Essence of India

As I am a Brit from London and I know good Indian food it’s the go to hangout for that
I like it hot and hot it’s is.
3^rd time here and spot on every time

Best Butter chicken, Murg Makani I have had in years or maybe ever!!! Sincerely, the butter chicken tasted like heaven… HEAVEN. Comforting, spicy, creamy, cinnamon-​y so so delicious.
My husband is from Britain and this is one of the only Indian restaurants he will eat at in Chicago. We have not found a better one. Luckily, it is close to home for us… I do not know how we lucked out with regard to our proximity.
Also, the service is always friendly and pleasant and the owner really cares about the quality and taste of his food.
Best Indian food in Chicago!!!

Tried last night for a change; pakora wasn’t great, wife’s butter chicken was fair but was disappointed with my lamb rogan josh. Good spice level but Lamb was REALLY tough, couldn’t eat much. peshwari nann poor. Not fair value for money in my opinion for $ 50, will be back to explore the options in Devon ave.

I really enjoyed this place last weekend. We started with the vegetable samosas, which were excellent and quite mild. They also serve some sort of crisps as well, with a variety of dipping sauces (all sauces veered mild & sweet). I particularly liked the green one. For entrees, I ordered the medium-​spice chicken saag (chicken & spinach in a gravy sauce), and my boyfriend ordered the spicy lamb gosht. Solid entrees, and the spice levels were spot on (spicy means spicy… slow burn…). We ordered these dishes with basmati rice & some sort of wheat bread. I wasn’t wild about the wheat bread compared to naan, because it tasted… well… very wheaty! That’s my own fault, though. Not sure what I expected with that. Finally, the ambience is nice as well… comparable to Hema’s kitchen in terms of coziness. Overall, I’m glad we finally tried this place. It will be our new local go-​to Indian restaurant.

This is a neighborhood favorite! My husband and I order takeout from here about once a week (which is probably way too much) and get the butter chicken, rice, and naan. Neither of us like spicy food, so we get the mild version.
The food is consistently good and the employees are wonderful! I generally don’t venture out too often on the menu, but I have tried one of the lamb dishes which was not my favorite.
Their atmosphere is nice, and in the summer the patio seating is a must!

Great complimentary starter with thin flatbread and the best green chutney ever! Sorry I ate everything before reviewing. Started with the vegetable sampler– deep fried but not greasy. Interesting combo enhanced by the 3 sauces that came with the bread. Chicken Kahari was so tender! I asked for medium spice do if you don’t like hot, ask for mild. Jhinga shrimp was great and spicy too. Basmati rice is perfection. Too bad we live so far away!

I truly believe the food was good. Pretty authentic I’d say, but keep in mind that I haven’t had a lot of Indian food to critique from. I have one problem, I paid $ 40 for two bowls of chicken dipped in sauce & an appetizer. I could have had a family size meal at another Indian restaurant for that value. The service was okay. Nothing spectacular. Pretty sure we were greeted with a frown and the young lady serving us was irritated when we were unfamiliar with their menu. Seems like the boss was eager to get our money as well. Probably won’t be coming back because I’m told that I overpaid by twice as much.

Ordered the chicken tikka masala last night and was very disappointed. You can tell it was frozen and just defrosted. The chicken’s texture wasn’t good and the gravy was way to watery. Only reason I gave it one star is because it’s convenient ordering from off grubhub and it’s a block from my home. I should have taken the effort and driven to another Indian restaurant. This was the 3^rd time I’ve tried this place since moving into the neighborhood in October. I gave it enough chances but been disappointed each time.

This is our go-​to Indian restaurant. Not only is it convenient (close by and delivery), but also because the food is so good! Seriously, YUM! Also, the service is top-​notch. They know me by name when I call and know my previous order so all I say when I call «Hi, it’s Emily. What I got last time. Thanks!» Pull up 20 minutes later and my food is ready and piping hot. When I get home, I dig in with a glass (or two) of wine and call it bliss.
I have eaten in here once and the atmosphere is nice. It’s cozy and friendly :)

I tried this place a while back and I thought it was decent. Tried again last week and was very disappointed. The food came out right away which was suspicious. The food of course wasn’t fresh and cold. I had the chicken tikka that was cold and dry and the garlic naan was stale. Very disappointing

Chicagoans… Let’s be honest in saying that there are hundreds of Indian Restaurants. And we can also say a majority are mediocre.
Essence of India after many failed attempts at finding authentic Indian Food is the best!
The dishes literally melt in your mouth. If you’re having a bad day instantly you’re happy. Yes — I’m going to say it. This food is magic.
Try it — you won’t regret it. Obviously need to get the butter chicken. It’s the most cliché thing to get, but it’s always a must when ordering. All of the food is amazing. Especially any of the chicken entrees. Naan is great. The vegan choices are amazing as well. And the rice is delicious too. Not dry and plain. Well flavored —
You’ll love it. It’s a bi-​monthly routine in my house.

Came here with hubby after my music lesson at the old town. The food was good. We ordered chicken tikka masala and goat mean in yogurt sauce both in mild. Chicken tikka is a little sweeter than my liking but overall good. We ordered rice and naan to go with it. You can never go wrong with the rice!

We were greeted by the owner and although the place was nearly empty he didn’t seem to happy to see customers. He didn’t offer anything hing to drink other than water and when I asked him about beers he simply directed me to the wine menu and disappeared. I had to call him again to order a beer.
The food was not great. I ordered the murg tikka masala, rice and nam. It was poorly spiced and rather bland. My wife’s lamb was better.
Overall not a great experience. I will not be coming back.

I have wanted to try this place for a long time, and finally did over the weekend. This is a small, cozy restaurant with a small outdoor patio for summer seating. We sat inside and had a nice meal.
Upon seating we were presented with some flat breads (tortilla-​like — don’t know what they’re actually called sorry) and a trio of sauces. We ordered some butter naan, rice, a creamy chicken curry and some kind of lamb dish. We enjoyed everything we ordered. My chicken dish had zero spice to it and it was almost sweet. I ordered the mild version of the dish, but next time I would kick it up to medium to try and get some kind of spice (and this is coming from someone who doesn’t like spicy food).
Aside from the tasty food and quick service, I also enjoyed the details here. A fresh rose on every table. Heavy silver serving dishes for all the food. Antique looking little silver spoons for sauces, and dishes.
I’d definitely come back for more.

A few years ago, when I frequented Essence of India, they were doing quite well in terms of output from the kitchen and front room service. I never got a chance to blog them when I went in the past, so I wanted to see if they would be a good fit for my blog now. The food is still good, but something in the table service changed between my visits years ago and now.
Daal turka. Curry coconut shrimp. Poori.
I had a hankering for daal turka rather than the usual daal palaak or daal makhani. Having ordered the daal turka spicy, it was definitely a hit. The curry coconut shrimp was sour, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The coconut was clearly the most dominant flavour in the dish. I ordered rice and poori to accompany the two dishes.
It is possible that I may have returned when timing was not good. After the detached disposition received this time, I shall put off any returns for a lengthy stretch of time. I did enjoy the flavours of the dishes I had, though.

I just ordered from Essence for the first time. I’ve been craving Indian food and didn’t want to drive to Devon. Essence is closer to home. I ordered tikka masala, biriyani and bhindi masala. The Murgh/​chicken tikka masala was not like anything I’ve had in the past, and I’ve had a lot of Indian food in Chicago. It tasted like they used sugar instead of salt and the sauce is a lot lighter than I’m used to. My husband and I couldn’t even eat it. This was not a good dish.
The other two dishes were ok, not good enough to order from here again. Next time I’m craving Indian, I’m driving to Devon Street. I really wanted to like Essence – very disappointing.

Would give 4.5 stars if I could. We had a nice server who helped us carefully navigate the level of spiciness for each dish, which is crucial given our caucasianness.
The Baigan Bharta and Chana Masala were both delicious — these are my favorite Indian dishes and Essence did justice to both of them. The veggie sampler appetizer and chutneys were among the best I’ve had.
And oh my, the paneer pakora — clearly this cheese was made to be deep fried. I’m just sorry it took me so long to find and experience that!

We passed by this place so many times while walking in the heart of Lincoln Square and promised to come hear, but never did. We finally waked in and overall were pleased by the experience.
There are about 15 – 17 tables with a nice little bar in the back. We sat in the back by the bar to get a good view of the place. We waited a little longer than needed for our waiter to arrive since it wasn’t packed. In the beginning, it seemed that the waiter almost had a little bit of an attitude, but towards the end he was pleasant.
We started with an appetizer that was a crispy flat bread that has cilantro and some other spices in it. It came with the three sauces including one that tasted like barbecue. The dish was spicy and had a lot of flavor.
For the entrée, I ordered the Lamb chunks with an almost gravy type of sauce. The lamb was tender in the beginning, but got dry towards the end.
Overall, this is a great Indian restaurant that I will return to a lot.

I think I might be overrating them, but for much of the past year, I’ve been in and out of here and the food has been grrrrrreat. People tend to think that Devon is the cure-​all for Indian food. It’s not and flavor can be found elsewhere.

My usual visit has been for dine in service. Many of the entrees and appetizers we ordered were fresh and tasty. My only gripes would be aimed at cost breakdown and size of the meal. I think Indian restaurants are notorious for charging extravagant pricing for meals. Also, those that reside in popular, trendy areas get away with charging $ 12 plus for chicken entrees and $ 14 plus for lamb or other. If the quantity was a good standard size, I would visit more often. Instead, I go once in awhile. I’ve even forgone Sunday brunch to do Indian lunch instead! But it can get overwhelming on the pocket book when the often spend is close to fifty dollars. That’s for service for two with two entrees, bread and appetizer.
Service has always been the same. It’s good, not great. I’ve noticed that when I visit with my folks I get better service and when I visit with North Indian friends, I also get better service (but that’s a conversational thing). When I visit with everyday Americans I get better service too. LoL, WTF, maybe my beard is intimidating, I dunno. But I won’t harp much on that, it’s not worth it. I return for the food and the clean atmosphere because unlike much of their competition on Devon Ave, this place is a LOT cleaner. Next time your in a restaurant lay your (bare) arm across your table space, you’ll know what I mean instantly. Hopefully things don’t change for me, I’ve been lucky to eat great every time. Also, I like that they offer levels of heat or spice, rather. At times I find it hard to relate with the guy to make my meals spicy. He’ll ask me questions that, kind of, don’t make any sense and we end up going back and forth on spice level. The good thing is, they usually get it. So, a few spoons into my curry, I’ve got a good stream of sweat pouring down my scalp. I’m completely fine with that.

Some of our friends absolutely love this place so we wanted to try it out with another couple who says this is their favorite Indian place in Chicago. I have to say that overall we had a great time and enjoyed our time here but it was definitely not the best Indian food I’ve ever had. It’s nice that they take open table reservations which might be a good thing on a busy Saturday night. The place has a pleasant atmosphere with a nice amount of space in between tables which is always a plus since I hate being right next to my neighbors to the point where I can hear their entire conversation. The servers approach you right away and throughout the night we had great service so no complaints about that as everything was brought out in a normal fashion and we didn’t have to wait too long for our food.
Speaking of food, because that is why I came here. Like I said I just wasn’t overly impressed. It was tasty but nothing that made me say, «this is remarkable or amazing.» We decided to try the butter chicken which is apparently the signature dish here consisting of Tandoori chicken simmered in tomato sauce, butter and spices. When asked how we wanted it cooked, we said mild, but I hated it mild. I should have definitely said a little spicy because it felt like a dessert dress with more of a sugary taste instead of what I’m used to in a chicken tikka massala which is what I would order next time. I guess I’m more about the orange curries over the red ones even though the red can be as equally delicious as long as I get it on the spicier side. Then our friends made us get the chicken biryani dish because they swear it’s the best one they ever had. This I felt was tasty but the pieces of chicken were huge and I wish they spent more time making them smaller since they were overwhelming in comparison to the rice. The flavors were there and we definitely liked it more than the butter chicken but it’s not the best I’ve ever had. They do, however, have fantastic naan here, on the chewier side which I definitely recommend and a few portions to dip into your curries.
Overall, we had a nice time, they have excellent customer service, a nice atmosphere, and decent food. Am I dying to come back? Probably not, but I definitely enjoyed the time we had here.