Zaika Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Austin

I would give this place 5 stars if I could. The food tasted great but services needs a little improvement. And I think there was a lack of communication between the employees and the business owner. I came into the restaurant alone for lunch by random chance and turns out I was the only customer. The restaurant was empty at 12:30pm on a Tuesday. No one welcomed me and the lady who I think is just the cleaning lady had to call out for someone. When I was seated, I wasn’t handed a menu but was served bread and sauces first which is nice. When I had to ask for the menu, the server handed me a QR bar on a paper stand which means I had to pull out my phone to take a look at the menu. Unfortunately, the fonts on their website on my iphone 8 plus are too small and it was inefficient for me to scroll up and down, zoom in and out to look for something in the menu including the pictures. I rather have an actual menu on paper or a board so that I can see everything quickly and not have to squint my eyes through my glasses just to see the names and pictures of the food. Or have the website better designed for easier view of the menu. I ordered idli and paneer dosa for myself to eat at the table. Then I ordered masala dosa, goat biriyani, and mango lassi to go for my family to eat at home. All the food tasted great and authentic and everyone loved the food. I’ll be coming to this restaurant again for their food, but I hope there will be some improvement on their services. The server is nice but I had to keep calling out to her for help. Also, the server does not know the password to their public wifi which is weird. But the most amazing thing about all of this was the price. All the food I ordered (idli, masala dosa, goat biryiani, paneer dosa, and mango lassi with plenty of sauce and soaps) was all only $54 which is amazing cheap compared to other Indian food I had so I had to give a tip of $8. All in all, the restaurant is great but just needs some improvements with their way of business and how they train...

When I walked in, I was disappointed they did not have the vegetarian buffet. The owner told me that he was planning on starting him back up next month, so I figured I'd just order off the menu a la carte and give them a fair shake. I like my Indian food very spicy but not hot, and the owner was happy to accommodate my request. I ordered the shrimp biryani, mostly because you don't usually see shrimp in biryani, and I love shrimp. The size of shrimp was more like the 10/12 (medium sized). They were quite a few shrimp in the dish. They were larger and more than I expected. I added a side order of saag paneer and some naan. The paneer was medium size bites, but there wasn't as many as I would have liked. Nevertheless, the food seem like it was freshly cooked and right out of the kitchen tailored to my request for extra spices. You can see in the pictures the amount of spices they used. These guys obviously did not go cheap on the spices. That's the number one thing I seek when eating Indian food. If I can see the spices, and I can taste them, and they leave that feeling in your mouth that you know you have eaten something wonderful, then it is a great meal. The price of the food may seem a little expensive for lunch, but it is absolutely worth every penny. The owner seems very willing to accommodate special requests. He said that when they start up the buffet again that we could request for more spice in some of the dishes and they would honor the request. I believe him! Overall great value and great flavor. I highly...

I am not an aficionado on indian food by any stretch of the imagination as I tend to steer clear based on the spicy factor (much as I do with Thai food). I have loved it when I have had it, but a lot of times my tummy does not agree, so other than naan, chicken korma, and chai, I haven't expanded much of my indian cuisine palate.

Thank goodness my date, who is Indian, took me here! I am honestly not sure of all that we had, but I can tell you for being a strictly-vegetarian based menu, I left full and satisfied (I am not vegetarian, but am not opposed to eating vege at all).

We started with the samosas, which were so good! The tamarind sauce was exceptional! It also came with another sauce, but that was too spicy for me (I have a literal zero spice tolerance, so don't base anything I say as "spicy" as such for a regular person).

We then had what I can only describe as a veggie frittata and it was delicious! I hate that I can't remember what it was called because I would order it again! It came with 3 sauces and I had two of them as the green sauce was, again, too spicy for my tastes.

We also had this amazing rice dish where the cardamom flavor was deliciously prevalent and it came with this yogurts sauce that was unbelievably good!

All in all a great meal! The staff was so nice and accommodating and our food came out fast and fresh.

I will definitely be back when I am craving something healthy and vegetarian with flavor and this time I am writing down the names of everything for...