Paprika

Pricy, but each and every dish we ordered was delicious. A definite must try… The restaurant itself is pretty small but service was courteous and timely. Thank you

I don’t ever write bad reviews but I have to warn you, don’t go here! This was some of the worst Indian food I’ve ever had. We ordered food for delivery so my review is based solely on the food. Both entrees that my husband and I ordered (butter chicken and chicken korma) tasted and looked EXACTLY the same and had some disgusting kind of British influenced brown curry on it. I got 2 bites in and decided the food was not worth finishing. Chicken Korma is supposed to have almonds and raisins in it; mine, however had potatoes and peas in it… What the heck!!! The samosas ok but were not even comparable to some really good ones that I’ve had from the suburbs or Devon. The bread was soggy but I ended up only eating the bread and the samosas. Trust me, don’t go here! This food is so inauthentic and so gross. We ordered from this place instead of our usual Indian place, Tiffin, on Devon because it was close and we wanted to see if it was as good as the reviews said it was. It was definitely not worth the $ 18 an entrée. Waste of money, and waste of time!

Good local easy to find place with byob and their own lot. Great company with attentive service. We enjoyed our food tremendously. They give us complimentary vegetable samosas, glasses and a bucket of ice for our wine. Don’t miss the naan with nuts. very good!

Place was great. Small intimate, great customer service with decent prices. The owner was very welcoming. Definitely a gem in the Albany Park area. Would definitely be going back. Rice pudding is delicious.

A local neighborhood gem! My husband, Matt and I always order take out from here and it NEVER disappoints. There are lots of Indian restaurants in Chicago but nothing compares to Paprika. It’s an almost upscale version on standard Indian dishes. Everything from their fish curry to the naan is delicious and not your typical kind. The food is always fresh and you can tell that no attention to detail has been left out. Props to the chef for such great recipes and skills.
The staff is always so helpful and have always customized our order to our liking which is a huge bonus. They truly have a passion for their customers and it shows! Leftovers for days if you can stop yourself from overindulging. Every bite leaves you wanting more.

Moderately priced, byob policy, friendly service, and incredibly delicious food. This is, without a doubt, my favorite Indian restaurant in Chicago.
These guys pride themselves on preparing all meals fresh, and you can tell. The peshwari naan is a delight. The chicken vindaloo is the best I’ve ever had. Really, nothing I’ve had here has ever disappointed.

Amazing food. All super fresh — and the best samosas I’ve ever had. As others have said, the service isn’t super fast but that’s because they are making everything fresh! Great place to enjoy a nice dinner and BYOB.

The food is okay, but not worth the cost. But more importantly, the wait is unbelievable. It took an hour to order. The food came quickly after that, but getting the waiter to give us the bill proved nearly impossible. We tried to flag him down multiple times but he did not come to the table.
I will not return.

Went here on a Tuesday afternoon. There was only 1 guy working all the tables. We placed our order right away and then waited. And waited. and waited.and waited some more. There was a line of ppl who ordered carry out. The same guy was helping them which left no one to wait the tables. We had been there for at least 45mins so I went up to ask and he said our food is ready & coming out now. Took another 10 mins after that. I had to walk up and get water for my own table.
And then the food. It was okay. Not bad but not amazing. And definitely not worth $ 15 a plate! Yes our plates were $ 15 each for about an $ 8 serving size. We didn’t bother boxing it go.
Over all I will not be coming back.

I ordered a delivery one night and it didn’t disappoint! I ordered Onion Bhadji for appetizer and a lamb dish called Ghobi Ki Rogen Josh. Both so rich and delicious! I’m not sure if naan was always included with the order but that was the most delicious whole weat naan I’ve ever eaten. I could probably eat it every day! And I think included one serving of boiled basmati rice on the house, not sure why but maybe because they knew that it was my first time trying out their food.
Overall, this place is great! Portions are good and the prices not so bad either. I’ll definitely order again when I get Indian food craving!

From the outside, it certainly doesn’t look like much. I’m glad that didn’t stop me.
Having seen this place on Check Please, it’s been on my list for some time. We arrived at 6:30 on a Friday night. There were seven people in our party, we had the place to ourselves. They ran out a corkscrew and ice bucket right away, bringing some complimentary starters too. One person in our party was vegan so I was very impressed with how well they handled us ordering for everyone at the table, suggesting what items could be made vegan. I needing my lamb josh rogen and still had to get that in. We also had the mango chicken curry; which was excellent. For the vegan dishes we did the veggies vandaloo and that was my least favorite. We also ordered onion and garlic naan, malligatawny, and one of the lentil dahls. Everything was incredibly delicious. Service was very attentive and there were several other tables by the time we were done. BYO was a huge bonus and the tab for all of this came out to only $ 22 per person and we were all stuffed and happy.
Will definitely add this to my go-​to list for Indian food!

We would definitely eat here again. We ordered delivery on Sunday at about 6pm, it came within 45 minutes. The guy on the phone was really cool, we ordered the mango chicken curry and asked them to make it extra spicy. It was perfect. They even included a free order of rice. The naan was delicious as well.
I felt that it was a bit expensive which is why i gave it 4 stars, but everything else was really good.

Just moved closer to Paprika (my favorite Indian restaurant). It seems like the portions have gotten a bit smaller, but it might just be that there are new serving dishes (I could swear the food used to be served in bowls).
Still a really good value and worth the wait.

I can’t believe I’m writing this but I had to give this place another chance. However, not on purpose. I forgot all about it (including the name) but I was desperate for some Indian Food. (This review is a bit delayed. This happened a couple months ago.) :/​
I googled the nearest joint and decided to place an order for pick up. As I’m talking to them, I realize that it’s the same place that left me super disappointed. Oh well… here goes nothing!
I told the man I wanted my dish very spicy (since they didn’t oblige last time) and they really followed thru… they actually overdid it.
I stepped in to pick up the order and the gentlemen working there were so nice. I asked if they made my order spicy and he said: «Oh yes! I made it very spicy like you said. I used a GHOST pepper.» Uhhh… come again? For real? That’s the hottest pepper in the world!!!
Needless to say, it killed all the flavor. My first bite allowed me to slightly taste the tikka (which was decent) but then it followed with straight heat. No flavor, no rich herbs and spices, just burn. And I’m still not a fan of the naan.
Maybe you need to eat there to experience the magic. I just won’t be the one to do it.

I love this place… so much so that the owner invited me and my friends to dine during his «Check Please!» taping. Shah Kabir serves fantastic food and the fact that it’s BYOB only enhances the experience. Don’t let its location in a strip mall deter you; culinary goodness lies within. I’ve had the lamb and chicken dishes, which are all very good, but for me, the vegetarian dishes are where the magic happens. Menu standouts:
Onion bhaji
Baigan Ki Shag (a favorite)
Palak Alu Paneer
Palak Ki Turka Dahl
Malai Kofta (excellent!)
The naans are great; flaky and crispy at the edges and flavorful throughout. Go for the Whole Wheat Shahi Naan — you won’t be disappointed. The desserts are also not to be missed! The kheer, mentioned in the Michelin Guide, is fantastic, and the Golab Jamun, Mango and Pistachio Kulfis are also very tasty as well. For good Indian food, save yourself the journey to Devon and try Paprika!

I had high expectations for this place and was left severally underwhelmed.
As others have mentioned I saw this place on Check Please and since we were in the area last night decided to pick up some take out.
Prices seemed average, except for the lamb and seafood options which were really high. Most items were $ 10 to $ 15, which I’m fine with. I noticed that they had some unique options I haven’t seen on other Indian food menus, especially in the vegetarian section, and that excited me.
We ordered an eggplant dish, a chickpea dish and a chicken dish with a garlic naan on the side. Everything seemed to have a sour, almost vinegar taste to it. I thought that was odd and something I’ve never really experienced in all my years of eating Indian food. I didn’t like it at all, my ladyfriend thought the vegetarian dishes were good.
Nothing was inedible but the naan was close. It seemed undercooked and sort of soggy, again something I’ve never experienced. It had a industrial looking pattern on the bottom that almost made me think they were mass produced. I guess the tandoori oven could have had a textured side but the only time I’ve ever seen a similar pattern it was on premade frozen naan. It sort of tasted premade too. I don’t want to make any accusations but that was my feel.
All and all definitely will not be back. If you live in the area it’s a local option that you may or may not be into. Not worth going out of your way for at all.

Very delicious, freshly cooked Indian food. Loved the tandoori chicken (covered in a bit of brown tandoori sauce and not roasted red like other restaurants), coconut chicken and the eggplant spinach dish which is stir fried. Fantastic food and very friendly service.
Not so good: Expect a 1:445 long dinner which is reasonable time unless you have kids. They only have one booster seat and when I reserved it, they still gave it away. I highly recommend not coming here with kids due to lack of high chair and the long dinner time.

For all who eat Indian food often, this is so average. The food is actually Mughlai cuisine so North India/​Pakistan inspired spices and flavors. The curries taste great but the samosas are far from authentic. The crust is self rising flour, baked and tastes too greasy. The filling is bland. The naan was very dry and a little burnt.
Maybe we decided to go on a slow day, the service was pathetic. And I mean, really sad because there were only 2 people playing chef, waiter, cashier, manager, everything! Our food took an hour to get to the table.

Samosas. Coconut curry chicken. Chana aloo. Mango lassi. Kheer.
The samosas were good, but they were very mild in flavouring. The pastry seemed to have the texture of baked samosas rather than deep-​fried. While I am more accustomed to a bit of crunch to my samosas, the ones at Paprika were not like what you get at many Indian restaurants.
Where I give highest marks are with the coconut curry chicken and with the chana aloo. Because I prefer my Indian food spicy, I ordered it accordingly and it didn’t fail. For those who order the coconut curry chicken, note that the curry does not have a coconut milk base. It’s curry gravy with shaved coconut in the recipe. As to the chana aloo, I should have ordered poori or bhatura instead of the naan. The naan also had a baked texture as opposed to that of naan baked tandoori style.
The kheer was «the» best. I actually ordered some to go. I think it may be that it wasn’t excessively sweet, so I got to taste the ingredients without my gums throbbing.
The service is fantastic. And because the restaurant was empty when I went earlier in the day, I got to chat it up with the owner as if I had gone to a friend’s home. My one mark down is from the samosas and the naan. I imagine there is no tandoori oven at the location. In addition to the texture of the bread, there is a faint after taste that would require some adjusting to. Other than that, it was all good.

One of my favorite couples have been going on & on about Paprika ever since they moved to Lincoln Square back in spring of 2013. I been trying to link up with them since then but it never worked out until this past Friday.
Small, cozy and intimate spot in a small strip mall a few blocks west of Western on Lawrence Ave. I let my pals tell me what was good as I looked through the menu and I saw some pretty good stuff in addition to their awesome recommendations. I decided o the Gohbi Ki Tikka Masala which includes spicy chicken masala with yogurt sauce and sautéed cauliflower. It was really good along with the garlic naan.
Paprika is a family owned joint that really loves their customers. The owner came out and chatted with us and even gave us complimentary rice pudding which was delicious… a really great guy. Paprika is a great joint with food and a gem for the neighborhood.