Bombay Cafe

Gone, but not forgotten. See my review of its replacement Indian restaurant, Amrit India. It’s pretty darn good.

This is by far my favorite Indian restaurant in Bloomington. It is semi-​buffet style, in the sense that there is always an assortment of around 7~8 dishes available, and you can choose two for your meal, which comes with a choice of dal (there are usually two kinds available), rice, and naan. There are other ways to order food here — you can order individual dishes off a menu, too — but I think most people just get the «pick 2» meal like I do. There are always spicy and non-​spicy choices available, and there are of course vegetarian options as well. They are also very vegan/​GF-​accommodating.
The portions are huge — I always leave completely stuffed. The staff are very friendly, and they seem very concerned with whether or not you actually enjoyed your food. I appreciate the interest that the management takes in the customers. I always enjoy coming here.
The only reason I can’t give this place 5 stars is their use of disposable plates and utensils. I would be willing to pay more for my food if it meant that they could afford to be less wasteful.

Very, very good food. I usually get the lunch combo, which is pretty big, affordable and come with (thank god) enough warm naan to soak up every bit of deliciousness this place has to offer. Bottled water is included in the meal, which is cool (though I wish they’d have plastic recycling, considering), and the staff is always friendly. They have a good variety of foods, both with meat and vegeterian, and great homemade spicy sauce.

Bombay Café is one of my favorite places in Bloomington. The prices are reasonable, the staff is helpful and friendly, and most importantly the food is always fresh and delicious!

This place is the best indian in town by far. And a great deal. The only indian place I go, and the only one I recommend.

Hit or miss, some dishes are fairly decent, others are less impressive and lack flavor and freshness. Not seemingly the most cleanly restaurant in town. Still, there are worse Indian options.

All of my friends from Mumbai love this place for an authentic taste of home. I am American and this is my favorite Indian restaurant in town. I wouldn’t say speedy service is their forte but I really enjoy what I get. I love their butter chicken and palak paneer!

certificate does not apply here. According to the lady owner (think she is), they have filed a complaint to
for this and went on to let me know they are doing very well there and the cert does not make sense to them. I’m thinking, oh yeah? How did your restaurant name got on the list if you haven’t somehow approve it?!
I didn’t even bother to stay. There are other indian restaurants around.

This place is so robbing. The quality is bad. Theed options are less and do not know how to treat customers.

The combo meals are a great value and definitely the way to go. When we walked in, the guy at the counter asked if it was our first time, walked us through the options and made suggestions — super helpful. Me and my bf really enjoyed everything we had, but I’d say the standout for me was the baigan bharta, a delicious smoky eggplant dish. Glad we stopped in and will definitely be back!

New location is on point. I used to go to the old location and it was OK, but now that the owners relocated the place and put it on the square its improved a lot not just in atmosphere but also in quality of food.
The owners who are usually working are very nice (they used to always throw in different deserts for free, don’t know if they still do).
The chicken tikka, chana masala, spicy daal, and butter chicken are some of my favorites.

Good food, absolutely great service and hospitality by the owner.
Just two points of contention:
a) No home delivery, or even if it exists, it is very limited to few hours in a week (not day)
b) The consistency in the food is not as great as it is with other restaurants.
On the whole, this place is what makes me feel like home. (Considering I am an indian)
Please try the chaats there. And if you’re American — try Thums up — sooo much better than Coke/​Pepsi.

Super casual, no frills joint serving some yummy Indian food.
Ordered take out from here to fulfill my Indian craving and not wanting to cook. They were swamped so I figured I could go down the half a block and grab it (I know, what an athlete).
Two of us got chole chaat, chicken korma and lamb curry with naan and rice. I also scored an ice cream cone for free. I had ordered our entrees medium spicy. I wish I hadn’t. The food was yummy but even my Indian taste buds couldn’t handle it — I had to drink milk alongside of it.
The main guy is very nice. I could tell they were super busy and when I showed up the place was packed. Go figure, it’s darn tasty.
I’ll be back to try the combo platters, mild hot this time!

I went here for the first time today — the delicious smell wafting outside is what drew me in after my appointment at the next door salon. This is a no frills, easy place to grab a quick tasty meal.
This is a super casual place but the food is good. I got the large chicken combo (with chicken saag) and by ‘large’ it was correctly named! It would have been plenty for 2 people (it only comes with one drink) especially because it comes with an entire round of naan. I ordered the heat as medium and was warned that it would come out ‘Indiana Medium’ — I understood. The other Indian restaurants in town tend to have their heat on a scale of 5 and I usually order a 3 — I would say this came out as a high 3, maybe a 4.
The listing on here says it is also a juice bar which it is not. They they do have a few ‘smoothies’ in addition to from ‘fraps’ and some lassi options. But I think some of the flavors might be artificial but I did see a mini-​fridge full of juices. But this isn’t what I would consider a juice bar (from scratch with real blended fruit). Also, they do have desserts but it is a large assortment of frozen treats (think corner store). Don’t get me wrong popsicles are awesome — I just don’t want anybody to see ‘desserts’ and think of an assortment of fine homemade treats — that is just not the role of this place.
Other details: Accessibility — yes, this is wheelchair accessible, Parking — street, Seating — is all booth… a bit hard with my pregnant belly but would be fine for others.
What they do so right: 1) Good food that is at a good price, 2) Vegetarian friendly, 3) On The Go — lots of on-​the-​go or smaller options.
Room for improvement: 1) Naan — I agree with an earlier Unilocaler — there is room for improvement here — either don’t make as thin in the middle so it doesn’t dry out or add a bit more flavor to it — maybe more ghee? 2) Website — be sure to frequently update the website, the current hours are different from what is on the website right now

We were heading into Btown around 10:45pm and decided to stop by Bombay to grab some late night dinner takeout. We walked in and were greeted by the friendly mom & pop owners behind the register counter.
A good way to sample items or just have variety is to order their combos. While it’s not listed on their menu board, the owner pulls up his business Facebook page (
) which shows their combo specials of the day. While I had no idea what some of the side items were, he took the time to describe them for me. I ended up getting a regular combo with butter chicken, daal, veggie aloo served with basmati rice & naan. He ended up getting a large combo lamb vindaloo. I also had my mind set on one of their savory snacks called «bhel puri» which is made out of puffed rice, vegetables and a tangy tamarind sauce. The owner was surprised I knew what it was and how to pronounce it — thanks to my boyfriend who showed me a travel blog clip recently. That’s when he asked if we’ve ever been here before «Nope» and how did we find out about their place since they don’t have advertising «Thanks, Unilocal!».
If you don’t have time to sit around and wait like we did for a good 20 mins with a frozen Blue Bunny snowcone from their freezer case, I suggest you call ahead and place your order. I like that they prepare your food as you order rather than keep them under a heating lamp and just scoop it out. Out of all the Indian restaurant establishments I’ve been to, these owners had a welcoming smile rather than grumpy face like they didn’t want to be there. Food was plentiful and certainly better than what I’ve had at Indian lunch buffets. We’ll be back to drop a tip for the complimentary snowcone they forgot to charge us!

The food was tasty for what it was but…
AND a big BUT
I ordered lamb curry for 13 dollars but there was only a sliver of lamb. Where’s the meat?!?
For that much money I expected a feast instead it was a soupy rice dish. Not cool dudes, not cool at all.
Won’t go back there again.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!
Great food, great service and extremely friendly staff.
The best place in Bloomington for Indian food, in my opinion. They make the best samosa chaat I have ever tasted. If you go there, you must try the samosa chaat. You can thank me later.
I also really like the chicken tikka masala and the lamb korma. But honestly, you cannot go wrong with the food there.
I cannot recommend this place enough.

I am glad to say I have finally found Authentic home-​made style Indian food in B-​Town out of all the places I have been to after being in the states.
The prices are okay. Food is awesome. Quantity is more than what you can eat. What else do you want?
Oh, not to mention, Bombay Café serves the road side stuff too like the chaats, pani puri, pav bhaji, etc. Their menu is too extensive.
And, to top it all, its a very friendly homely atmosphere unlike other Indian restaurants. Rabary bhai treats us like family and is more than willing to go out of his way to ensure we have a good time.
I was sick of the Indian buffets served in other Indian restaurants because it would give you that I-​am-​about-​to-​die-​of-​food-​coma feeling. But, Bombay Café is legit. As long as I am in B-​Town, I cannot stop going to this place.

«We serve café style, you order up here, then we bring the food to you.» Hmm, different compared to most of my other Indian eatery experiences, but I dig it. Going in I had a few items on my fluid hit list: palak paneer (creamy spinach with cheese chunks, sweet naan — with golden raisins if they have it and tika massala (how unique, I know).
Located in a strip-​mall like setting below residential student units, Bombay takes the no frills approach with minimal décor, a long bar for ordering and simplistic menus displayed overhead. With the way the menu is laid out, the Café is a great spot for eating family style. I recommend ordering two combo platter and you’ll easily have enough food for four. Each combo comes with a main course, side of the day and side of your choice (in our case, palak paneer). The regular naan was subpar but the sweet naan we had specially asked for (not on the displayed menu, but they were happy to make it) was phenomenal. In fact, the next morning I woke up, warmed and ate it for breakfast. Naan is the new cinnamon toast.
One of my favorite parts about this business is the conversational approach the owners take. We were able to talk out the menu, learn a few pronunciations and order in an educated and well-​informed manner.

This place was great. Very kind staff. Plenty of vegan and veg options, awesome late night hours and low prices. I like Bombay because they offer a different kind of faire than all of the other Indian restaurants in town. They have street food as well as more traditional dishes. The place is also clean, but low key. It’s an order your food at the counter and they bring it to you type place. We ate there, but it would be great for takeout too. Great place to grab a quick bite for lunch or dinner! Tonight, I had «Samosa Chaat» which had a samosa in a chickpea/​tamarind sauce. Also got a side of cheese naan. The chaat was a sort of street food… De-​lish. They also have «thums up» which is a pretty rad Indian cola. Lastly, I like that you can eat outside in a quiet courtyard. Yes it’s in the middle of an apartment building… but in summer, it seemed quite pleasant.
So yea, support this place. It’s cheap, but the food is great and the staff is sweet. So glad there’s another late night option. Businesses don’t seem to last long in this location, so I’m really hoping that Bombay is here to stay!