Erin's Review
Jamie has been telling me about how great Gandhi Mahal is for awhile - we had a plan to go before our trip to Europe, but that didn't end up happening because of a few illnesses in the group - this time nothing was standing in our way! Ben goes into a lot of detail in his review below, so I won't really write too much so it doesn't get repetitive :)
A little appetizer that was brought out
I debated my order the whole day but finally settled on Chicken Tikka Masala, which is my normal Indian place order. I just love that stuff, and feel like I'll be disappointed with anything else. It's a habit I should break... but maybe some other time :)
I was very glad Jamie and Daniel wanted to split the bread basket - it was delicious! My favorite was probably the garlic naan or the puffy bread. Yum! There was plenty to go around, and Jamie even took some home. At Daniel's recommendation, I also got a Mango Lassi, which was probably my favorite part of the whole meal - slightly creamy and delicious!
The chicken tikka masala did not disappoint - it was perfectly sweet and flavorful and not spicy just as I ordered :) Plenty for me to eat, share with others, and have enough to bring home for leftovers!
I loved Gandhi Mahal and have since recommended it to a number of people! The service is great and it's a cute little place. Nothing fancy at all, which I like. It was also rated as Best Indian by City Pages this year, so you don't just have to trust our opinion! Definitely check this place out.
Ben's Review
Last Friday we went to Gandhi Mahal (I still have trouble spelling that) with Erin's co-worker Jamie and her husband Daniel. Daniel is a big fan of Indian food and was excited to go, especially since we had plans to go previously that fell through. Gandhi Mahal is located at Lake & Minnehaha, right near the old location of Midori's Floating World Cafe and a short drive from downtown as we headed there after work.
We had made reservations but you don't need them, at least not at 6pm. It's not a big place, but there were only a couple tables occupied when we arrived. I had seen on the menu that live music started at 5:30 which made me a little leery, but clearly that was a bit inaccurate because they hadn't started playing, even by the time we left.
The hostess was friendly as she showed us to our table that needlessly had a 'Reserved' sign on it. We were a couple minutes early and just perused the menu while we waited for Daniel and Jamie. I had scoped out the menu awhile ago, before we went the first time, and had nearly made up my mind then to get the Rogan Josh, described as "A traditional North Indian dish cooked in a medium hot spicy sauce and an exotic blend of spices in spiced garlic sauce", sounded good to me! I was nearly convinced to get a form of Korma on the menu by Daniel, but he offered to let me try his so I stuck with the Rogan Josh. I did switch from chicken to lamb at the server's suggestion. One thing I love about Indian food is that most of the dishes have your choice of meat and your choice of spiciness so you can tailor your dish to what you like.
Our food came out rather quickly, in about fifteen minutes, along with the bread bowl we ordered to share. In hindsight, getting the bread bowl was a fantastic decision as you get a tons of various types of naan: garlic naan, cilantro, plain, and this real big, bubbly piece on top of the pile. Naan is a great way to deliver Indian dishes into your mouth :) However, it does make you full faster.
My Rogan Josh was delicious, though next time I will bump up the spice a notch (I got mild/medium). Rogan Josh is a dark sauce so I guess the lamb is better suited for it. I wasn't impressed with the lamb itself, I couldn't really taste much of a difference between the lamb or beef, and lamb was a more expensive option. I think I'll go for chicken next time, in addition to more spiciness. I held off to leave myself enough for dinner the next night and I made some basmati rice with tumeric, which tasted really good for a Saturday night meal :)
(note from Erin: one of these two was Ben's meal... neither of us can remember now though since they look very similar :)
(note from Erin: one of these two was Ben's meal... neither of us can remember now though since they look very similar :)
Gandhi Mahal was excellent and I would go back in a heartbeat. The food and service were both great and the prices were reasonable for getting two meals out of the deal.
- Service: Everyone was friendly and our food was brought out quickly.
- Food: Excellent food, I tried everyone's dish and they were great. The naan is awesome.
- Drinks: They had a couple beers, but nothing that really interested me, so I passed.
- Ambiance: It was quiet when we were there, although there is supposed to be live music.
- Price: Entrees were $10-$15, but you can easily get two meals out of them. The naan basket was $12 for the whole table, it was worth it.
- Convenience: Located at Minnehaha and Lake, you can take a bus, the light rail, a bike, or park off-street.
