Cholanad

It takes some audacity to serve dried and leathery «roti», while claiming to have such celebrated chefs. We had their non veg thali, which had blown my mind when I had it 3 years ago. Wanting to repeat the great meal, we dug in to the thali…
Well, we tried to… Only the roti could not be broken easily and we had to soak it in rasam to soften it before it could be chewed. I find this equivalent to getting poorly cooked pasta in a good Italian restaurant. Roti is really basic, you should not struggle with quality of basic items.
The thali itself was unremarkable except the mango fish curry, which was well made.
Their mango lassi was good.
The waitress was disinterested and snooty. The place has lost it’s charm and quality.

I’m from NYC and this is one of the best Indian places I’ve ever been to.
The dosas are unbelievable. The veggie masala appetizer I had was great, and my parents loved their chicken and shrimp.
Having everything labeled as vegan (or vegetarian) was super helpful and the waitress and bartender were very knowledgable about what was free of animal products.
If you are vegan, this is the place to go. If you love Indian food, this is also the place to go.

The best Indian restaurant in chapel hill. It’s a great ambience and the food is just so delicious. Bold spicy flavored paired with the subtleties of multiple spices working together that assure you these are dishes you could never recreate so you MUST come back for more. I’ve had the chettinad chicken, the lamb saag and for appetizers the fish and the sampler that included the tandoori wings and prawns. The meat is sooo tender and I usually fill up halfway through the meal and get to have amazing left overs the next day. I’m not as much a fan of thalis or rice centered dishes with meat dispersed in them so I’ve steered away from those dishes but what I have chosen has always pleased me. If you’re looking for Indian food in chapel hill I would highly recommend cholanad. The gentleman who seats people at the front, may be the owner or manager, is also incredibly hospitable.

Our first visit at Cholanad–
Sorry! Disappointed after lot of hype abt the restaurant. Am sure many may have good experience. But not a 5star for me
Not a big fan of food taste here
Ordered fish fry for appetizer — rate 2. (needs more marination) — better taste compared to other dishes we ordered.
Ambience — okay. the temp was set to somewhat at Warmer side. Eating spicy food, we felt really hot.
Samosa chat — rate 1 (very mild. No spice or taste to it)
My husband ordered veg thali– rate 3. good taste but kinda on hot side. I was not impressed by variety on plate. There are other restaurants in Raleigh with better thali options
Seating — rate 2. that big thali and our wine bottle and waters n my samosa chat. Too much on one small table.
Wine-​They have good collection of wines. We ordered a Riesling — an organic wine from west coast. (4)
Server was friendly n knowledgable — rate 5
Overall my experience 3
Esp. For creativity, overall seating n ambience.

Food was great!
Atmosphere was great! Had a sleek slightly romantic type of vibe.
Server was very knowledgeable and super friendly.
Great location among other equally awesome restaurants. If you love Indian food Cholanad is must-​try.

Food was delicious. It is a small restaurant with great seating. Not too loud. The menu was full of different things to order. Someone in my party does not like spice and they were able to find something to suit their spice level. I would definitely go back.

Lamb saag is really good! Though the color looks a little dark green, but tastes really decilious. It is a good choice for people who cannot eat spicy food. There is some heat in it, but the sauce they provided (yogurt?) helps a lot. We also ordered the bajii, which is okay.
The service is pretty good after a waiter come, although we waited a few minutes for someone to come.

Had an enjoyable dinner at the bar here. For such a narrow building, they have the space broken up pretty well so that it includes a bar area, some smaller tables to one side, then some tables for larger parties including an enormous banquette along the back. They have a beer tap that includes rotating IPAs and a pretty good selection of wines by the glass. The menu has enough variety to let you have some choice without being overwhelming. We tried the shrimp and scallop skewers coated with a warm spice and roasted in the tandoori. Very nice spice blend, but the scallops did better in the oven so I think I might get all scallops instead of a mix next time. Also had to try the chicken tikka masala – it was different than most I’ve had. It wasn’t as tomato-​y and the spice blend was close to a chili base; it had a strong cumin flavor. It was also the perfect level of heat – just enough to leave a tingle. The bartender told us the process for their spice grinding and blending, which they do in-​house. It sounds very complicated, but it’s worth it in the end, because the seasonings were terrific. I really enjoyed their naan as well – light and nicely chewy. The presentation is fairly casual, as the plates look like something you may be served in someone’s home. (I don’t know this for a fact, since I’ve never been served Indian food in someone’s home, but that’s the impression I got.) But the flavors were great. The prices are right in line with Mint down the street, though the portions are a bit smaller.

My partner and I decided to try this place out as we’ve never had Indian food in Chapel Hill. An Indian friend of mine raved about this place, so we had high expectations… and weren’t disappointed!
The chicken 65 here as very delicious and crisp, golden-​fried in a yumm spicy batter. The goat biryani was actually really good too. The goat meat was very tender, and they used long-​grain basmati for the biryani. The biryani itself could’ve used a bit more flavour.
We also ordered a chicken chettinad curry which was quite delicious in its own right, although we were wistful about how it was not as nice as the one we’ve had at Betel, our favourite Indian restaurant.
The highlight was definitely the masala dosa! Crisp and stuffed with lamb, chicken and egg. I’ve never had a meat malasa dosa before, so this was quite a new experience for me as well. We absolutely loved it and will be back just for this!
My only minor gripe is the price of meals. It can get slightly pricey with the whole South Indian fine dining vibe in this place, but I guess the rent on Franklin Street is probably really high too.

This is the fist Indian restaurant I have been in usa which the food is served in a fine dining fashion. Just like the presentation food is also tasty.
I think they have the best biriyani in Durham, Raleigh, Cary area.

This place has quite a unique/​modern take on Indian cuisine. They have lots of South Indian dishes, and everything we tasted was superb! The star of the evening was the Curry Dosa! Yummy minced lamb in a spicy curry, wrapped in thin egg-​coated dosa. We were blown away! The prices are a bit high, but so is the quality of the food.

Went for lunch on Saturday, ordered assorted bhajia which was pretty oily (agree it’s meant to be a deep fried dish but if you fry at the right temperature, your dish does not absorb as much oil)! Then ordered the Gobi manchurian with Thai fried rice since the combo seemed interesting but that was too greasy as well. Name of the dish is a misnomer since it’s just jeera rice ! Dessert was good, ordered pista kulfi. Hubby ordered pepper chicken and liked it.

So I came here last year and I’m just getting the chance to write a review. My friends and I were craving Indian food and we heard good things about this place so we made a trip to chapel hill just to try it out.
The waiters were very helpful in explaining what everything was and offering suggestions. I wasn’t vegan then yet so we ordered medhu Vadai (lentil fitters) as an appetizer and I got a chicken tikka masala as my entrée and my friends got dosa and another vegetarian dish.
Everything we ordered was so delicious and the sauces were divine. The garlic naan was addicting and my tikka masala was rich and creamy. However I was a little disappointed there wasn’t mango lassi on the menu since its one of my all time favourite drinks.
All in all it was a wonderful dining experience and I would definitely come back again to explore any potential vegan options.

Americanised version of Indian Food !
I wanted to check out what all the hype was about, so i made a reservation on a sunday, late afternoon .
To our surpise we were the only one’s in the entire restaurant.
Coming to the food, we ordered Chicken 65, mutton biryani and chicken chettinad entrees.
Talking about the spice levels they were very very mild although we ordered one of the spiciest dishes on the menu which i guess is to satisfy the non indian groups who are the majority group of people visiting this place according to the other reviews.
Prices are on the higher end which I understand is for the location .
Considering the moderate tasting dishes, not –so– quick/​great service, i would not return to this place.

I came here with my mom and grandparents for lunch and was pretty impressed with the quality of food and service! We ordered masala dosa, dhaba thali, chicken tikka masala and shrimp curry with rice. Everything was delicious and especially the naan — it was a lot of fun dipping pieces of it into the different sauces and chutneys.
The dosa was awesome — crispy and rolled up with a hearty filling of curried potatoes. I especially liked the sauces that went with this. The chicken tikka masala was also another favorite, but I felt like even though the sauce was really savory and delicious, the chicken chunks were a bit dry. The shrimp curry was pretty good as well, but I felt like it didn’t stand out as much. The halwa was really good though — I thought that it was a nice sweet ending to our meal.
Prices were good for lunch (not sure if I would come back for dinner), the spiciness level was good (not overwhelming but slowly builds) — I was pretty pleased with my experience at Cholanad!

I coudn’t even tell you how many times I’ve been to Cholanad. I’ve been for both lunch and dinner and have never had a bad experience. The service and food are both always excellent and they have a different drink special every day of the week.
While I’ve never had a bad dish, I usually stick with the paneer tikka masala – the masala sauce is among the best I’ve ever tasted. Their medhu vadai and gulab jamun are also delicious. I guess if I had to pick one thing to complain about it would be their samosa chaat; it’s tasty, but the samosas are teeny tiny. That’s my only gripe. I’d rate Cholanad 4.5 stars if I could. In my opinion, it’s hands down the best Indian restaurant in Chapel Hill, and perhaps the entire Triangle area.

I thoroughly enjoyed the food at Cholanad but not the service. I went with a group of four on a Sunday evening. Two of us arrived on time and were seated promptly. The other two members arrived within 10 minutes. We were given menus right away, but drink orders were not taken, and we did not even receive water, until the other two members of our party arrived.
Our server was very knowledgeable about the food and was able to make recommendations and answer all our questions very well. She shared with us what she believed were three excellent appetizers (Samosas, Mutton, Lentil Fritters) so we ordered one of each. These were all wonderful. I didn’t eat the mutton (I’m vegetarian) but everyone raved about it.
For my meal, I had the potato dosa. It was huge but I managed to eat it all. It’s a fun dish to order. Because it is a crêpe it actually isn’t as filling as it looks. It could have had more filling in it.
The food was displayed very nicely, and the dosa came with three dipping sauces. There was a fourth container that was maybe a soup? I don’t know. It was about the same size as the dipping sauces but hot. I have no idea what was in any of the containers because at this point out serve had disappeared. By the time she resurfaced I had finished my meal so it no longer mattered. I enjoyed two of the three dipping sauces. I think the one I didn’t care for was coconut based and this was just a personal preference. If you like coconut, you’d probably enjoy this sauce.
Once our server disappeared — which was after taking our order — drink refills came to a halt. One member also did not get a bowl of rice. Someone stopped by our table and said he was trying to locate our server for us. Apparently no one knew where she had run off too??? He got her the missing bowl of rice.
I had initially asked our server if my dish could be made spicy and was told no. However, she said she could bring me a bowl of chilis on the side when it was served. I agreed to this, but the chilis were not brought out. By the time the issue could be addressed it didn’t matter anymore.
So in the end, the reason I’m giving this four stars is for the food alone. The service was maybe a two-​star. I also wish there were options to make the food spicier. My dosa was great, and I highly recommend it, but it was on the bland side. I would go back and give this place one more try to see if the service is any better.

Cholanad is probably my favorite Indian restaurant in the triangle. I came here inevitably because everyone and their mom was telling me to check it out. So I finally went, and I’m so glad I did. My husband and I didn’t have a reservation and we got seated right away which was great considering it was a Friday night.
Samosas for the appetizer and we were off to a great running start. Shrimp Konkani for the main entrée. So so good. The sauce is amazing, full of flavor and with rice it’s just so delish. The waiter that we had was super friendly, though occasionally forgot to refill my water. The ambiance, the overall service, all really great!
I also liked that the restaurant has easy parking so you’re not aimlessly driving around for a spot. In general I would definitely recommend this restaurant to other Indian food enthusiasts!

Best Indian restaurant in the triangle area.
I used to go there on Wednesdays they have selected drinks half price. My favorite dish though whole fish over banana leaf. Awesome best whole fish everr!

This place came highly recommended from friends, and while the food was quite good, it left a little to be desired in overall experience.
First, they have about 10 dedicated parking spots, which is fantastic bonus for a restaurant on Franklin Street. My fiancé and I waited around 5 minutes until someone greeted us at the hostess stand on a Wednesday around 7:45. That was a bit odd.
The bathroom was not clean. At first I thought it might be an unflattering brown grout on white tile, but my morbid curiosity got the best of me, and I touched it with my paper towel, and a large chunk of grime came off. Seriously?! I’m surprised they had a 97.5 rating, as it could be cleaner. There was also a cool round booth close to the bathroom that had badly stained upholstery (as in, from the backs of people’s heads). Time to invest in some overnight deep cleaning, guys.