Tikka Bytes

This my friends, is my Indian food truck of choice. And I’m Indian so you should trust me.

Having tried Tikka Bytes several times now, I have to say that I’m a little underwhelmed by the food — to me the flavors and execution aren’t any more spectacular than if I attempted to make Indian food at home, and that’s a fairly low bar to be setting.
Still, it’s not-​bad hot food at fair prices, and if you’re good with dairy their mango lassis are fab and excellent on a hot day.

Tikka Bytes just opened a restaurant location on South Main Street in Milpitas. I had seen their trucks in the past but never had the chance to try it. Now they are located about 4 doors down from my Chiropractic office. After my lunch today, I’m psyched!
We ordered the #1 combo, which cost $ 7 and comes with choice of entrée (chicken tikka masala), rice or Naan, a garbanzo bean chutney (choelle? or something like that), and a soda. I went with my wife, so she ordered the Chicken Biriyani. Both of them were absolutely delicious. For $ 15 we both ate like kings and were completely stuffed.
I think their food is excellent and the price is great, so they get 5 stars from me. If I met the owner, I’d recommend he change up the décor a little in the future. In particular, the screens that are on the window actually look pretty nice from the INside. But from the OUTside they don’t look very appealing and sort of cause you to overlook the place. Good thing they have a nice new sign that pops really well or you could miss the whole place.
I hope they do well here because I love the idea of having them so close by. Welcome to the neighborhood! =)

I got more sampling done from Tikka Bytes during a YEE event. This time I got to try their chicken tikki masala. The chicken was tender. The spices, jasmine rice, and vegetables went very well with each other. This dish was very spicy, but I love spicy food! Great job once again Tikka Bytes!

This truck has been around for some time. Tikka Bytes has many fans and there is usually a little bit of wait when visiting the truck. To make this review simple and straight to the point…
THE FIRE BOWL IS THE BOMB!
I love Tikka Bytes! Whether if you eat the bowl or a burrito you will still taste lots of flavor and delicious goodness. Yum and nom nom!

I’ll admit it. I’m obsessed with eating at the food truck gatherings right now. Today’s adventure took us to «Word on the StreEatz» in Santa Clara.
My good friend highly recommended the Chicken Tikka Masala Naanwich, and I’d been impatiently waiting for Tikka Bytes to come to one of these events. My Indian experience is very limited, but I have loved what I’ve had each time. I’ve been coming home to my wife, trying to sell her the notion of eating Indian. She has been very unreceptive…
So tonight, I basically forced her to take a bite. Unfortunately for me, she LOVED the Naanwich. I had to fight for a few bites. Later, she said she’s getting her own next time. Best words — next time.
4.25 stars for Tikka Bytes, and we’ll see you «next time.»

Mmm! I love myself some big, hearty Samosas and Mango Lassi to freshen up my palate.
It was $ 3 for 2 palm sized Samosas which had a thick, crisp shell and deliciously spiced mixture of potatoes, peas and other deliciousness. It came with a side of what appears to be a more pureed down Chutney.
As for the Mango Lassi, even with it’s nectar type consistency– I could literally down 5 cups of it. It’s that good! It’s so refreshing and I love Mangoes.
Definitely would love to see this place come around more so I can try their Rice Bowls and Naanwiches :-)

I have had the opportunity to try a few things from tikka bytes.
I am a huge fan of naan so I was excited to see that they have naanwiches! I tried the chicken naanwich, the fresh naan was delicious and the serving size was hefty. For $ 5 it was quite the steal!!!
Although I enjoyed the naanwich my money I think was well spent on the burrito. I am usually all for meat but I tried their paneer burrito the other night and it was delicious with the right amount of spice! It was wrapped in a green spinach tortilla seasoned rice and nice big chunks of paneer. When I was handed the burrito my face must’ve looked shocked. The nice truck man then asked if I would like it cut in half. I tried to finish both halves however, I only finished one half and 2 bites of the other half (it made for a good lunch the next day though =))
When I see this truck again I will most definitely get myself another burrito. YUM YUM!

The old guy working here was really helpful too. He was really upbeat, really patient, and explained to each newcomer what we could do with our orders and gave great recommendations.
I ordered the $ 5 naanwich with half-​lamb and half paneer-​filling with tikka masala sauce. The lamb in my naanwich didn’t taste like lamb. However, the sauces complimented the overall wich really well. My boyfriend’s flame burrito hit the nine levels of spicy as one bit resulted in me consuming 3 rounds of water. The good thing was the size. The bad thing about it was that it seemed like they left out the chicken.
The mango lassi was delicious. My boyfriend doesn’t like mango-​nectarine-​flavored drinks but he liked this one.

Really loved the lamb tikka masala naanwich we got… very flavorful without being too spicy which is perfect for me. The line was a bit long though since many were either confused or undecided to the 3 steps to the ordering.
Step 1: Choose how you want it (naanwich, burrito, etc.),
Step 2: Choose your filling (chicken, lamb, tofu I think, etc.)
Step 3: Choose your sauce (mild, medium, spicy)

I got to try this spot thanks to San Mateo’s Moveable Feast and I am so happy I did. Extra star for their patience and ability to move a line as quickly as it did.
I got two naanwiches for my BF and I which we split between one another — one chicken tikka masala naanwich and one lamb shahi korma.
Chicken Tikka Masala Naanwich: The chicken was tender and the sauce was good, so the flavour was just as good, but there wasn’t much spiciness to it either. *Which is my fault* because I couldn’t read the description properly, else I would have been prepared for the lack of spiciness. It’s a fantastic Punjabi style tikka masala, now that I know.
Lamb Shahi Korma. DELICIOUS. My BF looked at me was like OMG this thing is amazing. Yes, it was and it hit the spot immediately. Seriously, I cannot rave about this naanwich enough.
I’m hoping they will be back next month so that I can try the Andhra Shahi Korma, which is the spiciest. This truck is amazing, friendly, with the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen, especially considering they had been churning at it nonstop for 2.5 hours prior to my getting on line.

Great job in serving fantastic Indian on-​the-​go food at competitive prices and with friendly, personalized smiles!
Way to pick up your competitors’ slack. It’s unfortunate that they’ve gone up in pricing and down in the quality of their food.
I’m glad you guys are around — your food is far superior at this point, and extremely delicious. See you at NewPark Street Eats next time around!
Keep it real.

Tikka Bytes didn’t have lines when i arrived and it didn’t have any when i was leaving. the cashier did not know the specifics of the samosas she was selling. luckily, the indian gal inside provided the answers.
locale: new park mall (⁶⁄₂₄)
sampling: samosa cholle (5)
–looks like an open faced fried samosa with garbanzo beans, potatoes, and spinach? invigorating flavors, fresh ingredients,. pretty tasting.
foodnotes:
–menu confusing to me. fill a meal method… prefer single item ordering.
–pics didn’t correlate to menu. pics should also be on the ordering side, not the pick up food side.
–good food. need to communicate to prospective patrons better.

BYTE ME.
I only had a bite of their chicken tikka masala naanwich, but it was absolutely DELICIOUS. Haha shout out to cTu for sharing it with me! :)
I could usually care less about Indian food, I like naan, and that’s usually it, but I just checked out their website and I’m following them on twitter just so I can try it again! I really like that you can really customize your order when it comes down to what form you want it in (naanwich, burrito, rice bowl), what sauce you want (tikka masala, and some kormas), and finally the type of meat (chicken, tofu, lamb, veggies, or cheese)! They also have a set price that depends on the form you want it in, and for only $ 5 for a naanwich, it sounds like a steal compared to a lot of the other food trucks out there these days!
To sum it up, I’m starting to like more Indian food now, and I can’t wait to go back for another naanwich + some of that mango drink that sounds refreshing.

I’ve had Tikka Bytes bookmarked for a while now, and once I saw it at the «Movable Feast» part of the San Jose subZERO festival, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try it.
I gotta give them a thumbs up for their selection. Usually you see trucks with just a few things on the menu, but they do it straight up Chipotle style. Choose a dish type, sauce, and meat, and you’re good to go. Sadly, that’s the only thing I liked about Tikka Bytes…
I got the Lamb Tikka Masala Burrito, which came out to be $ 8. To start off, the lamb was some of the worst I’ve ever tasted. I was expecting diced pieces of well marinated grilled lamb, but instead I was greeted with mushy and overcooked balls of ground lamb. Also, there was way too much pineapple in the whole thing, which made it feel like I was eating a dessert with meat and rice in it. A few small pieces for flavoring is enough, guys. The whole thing was just too simple and too sweet. If you look at other ethnic burritos, they usually throw in a variety of added ingredients, such as cheese, sour cream, kimchee, grilled onions, etc. This was just rice, tikka masala sauce, a couple of peas, and the balls of meat. On top of that, the meat wasn’t too plentiful. Most other places have huge chunks evenly spread out through the buritto. Here, I felt like I was eating rice most of the time.
Despite the fact that I was disappointed with their burritos, I wouldn’t mind trying something else again. Maybe a naanwich or a rice bowl will greet my mouth one of these days, but probably not in the near future.

Just tried this finally at the 4^th Annual Subzero (1^st) of the summer. The Festival itself was a hit, much larger than previous years and likely due to the popularity of the food truck scene. but that’s a whole different review.
Came here after looking at the line up and realizing Ive had every other truck. dont judge! lol
Prices are somewhat decent, not too high, not really low, so-​so given the portions and flavor.
Ate with a friend and split a Lamb Fire Burrito ($ 9, typically $ 8 but $ 1 extra for lamb) with the Medium Spiced sauce as that was all that’s left. Boy was that a good idea! That baby was spiiiiicy, savory, and left me with a warm feeling in my mouth and face. (keep your mind outta the gutter!) There was a decent amount of curried rice, smidgens of green bell pepper that added a nice crunch, and tidbits of spiced ground lamb (For paying the extra dollar there shouldn’t be just «hints» of the lamb). I think it could have used a dollop of Raita to add a nice textural and cold component, but hey… I’m just here to eat… not make.
We then split the Chicken Tikka Masala Naanwich (lowest spice $ 5) which was definitely a good choice as well! Decent amount of chicken mixed with grilled onions and spices, wrapped in a warm and chewy piece of naan. Not overpowering, not extra spicy, however not spicy enough for my taste, but the burrito made up for it!
Aside from those items they did have an interesting Samosa Burger, it looked cool but a bit redundant (Potatoes fried in a wrap then stuck in a bun… can we call it the Carb Burger?).
The lady who took our order was very kind and they even split both our items in half and served them separate dishes for us so definitely +1 !!!

I got the mild chicken tikka masala burrito — mild still has a nice spicy kick to it.
It was pretty big and very filling but in my opinion it had too much of some spice. It might have been cloves or something sweetly fragrant — the spice kind of covered the taste of everything else. Other than that though, I’d still say it was worth the money. Also, it’s nice that they don’t soak the rice with curry sauce (or else the burrito would be dripping).
They get orders out pretty fast so no real wait.

I haven’t tried Tikka Bytes before since I had avoided the SJ Eats festival. I got here on a rainy Wednesday lunch over near Cisco with Treatbot. Treatbot as always is money with their horchata ice cream but having never seen Tikka Bites and their menu… I slowly looked over the selections of pictured menu items. I was tempted to get the paneer burrito but instead went with chicken and spicy sauce. It was definitely spicy that’s for sure with plenty of rice, chicken, and spicy sauce inside to make me regret ordering the macho spicy level.
Also agreed with the earlier reviewer, there was hardly a wait and they can turn the food around super quick. Bonus points for you!
I definitely will come back to try some of their other items like samosas, nannwiches, and rice bowls. Hopefully after this wave of cold monsoon like weather that we’re having this week! When is my sun coming back?

I am so thankful a coworker found this truck and we were able to experience it for lunch today.
I haven’t tried the other truck in the area (CurryUpNow), but this one is perfectly authentic.
Today, I tried the rice bowl with chicken and the tikki masala sauce. The sauce was a bit hotter than I expected, so if you’re weak sauce like me, have a bottle of something cold on hand or a wet napkin to wipe the sweat from your head. I also ordered up the samosas, but I was too full from the rice bowl to try today.
Lastly, and most importantly, THE best thing on the truck was dessert. As I was paying, I noticed kinda hidden was golub jamin (spelling?). I was probably more excited for this than anything. SO GOOD! Seriously.
I can’t wait to try this truck again in the future. Prices are absolutely reasonable. For my items, it came out to $ 10.

I saw on SFfoodie, that Tikka Bytes was a new truck making their debut at Edgewood Eats last night. The people at the window were friendly and service was quick. They had directions on how to order, where you pick the style that you want your food in, the type of meat, and the type of sauce. They should have a small light at night so that it is easier for us to read!
I ordered their Rice Bowl Chicken Tikka Masala. The bowl is a good size with the chicken tikka masala on top of my Biriyani rice. I feel like there was an overload of rice though compared to the amount of chicken that was given. Veggies accompany the bowl on top, which was still fresh and enjoyable to eat still. The tikka masala was definitely full of flavor and was spicy. It’s definitely filling but I thought there was something lacking in the bowl. I think it was a bit too mushy with all the combination. Maybe if more chicken was added, it would give it more texture for the mouth to enjoy!
The Mango Lassi was delicious. It was definitely not a drink to chase down your food since it was made thick.
Good luck on your truck ventures Tikka Bytes!