Namaste The Royal Taste Of India — Restaurant in Bellingham

Best Indian Restaurant in Bellingham! I was hesitant to try this restaurant at first because I had hopes it would be nothing like the last restaurant that occupied the space. I knew as soon as we walked up that it was 100% different! It's all been cleaned and freshly painted. While the ambiance of this brand new restaurant isn't much (yet -they are new), they do make up for it with the quality and flavors in their food. I already cannot wait to go back!

We went for dinner last night. We were greeted quickly with a "Namaste" and seated. Our server was prompt and friendly. Our food came out at a reasonably expected time. We ordered Samosas and the Goat Suhka, which was the recommendation from our server out of their two goat appetizers. My boyfriend, who is very hard to impress, LOVED this appetizer. He is a big fan of goat dishes, but this one wowed him. He couldn't even wait until lunch today - he had his leftovers for breakfast. It smelled to me like an Indian version of barbacoa (so good). This was our dish with the sliced red onion on top. The samosas were different than anywhere I'd had them before. I would love to see more of the chutneys served with them - the plastic cups were so small that I couldn't get a utensil in them and they weren't easy to share. The flavor of the samosas was different and good though.

For dinner, I tried something new. I usually order butter chicken or tikka masala or mango chicken. The menu said the chef's favorite was the Chicken Chettinad & I'm SO glad I tried it!! It was the best Indian food dish I've ever had at any restaurant. Very flavorful and full of various spices. The chicken was expertly mixed in and partially shredded, partially still in small chunks, so I really appreciated the preparation that they weren't these large chunks plopped in sauce like a lot of places. I think it had been marinating in the sauce and it reminded me of meat that had been slow cooked all day and was just falling apart. I cannot wait to order this dish again. It's my new favorite and I'm ruined for all other Indian restaurants now. My boyfriend order the Andhra Goat Currey for his main dish and he was not disappointed. I'm not a fan of goat since I don't like to deal with the bones, but he loved it. I tried the sauce and it was distinctly flavorful (yum). Of course we had rice, garlic naan, & ordered my favorite Gulab Jamun for desert. Everything was amazing & we can't...

Our vegetarian party of three visited during what I'm assuming is their "soft opening" since I heard about it only because of reddit. We were expecting glitches with either the service or the food, but everything went really well. We were greeted with a "Namaste" by our server, our table was comfortable, and each table has its own water carafe. We ordered samosas as an appetizer - we order these at every Indian restaurant we visit - and the server suggested the Gobi Manchurian (fried cauliflower with a sweet sauce). The gobi was better than the samosas IMO; the samosas were somewhat dry and too potatoe-y for my taste, with not enough seasoning. But my spouse liked them, especially with the chutneys that were provided.

For our entrees, we had the saag paneer (excellent), the paneer tikka masala (excellent), and the aloo gobi (very good). Each entree comes with white rice. The garlic naan was also very good, although IMO it would benefit from having the ghee spread on it more liberally.

For dessert we had gulab jamun, which was spectacular.

We will...

We had been to the namaste in Bellingham approximately one year ago. It wasnt necessarily the best Indian food I've had but definitely the best in whatcom county. We were honestly happy to see this restaurant open in downtown Bellingham. I'm happy to say that they have improved their food to deserve this 5 star review. By far the best Indian in Bellingham. The service is always so friendly. I believe it's a family run restaurant and they provide themselves in the food and service they provide. Prices are very reasonable. Will be visiting frequently now that they are in Bellingham!

Update:

Came here for dinner. They were very short staffed. The waitress was pretty rude. Not sure if she was just having a bad day or this is how she is. Nonetheless two separate couples left after they were seated and were forgotten about. Food took about an hour to come out. Food is still very good and high quality but they're really lacking in the service part. I'd come back but for...