Dilliwala Indian Kitchen — Restaurant in Diamond Bar

I'm staying nearby on a business trip and was craving some Indian food. I found this place on yelp and went to check it out for some take-out. This is really a 3.5 star review with two big cons and two big pros.

I arrived about 7:45pm on a Sunday. The place was small but cozy with a good atmosphere. It's also pretty popular as there was a wait and quite a few to-go orders. I placed my order, spicy lamb vindaloo and palak paneer, my staples whenever I try a new place. Because the place was so busy I told them I would wait outside on the bench by the door and asked them to bring me my order when it was ready. I waited about 20-30 minutes before going back inside to check on my order to find that it was already done and sitting there for who know how long. That was disappointing. I know they're busy but I was literally two steps away from the hostess stand.

The other big miss was the spice level of the vindaloo. It tasted so mild to even be bland. I have a high spice tolerance, so it could be me, but I had to check the ticket to make sure it said "spicy" which it did. The palak panner and basmati rice were both pretty nice and the portion size was good too.

The two pluses I give this place is that your take-out order is packaged nicely and you're given a good quality reusable tote with their logo. This is great since California charges for bags in most places now. I was also given a free mango lassi and nice quality plates and silverware which was great since I'm...

When you have delicious food, amazing service, and you're surrounded by great atmosphere, you can't help but tell everyone about it... and that's exactly what I've been doing!

Manindder and his team at Dilliwala are doing things right! Everything from reservations & communication to place settings to mouth-watering dishes! Be sure to make a reservation or arrive early because the place gets packed, and now I know why!! Everything we tasted was amazing and honestly the best Indian food I've had in a VERY long time!

Servings are ample & prices are fair... But you'll end up ordering more than you intended (actually, I'm telling you - order more)!! :P We tried the Paneer Tikka Masala, Chicken Biriyani, Rarha Gosht, Chef's Special Rice, Karahi Lamb, Aloo Samosa, Karahi Chicken... Luckily, we stopped there or we literally would have popped in our seats or rolled out of the place! Not one bad thing in the lot though!

The setting is cozy and does get a bit crowded, but I'll definitely be back! Manindder, the owner, was so welcoming and generous! Overall, it made for a truly memorable...

Items are a hit and a miss here! Their chat items- for example 2 of 3 were decent, 1 of them had quarter of a box of Morton in it & had to be sent back! The dilli naan is very well made and tasty. The vindaloo....was a huge disappointment. The spice levels were mismatched with the ingredients/the chicken was over cooked/the tomato + tangy part was the only right note in the dish. The worst if I had to stack rank was the Biryani. I can say with absolute confidence that it was a soggy mess which had overcooked chicken and strange spice mix which made no sense in any biryani- mughlai, dum, south Indian & so on. I would be keen to know what they were trying. I have been generally very kind to places which may miss one off items but the # of slips they did doesnt seem just todays' mistake. It seems fundamental and I dont understand the hype of ratings for this one....seems to further lower our already lower standards for Indian food in the region. Very...