Namaste Baltimore — Restaurant in Baltimore

Namaste is our go-to for carry-out and delivery (of any cuisine). We order approx. 1x/week, so this review comes with a lot of experience behind it. The food is always tasty, although as with many Indian and Chinese places I have observed, things can be highly variable. Textures, colors, flavors of the same dish can be completely different night to night. I guess different chefs cook things differently... Some nights I can clarify "to Indian tastes" and that keeps things from being too bland but other nights they're not sure what I mean. Some nights spicy means something different than another night, and also occasionally things are under-salted (this is curable, lol). But even when not up to their highest standards, the food is more reliable than most other Indian carry-out and delivery joints in the area. I do enjoy being able to order momos (Nepalese dumplings); the momos are pretty outstanding. I recommend the korma. Dals are very solid. Their poori is also good, IMO better than naan and holds up pretty well for delivery most of the time. They're on the pricier side for take-out/delivery - there are definitely cheaper options - especially when you add in delivery fees and tips. But I have found the extra is worth it for the food quality. I can think of one other place on par with them pricing-wise, and one other even more expensive in the area, but Namaste is our clear price/performance winner. They do offer a 10% discount for pickup, which is great when I can swing it. I have not eaten inside personally, but have been inside many, many times to pick up and the place is clean, nicely decorated, and everyone seems pleasant enough. Not sure if they still deliver directly without a middleman, but they have been up on Grubhub for a while and as of this writing (that's how I order) - they've been on Uber Eats in the past but the relationships seem to come and go. Through Grubhub we have had excellent luck with fast delivery. Not perfect, but definitely...

Our trip to Namaste started with some confusion, courtesy of Google. Google said they were open 'til 11...we pulled up at 9:05, only to see on their door that they close at 9:30 (they do carryout later). So, my husband went in to place an order to go.

The family that owns the business was delightful, and invited us to come in and enjoy dinner in the restaurant, despite it being so near the time to close. By the time my husband walked to the car to get me and we came back in, they already had poured our glasses of ice water and had our table ready for us and quickly brought us papadam.

We ended up having a delicious dinner in a quiet, cozy environment--never once did we feel rushed, despite the fact that we were there well past their normal dine-in hours. The family spoke with us throughout the evening, they were so friendly. We had a chance to discuss our daughter's food allergies (she wasn't with us) and how they could possibly accommodate her safely if we return in the future with her.

We ordered the vegetarian platter appetizer (2 samoas and 4 veggie pakora), paneer tikka masala (mild spice), chicken tikka masala (medium spice), and naan. Everything was cooked perfectly and the spices were on point. The food was presented beautifully, and they refilled the rice as soon as it started looking low.

At the end of the evening, the wonderful family brought us each a dish of rice pudding to try, compliments of the house. This was unexpected and very kind.

The restaurant is beautiful, very clean, the decorations are lovely and the ambiance is great. I'd recommend...

Incredibly Delicious food, service a bit slow (but watching a lady who works here put her bare hands into the Mukhwas and take some without using the spoon led me to score this a 3- maybe you should remove this and keep it for personal consumption)

We ordered Papdi Chaat as an app which was fantastic! (We split one serving between the two of us and it was a healthy portion!) loved that it was heavy on the chick peas and not potatoes. Added sweet chutney and cilantro chutney to it to moisten it up a bit more.

Then we shared one order of chicken tikka masala and a basket of naan - we almost couldn’t finish it! The chicken tikka was delicious - medium heat definitely has a bit of a kick and it was nice!! Naan was beautifully soft pillowy and also crispy.

We chose this place based off of the reviews and that they had Papdi Chaat on the menu! We arrived at 5 for dinner before we had to drive into Inner Harbor. We were the only ones there (but they definitely have a booming take out business because the bags were steadily staged at the door). It took over 5 mins to be acknowledged once seated- and then quite some time for anyone to take our over- and even longer for our meal to come out ( we are guessing because of how many take out orders they had). Closer to 6 the place started to get busy and over 1/2 the tables were full.

Overall it definitely hit the spot for my Papdi...