VIVA COCINA — Restaurant in Aldine

This place has the best naan I've ever had! I went to Viva Cocina with my husband, since he was unfamiliar with Indian food but wanted to try some. I'm glad we tried this place to introduce him because I wasn't disappointed - like I said, the naan here was the best I'd had so far (we tried the garlic cheese naan), and the biryani was amazing. Husband had the chicken biryani, and I had the prawn. Lots of well-balanced, complex flavor, and the food was very fresh. I don't really know how to describe the flavor of biryani, but if you like biryani, you should definitely try this spot!

The place inside was cozy and clean. At the time of this review, the place is pretty small so it can't seat a lot of people at once, but there should be more space opening up soon - the restaurant was able to get the space next to them, so it'll be expanding to fit more people. You can order to-go as well.

I'm looking forward to trying more of the menu when we go back. Even as someone who doesn't normally order spicy food, I'll want to order the biryani again after I've tried more dishes. If you're someone who doesn't have a high level of spicy tolerance, just ask about how spicy the dish is when you order and ask for a milder version if needed. If you're looking for food with a good amount of heat that works well with the other flavors in the dish, then the spicy foods will be great...

This place is for sure a hidden gem for Indian food. Its one of those place where everything on the menu must be good.

We ordered the following: Manchow soup - 4/5 - The taste was so good, nice & spicy & proper Mumbai indo-chinese taste. Fried noodles could have been better. Sz. Chicken Lollypop - 5/5 - Best masala chicken lollypop that I have had in Houston thus far. If you like chicken lollypop, just go for it. Sz. Chicken friend rice - 3/5 - Again, very close to mumbai indo-chinese, could have been better, while it was good but consider other things on the menu, you aren’t missing something if you don’t order this. Butter Chicken - 5/5 - This is for sure a must try. It was so good and the spice vs sweetness was perfectly balanced with a lot of butter. You cannot miss this if you visit this place. Garlic Naan - 3/5 - Could have been better but the butter chicken made up for this.

Overall, I think this is a good place for indo-chinese & indian food, definitely a must try if you aren’t looking for something necessarily fancy but good indian food is...

The appetizers, the chicken lollipop, was great in flavor and so crispy, but the batter was still on most of the drumsticks. The chicken takki was too lemony, but it was okay. The fish tikka was amazing, so delicious, a little spicy but the spiciness was delicious. The chicken tikka masala was amazing, so warm and flavorful. The reason for the lower rating was due to the slow service. Each dish was brought out one by one and I do believe this was due to there only being one chef. The waiter was nice but he was very slow and we were the only ones in the restaurant.

We would return, but only because of the delicious food. Hoping to come back on another night when the food comes out sooner and the service is a little more friendly. May be better to...