Vaisakhi Indian Kitchen — Restaurant in Boston

Vaisakhi is the breath of fresh air that the restaurant scene in this little corner of Brighton and all of Cleveland Circle needs. Finally a sit down, casual Indian place that's reasonably priced and doesn't require half an hour each way on the T to get to! Even on their first day open, their food is better than several of the Indian restaurants in the Boston area that I've eaten at.

Tucked away across from the Sutherland Road T stop, you can follow your nose to the doorstep of the restaurant. The interior tastefully restrained, bright colors and some simple paintings above the booths. The space is small, but not cramped and the booth seating at least was very comfortable.

The three gentlemen who own/run the front of the house are eager to please. We were seated right away and given water and menus. The menu is comprehensive without being too large and confusing. The vegetarian, and meat sections are both equally sized, so there's plenty of options for both vegetarians and meat eaters alike.

My wife and I started out with the vegetable pakoras. These little fritters of batter and veggies were served hot, with a little bit of salty spice powder and dipping sauces. The crunchy shell pairs nicely with the soft veggies inside and tastes amazing when you put a bit of the red onion chutney on it.

For our main course we ordered the saag paneer and the dal makhani, two of our favorite vegetarian dishes in Indian cuisine. The dal makhani was subtle, not overly spiced and not overly rich like many I've had. The lentils weren't rock hard or cooked into mush. The star of the show was definitely the saag paneer though. The saag was so wonderfully rich and smooth and spiced perfectly, and the paneer was the perfect texture, not too soft and mushy and now dry and crumbly.

I'm lucky enough to live right around the corner from Vaisakhi, but I would gladly travel a lot further...

Excellent food and service! The atmosphere seemed nice, too, but I was only there for takeout.

I ordered a bunch of appetizers - the meat samosa, the paneer pakoras, and the aloo tikki, as well as the goat stew for dinner later. It came out to about 40 dollars not including tip, which I think is pretty fair. Went a little lower on my per person because of the extra apps I grabbed. The appetizers came with three really tasty sauces. Having tried a bite of everything, I can confidently say I'll be coming back to the Vaisakhi Indian Kitchen. The aloo tikki is crispy and well seasoned, as are the paneer pakoras. I love samosas, though by no means consider myself to be an expert, and the meat samosas did not disappoint! I thoroughly enjoyed the lamb filling, and they are a good size.

I do have to shout out the star of the show as the goat stew, however. The meat is tender and delicious, the stew is well seasoned and the dish comes packed to the brim with thick gravy. It was so good that my 'bite' to try it turned into packing away the apps for later so that I could eat more of the stew. Even the rice I could eat on it's own, it's buttery and fluffy - the perfect vehicle for the stew. I'm still eating it as I write this review, that's how good it is. Knocked it out of the park, a full 10/10 and would recommend visiting this restaurant if you're...

All around very solid North Indian restaurant in a city that desperately needs more good Indian food.

The menu is very simple: samosa, pakora, a few chaats, and your standard Punjabi style curries. But the execution is solid and all the items we tried were good.

We started with a samosa chaat, which was really good - the samosa retained its crunch and the chole had good flavor, though the yogurt was a bit dominant. For mains, we got a paneer tikka masala and a bhindi masala and asked for both extra spicy, with a garlic naan, onion kulcha and cheese naan on the side. Both curries were really flavorful (neither were very spicy but that’s ok) without being excessively heavy or rich or oily. I’d highly recommend the bhindi - I thought it was excellent. The PTM was as it should be: nothing to complain about here. Naans were soft and tasty.

Service was excellent and the folks working here seem really nice.

This is a good Indian restaurant in Boston - that makes it a rarity....