Chaat Street by Vaibhav Vishen — Restaurant in North Island

Don't waste your money. The portions are overpriced. 17$ for single Batura. Yikes. A deconstructed pani puri a spoon full of fillings. Eye roll

Edited review to add more context: Update: Yes the single Bhatura comes with more chickpea curry, but that's it. I can get better at the same price. Location isn't any comparable to the other restaurants nearby and is situated in the old Dvice place so nothing fancy. I don't think that makes it any better. Being a born and bred Mumbaikar this just doesn't cut it for me. I went here despite pretty much everyone telling me I'm wasting my money. Usually I'd order a lot more, but I'm glad I didn't this time. If I was looking for a fine dining experience I'd expect better ambience and a Michelin star to go with it (and pay the premium too). Not Mumbai or Delhi street food. Plus, panipuri (mumbai)/gol gappe (delhi). No matter what you call it, it's still the same to me. Happy to call it 'gol gappe' to stand corrected. It came with 1tsp of potato and 1 tsp of tamarind chutney, plus the chilli water to go. No sev that I would normal expect. If that is what Delhi's sorry excuse for 'panipuri/golgappe' is, folks need to try the Mumbai one. It's solid!

I was going to order more but when the 'gol gappe' came, I decided im heading of to the markets to get a better meal which I did. I don't expect gol gappe to fill me up, but I do the chole bhature to do a decent job. May be $17 isn't a lot, but what was served just doesn't cut it especially as I can get a better serving for a lot lesser at a place in the centre of the city. While this works for others, I definitely felt I should have listened to my friends this time re staying clear. If you had asked me how my food was I would have given you my honest opinion there. In fact I was formulating my response in a polite manner in case I was asked in person. I don't often write reviews' but I really felt let down especially as I did not head the advice I received about the place and wanted to make my own call on it.

I debated writing this last bit, but adding it nonetheless. If you have eaten Mumbai street food or eat at Kamla Nagar or Connaught Place in Delhi, this isn't good 'Chaat'. Calling this chaat 'street' is a misnomer. Call it 'Chaat on Diet or Diet Chaat'. If you think small portions are best, Indian food isn't the cuisine to go with. Chaat literally means fingerlicking good. Not.

Big pass...

Had a family dinner over the weekend. Despite being full in the evening, the owner/manager (sorry didn't ask your name) was kind enough to accommodate us at a nice table. He was the most effective person there running all around and attending to the guests.

Service: some of the staff need training on the food preparation and serving etiquette. We ordered Chhole Bhature and it was served in a very small plate. The Bhature was hanging outside the plate and was literally touching the table when served, not a hygienic way of serving. When asked about preparation of some of the food items, couldn't get clarity. But really appreciate the effort and service being given by the owner/manager

Food: highly disappointed. A standard plate of Chhole Bhature is expected to have at least 2 Bhature in it given the price of it but it had only 1 small piece (not the standard size). Moreover, taste/look wise it was closer to a soft Naan but definitely not a match to the original Bhature and the taste of Chhole was not that great, could have been better. Chicken Momo had a thick coating of flour but the filling was not bad. Most disappointing was the Masala Tea/Chai, we ordered 3 cups of tea. It had a strong taste and flavour of ginger which was overpowering everything else and was definitely a precooked one (we figured it out from the colour and taste). When asked, we were told that they keep the tea on simmer and boil and serve when ordered. I hope they are aware of the health issues involved in reheating tea, I would request them to stop serving the reheated tea to the customers. When one pays $5.5 for a small cup of tea, we expect at least a freshly made cup of tea. Finally, we had one of the weekends special they had, Pepper Prawn Fry, it was better than all other dishes we had.

Atmosphere: we actually liked the atmosphere and vibe of the restaurant, it was cool to spend some time with family and friends.

I hope the above feedback will help them to do better in some of the areas mentioned above and hope we will find a better version of...

I was visiting from Auckland for a weekend work trip when I came across this place and was eager to try it. Me and my colleague walked in and were approached by an indian male server whose first word to us was "yes?" With No smile, or greeting. A bit surprised I said "table for 2 please" to which he asked, "do you have a booking?" I said "no sorry we dont, do we need to have a booking?" He smiled sarcastically and replied " ofcourse you need a booking, it's Saturday night and we are very busy. " Almost immediately felt unwelcomed in the restaurant and spoilt our mood. I understand some places need booking but he could have approached this in a nicer manner. Nevertheless another lady server intervened and said we have a table available immediately and we were escorted to a table near the main street. It was 9pm and had I not been with a work colleague, I would have never chosen to eat at a place with this service first hand. I decided to dine in and food was ok. Have had better food in other restaurants in Auckland with much better service too. We were sitting on a table near the street and their ranch slider door was open which made the food go cold within minutes while we ate. Unfortunately I will not be coming back to this place and will not recommend it to anyone unless they improve their service. Having worked in food industry myself, if you can't handle a busy restaurant,you shouldn't be open. If you are a bookings only which you are not as it states on your website, you need to treat walk ins with a welcoming manner otherwise you shouldn't be open. Moreover whilst we dined, there were 5 tables empty so not sure why the server was claiming to be 'busy'. Disappointing service and not the best food either to make up. Aloo Tikki should be thinner and crispier, too much aloo stuffing made the bites taste more bland. Gol gappe aloo pieces were a bit underdone and so were the chole. By the time we got to momos they were cold so couldn't tell...