Chatni

Came here for dinner whilst doing a show at the Wellmont Theatre. The madras was flavorful & just the right portion size. The naan was very good and the honey ball dessert was excellent. Wait staff was cordial and attentive. Will definitely come back

I’ve eaten Indian food in a lot of places, including Mumbai. Chatni is very, very good. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve ordered there. My favorites are the fish tandoori and chicken tika masala. I also love the way they do eggplant. The breads are great. Service is always extremely warm and welcoming. I really look forward to going. They also recently opened a patio in the rear. It’s a nice place on a summer evening. It’s BYO, which is great, and less expensive than others in this area.

I must say, what a pleasant experience! After terrible experience with next door Mausam we decided to give it a try for Chatni, well, it was absolutely far better experience then what we anticipated… we had Samosa, fresh and very tasty. We had chicken tika masala with garlic naan, love the bread, chicken was tender and service was excellent, we were greeted well. and then throughout a caring young lady was checking on our food, we can not wait to visit it again.

I’ve been here a few times. Food is amazing and service is great! Go during lunch time you’ll get more for your money

A nice place for a quiet, delicious meal with the family. The staff are polite and courteous; the gently dimmed light and beautiful décor contribute to a calm and comfortable atmosphere. In the end, though, it really all comes down to the food. We recently sampled the sagwala paneer, which was deliciously more spinachy than regular palak paneer. We also ordered the lamb bhuna gosht, delicately spicy and extremely flavorful. We sampled both the plain naan and the keema naan, which was filled with herbed lamb patty. Both were appropriately buttered and spiced. Our appetizers were the chicken momo, which came with an interesting sauce on the side. The samosa chat was, to put it in our own words, like a chickpea pot pie with samosa crust. The sagwala paneer and samosa chat are highly recommended; the lamb bhuna gosht was good, but is a little spicy for the less adventurous diner.
I’ve visited Chatni many times, and it has never disappointed as a place to enjoy some traditional Indian comfort food. To be honest, I’m already scanning the menu for what I’ll order next time I come!

Hands down, the best Indian food in Montclair. Everything is fresh and flavorful (no previously frozen soggy samosas here!). I absolutely LOVE very spicy food and they managed to accommodate my request for my dish to be made extra spicy. They have an excellent selection of curries as well. The staff is very friendly and attentive. They make the extra effort to ensure that you feel valued. There was a little bit of a language barrier with one of the staff the first time I dined here, but overall the service has been solidly positive. The prices are very reasonable as well. The atmosphere is warm and inviting. This is definitely my go-​to for great Indian food with in the area.

Visited yesterday, for a change the taste of food ordered was different than regular Indian restaurants in north NJ and found it to be good. Menu has wide varieties of curry available which is a plus. Cream of Tomato soup was exceptionally sour though. Service was really slow took almost 40 minutes for food with only 3 tables occupied on a Monday evening.

Best place that I ever found in Montclair
Amazing atmosphere with good staff and good aroma of authentic Indian food
I always make an order for my lunch to pickup
Price are unbeatable
I love your food. i am so glad you are only Indian restaurant near to my work place… highly recommend this beautiful hidden corner…

So in attempts to find a cheaper alternative to Brick Lane, it has come to Chatni and its immediate neighbor Mausam. The place wasn’t too busy which is nice. The servers were all very nice and I can say that was best thing about this resturant. The free papadum with sauces was ok but I’ve come to expect this now from these spots. So nothing special there. I got the goat vindaloo and while not terrible, it was the worst I’ve had when going up against other Indian spots. The meat was chewy and really hardly any at all, mostly bone. The actual spice of the curry was just ok. The naan was standard nothing special about it or that I could tell and lukewarm, the portions were ok but I’ve seen better and am overall pretty disappointed. The prices are ok and the menu is large and the service was pretty good so perhaps I had a less than great visit here but the 3 star avg. now looks about right.

I came here last night with my friends. It was my first time eating Indian food and I must say I really liked it! The staff was great and attentive, food was fresh and delicious. I had the chicken tikka masala and roti.

The food is reasonably priced and tasty. I ordered a chicken and lamb curry both spicy and a bunch of naan. I ordered delivery and it was very timely and arrived hot. The food was flavorful and not lacking in spice. The delivery driver was unprepared with a pen and change for a tip. He was very kind and patient despite my being hangry and snippy. For that I apologize to him! The food quality is always consistent. I will definitely order from here every time I crave Indian locally.

I came here for dinner with my two friends. I never had Indian food before and was so happy with my dish. We started out with the samosa appetizer which was great. Two large samosas come with that order.
I ordered chicken tikka kabab which is basically grilled chicken with the sauce on the side. I had an order of the garlic naan on the side. I highly recommend this dish. I asked for mild spice which was basically not spicy at all. Next time I’ll ask for medium spice.
My friend ordered the chicken tikka masala. This dish was slightly over salted.
Overall, the food came out quickly and they provide you with a small treat before your meal and a small dessert at the end.
But each dish is about $ 15 for a rather small portion.

Not coming here again. Ordered chicken momos & goat biryani. Goat was not fresh at all! I couldnt eat any of the goat meat in the biryani. Had to eat only the rice. They gave me a 10% discount when I pointed this out but no restaurant should be serving this poor quality meat.
The momo wrapper was dry and hard. The only saving grace was the chicken stuffing inside the momos and the spicy chutney that the momos came with.

I’m really spoiled with Indian cuisine and I have to say this place impressed me. Food is amazing. Very simple set up and kinda empty on a Friday night but definitely coming back. Happy that the hostess came out to invite us in. Very friendly staff.

Grabbed some take out with a friend.
We went with the lunch special which comes with a protein and a vegetable. I had the lamb vindaloo and aloo gobi and he had the chicken vindaloo and dall tarka. The portions were quite large for the $ 9.99 price which was great. They included some naan, a large portion of rice, papadum and condiments with. I also ordered mulligatawny soup, a mango lhassi and vegetable pakora.
The lamb was decent but was not spicy enough and had a sauce which was too creamy. The vegetable sides were okay but also need more flavor.
The appetizers were good and the soup portion was large and had a rich flavor. The mango lhassi came in a soup-​style take out container instead of a to go cup and they also forgot to give us utensils.
I am still waiting for a truly great Indian restaurant to show up in Montclair.

Chatni is among several other Indian restaurants that are in Montclair area. From my own and several other friends’ experiences, I can certainly say that there is a unique blend of Indian, Nepali and Tibetan flavors in the food they serve at Chatni! This, added with the ever pleasant and helpful staff, makes this stand out from any other Indian restaurant in the area.
Food wise, they have great selections, some of my favorite items are chicken tikka masala, lamb saag (tender lamb cooked with spinach), momo (dumplings that will make you feel like you are in Nepal), and so many more. My personal favorite are the dumplings (momo) hands down, one of the best things you can eat in this planet, and Chatni, has that down pretty good!
Go see it for yourself, I can guarantee you will have an awesome time! I go there almost 2 – 4 times a month!
Bishrut

Stopped in during off hours to get support for a local business and a guy by the name of Krishna completely blew me off. Rude and a fail. Don’t support this business since they don’t support the community.
Then on November 11^th I see a ValPak coupon in the mail for this restaurant which is exactly what I was giving this business for free to support a local community business. Amazing how short-​sighted.

I went with my boyfriend and my sister and her husband. We all tried different dishes and everything was truly delicious. They cooked to our spice level perfectly. I got the chatni special noodle and it was YUMMMMM lamb and seafood! A little salty but flavor was BOOMTASTIC. The table had an array of items from the menu… We had vindaloo, masala, and something with a B I can’t remember (ahhh still delicious). A mix of lamb and goat and YUMYUMMMYYUMM! Their naan was great and their chicken dumplings a crowd pleaser! The service was excellent and they also have a patio!!! We will be back and it’s byob! Keep in mind I believe this place has new ownership after speaking with the hostess. Lovely lovely!
Well done! We will be back!

I was craving some Indian food and decided to try Chatni’s lunch buffet. There are actually 3 Indian restaurants all offering lunch buffet within a one block radius but Chatni looked the most appealing. We arrived around 12:30 and the food was just being brought out. When at a buffet, it’s nice to be the first to dig into the food before the masses come and breathe on it.
Some of the dishes offered:
–Vegetable Pakora — eggplant and cauliflower fritters; great when dipped in the tikka masala sauce
–Saag Paneer — the cubes of cheese were tender and Saag was tasty
–Alu Gobi — cauliflower and potatoes, very good
–Daal
–Chicken Tikki Masala — very good
–Chicken Curry
–Chicken Tandoori — meat was fairly tender
–A lamb dish
–Tiny fried fish
–2 types of Indian/​Chinese noodles
–Dessert — Kheer
–Naan — a basket of warm buttered naan is brought to your table
There was a good selection of food both vegetarian and non-​veg. For a buffet, the food was flavorful and had the right amount of spice. My husband especially liked the «Indo-​Chinese» noodles, which is not often found in these types of buffets. For $ 10.99, it’s a great deal. I did take a look at the menu and the prices for al a cart is a bit steep so the buffet lunch is the way to go.

To sum up our experience here, «confusion» is the only word that comes to mind. Buckle up. This one might give you a headache.
First, we walked in with a Groupon, but I had purchased it a while back so I couldn’t remember what was included. And neither could the first server we spoke to, who I shall hereafter refer to as «server #1.» The details weren’t printed on the voucher, so he went and found out from a second server (server #2) and came back to tell us the Groupon was good for two appetizers and two entrees. This later turned out to be ²⁄₃ correct.
Second, the menu is enormous. I get that they’re shooting for Indian/​Asian fusion, but they could probably trim the 6 pages down to 3 and everyone would still find something to enjoy.
Third, yet another server (server #3) came over to take our order. Server #3 approached the table with a pen and pad and literally just stood there without saying a word. We broke the awkward silence by asking for recommendations between one dish versus another. Server #3’s response: «I don’t know. I’m American.» Great, me too! Now how about you go find server #1 or #2? They’re both Indian. They might know!
Fourth, we asked for naan bread to start, which server #1 told us was complimentary. Then server #3 brought us papadum, which we thought they confused for the naan. It turns out the papadum is complimentary but the naan is not. Ok. I knew complimentary naan was too good to be true, but they had my hopes up pretty high. In the end, the naan wasn’t worth the excitement. It was much thicker than I’m used to and a little too crisp along the bottom.
Fifth, server #1 brought us a complimentary samosa appetizer, which was both nice and good, but they didn’t explain to us what it was. Fortunately, I know a thing or two about Indian food and was able to figure it out. Still, I was somewhat confused because we had ordered samosa chat (samosa blended with curd, chickpeas and spices), which I envisioned being served in the triangular shape of a typical samosa, to the extent there is such a thing as a typical samosa.
Sixth, when server #1 solicited our opinion over the appetizers, I expressed my indifference toward the chicken choila — Nepali. Server #1’s response was: «Yes, most people do not like this dish.» Then WHY are you serving it?!?
Seventh, server #1 and #2 were pushing the dessert hard. «Why,» I thought to myself. Is it included in the Groupon and we just don’t know it? Recall that server #1 told us the Groupon included two appetizers and two entrees. Server #2 corrected server #1 by informing us that two drinks were also included, and that since we were already done our meal, he’d be willing to sub out the drinks for a dessert. Cool. We went with the kheer (rice pudding with cardamom and raisins). It was okay, but the rice grains were kind of clumpy, almost like it wasn’t fresh. The Hispanic versions of rice pudding remain my favorite.
I really wanted to give this place four stars. Our entrees, the boti tikka masala (lamb), and chicken korma were both delicious and the staff is truly hospitable and accommodating. But I just can’t get over the disastrous cluster of the dining experience, the oversized menu, and the little things, such as water spots on the silverware.
The reality is this: we enjoyed the main dishes, but there are simply too many other Indian options in the area (including a place literally right next door) for me to want to go back here.