| Indian fast-food chain in the Bay Area |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1005
Reviewed: 3/17/2005
Rating: 8
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We had an unusual amount of visitors requesting Chaat Cafe to be reviewed for the jatbar site. With several restaurants scattered in the bay area, we choose the closest location to us, El Camino Real in Sunnyvale. We arrived a little after the lunch rush so there was little wait for the food.
I ordered a chicken wrap while terry ordered this huge dosa. How was the wrap?
Naan - thicker than usual? Is this normal, not sure, but I wouldnt hesistate to order another one.
Chicken - tender dark meat with curry flavor to it. Plenty of chicken to go around
Veggies - cucumbers and tomatos, added some moisture to the wrap
The wrap was definitely something you dont want to order an appetizer with, its already a lot of food. For $5, its quite a bargain for the taste, portion size, and more importantly - something off the beaten path. So the next time you are thinking about getting a super sized meal and in the vacinity of Chaat Cafe, skip the burger, go for a delicious wrap.
***Update 03.08.06 ***
Looks like Chaat Cafe has closed their Sunnyvale restaurant. Visit their website for more locations in the bay area.
Thanks to Gena at http://www.mountainviewca.net/ for informing us.
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 735
Reviewed: 3/20/2005
Rating: 7.5
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Chaat was a wishlist request that we were happy to accommodate. We arrive inside and it was clean and nice looking. Chaat Cafe is a large place, with a lot of empty space between tables. I wonder if they push them aside for dance parties or something.
Anyway, I went with a Dosa off the appetizer menu. I was truly impressed by how quickly the food arrived. If you are on a tight schedule, its hard to beat Chaat Cafe. The Dosa arrived and it was tasty. Not quite as fresh tasting as the one I had last week at Saravanaa Bhavan. Still it was quite passable as it was served up quickly and relatively inexpensively. I think there is better Indian food out there, but its hard to beat the speed. This is very much like Indian Fast Food. It has its time and purpose, so no doubt I will be returning to Chaat Cafe one day.
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Reviewer: Vikram
Total Reviews: 19
Reviewed: 4/3/2005
Rating: 8
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Chaat Cafe serves up Indian fast food and fast food with an Indian flavor. I make that distinction because there really arent any chicken wraps in India! I really like the food here. Some of my favorites are:
1. Chicken wrap
2. Seekh Kabab wrap - awesome tasting. but very very very spicy. Trust me, you better be brave to be eating this.
3. Chicken boti kabab - This is basically marinated chicken breast/thigh pieces cooked on the grill.
I particularly like the potato salad that they serve up with each of the wraps. Also try the green chutney with your wraps if you think they arent spicy enough. The wraps are oily and so you cant really have them regularly, but I love to eat this stuff once a week.
One more thing that apparently a lot of people dont seem to know is that this place has a happy hour daily from 2-8 pm with 1$ beers. You get to choose from two brands. India Special and Golden Eagle. Just go with the India Special. That's some good cheap beer. Get a chicken kabab to go and you will be happy, my friend.
The interiors are pretty decent. Lot of seating and service is pretty good. I go here regularly and you might want to try this out too
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Reviewer: Humbucker
Total Reviews: 11
Reviewed: 8/1/2005
Rating: 7
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I've been on an Indian food binge for the last several days, so I decided to check out Chaat Cafe. The interior of the building was much larger than you would have expected it to be. From the outside, it looked like it would be your standard one-room + counter fast food joint, but the dining area and kitchen were actually quite spacious. I went with the Desi chicken wrap to go, which I guess is supposed to be the spicy version of the normal chicken wrap. The counter person took my order, I sat down for a couple minutes, then recieved my chicken wrap. Whenever I get take out, it's always interesting to feel the weight of the bag and gauge how much food your getting; something you can't really do at a sit down joint when everything is on plates. The bag I got from Chaat Cafe was quite light. Indeed, the chicken wrap inside was quite small-- maybe a little bigger than one of those frozen burritos you get at the supermarket. I was not blown away when I actually started to eat the thing, either. The so-called 'naan' is more like a rolled up pizza crust. It was much thicker and doughier than any other naan I've encountered. The filling inside was tasty enough, but the seasonings were unremarkable and it wasn't spicy at all. The tiny portion of potato salad included isn't worth describing, so I won't. I can't say I was really disappointed with the overall experience, since I wasn't expecting much, but I was not satisfied by Chaat Cafe and I probably wouldn't go back. I've had better Indian fast food right across the street at Taaza Hut and Madras Cafe, and Spice Hut, which is just a couple minutes further down El Camino. |
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Reviewer: Dan
Total Reviews: 78
Reviewed: 11/29/2005
Rating: 6.5
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I have visited Chaat twice now, and I can't get too excited about going back. Something about this place depresses me. Perhaps it's the nasty yellow and orange color scheme inside, or the indifferent service, or the poor lighting, or having so few customers in so large a space. Unfortunately the food was not special enough to make up for these.
On my first visit, I ordered Chicken Tikka Masala with rice for $7. Note that Chaat refers to itself as Indian fast food, but there was nothing fast about this dish. It took a full 10 minutes to arrive. As for the food, it was equivalent to what I would get in a standard Indian restaurant, but without Naan. I would have been happy to pay an extra buck for Naan if it was offered. Oh well. The portion was also too small. After finishing my meal I was still hungry, so I ordered a Mango Lassi ($2) for the road. The end result was a happy tummy, but I was $9 poorer. Next time I want to have sit-down Indian food for this price, I'll go to a nearby Indian buffet (incl. bread and dessert) and get my food faster.
On my second visit I was in a rush, so I ordered a chicken wrap to go. Service was much faster than before (3 min), which was nice. The wrap was very good, with tender meat and thick bread, and it came with a nice spicy relish or chutney that I hadn't eaten before. Mighty tasty and only $5.40. Cheap! The only down side was that it was a little too small (again). Luckily I wasn't too hungry. Normally I would have needed something more, thereby bringing the price up to 7 or 8 dollars, taking me out of cheap land.
I have no plans to visit Chaat again. I can do better elsewhere, and as I've said, the decor and setting rub me the wrong way. I rate it a 6.5. |
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Reviewer: jsatre
Total Reviews: 73
Reviewed: 8/21/2006
Rating: 6.5
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Chaat Café - At Blossom Hill and Santa Teresa (Main St. shopping center)
Something quick, but not fast food was the order for Fridays dinner. I drove into the shopping center thinking tortilla soup from El Pollo Loco, but Chaat Café caught my eye.
I walked in and the place was packed. You basically order from the register, sit down and food is delivered to you. I remember coming here on before and yet nothing memorable about that visit struck me. Hopefully this would be a decent experience. At least the prices were cheap.
I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala dinner (come with a cucumber salad, lentil curry, veggie curry, rice and nann). I also ordered a side of Vegetable Pakora and Aloo Gobi. Food took about 20 minutes so I hit the Albertsons for a few groceries. My order was up when I came back. Total bill came to a cool even $20
The food! Hows the food…?
Chicken Tikka Masala – Has a nice spicy tingle but the flavor was actually bland. The sauce reminded me of something out of a jar. Not creamy enough and even the tomato base wasnt very prominent. Chicken was tender but not marinated or as flavorful as I had expected. Sauce was a bit greasy. Portion was small, more of a lunch time size.
Rice – Clumpy and hard. I live close by so it had very little time to cool down. Maybe I got the last scrapings of the pan?
Veggie Curry – Good! I liked the spice level and yellow curry flavor. Veggies were a nice texture – plenty of cauliflower, carrots, peas, potatoes and green beans. Reminded me of my own homemade curry.
Vegetable Pakora – Blah! Round slices of squash dipped in a bland batter then under fried. Very disappointing, I barely ate any of these. My husband said “yack” too… Plus, no sauce! Wheres the tamarind sauce?
Aloo Gobi – I was pleasantly surprised with this dish. Similar in flavor to the veggie curry, but the garam masala spice perked it up. I wound up eating all of this, but the dish was only 1 cup big as it is.
I didnt bother eating the cucumber salad and only tasted the lentils – average tasting, nothing to write much about…
Overall – I think Chaat Café serves average Indian Food at decent prices. I did feel a little ripped off since the portions are so small though. Im much more inclined to take the drive to my favorite restaurant instead of return. I hear their wraps are a good pick though. I might return if someone else was paying or if I reallly hear something exciting about their wraps. 6.5 / 10 |
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