India House On Wheels — Local services in Los Alamos

I was incredibly excited when I learned we were going to get an option for Indian cuisine in Los Alamos. Because of scheduling it took a bit before I got to try it but now that I have, I must admit that I'm utterly disappointed. The quality and flavor of the food were good to fair but the ordering experience and the value of the experience were some of the worst I've experienced here on the hill. Please reread that last bit again because if you live or work in Los Alamos, you know how bad it can get.

I decided to try the place about three or four weeks after it initially opened. Parked on the west side of the VFW, it wasn't hard to find and the truck itself looked clean and in good repair. I walked up and scanned the QR code to get to the menu but when I tried to order at the window, I was told that I would have to use the website for that, as well. So much for walk-up food trucks, I suppose. I was there at around 10:52 so the lunch menu wasn't available yet (starts at 11:00 and is masked off from access until then, even if you're going to order ahead of time). After wrestling with the website for five minutes, creating an account with information I'm sure will be kept perfectly safe, and paying using a card (no options for PayPal, Venmo, Google Wallet, Apple Pay, or any other trusted service, I did manage to get my order. Service, to their credit, was quick but not particularly clear and only just friendly enough to keep me from thinking they were grumpy. If I had to guess, I don't think they really thought about me at all.

As far as the food was concerned, I was surprised at how expensive everything was. I ordered Chicken Tikka Masala, which runs $17 as an entree and which you can customize for spice level, along with some garlic naan ($3.50) and an order of gulab jamun ($6.00 but one of my favorite desserts). Rice and bread are NOT included, even with an entree that costs the better part of $20. I know everything is subject to the Hill Tax up here, but that just seems excessively high. Oh, well: the portion sizes are probably large as a result.

Yeah, about that...

I received a little more than a cup of watery Tikka Masala with about 5 oz of chicken breast floating in it, a single round piece of garlic naan, and two golf ball sized gulab jamun. Okay...I hope the flavor is amazing because the total cost was $28.37 including tax.

Sadly, no. The Tikka masala was as watery as it looked and was comparable in heat to a packet of Taco Bell's medium sauce when I had ordered and had been hoping for extremely hot. The chicken wasn't dry but it was flavorless and a bit rubbery in texture (you might do better with a bowl of Panera's Tikka Masala soup). I ended up making some rice on my own because the sauce was so thin and there was no other way to eat it. I will say that the garlic naan was tasty and had a good chew to it and it wasn't terrible for what I paid for it, but the gulab jamun were small and either powdery-dry or still frozen in the center. For a $6 item I can only say that under no circumstances would I recommend anyone ever order this. I wouldn't order it for $3.

I really wanted--needed!--this cuisine option to be available up here on the Hill. Unfortunately, the disappointing food and stupidly high prices just make this a hard no for me going forward. I hope that others have better experiences because I would genuinely like this venture to succeed and eventually put down permanent roots up here. It saddens me that I'm walking away not just feeling disappointed, though, but...

The discovery of an Indian food truck in the high desert of Los Alamos on a quiet Sunday afternoon should have been a moment of serendipitous joy for a weary traveler. It promised the comfort of familiar spices in an unexpected locale. Regrettably, the experience that followed was a study in contradictions, marked by a profound lack of hospitality and a culinary decision so baffling it borders on the absurd.

The initial interaction set a disconcerting tone. Any hope for a warm welcome was immediately dashed by a staff member more engaged with his phone than with a present customer. The service was not merely indifferent; it was transactional to the point of dismissal. An order placed with palpable irritation and a curt, final "everything is in there" when asked about utensils are not hallmarks of a business that values its patrons.

However, service can be forgiven if the food transcends. The true mystery began in a nearby park, less than two minutes away. Upon opening the container, I was met with a Biryani that was not just lukewarm, but actively cold—chilled, as if it had been pulled directly from a refrigerator.

For any student of Indian cuisine, this is a fundamental error. A 10-minute turnaround for a Biryani is already a signal that one is not receiving a freshly prepared, dum-cooked dish. That is an acceptable shortcut for a food truck model. But to serve it cold is to fundamentally misunderstand the dish itself. The magic of Biryani lies in the aromatic steam that carries its complex spice profile, the way the heat renders the fat and melds the flavors. Served cold, it is stripped of its soul, its vibrant notes muted, its textures compromised.

To its credit, the underlying flavor was surprisingly competent. The spice blend was coherent, and the meat was tender. It was the ghost of a good Biryani, a ghost that left me wondering how magnificent it might have been if served at the proper, steaming temperature. The accompanying Samosa was respectable, though its potential was diminished by the lack of a proper mint or tamarind chutney—a small but telling omission.

Ultimately, this food truck presents a conundrum. There is skill in the kitchen, but it is tragically sabotaged by a baffling service model and a critical failure in the final presentation of its signature dish. A Biryani served cold on a hot summer's day is not just an oversight; it's a culinary paradox that leaves a lasting, and deeply...

I was excited to try Indian House on Wheels when it first opened, even though I felt the food was overpriced (nearly $27 for chicken tikka masala, rice, and naan). I decided to give them another chance and ordered the lunch special. Unfortunately, the quality was disappointing — the rice was dry, and the garlic naan was cold and crunchy.

But the WORST part: while eating my butter chicken, I found an actual nail in my food. Yes, a metal NAIL you would use in a wall. I immediately called the number listed for the food truck but got no answer. I then called the main India House in Santa Fe, and instead of genuine concern, I felt like they treated me as if I was lying. They asked me to send photos, which I did, but I never received any follow-up or apology.

For both safety and customer service reasons, I cannot...