Nukkad Indian Street Food — Restaurant in Cary

Two of my friends and I visited nukkad last night. We ordered dahi Puri, samosa channa Chaat, veg seekh kebob, Gobi Manchurian gravy with rice, veg hakka noodles, mango lassi, lime soda and special nukkad lime soda for a total of $69 including a 15% tip.

We had already gone there once when they'd just opened and ordered veg seekh kebob, chicken noodles and sweet & salt lime soda. That day, there was crazy crowd, the service was poor and our food arrived late. There was too much salt in the soda, main dishes were okayish and we had to hunt for cutlery. However, we thought the lack of hospitality was due to their busy hours and wanted to give them another try.

Yet, yesterday, when we went there for the second time, nothing had changed at all, except for the crowd inside. Yesterday, at least half of the tables were empty. Out of all the items we ordered, only dahi puri was somewhat good. I am listing down what we found unsatisfying in each dish. I have had all the dishes we ate here at nukkad in other places as well. I am familiar with how they are supposed to taste. I agree that the taste of food is subjective and one person may like what another dislikes. With that disclaimer, let us dive into the details.

samosa channa chat - too sour; no notes of any spices due to the overpowering sourness. The samosa part was good, but the channa gravy was very bad. Veg seekh kebob - tasted like they fried frozen, already made kebobs; which is fine, but it had the freezer/fridge smell dahi puri - okayish to good mango lassi - okayish, not worth the money lime soda - okay nukkad special lime soda - good veg hakka noodles - had the smokey hakka smell, but otherwise tasted very bland Star of the show - gobi manchurian - gobi wasn't fried properly, we could taste the raw corn flour they used in the batter to coat the gobi and it had a salty/chloriney smell. Gravy was okayish, again, too sour. We could not eat the gobi!

I do not judge a place immediately and this is not coming just from me. The two people who went with me also didn't like what they ate. I have given this place two tries now and things have not improved.

I want this place to do well. I support local businesses. Half of the good dining experience stems from hospitality. A good hospitality can negate some of the damage that bad food can do. So, please, staff more if your employees are overworked or if you do not have enough of them. Give people cutlery, if your employee spills something, have a protocol for what to do after that.

This is coming from personal experience. I have worked as a waitress too. Whenever I spilled something, or if I bring the food out late, we apologized and immediately offered the guests more food to compensate for what was spilled. Sometimes we offered free desserts and sometimes we gave them some items billed on the house. These small gestures will make people to want to come back to your place.

This message is coming from a good place from my heart....

Feedback:

This place is in a perfect location and with a very nice looking restaurant. However, I believe a few things need to change. Me and my husband spent $62 here. Paying this much wouldn’t be a problem if we had a better experience.

Allow me to explain my experience here.

We were never asked how was the food, if we needed more drinks, if we needed anything. NOTHING! We had to find the utensils, carry out box, napkins...

I did not like how the silverware was out in the open for everyone to grab, not very sanitary. Did not offer us a cup for our canned soda. The soda can was rusted near the opening.

We drove 2 hours to try this place, paid for the meal & 15% tip before getting our meal. Which if we would have known the things we have experienced. We wouldn’t have ate here.

My recommendations is this:

If you want to go with the “street fast food” theme, it would be better to provide plastic cups, straws, plastic utensils & plastic trays & more workers who are glad to be there.

Definitely lower the prices because we can eat Nazaras up the street for less with GREAT customer service.

If you want to continue to charge high prices, I would expect the customer service to be exceptional & with a fine dining experience. Such as someone hosting & a wait staff. Because again, I can go to the Cheesecake Factory and spend the same amount and have a far better experience.

This place does have potential, I just hope the owners are able to work out the kinks so that maybe me and my husband can try it again.

It would be such a shame for a good business to close down due to things that...

Went to Nukkad today for a quick lunch, and was very disappointed. This is not the first time I am going to nukkad, and honestly it was one of our go to places. But probably not again. I ordered chicken Kati roll. When it came, it was cold inside out. The paratha bread for the roll, was not made fresh. The filling inside was cold. Even the chicken inside was cold! When I told the server, he said, that the sauces were from the fridge so the inside was cold. But I have had Kati roll in several places, and if it is made fresh, it is still piping hot even with the sauces. Nukkad, poses itself as a street food speciality. And the price is not cheap. I expect better quality. I told the server about my dissatisfaction, to which he said, sorry to hear that. He did not offer to make a hot one to my liking, or give me another choice! My husband had Kadhai paneer, with naan. The naan was good. The paneer curry was a lot of cream dumped in the gravy, with very few paneer pieces. I see that Nukkad response to other reviews has said that ‘we cook to your liking and will make it to your liking if you let us know’. When I let the server know about my dissatisfaction he did not offer to make it to my liking. Just said ‘sorry about it’. Seems like l, the offer to make it to your liking is simply lip service which is not followed by all servers/employees of Nukkad. Will not go there again. There are many choices for Indian food, not going to...