Restaurant Mother India — Restaurant in Kristiansand

Billed as the best restaurant in Kristiand, we entered the unassuming tiny entrance and decended the stairs to join the queue to be seated - this place is popular. It took only 10 minutes before we were shown to our reserved table by a very aplogetic manager. The waitresses glided around the tables with uncanny precision. Decor was the usual, tasteful Indian design and the eating area itself was more like a large colourful tunnel which added to the atmosphere. A good selection of the usual suspects were on the menu and I went with the lamb at strength 5 which was perfect. Small but interesting range of drinks including a house beer. The prices were on the North side of average, some beers costing Kr.175,- a glass which is x3 times price of the previous beer in a local pub minutes before. The food averaged out at Kr.300,- which again is around 30% more than I usually pay. At that level I wouldn't say the prices are family friendly but OK for singles or couples. But looking around the place was spotless, a bottle of disinfectant on each & every table and everyone social distancing so I could relax and enjoy my meal. It was in a prime location and judging by the amount of people dropping in, they do a roaring trade in the takeaway department. All in all a very delicious but expensive experience! You should try it if you are in Kristiansand, but best to book ahead, we went on a Monday evening just after 18:00 and the people behind us were asked to come back 4...

Cool place with a lot of different dishes for different tastes: chicken, lamb, fish, a lot of vegetarian meny positions. Variety of drinks: beer, vine, aquavit, beer (Indian and local) and vine are also in non-alcoholic version, juices, regular soft drinks. Meny is like a book - almost 30 pages. I liked a lot that meny had not inky dish name but also detailed description on what's the dish. And majority has spicy levels mentioned.

I took Gosht Champain (lamb meat with some sause), it had level 3, I'm not a person who likes spicy - it was fine for me, can recommend everything up to 3 at least that it's eatable without a mouth fire.

One thing I really dislike - service. When I sit and finished with reading meny, nobody came to me, when I asked one of the waitress can I order she said yes, one moment and then just skipped me after she finished with another task. I had to call another lady for ordering and she was really friendly and did everything flawlessly. The a guy brought my order and I paid with a help on my 2nd waitress. While I was eating, I saw how one waitress started serving a table with napkins (she tried them to stand), when she did one whr was interrupted with some other task and never came back to finish within the next 30 mins. It looked quite chaotic and not clear who's doing what.

All in all, I liked the place, spirit and especially food - it was delicious. I'm thinking to coke back to try a dessert. Can recommend to...

TLDR; all in all a good experience which is worth trying out. I won't be back tho and here's why.

Total value 3.5/5

I've been working in a Indian restaurant for few years and I've tried a lot of different places so I'd say that I'm somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to indian tastes.

Raita- laced taste and vegetables, pretty bland, even for a dish which usually doesn't punch you in the face with flavor.

Palak Panir - my top 3 Indian dish, this version was very average. And I dare to say below OK for that price. Don't get me wrong it was tasty, but far from 300kr tasty. I went for level 5 (madrass) and for someone who enjoys spicy food, that was okay level of spicy. Definitely don't go for it if you don't tolerate spicy.

Chutney - pickled chili veg's were super intense ans good maybe too much salt. Mango was simply delicious 5/5 on this one!

Naan - amazing naan, especially the peshwari naan. Soft but crunchy, big portion. Garlick naan lacked garlic flavour. 4.5/5

The restaurant had amazing atmosphere. We were there on a Tuesday evening so it wasn't packed. Good music, nice smell of incenses and the food. The waiters were very kind and nice.

Indian food for many is comfort food, which is usually on the "not too expensive" side. If you enjoy trying new thing definitely give Mother India a shot. If you're judging value based on taste, this place isn't for you. But if you value more the whole experience, then sure, you'll...