Namaste India Grill & Brewhouse — Restaurant in Arden Hills

Just moved to the area and decided to try out an Indian place near me with my regular order at most Indian restaurants (pakora - usually veg or chili, rogan josh curry, garlic naan, salt lassi, and gulab jamun). Overall, compared to every other Indian place that I've tried this same order (in three different states), this one is probably the lowest of all of them. Usually, when I order pakora, I am expecting them to be more like a fritter rather than filling encased in a batter (of which they serve the latter; I looked this up, and apparently there are regional differences that I wasn't aware of, and they were decent anyway). The chutneys that came with them are your usual tamarind and mint, and these were also just okay (I've had much better elsewhere). The salt lassi was also just decent, so I would probably try a different flavor instead next time. The gulab jamun was the highlight of everything and was actually probably one of the best I've ordered at any Indian restaurant, so I would definitely come back just to order those. Where I had bigger issues were with the rogan josh and garlic naan. Usually, I expect rogan josh to have a deeper orange-red color, but this one was a brighter orange than most makhani curries I've ever ordered and even tasted like a lamb makhani. I'm not entirely convinced the restaurant even gave me the correct curry, and the lamb meat itself was very disappointing regardless (cubed into very small chunks, I prefer a lamb curry with much larger, meatier chunks, but there was barely anything solid in this dish). The naan was cold, and the garlic was basically nonexistent (for context, I took this order to-go and ate within ten minutes of receiving my order, so I've never had a cold naan issue before, especially since it comes wrapped in foil). I'm not sure whether the restaurant was just having an off-day, and I would like to give them another chance by trying other dishes, but overall, I would not recommend their lamb curries or pakoras. I will likely give the garlic naan another chance since I can't imagine it will always be like that, despite my disappointment. I will absolutely get gulab jamun every time I come, and maybe try out a sweeter lassi (I usually like salty, but this one just didn't do it for me, unfortunately).

Since I ordered to-go, I can't say much about the service other than that I was only greeted and acknowledged by one of the two staff members when I came in while the other seemed to ignore me (maybe he was aware that the other staff member was planning to help me and just left it to him, I'm not sure). The ambience was decent, music wasn't too loud, can't say much else since I was only in there for a short time. I will probably come back in a few months to try some other items, I'm just disappointed that they missed the mark on my...

Picked up a take out order on Saturday, November 25th. Get all the way home and we're missing one total order in the bag. We call them up and ask them to please just refund us for the missing item. They absolutely refuse to do so stating their app doesn't allow refunds! They wanted us to drive a total of 22 mi round trip just to pick up the left out meal. I've never heard of a restaurant not being able to refund for a missing order! Doubtful that I will ever go back even though this was our favorite Indian food place. We spent over $100 and couldn't get a refund for one forgotten meal that they did not pack for us. If you consider take out with them, you should take everything out of the bag and double check the receipt and make sure that you get what you ordered. You shouldn't have to do that in this day and age when people should be able to count to 2 of the same 1 item to get the order straight!

This response is ridiculous:

Response from the owner 13 minutes ago Dear Diane Peterson,

I understand your frustration and disappointment regarding the missing item in your takeout order. It's certainly understandable that you wouldn't be happy with a restaurant refusing a refund for such an oversight, especially when it involved a significant drive.

However, publicly replying to the review with anger or negativity might not be the most effective way to resolve the situation. Here are some alternative approaches you can consider:

Contact the Restaurant Directly:

Try reaching out to the restaurant manager or owner directly. Explain the situation calmly and professionally, emphasizing your disappointment and inconvenience. Suggest a reasonable solution, like a partial refund or credit for a future visit,

Be open to their response and see if they're willing to offer any kind of resolution to regain your trust. (Thankss & Regards - Namaste india MN Team)

It says to reach out to the restaurant manager directly which we did do. We were told they could not do any type of a partial refund or credit for a future visit. So why are you sending me this as a result of my review of your restaurant? We did that and we got nowhere. Yet you send me this note telling me that's the course I should have taken when I already have! And that is why I will continue to give a one-star review for this restaurant. First you say you can't do a refund or a partial credit, then you send me an email that said that's what I should have asked for! I already did ask for it.We called right away. And the response was to call again? Somebody needs to really read their reviews before they send out answers to a negative review. My one star review will remain even more so now that you admonished me for not following what you think was the best course of action, which I did follow! And then you wonder why you get an...

I think Indian food can sometimes get a bad wrap, but I find that it's just a matter of finding the restaurants that are doing it right and using fresh ingredients. Most of my Indian food experiences were from friends from India sharing their favorite foods or cooking it myself. I believe this is the first time I have actually eaten Indian food at a restaurant, and it did not disappoint!

I saw the street foods were highly recommended when looking through the reviews so I went with the Dahi Puri and the Amritsari Chole Kulche. I would say the Dahi Puri ranked pretty high on being one of the best things I have ever eaten. They were bursting with all sorts of flavors and you could taste the freshness in the ingredients. The mint chutney and spices came through nicely in each bite. I also found the yogurt to be a definitive taste in these bites. Regardless, each ingredient played a key role in making these so delicious and you could still identify everything going on without there being an overpowering flavor.

For the Amritsari Chole Kulche, I was worried it was going to be to spicy when I was told it was a medium on the spice scale. I know Indian food can get pretty spicey, and I am not a spicey food person. However, it had more of a mild heat to it versus burning your mouth and ruining the dining experience if you don't prefer the spice. The pindi chana masala that came with the leavened bread reminded me almost of a variation on chili. The spices and flavors were upfront in this dish and it was pretty good. You could also chose to eat the bread with the chickpea dish, mint chutney, or tamrind chutney making each bite unique.

Stumbling upon restaurants tucked away in strip malls has yet to prove me wrong. From the food, to the cleanliness, to the attention to detail in the food, it's hard not to give this place a shot. Personally, I would definitely come back here to try more authentic...