting us know what the restaurant has to offer–not in a salesman way, but in a “welcome to the restaurant” way. Wrapping up our visit, the waiter didn’t do the faux pax many waiters do. He didn’t give us our check while we are still eating and before making sure there wasn’t anything else we wanted. I tip less for this faux pax because it makes me feel rushed and I simply feel it is rude to hand the diner the check while still eating. Not only did our waiter give us the check after we were done eating, he “gave us the extra pickle.” Along with our receipt, we were handed two lidded to-go cups filled with Chai. He got an extra tip.

Okay so this restaurant isn’t perfect. I should point out that the prices are higher than most Indian restaurants, certainly more than India Cafe. I should also point out that the portions are smaller than most Indian restaurants. Finally, according to Mikel, the restaurant shares their bathrooms with the bar next door and thus the bathrooms are a total mess. I recommend peeing before visiting. So that’s the bad stuff, done and over.

Now I will rave about Royal India as well as India Cafe. I highly recommend both of these restaurants.

Lucky in its location, Taqueria el Tapatio sits in Loehman’s Plaza right below the T-Mobile Field Service Center campus. Every day, hundreds of hungry T-Mobilers walk down to this plaza to a plethora of foreign restaurants. Being hungry for Mexican and with a little extra money to spare, I thought I’d visit Tapatio.

The restaurant is brightly decorated and clean. The staff is warm, friendly, and very efficient. The food, on the other hand, was not great. I ordered their Tacos Al Carbon and what I got was dry, tasteless meat in corn tortillas, uber-salty refried beans (no whole bean options) and mediocre Spanish rice. Tacos Al Carbon is a dish I’ve ordered at two other restaurants, El Gitano and Chihuahua’s. At these two places, the meat was tender and flavorful.

I don’t want to base all of my opinions on one meal but I’m not inspired to visit again. If I end of visiting Tapatio’s again, and I find the food better, I will update this blog on my better experience. As for now, I’m not comfortable placing my recommendation on this restaurant.

Billy McHales is a steak and rib house. They have a lot of dining space and can easily seat large parties. They’re food isn’t anything unique but when you want a good steak or, in my case, a nice fillet of wild-caught Alaskan salmon, its a good place to quench that thirst. To be honest, this place is better than the Outback Steakhouse whose prices are enormous but whose quality has dropped. I should mention the prices at Billy’s is fair. You can agree. It wasn’t an “omigod I have to go more often” type of experience but overall, it wasn’t bad.

I called yesterday to make a reservation for today. I felt adequately taken care of on that call and I was pleased they didn’t forget today when I came in. I came early, waiting for friends, and I saw people getting in and being seated quickly at prime dinner time. They have the greatest waiting area I have ever seen a restaurant have. That is smart. The wait staff was attentive enough–not over, not under. They knew how to upsell without being overbearing. They accommodated us quite well.

Overall, if you’re looking for a nice family meal, I say go. If you’re looking for a unique, never-been-done-before experience, this isn’t what you’re looking for. For a steak, burger, rib joint, they’re better than the local Bob’s Burgers and Brew. They’re good.

Some of you have heard and some of you are now finding out that I have been offered a position with my employer that causes me to relocate south. As a result, I will not be eating out as often as I have to be careful with my spending as well, I’m very busy. Other causes for less posts, I keep eating at the same restaurants I love and blogged. My new main restaurant is my kitchen at this time. My favorite chef is my boyfriend. Tonight, in celebration of my last day at my old position, my friends and I went out to a locally owned small restaurant chain. I will blog.

This restaurant isn’t bad if you’re into football, sports-related, bistro food. The service isn’t bad. The cleanliness and atmosphere isn’t bad. It just isn’t all that good either. Located in the hoity-toity University Village shopping center, this restaurant serves hamburgers, steak, seafood creations, and beer. It’s almost as if Red Robin married Skagit Brewery and its offspring went off to college.

It isn’t that the food isn’t tasty. The hamburger I had was good minus all the mayonnaise. The beef was a great quality chuck that I really appreciated however, there was a serious lack of healthy alternatives. I thought I could have the coleslaw with my burger instead of their fries but the slaw was so rich with mayo and HORSERADISH I couldn’t eat it. Who puts horseradish in their coleslaw? Also, it had just as much red onion as it did carrot which, combined with the horseradish, made for a very pungent salad. I appreciate a restaurant that tries to be different but they should taste their coleslaw before serving it.

My boyfriend had the rueben and thought the amount of horseradish was overwhelming.

My waitress did a good job. She wasn’t over-approaching but she was around frequently enough to make sure we’re fine. We didn’t wait long for our food or our check. We never needed a refill because the glass they provided was enormous. The restaurant was very clean and well decorated.

Would I recommend this restaurant to anyone? If you’re the beer-drinking, bistro foodie, then you might like this place. Certainly the service was good and the beef was great so I wouldn’t discourage people from trying this restaurant. I just feel as though I could live without ever visiting this place again.

If you only went to one restaurant that I ever recommended, this is one restaurant you must go to but only if you love spicey food. The India Cafe serves the most amazing Indian food I have ever had the pleasure of savoring and encompasses the very trait that fell in love with Indian food for. Good Indian food should have musical flavors. The spices should be melodious and harmonious all in one bite.

My absolute favorite dish is the Chicken Dopiaza. This dish contains chicken, marinated in yogurt and spices overnight, and barbecued before being placed in a spicy, onion-y sauce of blissful spices. This dish is super spicey so if you’re sensitive to heat, I wouldn’t recommend you eat this as there is an element of napalm and your mouth will burn for awhile. The napalm is required as it adds to its deliciousness.

One of the greatest thing about this restaurant is that you won’t simply see the normal Chicken Korma, you will see a variety of dishes you have not seen at other restaurants but it has the normal, comfortable, trusty Indian food people like.

The staff are attentive, ready to refill your bowl of rice and your half-empty glass of water. Neither my boyfriend, Mikel, or I could drink our glass half-empty before it was refilled. For me, this is normal, for Mikel, the infamous water-drinker, this is amazing. The amount of service provided was nice and it wasn’t too much.

The restaurant, although nice enough on the inside, is located in a run-down part of town in a building that almost looks abandoned from the outside. Across the street from this restaurant is an old Comp USA store no longer in business as well as other dead stores. I almost didn’t go in this restaurant on the first visit because of how sketchy things looked on the outside. One should know you can’t judge a book by its cover because I was so wrong about this restaurant.

While their food is amazing, the prices on the “Indian food accessories” (naan, raita, chai tea…) are expensive. If you read my critique on the Curry House, you’ll see that I prize this restaurant for its inclusion of the Indian food accessories in the price as well as the little pot of tea they provide. You’ll also notice that I mention that I didn’t like it when other restaurants merely give you one cup of tea and charge you 2.50, this is a restaurant that does it. While India Cafe is generous with ice water, it is not so with tea and naan.

If you’re in Lynnwood, you really really need to go to the India Cafe. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate good Indian food and how rare I think it is to find the blissful goodness.

Ferndale, Washington is a small, somewhat-prosperous town. Most businesses seem to do well despite the town’s size and location. The gems of Ferndale are its local ethnic restaurants–one of them being The Curry House. The Curry House is a pleasant surprise for any Bellinghammer disappointed with the city’s Indian food choice. For once, Whatcom County has a delicious, clean, prosperous, stable Indian restaurant. I can’t tell you how rare those are. The best thing about the Curry House, aside from its great food, is the staff. The staff is composed of an Indian family who is warm, friendly, outgoing, and willing to know you.

One of the biggest downfalls of Indian restaurants is the lack of hospitality and friendliness. Humans are what humans are and the fear of the stranger is a known issue. I can relate to an Indian moving from a land where just about everyone looks like them and comes from the same culture to a land where the folks are lighter, speak a different language, and eat bland food. I totally get that one would be shy. Being a restaurant owner and not seeming willing to get to know and welcome your patrons will make that shy Indian seem snobby therefore making the patron feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, and unlikely to visit again. This is a problem.

The Curry House does not have this problem. I have been greeted by the owners and recognized. During my first visit, they made attempts to get to know me. They make it a point to make you feel welcomed and at home and they don’t rush you out the door. They seem to like it if you stay and linger after your dinner for a bit.

Also nice, The Curry House’s food is a good value. For one price (not including beverage), you get soup, entree, rice, naan, and raita. I really don’t like Indian restaurants that do not include rice with their entree price. I don’t like the idea of ordering rice a’la carte and paying 2.50 for it. I am grateful The Curry House is not like them.

I’ve been to The Curry House many times and on my recent visit, I had Curry Chicken. I wasn’t expecting the dish to come with a tomato-based sauce but I really loved it nonetheless. The only downside to this dish is that it came with dark meat. One of my negative critiques of The Curry House is that I can’t seem to find a dish with all white meat.

Ok, so giving patrons a white meat choice (even charging a bit extra for it) would be nice, it is my only critique. And when you visit, you should try their Mango Lassi and their Chai Tea. A Mango Lassi is a mango and yogurt smoothie. I’m in love with mangoes and this beverage is tasty and refreshing. Some restaurants can botch the lassi but The Curry House does a great job. Also a favorite, their tea. If you’ve never had Indian tea before and you’re only experience with Chai tea is Oregon Chai or Tazo Chai, you’re in for a different but amazing treat. Indian tea is a spiced tea boiled with milk and sometimes sugar. You’ll taste cardamom, pepper, clove, cinnamon, and other widely-used spices with warmed milk and black tea. Some Indian restaurants give you a small cup and charge $2.00 but The Curry House gives you a small pot and lets you pour. I don’t know if they’d refill for free as I haven’t finished my pot and needed more yet. I suppose that need may come in the coming winter months.

The Curry House is my Whatcom County Indian food friend and I recommend this place to anyone who likes spice. Remember to order the Chai and the garlic naan if you go. Oh, and don’t forget to save room for dessert. Their desserts are delightfully simple, Indian, and tasty. Have Kheer.