Bismillah Cafe — Restaurant in Chamblee

Beelzebub had a devil put aside for me tonight.

Well, it was on my way home and had great reviews, so I decided to give Bismillah a try. I placed my order online and shot over. I got there early, but I don't mind waiting. Right away something seemed off. Bismillah has an open kitchen behind the counter. The cook was very unhappy about something. He was slinging pans and ingredients around like an angry Swedish Chef and yelling in Hindi or Punjabi. He was making quite a scene and quite a mess! Hats off to the two young guys working the counter who tried to keep the place professional by smiling and busily wiping down every surface the cook debased. The chef slopped a pile of angry curry into a styrofoam cup, spilling its contents over the lip. As gloopy korma oozed down the side of the to-go container, one of the young men reached for the same dirty towel he'd been mopping up debris with. He ran the blackened rag alone the side and lip of the cup. How do you say gross in Bengali? Sweden continued his meltdown. The boys somehow didn't know that I'd already paid online and tried to charge me again. They asked to see my emailed receipt, which I quickly produced. They seemed confused and unconvinced, but after a quick conference on the mound, they reluctantly relented. There was no way I was going to eat the dish rag curry, but the whole scene was so unpleasant I decided to cut my loses and just leave. I peaked at the Korma. It had an inch of grease on top. The threw the whole order in the trash. Nasty. I would appreciate a refund, Bismillah.

Mamma...

These people are not honest. I placed an order with the Bismillah Cafe that I usually go to, which is attached to a little market. The restaurant is small, and I ordered the chicken over rice, shawarma, and biryani. I called and gave my name. When we pulled up, I wanted to verify that I had placed the order at the right restaurant. They said, “Yes, yes, yes,” and asked what my order was. I told them, and they were quick to charge me, but it was the wrong order. I was confused and said, “Hey guys, I think I placed it at the other place.” They said, “No, we used to own it. We moved. The number you called on Google doesn’t work. Here is our number,” and gave me their business card. Something wasn’t right, so I went to the other establishment, the one I’m used to going to, and they had my order ready. It was the right place. The way these people hurried me to pay and handled the situation made it clear they are not honest. They won’t be successful this way. Stealing business from another establishment is not ethical. I went back and got my money back. I will follow up with my bank to ensure it was refunded. They honestly lost my respect and...

** Edit 1/12/25: Looks like they got their page back! Back to all 5 star ratings!!!!

Edit 8/12/24: Its sad that I have to make this edit after all the good memories here, but this place is no good anymore. The service was terrible, the food doesn't taste anything like it normally does, it's entirely too spicy to eat, there was hardly any shrimp in the shrimp curry compared to what it normally is, and was about 3/4 of the way filled when it used to be filled. Just sad because here is what I initially said about this place, I legitimately loved it:

Love their shrimp curry and this place! I come here pretty much every week. The used to be next door in the built on addition to the market there, but did so well because they are so good that they now have their own spot! Well deserved. This is one of those places I always recommend to new coworkers when they start working with me and to this day (8 years later) I have never heard anyone not say that they also love this place and start...