[Welcome to Snap Judgment, a new regular Blogtown feature wherein I’ll be dropping by places both old and just opened for a one-dish fly-by, and developing an opinion based on that singular experience. Basically, it’s the complete opposite of what I do each week for Last Supper. I don’t expect to get it right all the time. I do expect you to correct me.- PAC]
- from namasteindiancuisineor.com
For some reason Portland doesn’t seem to have the same fervor for Indian cuisine as it does for other traditional ethnic foods. That’s a damn shame. I’d happily trade ten of our pun-tastic hole-in-the-wall Thai joints for one more decent place to chow down on tikka masala and tandoori chicken.
You can imagine how happy I was when I learned of Namaste Indian Cuisine, which opened recently at 8303 NE Sandy. A recent afternoon urge for curry compelled me to hop in the car and make the trek up Sandy from the Mercury offices to stuff my fat face.
Snap Judgment After the Jump!
Here’s the important parts: Having opened in what was previously a buffet driven restaurant called Steamers, Namaste is rocking a pretty impressive all you can eat buffet (plus mango ice cream) for $8.95 at lunch [11am-2:30pm] and $11.95 at dinner [5pm to close]. There is also a full dinner menu with a la carte options available.
Here’s the less import but still important parts: Namaste has done little to change the Steamers ambiance, so there is a modicum of cognitive dissonance while eating straight ahead Indian food in a faintly old-timey American atmosphere—complete with huge blank and white photo murals of Old West steam engines and folksy stained glass. I suppose, if you really did some psychological gymnastics, you could conjure up India under British colonialism and make that work for you somehow.
Some concerns: Namaste is way the hell out there by many Portlander’s standards and may not have enough draw as destination dining to pull folks in. I’ll admit the buffet was certainly hopping with a very diverse crowd, including many folks from the sub-continental diaspora. They didn’t seem to mind the odd ambiance, but then again, I wasn’t asking them.
The food situation: In terms of an Indian food buffet, Namaste has a whole lot going on. I was particularly surprised to find a goat curry that was quite damn good. Nothing in the steamer trays really screamed “standard Indian buffet” to me, which was actually very cool. Some dishes I liked better than others, but there wasn’t anything I found unpleasant or necessarily lacking. I’m a fan of the chicken, and potato, parkoras. The lamb rice pilaf was very good and the garlic naan was exactly what I was looking for. In all honesty, it was a blur. I have a tendency to view “All You Can Eat” as a challenge, and the whole thing can turn into an ugly blackout binge.
Snap Judgment: Namaste’s website pronounces it the “Best Indian Cuisine in Town.” I don’t know if I’d go that far, however, even though I would’ve liked to see a bit more spicy heat from the items on the buffet, I’m intrigued enough to want to come back and lay down some real money on their sit down menu options. I will return.
I really like Tandoor’s buffet—how does Namaste compare?
“our pun-tastic hole-in-the-wall Thai joints”
Which brings up a good, if unrelated question: Why the hell are all the Thai food places named by 7 year olds? Who actually thinks that’s cute? Suburbanites from Hillsboro?
And why doesn’t it infect other restaurants? You never see an Italian place called “Al Pacino’s Horse’s Head Bistro” or a bar called “Yes, We Serve The Irish,” do you? And I don’t think it’s ONLY because of the hilarious racism inherent in those names either!
@Alison
I’ve never actually had Tandoor’s buffet. I wish I could help you more.
@Nex
All good points and I look forward to reading your pamphlet.
@Nex Thank you. Over the years I have made a list of the best (fake) Thai restaurant names.
My favorite: Don’t Get Thai on Your Own Supply
I’m glad you enjoyed this joint. I’ve driven by it a bunch of times with intrigue. Because of the name, I also pictured sinewy, flat-chested ladies in earth toned outfits serving dishes then doing a forward fold straight into downward facing dog.
I do disagree with you about punny restaurant names. It’s time for the Indian variety to graduate.
It’s Da Bombay Grill
Hindu It Right Indian Restaurant
Never Dilly-Dehli Palace
In this town, Thai punniness is rivaled only by doggy day care centers.
see “Virginia Woof,” “Noah’s Arf,” etc.
You can’t expect a restaurant to put spicy items on a buffet in Portland. They would alienate 90% of their customers.
Order off the menu for spicy items and *ask* for spice.
Merc employees: You’ve got the very underrated India Grill just blocks away at 28th and Burnside.
@CC
Oh Snap! I completely forgot about the India Grill.
@PAC & Allison
Tandoor’s buffet is probably the best in PDX. I haven’t been to the new Namaste location, but I used to go there fairly regularly when I lived in Vancouver, where their original location is. Another very good buffet is Chennai Masala’s on the edge of Beaverton and Hillsboro. However, I only go there for dinner when I can get the southern Indian specialties made to order.
Otherwise, you should get yourself to East India, Indish, and Vindalho for the best northern-style Indian curries and such. Just as long as I don’t hear someone recommend India House or Bombay Cricket Club.
What, no shout-out for Abhiruchi?
We are fans of Namaste, it’s cheap, the buffet is expansive with plenty of veg and non-veg options, and staff is nothing but friendly. Our love it as well – mostly because of the mango ice cream….
BUT our favorite Indian buffet remains The Curry Leaf’s weekend buffet which seems to only attract a South Asian crowd. It is all vegetarian but I am omnivore and love this place – http://www.curryleafpdx.com/
Their weekday offerings are fine but the overall offering seems to be “toned down”. Don’t know why that is, maybe it is to cater to taste of the the local office worker lunch time crowd but that’s just a guess.
I second Chennai Massala. The best Indian place in the area.
The best Indian buffet lives in Corvallis. Evergreen Indian Restaurant. It can’t be rivaled by any here in Portland.
@msg Maybe I ordered wrong at Indish—it was fine, but nothing really stood out (except for the extreme niceness of the owners). My friend’s mom billed it as one of the best meals she’d ever had in her life, though, so expectations were high. I do want to try their desserts, they sounded good (cardamom creme brulee!).
@colin I think India Grill is rated.
India Grill is rated. But the owners/employees unsmiling grumpiness can never be overrated (or even rated)!
While it’s out of my range, Plainfields has always been pretty great. They also serve a Bhel Salad, which is a favorite from India that I can never find here in the States.
I wish Portland’s Indian options weren’t just limited to hit/miss buffets and fine dining places I can rarely afford. I’d open a dosa or kati roll cart tomorrow if I could only find out how to make them.
Plainfields is odd. Great, great food. One of my all-time favorite vegetarian dishes. The atmosphere is so bizarre and uninviting, though. It’s like eating in your neighbors living room. A neighbor you don’t know at all, and who doesn’t really want you there, but is too nice to say anything.
Yeah, they may not be on every corner, but we’ve got a pretty good set of Indian establishments if you ask me. In addition to the many fine choices mentioned above there’s also Swagat, which has a great buffet, and (one of my fast cheap favorites) the New Taste of India carts downtown.
Swagat’s buffet is the jam, but I’ve had bad experiences with India Grill’s buffet. They have shitty customer service too. Oh, and I hate sitting too close to other diners that I didn’t show up with there. Swagat is awesome though, has been for a long time!
@Tony
I used to go to Curry Leaf a lot after it opened. It was fantastic. But once they changed owners I thought it went seriously downhill. Last time I was out there — for dinner, not buffet — I ordered almost exclusively South Indian dishes and was VERY disappointed. In fact, I thought it was pretty awful. Would much prefer Lentil Garden to it, and generally prefer Chennai Masala to Lentil Garden.
@Allison
Well, I don’t think it’s transformative, but I think it’s really well-prepared North Indian food that reminds me of the stuff I cook at home out of authentic Indian cookbooks. But they have more experience. It’s not creative like Vij’s in Vancouver, BC, but solid cooking. And it’s cheaper than East India, which is nice.
@TWSS
Abhiruchi is weird. Whenever I go there are items that are pretty good and items that I have to spit out they’re so bad.
@Jacob
I continue to think it’s really weird that Alberta, an “arts district” has 5 Thai restaurants and not one Indian place. Seems like a natural fit for all the vegans and vegetarians. There’s no good Indian or Vietnamese in inner-NE or North Portland.
@ Alison, PAC, Steven, et al: this is why we have to get rid of “rated.” At least “over” and “under” communicate something: when someone says one of these, we clearly know they are saying: “People believe this is X, but I think it is Y.”
When you say “India Grill is rated,” that could mean 1) “India Grill is rated poorly and I agree it should be rated poorly, i.e. I agree with your premise,” or 2) “India Grill has a better reputation than you think, and I agree with that different reputation.”
I’m pretty sure you’re trying to say 1), but who knows; when you just say “that place is rated,” you really haven’t said anything – I’m left with no idea if you agree with my premise or not, which, since “over” and “under” are obviously relative anyway, is a pretty important thing to communicate.
This is probably why you feel the need to explain what “rated” means every time you proffer it as a poll option. Maybe you should just say a statement that you believe represents majority opinion, and then ask if people agree or disagree.
THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD STOP TRYING TO MAKE “RATED” HAPPEN.
@ extramsg: Vij was amazing. That is all.
@extramasg: while it may not be (anywhere close to) the best in town, I’ll take Bombay Cricket Club over Vindalho any day. That has to be one of the most over-rated restaurants in Portland. Tried it twice (because I was told it was good normally and I should give it another try) and haven’t had a single good dish yet.
However, I completely agree that Alberta urgently needs a curry place. Preferably Pakistani / Kashmiri, from my entirely selfish point of view.
@Stu
I just went to Vindalho the other day for their $25 3 course meal. I thought it was solid once again. I didn’t go for about a year or so, though, because of work. And they did lose their chef to Genoa for a while and I heard from someone I trust they went seriously downhill for a while. See here:
http://extramsg.com/portland-food/dining-m…
But BCC, really? Man, I’ve had some dishes that were absolutely inedible there over the years. To me, it’s like a caricature of the curry house, but not in a good way, like Tenderloin curry houses in SF. And the prices aren’t that much lower than Vindalho. I’ve come to the point that if someone invites me there, I just say no.
@extramsg I agree re: BCC. For that price I will happily dine at Vindalho, plus I won’t have to stare at a cricket game during dinner.
Since we’re all here, does anyone know of a place in town that serves Thali?
No Thali here that I’m aware of. I recall a place, or multiple places, in Seattle that serve it. I hate to admit Seattle’s superiority over Portland in any realm but it’s definitely true with Indian food, by leaps and bounds and miles.
@ezra
Yes, several do. It’s always a dinner only thing, though. The ones I know do: Swagat/Swagath, Abhiruchi, and Mayuri.
@two squatting women
Okay, now if you didn’t know that there are plenty of thali around PDX, how certain are you on your “Seattle Indian is better by leaps and bounds” claim? Indian food in Portland has really improved in the last five years with Chennai Masala, Tandoor (though they were better when they still did their Southern specialties), East India, Indish, et al.
extramsg,
Pretty certain. I’ve tried what’s considered the best in Portland and at least 3 spots in Seattle are better. To me. It does pain me to say that, btw, because I really like Chennai Masala. Though because of this thread, I’m excited to try a few of those of which I was unaware (Abhiruchi, Mayuri). I can give you the name of the Seattle joints if you ever go. I’d love to get more of an expert’s comparison.
As for the Thali, well, I was wrong. It’s not my thing, but I guess in Seattle I must’ve been with people who ordered it enough to remain in my memory banks. I never noticed it at Swagat. Thank god I included the “as far as I know” part. It would be unwise of me to lay claim to ultimate gastronomic truth in a town with this much food snootery.
“Namaste is way the hell out there by many Portlander’s standards and may not have enough draw as destination dining to pull folks in.”
Are these Portlanders habitually lazy? It’s a few hundred feet past 82nd on Sandy. That’s a 15 minute drive at the worst from downtown and a 25-minute bus or train/bus ride.
Portland is an accessible, relatively small American city. Why would the Mercury — which has offices on NE 21st — refer to a place roughly 60 blocks from its location as some sort of BFE?
at least none of you are stuck in the south of France (that is an oxymoron) where there is no buffet (remember the french do not get fat) and the owner of the Indian restaurant near our house informed us that they do not use any chilies in their dishes at all because the french people can not eat spicy food.
I will be dreaming of goat curry until I visit Portland later this month.
Don’t waste your money on this run of the mill Indian, you get less than what you pay for. The food is extremely greasy, overcooked and overspiced. Wonder how many days it sits in buffet trays before they change it. They float it grease to keep it from drying out in buffet pans.