Indian Zaika — Restaurant in Dublin

For all of you interested in sticking to the urban core of Dublin, don’t. If you want great food, reasonably priced, excellently flavored, and prepared/served by friendly staff, you need to go to this restaurant.

I hate going to an international city and just sticking to the tourist routes. It is dull. It ends up being a reiteration of what you found when you found it in a lot of other places. Indian Zaika isn’t that sort of place.

First off, the communication in advance of arriving was fast and friendly. Vikal and the rest of the staff responded to our group request for a reservation quickly. They were courteous when we had to adjust our reservation. I always felt as if I was dealing with a restaurant that cared about winning business from me and my guests. More to the point: my communication was with people who seemed pleased that my group was coming to their restaurant.

The restaurant itself is nicely, if sparingly, appointed. When we arrived, there was no one else there aside from a table of four. That said, this restaurant seems to derive most of its business from take-away. So, establishing a footprint as a business for people to come to eat strikes me as a major win for them. Is it a hot spot in a desired location? No. It is next to a few other local businesses and a lot of local housing. It is nowhere near downtown. You come here because it is recommended.

And you are rewarded by coming here to eat. The service was great. The prices were reasonable. Who cares, though. Is the food up to par? The food was up to par! From starters to dessert, there were a range of flavors and spice levels. I have sampled Indian food all over the United States, in Belgium, in Spain, and a host of other places. Indian Zaika knows how to prepare food, well-portioned, and with nuanced flavors that hit low, medium, and high spice/heat points, as well as sweet and savory. In the States, we suffer from ‘safe’ Indian food that is designed for American palettes. Not here. Dubliners are lucky to have this place for in or out of house dinners!

As we finished our meal, I think it was the owner (and chef?) who came out and asked us if we enjoyed the meal. The answer was YES! Americans are known for having lazy taste buds and simple appetites. That was not our group. And Indian Zaika was a welcomed change from what we get in the States and what we were eating in Ireland.

Thank you. When we return, you are one of the first places...

This was our second time dining at this restaurant and unfortunately, the experience was far below our expectations. We ordered dal makhani, saag paneer, fried rice, Naan and coke. Usually, we receive papad before the food, but this time it was completely forgotten. The dal makhani and breads were served, but after 10 minutes, we had to remind the waiter about the saag paneer and coke. The waiter then went to the kitchen and returned after another 5 minutes with just the coke, informing us that the chef had forgotten about the saag paneer and was preparing it at that moment. We waited an additional 10 minutes before finally receiving the saag paneer, which turned out to be incredibly bland. We expressed our concern to the waiter, who kindly offered to take it back to the kitchen so the chef could fix it. After another 10 minutes, the saag paneer returned, this time with an excessive amount of chat masala, salt making it unpleasant to eat. Additionally, the fried rice had an overwhelming taste of red chili, which made the dish almost inedible. What made this experience even more disappointing was the fact that there were only two occupied tables in the entire restaurant, including ours. I can't imagine how poor the service would be if the restaurant were fully booked, although based on this experience, I doubt that happens often. To be fair, I would like to acknowledge the new waiter from Nepal, who was professional and attentive on our first visit. This was the worst dining experience I've had at an Indian restaurant and it was particularly disheartening given that this was our second visit. We chose to return because we had enjoyed our first experience, but this time was a complete letdown. I hope you the management take this feedback seriously and make the necessary improvements to ensure this doesn’t happen to...

I visited Zaika on holidays in Dublin with my wife and father in law after putting in a decent amount of research into the best indian restaurant. Zaika won us due to the repeated comments about its authentic indian taste and the fact that it mixes chinese and indian cuisine.

I am not Indian, so i cannot comment on whether it is an authentic flavour or not. What I can confirm is that its the best indian restaurant on the planet. Its not just the best indian food ive ever had, but one of the best meals ive had in my life.

The flavour - wow. When you go, please order the Chicken 65. If you dont know what this is (i didnt), do yourself a favour and dont find out. Just order it. I guarantee youve never had a better chicken in your life.

And while the quality of the food would be enough to make this place one of the best restaurants ive been to, they double down with the best service you've ever had. The waiting staff is just phenomenal - once our waiter could tell that we were open to suggestions, he basically changed our entire order and asked me to trust him. Look - I like it when the people who work at the restaurant tell me what they like and dont like about the menu, so I was delighted that our waiter was (very carismatically) changing our order. After seeing the result, i would trust this man with my first born. The chefs are equally personable and humble, not to mention gifted.

If this review sounds exagerated, just go and try it for yourself. I am not related to this place at all - its just that good. If you are in Dubling do yourself a favour and go to...