Bombay Eats / Bombay Wraps — Restaurant in Chicago

Review Date: November 26th, 2018

Bombay Wraps was… the bomb.

A final stop on my post-blizzard trip to Chicago. After grabbing dessert and a coffee at Stan’s Donuts, I walked with said coffee to Bombay for some real food for the first time on this day. While scouring my GPS for a place to eat at Stan’s, I saw Bombay Wraps. On a cold day, a hot meal sounded wonderful. Of all the places detailed in this blog, there hasn’t been an Indian place until know.

It took about 10 minutes to walk there from Stan’s, due to the traffic and the amount of people out and about. Once I got there, I was surprised to see it mostly empty during lunch time. Maybe I had just missed the rush. Oh well, all the easier for me to order.

The menu was kind of foreign to me. I knew quite a few of the terms, but that doesn’t mean I knew how they tasted. A few minutes passed of looking over the menu before I had to decide between the chicken tikka and chicken reshmi. In the end, I picked the chicken tikka. The lady cooking it asked if I wanted it spicy. I quickly said “yes” before she could finish her question.

The way they make it is almost like subway. They have all the ingredients out and make it as you walk towards the cashier. I was given my food before I could get my change from paying.

I grabbed a seat at one of the stools that was along the front wall, so I could look out of the store front as I ate. I noticed my wrap was smaller than I expected but that was fine as I had most of a massive donut a few minutes before.

As I tried to pick up this soaking and messy wrap, trepidation set in. I was about to taste my first Indian cuisine and I was nervous. Wrap in mouth, I take my first bite… and am pleasant surprised by how delicious it was. Once I finish the first bite, the spicy kicked in and I took my first sip of the coffee I brought with me. It did nothing to settle the slight burn that was setting in.

Wow. I took my time eating the wrap as I was trying to enjoy all the new flavors and tastes I was experiencing. It was delightful. Sadly, the wrap was a lot smaller than I expected it to be. For $5 and change, I was expecting a bit more to the wrap but the quality of what I got couldn’t be beat. Each bite was filled full of flavor and a spicy kick that couldn’t be beat.

Alas, this was my last stop before I resumed some family duties. I was in a hurry to get back to where I needed to be that I forgot to snap a good photo of the inside. It was a bit sparse when it came to decorations but there was plenty of room to handle a lunch/dinner rush.

This may have been my first Indian cuisine sampling but I doubt it...

I went in here not knowing what to expect as I was new in town. I got the lamb korma bowl and decided to dine in-the lamb was a pulled lamb and quite tasty but they gave me bits of burnt rice scraped from the bottom of the rice pot which ruined the experience. I approached the associate to ask for a rice replacement (not the meat as it was ok) and he said they were making the rice-well, as a restaurant owner in New York myself, I’d say if you knew your rice was at the bottom and you would have to scrape it to fill my order, what would you not offer me a substitution or ask me to wait till the rice got made? Anyway the rice eventually did get made and then he brought it to me but by then the lamb was out cold…so that was that for day 1. I decided to give it another try the next and got the same thing-it was about 30 min before closing and everything seemed rushed-they had very limited options but lamb was available so I got it in a paratha instead of rice

What I got ended up being a frozen paratha made with all purpose flour (maida) and not the authentic Indian paratha made with durum whole wheat (atta) also the lamb tasted sour as if it had been left out for a tad too long…(the dal was good) Lesson learnt-When non Indian people try to sell Indian food with a chipotle concept steer clear-it will be far from authentic

I felt sorry for the people who were Indian kids ordering samosa wraps and salad bowl with cauliflower potatoes….i guess someone’s keeping this place in business for lack of...

Great place for Indian food in the downtown. We went there after a tiring day to try out and the food made our day.

Food: With a good number of vegetarian options available, we went for a Potato & Cauliflower Medley Rice Bowl (+egg) and Chickpea Chana Rice Bowl, along with Sweet Potato Fries and Mango Lassi. Both the bowls were amazing in taste. Potato & Cauliflower Medley was spiced just right. Pickled onions were great and the cilantro mint chutney gave a good fresh punch to the entire bowl. Chickpea Chana Rice Bowl was good too with fresh tomatoes and cucumber making it very fresh in appearance as well as taste. Sweet Potato Fries were good. What stole the show was the Mango Lassi which was great and very refreshing. We loved it so much we got it twice. They allow BYOB and also have gluten-free and vegan options which was good for my wife as she wanted to avoid dairy.

Ambiance: The ambiance was good. They have the seating area just as you enter the restaurant. As you move towards the ordering counters, you see an arrangement of Indian dry snacks, biscuits, tea, spices, Maggi etc on one side - I am assuming for sale as Indian population is their target customer group. Lighting could improve.

Staff: The staff was good and quite friendly. The service was quick too. No issues there.

Overall, it's a great place to have a quick Indian meal. Given that they also deliver in the nearby areas, it's...