Aroma Delight: Indian, Pakistani & Nepali Cuisine - Halal — Restaurant in Burlington

We tried Aroma Delight in Burlington for our first time last night and we were delighted with the experience. This may be one of the best Indian meals we've had in Massachusetts. To start we got Marsala chai and bhelpuri. The chai was light in sugar and the flavor was delicate. The bhelpuri was crunchy, creamy, a little sweet, and a little spicy all at once. This place does a great job balancing texture and flavor. For our main course my girlfriend ordered the goat biryani, and I ordered the kashmiri goat hyderabadi with a side of garlic naan. The goat biryani was excellent you could really taste the saffron, there was whole cardamoms bursting with flavor throughout the dish, and the goat was so tender, plus there was plenty of fried onion. The raita with it was not our favorite as it was kind of sour and the cucumber flavor was not present, but it was edible and it didn't ruin the dish. The kashmiri goat hyderabadi was actually a recommendation from our server. She did not eat goat, and originally recommended the chicken tikka masala (I get it, I'm white,) but after asking for a goat recommendation she guided me to the kashmiri goat hyderabadi, and I'm glad she did. I ordered it the highest level of spice, and it was amazing. The dish has such a nice texture to it, maybe there's crushed peanuts in there or something idk, but there was some added crunch with a great level of spiciness (it felt like it was going to be too spicy, but it didn't overwhelm me) and the spiciness did not drown out the flavor of the onion and other spices and again the goat was perfectly tender and not too boney. Again very well balanced with texture and spice throughout the whole meal. Then the naan was cooked to perfection, it was fluffy with a nice crunch to it from the oven they cooked it in. It was not oily and though there was plenty of garlic on it, it was not overpowering. It went great with the kashmiri goat hyderabadi. Then to finish off the meal, we indulged in a pistachio shake. It was unbelievable, like the perfect end to the meal, it had chunks of nuts blended it that added to the texture, and the flavor was nice and sweet and creamy and it was plenty for the two of us to share it came in a tall glass. Overall the meal was like $62 before tips, a deal for a great meal like that. Our server was very helpful, she told us about where she was from and where the owner was from, she gave us some great recommendations, and we never had to wait, she showed up right when we needed her. The restaurant was beautifully set up, there was plenty of places to sit on a Friday night, with gorgeous ornamentation. It was such a a nice experience and we can't...

Totally gutted the experience from the previous place (Al Maidhah, which moved to Tewksbury). Whoever took over the restaurant clearly does not care to make good food, or have any staff on hand for service. Don't listen to whatever bot reviews they bought for the 5 stars, they clearly didn't eat anything there. They don't serve Indian rice anymore, it's now just store bought "American" style rice. All of the vegetables have been replaced with store bought frozen "mixed vegetables" that you might find at the Shaw's two doors down.

All the food lacks flavor, spice, and any fresh ingredients. Which is sad considering the highlights of Indian cuisine are flavor, spice, and ingredients. We got the saag paneer, the vegetable korma, a peshwari naan and a plain naan, a vegetable biryani, and plain rice on the side. I saw one persons tandoori chicken near us, maybe I should have tried that but our party was eating vegetarian that night.

To top it off, when we got inside we had to ask to be seated, had to ask the cashier to take our order, and ask to pay. I just didn't bother asking for a water refill, they seemed not to be interested. I have no idea if the weekend buffet is still there, but maybe they'll find a chef by the next weekend. Who knows if it's just early days growing pains or just true incompetence....

Tldr: Higher prices from previous owner, not much increase in value and quality. Really miss the old owners tbh, they have moved to Tewksbury.

I used to come to Al Maidah (previous owners) once each week. They recently had ownership change. I went in on a Friday for lunch and ordered the Non-Veg Combo and got Butter Chicken instead of the Chicken Tikka in the set menu. Previous owners had a similar lunch set menu. No change in interior from previous owner. Bathroom has an odd smell due to new wall paint.

Meat Samosa: 4/5. Great but had a slight odd smell. Soup: 2/5. Bland, thin and way too light. Butter Chicken Butter Chicken: 1/5. Just terrible. Bland and sweet. I had asked for it to be spicy, it was not even mild. Previous owner’s butter chicken was 100x better. Not enough portion to eat with rice and naan. Plain Naan: 3/5. Alright, but previous owner had garlic naan and was $10 cheaper. Rice: 3/5. Alright. Chicken Shish Kabab: 5/5. Great. Chicken 🍗: 4/5. Alright, had a slight smell.

Service: 5/5. Hospitable service.

Considering this exact same lunch set menu was $10 cheaper with the older owners, and the current owners have not made any improvements on it, rather the opposite, not sure if with coming back for lunch set menu, but I may come...