Nirvana II

In short, the food is unspectacular but they give you a ton of it. I wish they had some more spice in their food, but they do have some sauces you can grab at the end — the green one (mint chutney?) is good

Good Indian food for a good price. Liked it! Simple concept — pick and go. Dine in option not available.

Quick place for a quick Indian Lunch. Chai was good too.

About a week ago I ate at this place with a buddy of mine. I got the chicken biryani, coconut chicken and tikka masala with naan. Like one of the reviewers said earlier; the naan is not authentic. The coconut chicken was something that I had never tried before and I think since I was starving before coming here, it tasted really good. Biryani was like any other you’d find in Charlotte.
Do not expect great customer service. My Moroccan friend wanted to know what raita was made up of and asked the cashier what it was and what’s in it. Without even looking at him the cashier just picks up a little tin of raita and put it in the bag, assuming he wanted it.

The food was average at the cost i got. Not bad for a regular goer. Decent service and very quick, i came out in 2 minutes. Options are not too much, but for an Indian food lover, it will be enough.

Sigh… I used to eat here 3 times a week. It is no longer great food; it’s not even good anymore. The flavors are different. The food doesn’t seem freshly cooked, just reheated. The food is more grey/​brown in color. I’m not sure if it went downhill do to the Persis competition a block over from here or if it’s new management. They don’t even bother to give you diced onions anymore; they are just huge wedges now. I’d pass on the naan. The other reviewer also mentioned the sweet korma. It’s quite off putting. The mango lassi is bright orange, clearly not fresh and the samosa was so unappealing as to be inedible. RIP.

This place is always packed at lunch! The menu is minimalistic, allowing you to spend less time thinking about what food to order and more time eating! I ordered the chicken tikka masala and one samosa, Both were scrumptious and relatively inexpensive. Service was quick and friendly, I’ll definitely be going back!

Unfortunately this place appears to have changed owners. Food’s slightly different, perhaps a bit worse than before. Prices have gone up. Still your best choice to get an Indian fix uptown for lunch, but not much competition.

The best way to describe the food at Nirvana II is that it tastes like disappointment.
Located in the bottom of 3 Wells Fargo, there’s a line out the door to this carry-​out only restaurant most days. I love Indian food, so I’ve attempted lunch from this location twice. The second time was only after I suitably convinced myself the first meal wasn’t as big of a disaster as I remembered. I was wrong.
They don’t serve authentic naan, you just get flimsy pita bread wedges. Their version of Chicken Tikka Masala is a gritty, brownish curry mixture that doesn’t resemble a quality version of the dish in any way. The chicken may have bones, or it may not, it’s really a surprise by the day.
I’ve tried another dish — chana masala from here, and it tasted the same. (Fortunately no bones!) Flavors are just muddy.
Both times I’ve eaten here, I’ve tossed my lunch out half-​eaten before finishing it. I don’t understand why this restaurant is popular. How hard can it be to do Indian carryout right?

About 6 months ago this place started to noticeably, but subtly, evolve. Gone were the friendly owners, replaced by a new crop of much younger, less interested employees. I can recall on not once, but at least 2 to 3 occassions going here shortly after 11am for an early lunch and the place was closed. I’ve walked in at 11:30 am and they’re still setting up?
Prices went up, small changes to the menu items started showing up and the coma-​inducing, extra scoops of food that really defined the value of their offering started to wane. In other words, now you’re getting too much food (instead of WAYYY too much food) for $ 9, instead of $ 8. Subtle — but impactful to the discerning lunch goer.
One correctable, subtle issue that popped up, and still persists today as I pull another one out of my mouth while chewing and writing this review, is exhibited by the fact that they cook with in-​tact, full-​sized Cardamom pods and cloves. Now in and of itself, this is not at all an issue, and in fact encouraged as the subtle flavors are a terrific layer of flavor. The problem exists when the pods and cloves are not removed prior to serving the dish and so you’ll occassinally get a mouthfull of surprise when you bite into an entire Cardamom pod which can simply destroy your pallette for the next several minutes. It’s a rookie mistake, that can be easily changed and make a subtle improvement to their quality.
Unfortunately, after some serious evaluation of this place for several weeks, if not months (yea I still come here pretty much weekly because it’s the closest place to my office) I can no longer recommend this place to folks who may have an Indian food itch burning in their appetites. The subtle changes that the Aroma management team has made have deteriorated the overall offering beyond my comfort zone. In fact, the line out the door that used to exist for Nirvana II is gone — the people have spoken!
The other factor here is that Persis Biriyani opened up a place across the street in the Latta Arcade. In another month or so, after they work out the kinks, I would expect Persis to crush this place on every facet of their offering. DING DING DING — LETTTS GET READDDY TO RUMMMBBBLLLLEEEE!!!
And oh yea, the naan is still awful.

I am not sure what happened to this place. Based on other reviews I guess the change is due to new management — but the food I just had there was not the food I have been enjoying for the last couple of years… the second you walk in you can even smell the difference — the spice smells don’t entice you like they used to. The food is completely bland, the tikka masala is a weird dark brown color versus the delicious tomato sauce color that I had come to expect from this place, it tasted canned, the potatoes in the potato and okra curry tasted frozen — not fresh at all… overall, just SO disappointing.
I used to go to this restaurant at least once a week… now I don’t know if I will ever be back. Tears have been shed over this… and based on the fact that I used to have to wait 10 minutes to order at this place and this time I just walked right up to the counter — it is pretty clear that I am not the only uptown worker who shares this disappointment.
BRING THE OLD FOOD BACK PLEASE!

Aromas were great. Staff was friendly. Food was tasty and plentiful. However, the 2 chicken dishes I had were too bland — not spicy at all. I mean zero. «Indian food» and «spicy» go hand in hand, and it doesn’t have to be overpowering; even very mild spice makes for more flavorful food. Nirvana II could use a little of that.
Take out only. A couple of cleanish tables outside the front door.
I will say most of the clientele was Indian, and they are likely better judges of the food than I.

I guess today it’s their first new ownership crew, they seem a little confused and unorganized. I had the spicy chicken and tiki masala. Great food, right amount of spice and not overwhelming.
However the naan was pretty flat and not hot enough. It’s been a while since I had Indian food, but their yogurt sauce was too watery for me. I think it’s supposed to be thicker like tzatziki sauce.

The service was prompt and the food was tasty. It was my first time ever eating Indian food so I can’t say I knew what to expect. I will certainly eat here again if the opportunity presents itself.
I went in July 2013. Amex was not accepted at that time. Perhaps things have changed?

Nirvana is a solid lunch option for the working stiffs uptown. I eat here 2 – 3 times a month and it helps get me through the morning grind when I know I’m heading here for lunch. It’s pretty much a «to-​go» type of establishment, but they do have a few tables out front. I usually try to eat this stuff outside as the aroma is way too strong for the office. I don’t want to make my co-​workers too jealous!
I usually stick to the vegetarian options (it’s cheaper and you can get a lot more food for the price), but everything I’ve had has been delicious. Indian food just has that ‘POP’, and Nirvana delivers it at a good value. Yes, the naan is just pita bread as others have mentioned, but it’s still good. Make sure you also know your limit when it comes to spicy food because they usually have 1 – 2 entrees that deliver a big kick. They’ll let you know if you ask.
Bottom line, it’s a tasty, cheap, and quick lunch Uptown. I just have to watch it because sometimes I want to curl up under my desk and take a nap after chowing down!

I have visited this place at least twice a week since I started working in downtown Charlotte.
The spicy dishes are legitimately spicy and wonderful, but there is plenty to choose from if you want to stray away from the spice.
Their naan isn’t the best, but the rest of the food more than makes up for it. Even when the line is out the door during lunch, it moves quickly and the staff is amazingly friendly. Two vegetarian dishes with rice and naan are enough to have me near stuffed for less than $ 8.
I only wish they took AMEX. Other than that, I love this place!

As a City, Charlotte is sorely lacking in Indian cuisine. That’s one reason that it’s such a treat to have Nirvana around for a good, spicy uptown lunch.
They have a rotating selection, and you can choose a tray of one, two, or three different dishes over rice. They throw some naan (not the greatest naan, but good for sopping up leftover sauce) and a cup of raita on the side.
The dishes are all well spiced and they usually have at least one selection that is legitimately hot.
Service is really fast and friendly, so the long lines (another sign of how good this place is) move fast.
As for seating, aside from a few tables on the sidewalk outside, there is no seating at Nirvana. However, you can go into the lobby of the office building that Nirvana is tucked into and there are lots of tables where people chow down on lunch they’ve taken out from nearby places.
This seems to be the only spot for a Indian lunch uptown. Thankfully, it’s really good.

This take-​out Indian place has become one of my go-​to lunch spots. It’s fast enough that I can easily grab lunch and either eat it outside or at my desk without it becoming lunch hour-​and-​a-​half.
The menu rotates, but it seems that chicken tikka masala is always available for those who are spice averse. Today, they had fish curry, aloo channa, dal tarka, chicken biryani, malai veggies, and coconut chicken. If they have rice pilaf available that day instead of just rice, pay the extra quarter and get it. If you are unsure whether you will like a dish, ask for a taste before you order it. They are happy to accommodate.
Chai is sporadically available and my coworkers swear by it, though I find it too sweet. Occasionally, they will have a dessert available — get it! I have seen some seemingly strange combinations of foods in their desserts that I thought would absolutely not work flavor-​wise and they turned out to be surprisingly delicious!

I’m pretty much a newbie when it comes to Indian food but I very much enjoyed the lunch I had this week. Wanted to try as much as I could at once so went with 3 meats. Chicken Tikka, Pepper Chicken and Chili Chicken. All meals come with basmati rice and naan, which here means warmed up pita I guess.
Each dish had nice flavor and varying degrees of heat with the Tikka being the most tame, but also the most deeply flavored.
The line was long but moved at a decent pace and the service was very friendly.

I was very disappointed with the newest addition to the Indian scene uptown, mainly because the food lacks flavor which is just not a good look. The servers were very friendly and allow you to sample what they have before you order. I sampled a few items that were just ok, so I decided to stick with the tikki masala since this was my first visit. Perhaps it was me but as I stated before the food simply lacked flavor and how shameful is it to serve store bought naan?