Tawa Kitchen — Restaurant in Cambridge

Awesome value and healthy hearty food for lunch. Will come back for lunch and probably dinner soon and often, even just for takeaway :) The convenient location is a plus, though there are many other higher end or family style Indian restaurants in town.

The chaat is so much larger than the waitress’s gesture suggested. Definitely not an “extra” as stated by the menu either. I was ready to go for a pricy snack but received big plate , there must be a can of chickpeas😅. Very good value. I am stuffed. This alone can be a meal, and it tastes wonderful. Creamy chickpeas and crispy kale and noodles. And the sweet sour tamarid chutney sauce tastes wonderful with a hint of spiciness.

The side salad is also substantial. Instead of a few green leaves on the side, it comes as a bowl tightly packed with shredded veggies, cherry tomatoes, radishes, and pomegranate seeds! The citrusy dressing is very refreshing. Probably the best “side salad” or “green salad” I’ve had. ❤️

The lamb wrap has a good balance between meat and veggie. Mildly spiced. The wrap is soft and stretchy… though I hope it can be toasted a little warmer. Will try the express thali and curry and biryani next time.

Seems to be a quite popular lunch place for those working in the nearby offices. The stews on the stove look nice.

—- 2nd visit

Invited a friend to try the dinner here. The portion is surprisingly smaller than lunch, and my favorite salad doesn’t seem to be here.

We had a lamb and a chicken dish. Following recommendation I ordered the more spicy chicken chenttinad—only a warm hint for me but tasty. Tariwala gosht appears similar. It has a more pronounced cardamom flavor.

Thepla is quite rare in restaurants, pliable and goes well with the food. The flavor isn’t as strong as the ingredient suggests.

Butter naan comes warm :) crispy outside and soft inside. Not too greasy.

Kulfi has a small amount of pistachio and more rose petals. Not too sweet. Cardamom gives a complex flavor to it. I probably have never tried Kulfi in American Indian restaurants, so the recommended flavor is good—mango one might taste like frozen mango lassi.

Ambiance-wise, some background music could help. The staff are all friendly and...

Food Taste Good but Service Very Pathetic, Very badly Managed Restaurant I have ever seen.

After 5 months of no see to any hotel due to COVID, we decided to visit Tawa Kitchen with lots of expectations as the reviews on all the channels mentioned 4+ rating.

What we found was actually a completely chaotic environment. First we ordered Daal Kachori, Papadoms and Paneer Chilli.... Instead of Paneer Chilli, we were served the Chicken dish, the sad part is the person who served was not sure what dish it was. Luckily by looking at the shapes of pieces I realized that it was surely not paneer. Daal Kachori's taste was good, papadoms were ok. At the same time, we had ordered the main course as well. Once the starters were over we were served the main course after almost 30mins (Wow...that's amazing wait isn't?) Finally, we were served main course (Jaipur Jewels--tasty dish) and paratha's (Ok). After the main course was done again it was waiting period for almost 10mins no one turned to our table, finally, we raised a request for bill which further took 10more mins to arrive. Overall the experience was one of the worst !!!

Some advice to the management: a. Train the staff ' How to serve the food ', ' How to collect the dishes ' b. Divide the tables and assign it to enough staff that you have. e.g for 1-2 tables person X will look, for 3-4 table person Y. In this way, the staff will be also focused and person X won't have to serve all the tables. c. Have one dedicated staff member who is just monitoring all the tables, who can immediately take a look at what is required for any customer. In this way, at least the chaotic management will get streamlined and customers will also feel attended. d. As you are serving Indian food, its good to serve with respective cutleries which help those foods to be served better. e. I am sure that the rates that you are charging in that you can afford serving Fennel seeds (Souf) or Mint chocolate in the end with bill to give...

06/09/25; 19:30-21:00

We booked a table by phone, but when we rang later to say we’d be running late, the booking couldn’t be found. Fortunately, there was still space when we arrived.

The front door is so heavy that every customer visibly struggles to open it; not the most welcoming start.

Service was disorganised from the outset. A kitchen staff member, clearly covering for a short-staffed floor team, initially took our order incorrectly before being abruptly sent back by the waiter. The order was re-entered but still arrived wrong, meaning one of us had to wait while the other ate their starter.

We waited around 20 minutes after finishing our starters before anyone asked about mains, and throughout the meal there were no check-ins to see if everything was okay. A very small request had to be chased multiple times before it finally arrived, long after it was needed.

We ordered three naans but were swayed to order two “and add another if needed”. When we did, the extra naan arrived several minutes later, disrupting the flow of the meal. Appreciate the tip, though after all that waiting, we’ve decided the gut usually knows best.

More concerningly, I found small stones in the dal makhani on three separate spoonfuls and had to leave the dish.

At the end, instead of leftovers being packed for us, we were handed a box and bag to do it ourselves; unusual for a restaurant of this level.

We should have asked for the service charge to be removed, but either way, we won’t be returning. A restaurant charging restaurant prices in the centre of Cambridge shouldn’t deliver...