Smile Kitchen — Restaurant in Osaka

My husband and I flew into Osaka yesterday. We are owners of several restaurant's in the USA. I had researched restaurants and reviews to find an authentic Indian restaurant because that’s our favorite cuisine. We found The Smile Kitchen. It was a Sunday and we arrived about 215pm. They close at 3pm on Sundays. We got lucky. It was a little difficult to find, but it was so worth it . The owner, Mr.Thapa welcomed us with gracious hospitality. Every dish that we ordered was incredible. The TK marsala was the best we’ve ever had. Along with vegetable samosas, Chicken tandoori, chicken bryiani and delicious naan. Throughout the whole dinner, Mr. Thapa made sure our experience was perfect. We engaged in conversation throughout our lunch with him because we were the last customers. He didn’t rush us and made sure we had all we wanted. Which required us order’s second round. It was so good we will probably go again before we leave Osaka. This is a cash only restaurant and we did not know that. The owner was kind enough to take my husband to an ATM so that we could pay him. Which wasn’t to far away. I promise you won’t regret going to this little...

If you are looking for an authentic Nepalese or Indian place, this is not it.

Ambience - intentional or not intentional, the place is unassuming. I would have expected more decor for it being in a touristy area, but it does remind me of some places I’ve been to in Nepal and India.

Service - lacking sorely. Don’t expect to have frequent service at all - we had to flag down the waiter multiple times. Additionally another party came in and got a full service from the manager while we were completely ignored.

Clearly the restaurant needs something more to make the experience more pleasant.

Food: AMAZING authentic momos with tomato/sesame sauce.. I almost ordered another one! Sauce for everything was good but all of it has the taste of Japanese curry and not actual Indian/nepali spice curry. Do NOT get the mutton curry. Clearly cooked separately, tough, and only four pieces. The radish pickles - I’m not even sure what that was! No basmati rice, but I think the rice worked with the dish. Oakra dish/curry and daal were good!

Overall, decent food when nothing else is open. Don’t expect authentic food, or good service but absolutely...

As someone who eats Indian food regularly in the U.S., I was excited to try Smile Kitchen based on all the great reviews—but honestly, it was disappointing.

We ordered: • Chicken Tikka (4pc) • Eggplant Keema Curry • Butter Chicken • Garlic Naan • Mango Lassi

Despite the tiny portion sizes—way smaller than what you’d get in the U.S.—we couldn’t even finish the food. The curries were flat in flavor, the butter chicken was bland, and the chicken tikka had a weird, overly soft, almost slimy texture.

The garlic naan was okay, but didn’t really hit. They didn’t include utensils or napkins, which was frustrating, especially for takeout. The mango lassi was watery, barely sweet, and had almost no mango flavor.

For the price, I expected much more. It really feels like the high ratings are more about the friendly service than the food itself. If you’re looking for legit Indian flavor, this spot...