Thayekari Indian Bistro

My daughter and I went to eat Dosas after calling them to check if they made them. They said yes, so we went there. We ordered the ones we wanted, ate and when the bill came, I noticed a higher price for each. I asked the waitress and she said, well the cook had to specially make them so there is a $ 1 extra each for the dish. I have never heard that in my life!!!
Anyway I paid the bill, even tipped her but was going to give a review. I think the manager needs to know this. I tried calling but the fax line kept coming on. I have been here several times, food is good, but this was wrong!

My mom and I found our new favorite Indian lunch buffet! All the dishes were so delicious and they had all of our favorites. The interior is very clean and appears upscale. I love how my clothes didn’t smell like food after leaving! Service was very attentive and courteous. I had two full plates and wish I had room for more. We are definitely coming back next time I’m home.

Today my daughter and I enjoyed a delicious meal at a wonderfully reasonable price. We arrived at 2:25, just in time to take advantage of the lunch buffet which is $ 7.95 per person. I have to admit that I am not an expert at Indian food, but I know what I like, and the meal was simply yum! The food was kept at a perfect temperature, with a good variety of choices. Naan is brought to the table as needed and is freshly heated and tasty! The food varied form mild to quite spicy to suit a broad range of pallets. Depending on your preference, the service could be considered a pro or a con. The server was not overly friendly, and did not repeatedly come to the table, but was available when we needed him. Overall, it was a wonderfully pleasant meal, nice casual atmosphere, and less than $ 20 for two by the time all was said and done.

We were not sure whether to try it or not infact my husband still wanted to leave after ordering coz while waiting for our order we read some of reviews here on Unilocal.Im glad we decided to stick around. The food hardly took 15 mins unlike Wat other reviewers wrote. The butter chicken n Palak chaat were amazing. Having recently moved from india I got the exact indo Chinese I was craving. The perfect chilli chicken like it should be.
Only the ambience could be a bit brighter. But this has been by far the best Indian food iv tried.

I usually order take out. They don’t hesitate when I request to make the food spicy. The food and service are very good.

The food and service were exceptional. Beautiful décor and a great location. Our waitress was very knowledgeable and her recommendations were perfect. Couldn’t ask for a better evening.
Great service and great food. Even made a special dessert for us. Couldn’t ask for anything more.

Very good food. Little on the Spicy side though. Specials on the menu highly recommended.

Awful food, Restaurant very dark and gloomy…
My Fiancé got violently sick and landed in The Germatown ER. That night with food poisoning.
We will never eat there again EVER!

There aren’t that many «good» Indian restaurants in this area so when my friend recommended this place I was expecting good food. Since it was my first time, I ordered something safe to carry out. I ordered butter chicken. Usually this is a mild dish so I didn’t ask about how spicy it could be. Phoning my order was a breeze. Picking it up wasn’t. I had to wait a while. So I thought ok my food will be hot and fresh. I was very hungry and was craving this so bad. The waiter or manager was not the best but say thank you at least when you make a sale! I get home, I make my iced chai to go with my meal and I dig in. Two bites and I was done. Chicken was dry as bone and it was hard! No tender meat at all and it was spicy! The butter sauce didn’t taste authentic and it wasn’t suppose to be spicy. The naan was excellent the reason for 2 stars. After my bad experience here I doubt I’ll return. I should have went a few doors down and got pad thai.

I am completely disappointed with this restaurant. My sister and I arrived on a night weekday. We were the only ones in there. When we ordered our food, it took more than 20 minutes to arrive even though it was just a cucumber salad and naan bread. I didn’t find it appetizing whatsoever when we eventually did get our food.

Attractive restaurant. Food is fresh and flavorful. I would have given it 4 stars but the few times I’ve visited I’ve seen the owner (on more than one occasion) come out and greet the Indian customers while the rest of us get ignored. I’ve also seen staff provided faster service to Indian customers. This is not a good feeling to have. I hope the owner sees this review and makes a change.

Yummy food but timing can be long to get food within a expected time.
Butter chicken and garlic naan keeps us coming back

GOOD & BAD…
THE GOOD:
We love Indian food & have frequented many many restaurants throughout Maryland DC Virginia & Baltimore.
We all were very impressed by the dark, cozy, nicely decorated dining room, dark paint, beautiful artwork, furniture & authentic indian music. The Mango Lassi was fantastic, but that is where the positive rating ends.
THE BAD:
1) Improperly prepared food:
Though my friend asked before we ordered for the food NOT to be made spicy, the Butter Chicken came out so spicy, it couldn’t be eaten. I myself like spicy food but thought it was too spicy even for me. Butter Chicken is traditionally not a spicy dish. The chef has much too heavy a hand with the heat. Several other tables with Indian customers (who said they like spicy food) also mentioned they thought the various food dishes they ordered were extremely spicy –even for them.
My friend sent back her Butter Chicken & requested to have it remade NOT SPICY. The chef should have re-​made the entire dish, but instead, he only removed part of the sauce & then added more sugar, cream & cornstarch to the existing dish. It then came out very thick and sickeningly sweet with a very light pink colored sauce, rendering it this time, truly inedible.
2) Slow Service:
The restaurant wasn’t busy, but service was ridiculously slow. –1 waitress for the entire restaurant! She was a very sweet young lady, but inexperienced, overwhelmed & in need of professional training. Several times we (& other tables) asked for something, but instead of completing the task, she attended first to other patrons (refilling water, seating other customers, taking orders, making Lassi’s and bar drinks).
3) Dirty dishes not cleared off our table:
After eating, dirty dishes were not cleared soon. Dirty tables around us weren’t cleared long after patrons left. This wasn’t appetizing. Slow service has been cited by other reviews, so it is obvious that the restaurant knows about this problem but has done nothing about it.
4) Waitstaff not appropriately dressed:
Waitress was wearing regular casual street clothes, with no waiter/​waitress apron.
Staff should be wearing black (no jeans) pants w/​a black or white collared, ironed shirt.
5) No candles.
The battery operated candles on the tables should all be lit during restaurant serving hours to contribute to a warm, inviting dining room ambience, but they weren’t. Staff said they were instructed to keep candles off to save money if no one’s seated at the table! OMG Really? This is the ultimate in cheapness.
6) Lack of restaurant owner oversite:
No owner was present in the restaurant on the weekend. This may be one of the reasons the restaurant is lacking in service and food quality.
7) Manager yelling at employees:
Hearing the chef/​manager yelling at the waitress made us feel very uncomfortable. It isn’t her fault that the restaurant doesn’t have adequate staff to properly run their business. Although I saw other employees working in the back, no one was helping her. There weren’t enough people in the restaurant for the chef to be constantly busy. He should have been helping the server. If he has an issue with her, he should be counseling her calmly & professionally out of earshot of customers.
8) Window overlooking dumpster:
A side restaurant window is overlooking dumpsters– close view from the building across the street. The window blinds overlooking that area should be kept shut, or some tall potted trees need to be placed outside the window such as year ’round green arborvite, to block the view. Obviously, It’s unappetizing to eat while looking at dumpsters.
9) Guests denied seating of their choice:
We saw an all adult family ask to sit at the beautiful velvet covered bench booths but were denied and forced to sit at a window seat. I presume this was for the restaurants benefit to make it look busy to passers-​by. It wasn’t nice to refuse this customers request. We were shocked.
10) Rude Manager:
On our way out, we attempted to speak to a man who identified himself as the chef/​manager. The owner wasn’t there. We wanted to politely share our experiences with him, but he wasn’t receptive at all. He abruptly cut us off before we even began, told us we had exactly one minute to talk, was rude, and told us to come back during the week to speak to him or the owner. This was extremely inappropriate. I am NOT his paid consultant and I’m not going to come back at his convenience. The owner should be at the restaurant especially during busiest service hours. They lost an excellent opportunity for feedback.
It’s obvious to see why this restaurant after being open for a full year, isn’t busy on a weekend evening in a heavily crowded bustling shopping center.

I wish this was a better experience. My first experience was wonderful and lead me and my family here for a second visit. It should’ve been an indication from when we first sat down– as we were only one of 2 tables filled in the entire restaurant– and we get seated at a table which had not been cleaned and I sat down on a chair which had been soaked with an alcoholic drink. Needless to say we had to switch.
Our waiter took our order, and as one of us is a vegetarian, we spoke with him about one of the meals we were ordering from the vegetarian section of the menu. When we got our order, our waiter handed our orders to us and spoke the dish to us as he handed it to us, leaving us to believe we were getting what we ordered, right? Well, we began eating, and 2 of us were enjoying our food but the other wasn’t sure of what she was eating, not sure if it was vegetarian. We assured her that it was, that our waiter said it was the vegetarian dish and perhaps it was just fake meat, so she continued to eat even tho her stomach was getting upset. So as a girl was walking by the tables adding water to our drinks, overhearing us telling our family member that it was probably fake meat, the woman pouring our water said «oh no, that’s definitely lamb», and we assured her it wasn’t because we had ordered the vegetarian dish. She looked over he dish and she said no, that’s not the vegetarian dish, that she got the meat sampler dish. Clearly in shock, we made known how upset we were and told her there was no way that could be, because we ordered the vegetarian, that she is a vegetarian, and no wonder her stomach is upset if she has been eating meat. The woman who worked there apologized and went to go double check with the waiter, left us and came back about 5 minutes later to tell us that it was the kitchens mistake that they misread the order and made the meat sampler not the vegetarian sampler. We let her know how upsetting this was and that our daughter was sick because of this and had gone into the bathroom. The woman left, and the waiter never came back to the table to apologize nor did any manager. Our waiter should have known what it was because he handed us our food and clearly told us it was the vegetarian sampler. They left us at our table for another 10 – 15 minutes without anyone coming by the table to apologize and we had to get up to find someone to get the bill. It was the woman who was pouring our waters who gave us our bill and apologized. She told us she took the sampler off the bill. Big deal. More than that should have happened if you ask me. We all stopped eating because our family member was sick, it was so upsetting. And the way the restaurant handled this was extremely poor. Unfortunately we will not be going back to this place.

Got a LivingSocial voucher for this place so thought we’d give it a try. We got Lassi’s to drink which were both delicious. To start with we shared the platter of veg and chicken pakora and veg and meat samosas — every bit of it was delicious.
For entrees, I had lamb curry and my wife had her usual chicken korma. The portions were huge and enough for a 2^nd meal the next day. The flavors were a little spicier than other Indian restaurants where we have had the same curries, but that is a plus for me. The naan we ordered were also decent and warm enough.
Service was a little slow given there were very few other people there, and the music, even by Indian restaurant standards, was awful — so one star off for these.

A real treasure — we accidentally stumbled upon it and thought we’d give it a try (and we have been back about 6 times since). The chicken madras is fabulous, as is both of the chat appetizers (banana/​avocado and the aloo). Also good is the chicken korma and the butter chicken.
Beer prices are very fair, service is friendly and consistent (without being overbearing) and the atmosphere is very comfortable and pleasant.
Loved it and definitely recommend it!

We were greeted by a very lovely smell and a welcoming smile from the host. He asked us if we wanted the buffet or menus. We opted for the menus. We sat for about ten-​15 minutes before a man from the kitchen with messy clothes came and took our order. He paid most attention to my husband and wasn’t keen on eye contact with me. We had to catch him as he ran off to tell him that we’d like waters to drink. Mine had something floating in it. We haven’t received our food yet but I’m hoping for the best due to the reviews.
On a side note, behind my husband tucked in the corner are two spider egg nests. Yummy.

My friend and I were craving Indian food and being that this restaurant was the half way mark for the both of us we decided to meet here for lunch the other day.
Food = meh. The pots holding the food for the buffet are a nice touch, but they do not do a good job of keeping the food hot. Food was a bit bland for my taste. The rice in the chicken biryani was mushy. The «salad» bar looked skimp. The fresh naan they bring out is probably the best thing they had there. It was nice and warm!
For dessert, I enjoyed the bread pudding they had there and some warm mango flavored rice dessert? I would skip the mango lassi– it’s not as creamy as it should be and not to mention it was kept in room temperature (more on the warm side).
After dining here, we immediately regretted not going to our usual spot which is Minerva on 355.

As always, this review is for the lunch buffet.
Succinctly, Thayekari’s food is good and delicious, but the buffet cannot be a 5-​star experience until the restaurant offers more dishes. On my visit, I counted only eight options, which any buffet enthusiast knows is low. I would like to see a masala option (or buttered chicken) and a dessert (the day I went did not have any!).
I intend to try this place again and write an update.
Pro Tip:
Thayekari does offer tea during its buffet (for free), but you have to ask.

First time dinning here and I was blown away! Their Mulligatawny soup (lentil soup) was delicious, I liked it so much I ordered some to go. Their Chicken Korma was also wonderful, very flavorful sauce and the chicken cubes were nicely cooked and the portion served was just perfect for a dinner meal… loved it, loved it, loved it!
If you are looking for great authentic Indian food, great atmosphere and great service, you have to check out this place… I definitely recommend it! Five stars all the way!