Best Questions to Ask Your Server at an Indian Restaurant

Servers at a family-run Indian restaurant usually know the kitchen personally. Ask well and you'll eat better than the menu alone would let you.

1. "What does the kitchen make best?"

Better than "what's popular?" — popularity means butter chicken every time. This question gets you what the chef is proud of, which is often a goat curry or a regional dish that doesn't sell as often as it should.

2. "Where is your food from, specifically?"

North Indian? Punjabi? Pakistani? Hyderabadi? South Indian? The answer tells you which section of the menu is the restaurant's real strength. Ours is North Indian and Pakistani, Punjabi at the core.

3. "How spicy is medium here?"

Spice scales vary wildly between restaurants. Asking calibrates you before you commit.

4. "What's fresh today?"

Some days the lamb is exceptional, sometimes there's a special the printed menu doesn't list.

5. "Is the naan from a real tandoor?"

You'll learn a lot about the kitchen from how quickly they answer.

6. "I'm ordering three dishes — do these work together?"

The single most useful question you can ask, and the one that saves people from three creamy curries. A good server will swap one for something drier immediately.

7. "Is there dairy or nuts in this?"

Ask specifically, not generally. Cream and cashew paste hide in gravies; yogurt hides in marinades.

8. "Do you cater / do you have a private room?"

Worth asking if you're planning anything. We do both — catering across the East Bay and a banquet hall seating up to 200.

The question that doesn't help

"Is it spicy?" Spicy compared to what? Instead: "I like heat about like a jalapeño — where does that put me on your menu?" Now your server can actually help.

Ask us any of these in person at 848 Willow Ave, Hercules. Menu · reserve a table · contact and hours.