Tasty Tikka House takeout requires some assembly

[Robin Garr]

Tasty Tikka House takeout requires some assembly

Plate your Tikka House lunch pack on your own tableware, and suddenly you're dining Indian-style.


You might not think that Indian food is anything like pizza. Right? But in these strange times when takeout and delivery dominate the pandemic dining scene, dishes from a quality Indian eatery like Tikka House have one important thing in common with pizza: They taste good hot or cold, and they take well to reheating.

So when I was in the mood for a delicious Indian lunch that would travel well this week, Tikka House filled the bill.

Offering a good mix of regional Indian cuisines, Tikka House's chef reliably gets spices right, hitting every note in the flavor symphony that is Indian cooking at its best. I’ve never found a dull, muddy dish here; these flavors pop and sizzle. They also handle Indian breads impressively.

Tikka House cemented the deal for me this time with a lunch special featured on the takeout menu: Lunch packs – full meals including starter, two curry dishes, rice, naan bread and an Indian dessert – listed at a tempting $8.99 for a veggie lunch pack, $9.99 for non-veg, an amusingly veggie-centric way of designating the pack with meat in it.

At that point I hit a few bumps in the road, none serious enough to detract from the pleasure of a delicious, affordable meal that provided enough food to last for two days. Once I got it.

First, I bumped over a technical challenge: The website appeared to be permanently down. Uh oh. The Facebook page had no obvious link to a menu or ordering page. Google, always there in a pinch, linked me to working page for pickup or delivery.


That worked, sort of. The online ordering form wouldn’t take orders until 12:30, and I didn’t want to wait, so I phoned Tikka House and reached a friendly person with a bit of a language barrier. We got through it, I placed my order for one of each lunch and some extra Indian breads, and headed over.

When I got there at the scheduled time, though, the kitchen apparently hadn’t started on my order. When it finally came out. I was surprised to discover that the $8.99 and $9.99 prices had risen three bucks each to $11.99 and $12.99. Hmm. “Menu old,” the friendly person behind the counter explained. “It’s on your online ordering menu,” I objected. “Online different,” they said.

All right, whatever. The bags were so huge, and the food was so good, it was clear that I was getting value at any price. And in fairness, it appeared that we got three entrees rather than the two that the menu offered. Fair deal.

Next time, though, I’ll skip the packaged meals and order from the extensive menu, which (in the online version) are mostly priced between $10 and $15. ...

Read the complete article on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/tikka-house-takeout

You'll also find this review in LEO Weekly's Food & Drink section today.
http://www.leoweekly.com/category/food-drink/

Tikka House
3930 Chenoweth Square
749-4535
http://tikkahouselouisville.com
Facebook: http://bit.ly/TikkaHouse

Robin,
I look forward to welcoming you and many others into the "Double Vaccination Club" where life and indoor dining meet!
Hang in there and hopefully we'll soon be talking about covid-era takeout escapades in past tenses!

[Robin Garr]

From your lips to Lord Quetzalcoatl's ears, James, assuming that winged serpent deities even have ears.

From your lips to Lord Quetzalcoatl's ears, James, assuming that winged serpent deities even have ears.

From one Mesoamerican mythical legend to one Louisvillian contemporary food legend----I think he senses the magnitude of his mission!

If you ever want to veer away from traditional Indian fare, I really like Tikka House's Nepalese selections "from the Himalaya". The sukuti sadeko I got on a whim the first time we ordered from there, and it is really interesting. It's not smothered in gravy, but finished with lime juice. It's hard not to get it when I get Tikka House.

[Robin Garr]

Good advice, Ron. Thanks!

Looks good, tried to check out the menu, but I had a problem with their website. The one linked here didn’t go to anything. Their Facebook page has a different website address, but I got a security alert when I clicked on that one. Could be an issue with my browser, not sure, would like to know if anyone else had success.

I tried their website after Robin posted the review...NOPE!

This is the website I used last summer and fall to order from Tikka House, and it worked fine.

https://mymozo.com/myrestaurant/default?CompanyId=355

At some point I saw a different online order site for Tikka House and started to wonder if myMozo was really the correct site, so I switched to calling in my order. If anybody tries myMozo, I'd be curious to hear how it goes.

[Robin Garr]

No, the website is definitely sketchy, and the FB page hasn't been updated for a really long time. They just aren't good at communication, but the food is good enough to be worth the effort.

Thanks for the info, will swing by and order in person instead of relying on any site. I see your point about not updating their FB, as the first time I checked it last week, I saw a "closed until April 15" as the first message. Appears that was for 2020! They have since taken it down.

Thanks for the pointers. I ordered a few items from Tikka House via DoorDash about a month ago. I really liked the vegetable samosa and vegetable samosa starters, and the chili garlic naan. I also ordered chicken fried rice, and although the portion was really generous, it didn't seem to have a lot of chicken in it, and was fairly bland and dry.

I'll probably try it again, but Shalimar is still my favorite Indian restaurant in the area.

.

I'll probably try it again, but Shalimar is still my favorite Indian restaurant in the area.

Now that buffets are on hold, I've been doing thali platters. Shalimar and Dakshin both have very good thalis. They both have good variety and are abundant enough to take half of it home!

Another note on Shalimar: I've been a patron of their buffet for many years. The place is so consistent, the buffet food has good variety, is always good, and looks fresh. The waiters are dressed nicely and circulate much like in a fine dining establishment. When I went there a few months ago when they were just reopening and I was almost the only person inside, they hadn't missed a beat.
The place is a class act!

Shalimar is our favorite, too. We've gotten takeout from Tikka House several times during the pandemic since it's close to us, and it's been okay but hit or miss. Our last order included some significantly underbaked naan, which pushed us back to making the trek out to Shalimar.

Edit to add: We decided to dine in at Shalimar a couple weeks ago, and it was so empty at dinnertime on a Friday night that we could scarcely have been more socially distanced if we'd been in our own dining room!

just an fyi

what a difference a few weeks make: the facebook page is updated and has full contact details

the website is working: https://tikkahouseindianrestaurant.com/