Aroma Experience Indian Cuisine & Bar - Carmel City Center — Restaurant in Carmel

Having loved Aroma Indy at Virginia Ave, we were excited to try this out for my husband’s birthday and it did not disappoint. Everything we tried was well made and delicious. We are so glad to have this in Carmel now. Must try for authentic North Indian cuisine lovers. Also the price that is put, it’s because we ordered, which actually lasted us for another full meal.

Breaking down each course for comprehensive review of each dish we ordered. It’s gonna be long one, so bear with me.

For starters we ordered Chingari Prawns - this was by far, our favourite dish of the night. Which is saying a lot, as everything was yum. Shahi Kurkuri Bhindi - It was crispy goodness loaded with chat masala adding to the zing. Vegetarians and Non-Vegetarians will love it, no matter what. Lamb Galouti Kebab - this is traditionally made with Goat meat, so the texture is much softer, but taking into account this being lamb meat, it was still pretty delicious.

For main course we ordered Delhi Classic Butter Chicken - The name says it all. It was perfect, although we are a little more biased towards their Goat Cheese Butter Chicken in Virginia Ave location. Petition to get it in Carmel also? 😁 Moradabadi Dal Tadka - This is soul food. This is quintessential North Indian yellow lentil, cooked almost in every home in North India and tempered with spices to give it a well rounded flavour Dum Aloo Banarasi - Another added to the list of dishes you must try. If are looking to try something else apart from Paneer ( Cottage Cheese), then this is it. This has a slightly different gravy, based mostly on onion. It’s kinda like Mutton Gravy, for those who eat bhuna mutton. Lucknawi Biryani - Birthday Boy loves his biryanis and when there is goat meat option, there is nothing else that matters. Meat was perfectly cooked in aromatic rice and it came with a side of Raita (Yogurt based dish) all of these came with a side of rice and we also ordered Garlic Naan and Laccha Paratha, which were delicious.

For dessert we ordered Rabdi Gulaab Jamun - Probably one of the only places that knows how to make Gulaab Jamuns. Donut holes, dipped in sugar syrup, but soooo much better. Orange Pudding - don't go by the name, this is actually rice cooked in milk infused with cardamom, which we call Kheer. But still perfect and giving just a hint of orange to the Kheer, adding that zesty zing to the flavour.

Shoutout to our server Caroline, she was amazing and the chefs, who came to personally ask us about the food. Also for improvising for my request for a Birthday celebration. We will be back...

This is the best Indian food EVER.. !!! The service, the chef, the ambience everything is 5 star quality. Me and my colleague are a huge fan of Aroma in Indianapolis downtown, went there one evening, and unfortunately they were closed due to some maintenance issues. They recommended to go to this Carmel location which was half hour away and we are so glad that we decided to go. We ordered Veg Platter and Amritsari Paneer Bhurji for starters, both dishes are top class. My colleague is a hardcore Punjabi vegetarian from Amritsar and he was skeptical about the bhurji and he challenged the server about it, the server took on the challenge and my colleague said that he was in awe of how authentic the bhurji was, it was exactly what they eat in Amritsar. We ordered Paneer Ra Ra Ra, a dish I have never even heard before, but the chef personally recommended that along with Methi Malai Mutter for main course, and boy they were delicious. The rosemary garlic naan was absolutely amazing. We also ordered Veg Biryani, it is not cooked in Dum style, but it was not pulao either, like you get in other Indian restaurants, it was very close to dum style biryani and it actually tasted like a biryani. And yes, the dessert, gulab jamun with Rabdi, I am never ever gonna forget that taste. You would rarely find Indian restaurants where each curry has its own unique taste and different gravy, Aroma Experience is one of those rarest gems. If you are in Indianapolis and want to eat authentic Indian food, I cannot recommend Aroma Experience highly enough, you just have to try...

The tl;dr is this is the best Indian restaurant chain in Indiana.

So excited that Aroma opened up just a block away from my apartment! I lucked out when a friend brought me to Aroma before a night out downtown and I was shocked as it was the greatest Indian food I have had in Indiana, and I've been to several.

Based on the location of this new Aroma, I was concerned the price was going to be well above the average price for dinner when compared to other local Indian Restaurants. I was pleasantly surprised when the price aligned very well with my previous favorite Indian Restaurant Bawarchi.

When it comes to food, I ordered my usual butter chicken (medium) and garlic naan. The spice level was perfect, exactly what I have come to expect as medium at an Indian restaurant. The taste profile of this butter chicken is otherworldly - it far surpasses any other that I've had. I will be hard pressed to go and order anything else. The garlic naan was also perfectly fluffy, not burnt to a crisp, and had a substantially better flavor than most naan I've had.

Overall this beats out Biwarchi in my books and comes with the added benefit of being closer.

My two pieces of feedback would be: Please place a water bottle or pitcher on each table to ensure there is enough water. Maybe it's just me, but I guzzle down water to deal with the heat! It would be nice if the rice bowl was slightly larger as it took two for me to finish my meal. That being said, I appreciate it...