Nirvana The Taste of India — Restaurant in Cambridge

Nirvana is one of the worst restaurants operating under the guise of serving Indian cuisine. We ordered chicken tikka as a starter, along with plain dosa and chicken biryani. They brought the chicken tikka sizzling, but most of the chicken was burnt to the point of being inedible. Surprisingly, they didn't provide any dips or sauces to accompany it. I don't understand why they couldn't at least offer some mint chutney or sauce.

The plain dosa was extremely disappointing. The batter was of poor quality and emitted a foul smell. It was evident that the batter had been refrigerated for over a week, just by looking at the dosa. I came to this restaurant based on the ratings and pictures shared by other reviewers, and I was excited to try the dosa. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a major letdown.

Moving on to the chutney, they only provided one option, and even the coconut chutney was cold and lacked freshness. The sambar was excessively watery, leading me to believe that they had diluted it due to a shortage. As for the biryani, it failed to meet expectations. Instead of being a proper chicken biryani, it resembled more of a pulav. They should consider renaming it on the menu to avoid misleading customers.

There were a few Americans and Koreans dining at the restaurant, and I can't help but wonder what they might think of Indian cuisine after experiencing this subpar food. It's worrisome that people from other countries may develop a misguided perception of Indian cuisine due to restaurants like this. If a restaurant cannot deliver the authentic taste of our original Indian cuisine, they should not operate and mislead others who are eager to try Indian food. It's disheartening to think that someone might develop a distaste for Indian cuisine based on such an experience.

Overall, it was a waste of money. I would have been better off throwing away the 45 dollars rather than dining at this place. This experience has taught me not to be fooled by some positive reviews. In my opinion, India Pavilion,Dosa N Curry,Maharaja ,Suriya Kitchen are the best places for Indian cuisine in and around Boston, offering the most authentic taste. I haven't found any other places that come close to them. I strongly recommend avoiding Nirvana restaurant if you're looking for delicious and authentic Indian food. Don't be deceived by the ratings, as we were. Overall, it was the worst experience, and their food ruined my...

After being in Cambridge for over year, I decided to give Nirvana a try. Woefully, a terrible service experience has left me unable to give a good review.

My friend and I arrived at the restaurant at 6:30 and put in our orders shortly after. All of our food was put in at the same time, but only two appetizers arrived promptly. We waited for over an hour for our entrees to arrive. About halfway/two-thirds of the way through the wait time, we talked to a man clearing our table who said that the food would be right out.

While we were waiting, every table in our vicinity was seated and served. After an hour of waiting, me and my friend decided to cancel our entrees, get our checks and leave. When we asked to speak to our waitress (whom we had not seen for an hour), a different employee told us that our food would be right out. When I said that we no longer wanted our entrees, we were repeatedly instructed that the food was still coming. A different employee came out and said that there was a new chef in the kitchen, which is why our food was delayed. The existence of a new chef doesn't explain why everyone else but us received their food in a timely manner. We once again insisted on canceling the entrees.

A few minutes later, another employee arrives carrying one of our entrees. We said that we no longer wanted it and were pressured until I relented and said, "You know what, just pack it up and give us the check." Not once were me and my companion offered a discount, a free drink, free dessert, or any reconciliation beyond "sorry."

I've worked in restaurants. I understand that mistakes happen. It's quite likely that someone's shift ended right as we arrived and our order fell through the cracks -- in those circumstances, it is vital that the restaurant staff fully explain the situation.

Additionally, both me and my friend are Black people. When mistakes such as this happen--i.e., when every other white person at the restaurant receives their food in a timely manner, but the only two Black people are left waiting for over an hour--a Black person, or any other minority for that matter, starts to wonder if it was on purpose. I don't know the employees, their values or their attitudes, but I do know that I will not be...

I’m not reviewing the food here ( I haven’t had it). My review is based on the harassment I just experienced from a worker from Nirvana. A nirvana delivery guy came to my building today and handed me the bag of food while complaining that I didn’t tip him enough, I asked him what the problem was because I HAD tipped him online $5( which was the suggested 15%of my food order)? And he continue to give me attitude saying that wasn’t enough AS he walked away from us and the building. When we went upstairs we opened the bag and realized that was not our order and immediately headed back downstairs to see if this guy was still there and give him his food, but as we come out of the elevator he harassed me again, he was waiting for us right outside the elevator and started yelling (at me) “why did I steal his food?” I was like what?? My husband started to yell at him back that he was going to call the police to remove him from our building. Evidently we had taken an indian food delivery that belong to another apartment, our actual indian food delivery (from Mint) was still waiting outside. This guy didn’t even apologized, I told him he wasn’t a very nice guy, and it was clearly a misunderstanding, and that I would NEVER order food from this place, ever. Whoever in fact ordered food from here and didn’t tip him was right....