Namaste — Restaurant in undefined

It’s been a long time since I last ate at Namaste. The restaurant has evolved, but it is still the most authentic kosher Indian restaurant in Israel. On the other hand, I have matured in my appreciation of Indian cuisine. On my last visit, I needed plenty of guidance on what my American palate could tolerate. This time, I was actually looking forward to the flavors, and planned from the outset to dive into a dish of chicken and curry.

The décor is Indian art on the walls. The staff is Israeli, but most are of Indian descent or immigrants from one of India’s several Jewish communities. There is a significant community of Indian immigrants and their descendants in Ashdod, and they regularly patronize Namaste for the authentic northern Indian cuisine.

Every table gets two dips in small cups. One was a green dip of mint and cilantro, which went with everything. A third cup contained a small (too small!) amount of pickled carrot and lemon peel, which wakes up your palate. My wife and I shared three starters: Batata Wada, a potato dumpling with a crispy coating; Onion Bhaja, deep fried onion fritters; and garlic Naan, a flat bread with garlic and cilantro topping. The flavors were heavy on the Indian herbs, but they were not spicy, as in hot. I added the deep-fried chicken wings starter, about 8 half wings with a pleasant crispy coating.

My wife did not need a main course after the starters, but I was looking forward to a chicken dish with curry. I selected the coconut curry chicken dish, which the waiter told me was quite a good choice. The dish had some 5 pieces of chicken white meat in a large amount of curry sauce flavored with visible coconut milk. The flavor of the curry was strong but pleasant; I would rate it about medium on a spicy scale. We also ordered a large portion of basmati rice with Indian herbs, to share. I used the excess curry sauce from my dish on the rice and on the remainder of the potato dumpling.

After the starters and the substantial main course, I did not need a dessert, but my wife really wanted to see what Indians serve for dessert. We shared a Faluda, a concoction in a sundae glass with rice and tapioca on the bottom and non-dairy ice cream on top. To each his own, but the ice cream was good.

If you have a yen for authentic Indian cuisine, or if you want to learn about it, Namaste is the place to go. The food is very good, the prices are reasonable, and the service...

Thursday night, I dined at Namaste in Ashdod with family and friends—my first visit in over five years of living in Israel. And sadly, I now understand why I stayed away for so long.

Despite being labeled as an Indian restaurant, the food was anything but Indian. We ordered Tandoori Chicken, Reshmi Kebab, Chicken Tikka Masala, and Garlic Naans. Not a single dish came close to what one would expect in terms of authentic flavor. The Tandoori Chicken, in particular, was a huge letdown—bland, lacking any spice, and disturbingly undercooked. It honestly felt raw inside, making it one of the worst versions I've ever had.

The restaurant seemed frozen in time—the decor looked like something from the 1970s. Worn-out tables and chairs gave the place an unkempt, almost neglected feel. It reminded me of a cheap roadside dhaba, but without the charm or the flavor.

The only positive from the evening was the young server, who was surprisingly fluent in English. He was courteous and attentive, which made the experience a little less painful.

We only ended up here because every other decent place was packed—it was a Thursday night. But given the choice, I wouldn’t go back. If you're looking for real Indian food in Israel, I strongly suggest exploring...

I booked a table for myself on 21st of July 2022 to arrive at 19:30. I arrived on time and was given a place to sit. A kid waiter attended me by bringing the menu, an empty glass and cutlery. I went through the menu and decided what to order. But nobody came to take my order though there were a couple of waiters loitering around in the resto. I even requested one of the lady waitress to take my order. She said she would attend me in a while and kept attending other tables with more people sitting on them. I, being alone, was kept at the side. I continued sitting there 50 minutes without anyone coming to ask me for an order. Even after requesting some of the kid waiters twice, nobody turned up at my table. At last I got tired of waiting so left the restaurant without eating anything as I was getting late for meeting scheduled later that evening. This is utterly disgusting for a renowned restaurant like Namaste of Ashdod. It seems they don't need more clientele as they already have enough. So it makes no difference to them if one or two customers are unsatisfied with their service. But they tend to forget that if such attitude continues, even the old clientele will drop gradually...