Ben's Review
I was leaving for Colorado last Thursday and we had bought a $25 gift card for $10 at restaurant.com, so we thought Everest on Grand would be a good choice for a Wednesday night dinner. I was REALLY excited for this meal, because I've been wanting rice dishes a lot lately and Erin made me wait until she had done some homework before we went, so I was starving!
Some reviews that I had read during the day mentioned that the service was poor, so as I walked in I was wary. I grew more concerned as we sat at our table with water and menus for a good five minutes before our server came over. Five minutes is actually a really long time to sit before having a server come over. Luckily that was the only issue I had. Our service after that was great, and we got our waters filled frequently. One review had also talked about the Nepali-themed interior which I thought was a bit of a stretch.
We ordered the chicken momo as an appetizer (Erin wasn't feeling the yak, but I'll try it sometime) and they were delicious, although at this point I would've eaten anything I was so damn hungry! The sauce that came with the momo was especially good. For our meal, we went with one of the combo meals, the Maasu-daal-bhaat which is a choice of one meat curry and one veggie curry. We got the chicken tikka masala for our meat option and Kabuli-chaana (a garbanzo bean curry) for our veggie choice. The combo meals come with rice and a lentil soup that we both thought was excellent.
When they first brought the food out I was concerned that we wouldn't have enough, but it turned out to be a little too much, as is usually the case. There wasn't going to be enough to be worth bringing home, so I just ate a little more of the tikka masala to make it look respectable. I loved all the food we got. Both curries were fantastic and at the medium-spicy level they were spicy enough to taste good (though I think Bill would disagree).
Also included in the combo meal is a choice of dessert. Honestly, I couldn't understand what our server said for the second option, so I just went with the first option, rice pudding. Being that I had stuffed myself on dinner I didn't have much of the rice pudding, but it was good and it was a nice contrast from the spicy food we had just eaten.
I give Everest on Grand two thumbs up and I'll definitely go back try some more of their curries.
- Service: Service was good, after the initial delay.
- Food: Excellent curries and lentil soup. I love this kind of food.
- Drinks: They have a small but varied beer selection, which was nice. All the beers were bottled.
- Ambiance: Everest on Grand is not a large place, so it feels intimate. There were also a few children there, and it seemed to be kid-friendly.
- Price: I think that if we didn't have the gift card we wouldn't have spent the couple bucks extra for the combo meal. The regular meals are around $9, which I think is a great deal for the food you get.
- Convenience: Everest on Grand is located, amazingly enough, on Grand Ave. in Saint Paul. Bus lines and on on-street parking abound.
As you may recall (although I've tried to block it from my memory completely) it was approximately -30 degrees last Wednesday. Going outside really wasn't one of my top priorities, but we've had the Everest on Grand gift certificate burning a hole in our pockets for awhile now and I had promised Ben that we'd go last Wednesday. After doing some homework, we got to the restaurant at about 7:30pm, and were one of a few tables there. The atmosphere in Everest on Grand is very very casual, with bright lights and a colorful interior.
After waiting what sure felt longer than 5 minutes to me, our server finally came over and was actually quite friendly and helpful. In order to warm up somewhat, I immediately ordered a Kaalo Chaya tea which was spicy and delicious. I could have used some sugar but there was none on our table and I was too busy trying to regain feeling in my toes to care that much.
Ben already said what we got for food. My favorite part of the whole meal was the daal - it was so tasty! I will definitely be trying my hand at making a similar soup at home. I am really not a fan of spicy food at all - I don't mind a little bit of spice, but if it at all is making my tongue lose feeling, I'm not interested. The daal wasn't spicy at all, so it was great to be able to have that to eat in between bites of our more spicy entrees. The medium level of spice was just a little too much for me. I know, I'm a wuss.
I loved the chicken tikka masala - I don't think I've ever eaten this dish before (GASP! The horror). The garbanzo bean curry was also fabulous. There was some other thing that was brought out that was pretty tasty. I had no idea what it was. According to the online menu, it must have been achaar, which apparently means pickle. It was actually guessing it was some kind of cold potato salad, so I was WAY off.
I drank approximately one gallon of water during dinner and my water glass was never empty. The service was great after the waitress finally came over. While I was in the bathroom, Ben ordered the rice pudding for dessert. Another thing I don't think I have ever eaten. I liked it a lot, if only as a respite from the spiciness of the meal.
Everest on Grand was great - I'd love to go back and get a big bowl of daal and some of the garlic naan... or any of the other entrees because they all sounded delicious!
Deets
Everest on Grand
1278 Grand Ave
Saint Paul, MN
