Columbus’ Curry

As a vegan working in Bucktown I’m constantly trying to find spots for lunch. I tried this place today and was pleasantly surprised. It was empty, but for the amount of food and the price I felt full and had food left over.

Nah. I liked the curry, the dumplings were over priced, the naan was also over priced and they used too much oil. A few hours after lunch I had indigestion, brought on by excessive veggie oil used to make the curry. I was optimistic, but won’t return.

Just tried this spot for the first time (via delivery) and it was delicious! I love that you can get a protein and veggies for an affordable price, without compromising taste! I got the cauliflower, paneer and chicken tikka masala w/​basmati rice, and nothing disappointed! Will definitely be ordering from here again :)

I’ve had tastier Indian, but for fast casual, this is solid. It’s quick, clean and satisfies my craving for Indian food. I love that they have lots of vegetarian options. I just wish they offered some of chutneys that Indian restaurants usually serve.

I’m upgrading them to four stars for a few reasons:
–They got new takeout containers which I love! Thank you for canning the styrofoam!
–I rarely eat all vegetarian when I have Indian food. I generally find it too soupy. But Columbus’ veggie options are amazing. The aloo gobi is my favorite and the daal is among the best I’ve ever had.
–The basmati rice is so perfect.
Cons:
–I’m disappointed they still aren’t offering smaller snack options. What if I just want one dish? Do I really need to get enough to feed three people?

I haven’t written reviews in a long time, but this place definitely brought my critique mood back. I’m so glad this is in our hood, and I wish they continue for many more months to come. Food is tasty and the casual ambience is clean & tidy. Customer service is excellent. I honestly felt in love for this very fast and casual type of dinning. Portions are big, and business model similar to chipotle. They also have some alcohol available and tried hard cider for the first time. Definitely recommend!

It’s a healthy Indian fast food joint! You get a lot for the price you pay and the food is very delicious. It often makes me wonder why I would pay double the price in fancy Indian restaurants for the same dish. The restaurant is very clean and comfortable sit in. You can tell that the owners put in a lot of effort and thoughts into it when building the space. You can get alcoholic beverages here as well. It’s a great place for lunch or quick dinner after work. I have truly enjoyed the quality food and friendly service here.

Having spent the same amount of $$$ that I would for an Indian buffet, I don’t think this place is worth the taste and quality.
I like the idea and the ambiance, but the food is mediocre.
I also tired the masala chai, which is equally if not not more expensive than the chai latte from Starbucks. I did not like the taste of it because it’s not a real chai and doesn’t even taste better than coffee shop chai latte.

Wonderful food! So tasty and reasonably priced. They offer a lot of vegan options, which is great! The samosas are okay but the rest of the food is phenomenal. Also, super fast delivery and very friendly staff.

Comida boa. Gostamos bastante do tempero. É uma espécie de buffet de comida indiana no qual você escolher entre as quantidades de proteínas e os acompanhamentos. Gostamos do chicken tikka makhani, do shahi paneer e do bhindi masala, o último, dentro os apimentados, e o mais fortinho na pimenta mas nada que assuste um paraense acostumado.
Se não forem de comer muito, basta uma refeicao para o casal.
Recomendo!!!

If I were to open an Indian restaurant, it might not occur to me to choose Christopher Columbus as a theme. Having stated this, the food at Columbus Curry is quite good. This place offers good quality Indian cuisine in a Chipotle-​like format, it’s fast, pleasant and not horribly unhealthy. Lots of vegetarian options and a brief history on why the founders think Christopher Columbus was cool. I’m not quite sure why they choose to play techno-​pop music when they could play music of India, keeping in line with the whole history lesson vibe. I recommended this place, its surprisingly tasty.

I walked into Columbus curry by chance and I was pleasantly surprised. Very clean establishment and fast service. I overall enjoyed my experience lots of flavor and spice. I had the combo which is served in a very large portion. delicious!

I always wondered why there aren’t that many fast food indian places, and with this place I see why. Following the typical «chipotle» style service, you start off with rice and add on from there. I got the 2 veg/​2 protein entrée. The chicken tikki, beef keema, and chana are pretty standard, a safe bet. The «shahi paneer» is the same curry as the chicken tikka just with paneer cubes, which was disappointing. Portions are pretty large, you will prb consume a half pound of rice. Only issue is this place lacks freshness, and flavor. After a while everything tastes the same, very school cafeteria-​ish. Has large room for improvement.

Rangoli is usually my go to delivery place for Indian food. But they don’t deliver lunch on the weekdays which is a shame. So I decided to try Columbus’s Curry since they were the only option available at the time of my craving. Thankfully it was a risk worth taking.
I tried the 2-​meat/​2-​veg platter and loved everything I chose except the cauliflower dish. It was just kind of a bland mess. But everything else was top notch. Their Chicken Makhani was excellent. The samosas were tops too. I just wish the naan was a little more substantial since an order consists of a couple of strips of bread instead of the standard large serving I get at other places.
Regardless, I fully enjoyed what I ordered and will order again and again!

Fast casual Indian food can be done well. This, however, is not the way to do it.
The portions are rather large for what you pay, and the variety is commendable. I love that you can choose between basmati and brown rice (or have both) along with a heaping portion of a meat or vegetarian/​vegan entrée, with a variety of sides, naan bread, and beer/​wine in a comfortable, clean dining area.
The taste, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired. The chicken in the tikka makhani was on the overcooked side as was the beef keema matar. I was a fan of the aloo gobi at first, but it seemed to get saltier with each bite. The samosas were just ok and the naan was hard.
If you’re looking for fast-​casual Indian food done right, Naansense has what you’re looking for.

When I saw that there was going to be another Indian restaurant opening in the Wicker Park area, I got excited. Cumin was the only one that I had been to and I had enjoyed the whole experience. So I figured that with another one opening, there would be at least one more option.
Indian food, Chipotle style.
I ordered butter chicken and chana masala. The portions are a few notches past generous; they’re large. Because Indian food is slow cooked, the Chipotle formula doesn’t work well. The chana masala was actually really good once you got beyond the heavy handed amount of salt in the recipe. The butter chicken also had a good flavour, but the chicken was dry.
If you want something quick, this is certainly a good spot for options. However, if you’re craving something with authenticity or close to it, give it a try anyway to see if it suits your palate.

Stopped in here for a quick lunch. Had the chicken masala, chana masala, and daal. All served on basmati rice. They give you ALOT. Could not finish, but really good quality, fresh Indian food.

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this addition to Milwaukee for a quick place to get my Indian fix when I’m too lazy to cook it for myself.
Had 4 veggie platter with brown rice: bhindi masala, aloo gobi (x2 — not a dal fan myself) and chana masala. I would say the last was my favorite — much better than I make myself! Because I wanted to try everything, I couldn’t resist the spicy samosas, which were very good considering they were in a warmer. Perfect amount of spice without melting my tongue.
So it pains me to write about the one bad food item because I love the concept and want this place to stay forever. But here goes: they need to up their naan game. It was rubbery, chewy, too think and just not good.
All in all I will definitely be back. I have enough leftovers for dinner and a full belly swimming in yummy curry. If they can get better naan, I’ll update my review to five stars in a heart beat.

I’m giving this place three stars, in part, because after waiting forever for this spot to open, I need it to stay open because I love Indian food and want to have a semi-​cheap option near my house. My wife and I both thought this was probably a two-​star lunch when we ate it today, but time (as in, a few hours) heals all wounds.
The good: the value for the portion size, the hearty brown rice, and the tasty chana masala chickpea veggie selection. The bad: everything else. The naan was just ok, the chicken tikka masala was bland, nearly flavorless, and surprisingly tough to chew (although my 14-​month-​old was VERY happy with this chicken when we fed it to her for dinner tonight… love kids), and the other veggie options we tried – daal, aloo gabi, and the bhindi masala curry – were not memorable in any way.
The space is actually larger than I anticipated, so getting a larger group here will be easy in terms of seating; our server was friendly and we got a free keychain for our troubles since they just opened. But the food doesn’t take any chances – at least, not yet – and my wife thinks Rangoli (on North, near Western) crushes Columbus Curry and Cumin is also very tasty.
Up your game, Columbus Curry… stat!
(Note: could you come up with a worse name for an Indian place? Also, could you tell me why it’s «Columbus’ Curry», and not just «Columbus Curry»? That apostrophe at the end has got to be a minor nightmare, right? Seriously!!!)

Just the meal itself and a soda makes for an excellent dinner for less than $ 15USD. Add in nann and dessert (like gulab jamun), then you’ve got a very filling meal for less than $ 20USD.
With rice as your base, you have a choice of three entrée or four. I picked the four with the two protein and two veggie entrée choices.
Basmati rice, beef keema matar, chicken masala curry, aloo gobi and bhindi masala curry. Extra side I picked up nann and gulab jamun. Plus a soda. Not bad for less than 19 overall.
Pretty spacious for the most part and nice lighting. Good window view of which one can see folks going about along this part of Milwaukee Ave.

Americanized fast-​casual has now infiltrated Indian cuisine. The influence of Chipotle-​style service is evident. Very glad that this place has opened close to me, as sometimes I crave Indian but don’t want to go out and sit (i know there’s delivery but I’m discounting that). Enter Columbus Curry.
Upon first entry, it smells amazing. So amazing. It’s also cheap. And fast.
It’s easy. Choose your rice (2 options, but choose basmati), then pick 3 or 4 entrees, which are either veggie or protein. Rice with protein and veggies on top is pretty much my favorite meal, so of course I found it good. The aloo gobi (seasoned potatoes and cauliflower) were awesome, and my chicken masala curry and chicken makhani were tasty. I’d skip the naan though, it was bland and disappointing.
On a side note, glad that Unilocal fixed the unfortunate hack on this page. It was pretty terrible.
Welcome to Wicker, Columbus! Hope this business succeeds, as there are few, if any, concepts like this around.