Curry and Flames Kitchen — Restaurant in Cedar Park

Aug 23, 2025 OVERALL: Great service and worth a visit! Would love to see even greater success for this neighborhood addition. If you can visit them and be willing to give helpful feedback, it will help them achieve even greater consistency in their food ratings across their menu.

SERVICE Service is absolutely top notch for a counter kitchen - gracious and accommodating. I have noticed that they don't keep many things out under the heat lamps, preferring to prepare fried snacks and such items fresh. For that reason, there might be a little wait time, which I thought was perfectly reasonable. Their receptivity to feedback was already evident to me from my in-store experience and further validated by their responses to each review posted here thus far. 5/5 for service

FOOD Regarding food, I have not had the momos which appear to be a hit by looking at the reviews here! I will make a point to try them on a future visit. The fried items like samosa etc that I have tried are tasty. Recently they asked me to try a new snack recipe that I loved. My experience with items like Hakka Noodles and Cauliflower Manchurian was not as favorable. That said, our neighbor loved the Cauliflower Manchurian. Also, they are willing to work with you on the spice levels; however, tweaking those can take some practice perhaps for a new kitchen. Like another reviewer here, I'm rooting for their success and appreciate how they are open about their learning curve. As I mentioned they are also very open to feedback, and I look forward to seeing how their menu evolves. .

By the way, if you eat non-veg, there are options here for you that I have not seen offered elsewhere in similar types of kitchens (different lamb options, for example). And I've heard my neighbor comment favorably on some of the non-veg items he has tried. I personally would love to see some vegetable curries, but if they decide to stick with a snack/light items focus, I will understand completely.

For now, I am putting 4/5 for food because of my experience with fried snacks, our neighbor's enthusiasm for some of the non-veg items, and because it makes sense to me that the Nepali cuisine items seem to be a strong point (momos) from the reviews here.

ATMOSPHERE Curry and Flames Kitchen is located inside an Indian grocery store (Khana Khazana). Both are welcome additions to our neighborhood. Khana Khazana also has ice cream counter and Indian sweets available, which rounds out the Curry and Flames offerings. There are two tables inside, and there are picnic tables out front, which is where I enjoy sitting. The grocery store is clean and everyone who works there is friendly.

The businesses are located along Whitestone (1431), so it is not the most scenic atmosphere if you are seated outside. And some people might prefer to have the indoor tables be in a separate area, but I think they've made good use of space. So, while the seating arrangements work well for me, I want to set expectations for people coming from elsewhere who might not have the neighborhood love for them that I do.

For this sort of in-store set up, I think it's great that there's actually an option to sit and that, too, a clean space, where I can possibly be joined by a few others. They also have a small sink near the counter where you can easily wash hands before/after eating.

As I have watched them evolve over the recent months following their grand opening, for me personally it's 5/5 on atmosphere and I think the neighborhood is great.

LOCATION/CONVENIENCE It's especially worth checking out, if you travel along 1431 between Austin and Jonestown/Lago Vista or along New Hope (such as residents of Travisso and other nearby developments in Cedar Park) or if you happen to be visiting the nearby Veteran's Memorial Park or Sai Baba / SV Temples.

Plus you can get some Indian groceries if needed, too!

p.s. There's a UPS, car wash, and QT...

We tried this place twice and had the same issues twice; given other Indian options nearby, we probably won't be back (it's a shame, because it's quite convenient). The store is nice and the staff are friendly and helpful. The main problem is the quality of the food, particularly the curries and the naan.

On our first visit, we got the saag paneer (it was OK), the pav bhaji (not very good), a samosa chaat (good), and garlic naan (awful, rubbery, almost inedible). Had to wait a bit due to some technical difficulties they said they were having, which is totally fine, new place, no problem. Overall, a so-so experience. Figured the negative things were just because they were new.

So decided to try them again a few weeks later. The menu had changed a lot, which is fine. Also had to wait (said they had a power outage), which was no big deal. Got a dal tadka, paneer wrap, samosas, and naan. The dal was without a doubt the worst dal I've ever eaten. Just terrible. It was extremely bland: the only real flavor was a musty, almost meatlike flavor which was very unpleasant. We couldn't eat it (the rice was good though)! The samosas were great, definitely the highlight (though unfortunately they do not come with any chutney). The naan was exactly like it was on our first visit. Extremely rubbery, basically inedible. The paneer wrap was... interesting. The dough/roti it was wrapped in looked totally raw, but it tasted OK. We cooked it a bit more on the stove and it ended up tasting pretty good.

Really wanted to like this place given how convenient it is for us, but we would rather drive a little further for...

Disappointing Takeout Experience

Ordered takeout from here for the first time, and honestly, it was a letdown. The Chicken 65 was nowhere close to the real deal — just some rubbery fried chicken with a random sauce that definitely wasn’t Chicken 65 sauce. The fried rice was equally underwhelming — bland, lacking any real flavor, and the chicken pieces were chewy and rubbery. I was also surprised to find corn in what was supposed to be wok-style Indo-Chinese — not exactly what I expected. To top it off, the spice level instructions were completely ignored, leaving the food tasting flat and uninspired. The only saving grace was the momos, which were just okay, and the reason this review even gets 2 stars instead of 1. Overall, I expected a lot more flavor and authenticity. Sadly, this first experience doesn’t make me eager to order again. Wouldn’t recommend

The only positive? I was able to call the restaurant and get a refund for my order, which at least showed some...