Chowrastha - Indian Eatery austin cedar park — Restaurant in Cedar Park

I was told about a new Indian food takeout in Cedar Park and usually I wait 3 months for places to stabilize and work out the kinks. Any business owner today can tell you what a nightmare it is to get competent help. The restaurant business, in particular, is a unique monster that inexperienced people are quick to criticize although their own cooking skills top out at making a bowl of cereal. Therefore, I tend to ignore the mean, sneering reviews made within the first 90 days of an opening. After 90 days, savage away if it soothes your little heart. This place has been open about a month.

Yesterday I finally found a parking space and opened the door to a jam packed, aromatic festival and thought it was a Grand Opening where the owners had invited every Indian relative and friend they had. Nope. Regular crowd, according to another customer. Whhaaatt? Can anyone explain why this place is jamming like an Indian street festival a whole month after opening despite some negative reviews here? I was the only non Indian in the place. Okay, they didn’t bus the tables. Many pick up places expect you to clean up after yourself. That’s not unusual. Some complained about plastic utensils. Again. It’s mainly a To Go place. Yes, there were lines and the servers/cooks behind the counter were wrestling with their overwhelming success. Yes, it was crowded with people staying to eat, babies screeching, children running around, and loud conversations. I loved it. It was alive.

I used to love upscale Raj Mahal on Rainey and of course the Americanized Indian food near IKEA in Round Rock is always a safe bet. No surprises and if you ask for spicy, they do an American spicy so the asker doesn’t get on Yelp and complain about too spicy. Spicy is so individual that when a review claims spiciness problems, I shrug.

THIS place is shoulder to shoulder, surrounded by families, all vying for take out. Yes, they need more help. Doesn’t change the QUALITY of the food. Yes, you might have to wait and the order might have a mistake. This is not McDonald’s. Oh wait, I HAVE heard of other places screwing up an order, come to think of it…

The butter chicken and aromatic rice with anise was everything I had hoped for and the Irani chai made a perfect meal. I will be back and at different times.

Regarding one ridiculous comment I read here about “hygiene”: I doubt this place will hit the papers like a well known pizza place in Georgetown where one of the teen workers was actually spitting on all the pizzas plus some other acts. Now THAT’S what I call unhygienic.

If you like routine, repetitive food, fast service and juvenile teenagers responsible for your food’s hygiene, then Subway is great.

If you like real Indian food, can handle little issues with grace and manners, and appreciate this new business being OVER RUN with clamoring customers, go. If you are one of the critics, I, for one, hope you return to the Indian restaurant you abandoned for this place. I’m sure they miss you.

See you at Desi Chowrastha in Cedar Park: I’m the blond woman crying in the corner, learning what spicy...

Overall my gf and I had a good experience.

The food was the star of the show, no doubt. Tasted like fresh, good-quality ingredients were used in all our meals.

There were a few areas for improvement.

Temperature control. As we walked in to the establishment I noticed the temperature was quite warm. It was a little cool out that day but the temperature difference was a bit off putting for me.

Staffing They have a lot of staff members feverishly handling different things, but it was hard to tell who was a customer and who was staff.

Traffic flow As this is a cafeteria-style ordering place with first-come first-served seating, it was confusing to determine where the line was for ordering when we walked in, esp for a first timer. Near the cashiers is a counter that had trays of some foods like samosas. It seemed like people were walking up to that area to order but it couldn't tell. A nice gentleman directed us to the actual Order counter to place our order.

Menu Their menu is vast. For a store this size, they'd probably be better off streamlining the menu. Because of the placement of the menu on the wall (too high), it was hard to see some of the items so I picked a dish from the lower half. Also one section of the menu indicated the dishes came with pilau and naan. But when we asked the cashier to confirm the dishes came with naan, she said no, the menu was wrong. We're pretty easy going people, so we didn't make a big stink about it, but you know in this woke culture of ours someone is going to call shenanigans on that. I would encourage the owners to place some tape over the part of the menu that is wrong. We ended up ordering garlic naan and we're happy with our choice.

The Wait The cashier indicated our order would take about 20 minutes and that was about right. One of the staff members noticed me waiting for a while and asked me for my order number so he could check on it. He personally handed me the order.

The mango lassi was great.

I do wish they had I've available for the water cups. I ordered my meal with mild spice and it was hotter than my gf's medium spice meal.

Overall, good experience. We'll definitely return.

Sorry. No pics. We were to hungry to take shots...

Me n my family went there to take out chicken Dum Briyani/ casaw chicken . Veg somosa. Almond milk and chai . I am chef in western food. I am also from East part of Asia. I am always dinning out looking for Indian / Pakistani food . So I know how is test good biryani . Over there menu is too big and buffet stand is dirty n massy no one change the container after refil. My Briyani is horrible. So spicy my toung is still burning by spices next-day my casaw is bloody hot also .and dry. Who is chef or they have real chef or not. Somosa is very small n spicy also. Terrible . Price way high compare to quality of the food . It is fast food charge like fine dining. I think they never working the restaurant before . Very disappointed . Owner should check that and visit to Agas restaurant in Houston then get idea. Hired good chef pay right amount then you get result.Dont cut corner.. Don't try to save money from the beging you not going to make it.Too many items no good for business . Good luck . **Second Review After 7 months ( Dec 31/ 23)I went again for Chicken Dum briyani take out . I ask the casher spices level as is no extra heat. I went home n try so spicy I can't even finished half of the meal I threw out. My toung is burning the hell. I call the Restaurant about this. Some one tel me no extra heat test like that. All the food test like chili . Horrible .This not Biryani at all. I give them second chance . But I regret . No more again. No Indian restaurant here know how to cook biryani like Idris or Lala or bawarchi biryani . Horrible . Note. There Iranian chai good. Packaging is well. Bad luck I can't eat that biryani . I writing this 1st of Jan / 2024 still my toung is still feeling the heat of spices. I paid $16 w/ tax My...