Everest Restaurant — Restaurant in Evanston Township

The restaurant may look great, however I think it is overpriced, most importantly, if you have a lot of free time, maybe this is a place you can visit and wait. I can understand they may be lack of people sometimes, but that's no excuse of why let customers stand or sit there so long. They may blame the waiter, but I think it is the management, if there is not enough staff to serve the guests. Should the manager do something about it before customers complaint? Should the manager check on the customers once he/she realized the situation and do something about it? There is a couple be seated before us next to our table, waited there for more than one hour for their dishes. I did not see anyone come to check on them after we seated. We also felt why it is such a long wait after we made the order. We drank almost all the water while we wait for the dishes. No one has bother to fill the water, we have to ask and the manager just did it for me and my wife but not the kids. Eventually the couple next to our table just left. We almost feel the same want to just leave, except magically the dishes came. Certainly, the service here is terrible, does not match with the high price on the menu at all. And I don't think the dishes are that great worthy waiting so long. The dishes (each $15, a cup of stew, not big at all and that's it) does not include rice or bread so you have to order them separately. And the waiter explained one rice is for one person. So we ordered two rice and 2 breads for 4. Unless you are a big rice eater, one rice can be shared for more than two, trust me. Picture this on our table, with 3 small cups of stew (my two kids sharing one), and 4 giant plates, 2 big plates of white rice and one middle size basket with two serves of bred.

I think I never see such an expensive restaurant ever, including the cost of time for waiting. Did they just start cooking the small stew each one after they are ordered or what, how can it take so long.

I really not recommend this one and certainly...

Not what they used to be. Mt Everest had been mine and my father's (RIP) go to Indian place since they first opened up. It was easily as good as anything down on Devon Street (Chicago's little India neighborhood), and had the advantage of being much more convenient. Dad was British originally and did a lot of work in India over the years and KNEW his indian food, and this stuff was as good and as authentic as you could hope for in Chicago. This is no longer the case. I don't know if they've changed management, or what. Back in the day, for instance, they never asked you what level of spicy you wanted... it was whatever level it was supposed to be, and proper indian cooking to get those flavors is a start to finish process, not something where you adjust spice levels at the last minute (if you do that the spice sits as a top flavor note rather than one that's imbued, as it should be). There was a gap of about 8 years since I last ate here, as I lived out the country for a few years, etc., and only recently returned to the neighborhood when Covid happened and having a home base became an existential requirement. Just this week was my first time going back there and I ordered what had been my go-to items, Tandoori chicken, palak paneer and rasmalai .... firstly, they forgot to pack the rasmalai even though they charged me for it. The palak paneer which used to have a rich and complex taste of spinach and spices now just tastes of salt and the tandoori chicken was slightly undercooked and had no tandoori flavor at all, it was just red chicken (and in fact the texture makes me think it might have been half cooked in a pressure cooker rather than fully cooked in a tandoori oven -- to speed up the cooking) ... for me, If I'm going to pay restaurant prices and risk the caloric hit of restaurant food, it has to be worth it from a flavors perspective and this simply wasn't. I'm going to have to start trying other places to find a new...

I do not live in this area - and I frequented the lunch buffet on a recommendation. The cost was $12.50 and it is best to beat the rush by coming in around 11:30 (before the Northwestern University crowd comes by).

The restaurant is spacious and clean, with some odd configurations (the bathrooms are downstairs alongside some other rooms). The buffet itself is a little small. There are three tables set up. There is a nice variety -- with a chicken, goat, and vegetarian curry on one side. In the center are the "soups" (daal, etc.), an Indian "french fry" and tandoori chicken. On the other side is a well stocked salad bar.

They bring the naan out to your table and you can ask for refills. The service on a whole was pleasant and attentive.

On this visit, I sampled their chicken makhni (butter chicken), tandoori chicken, papadam, and rice.

The papadam is light and crispy-- and it seems as though they keep their oil fresh. Their rice was mixed with peas and small cuts of carrots.

What is unfortunate is that they under-cooked the tandoori chicken. I suspect their oven temperature is not set high enough. When you cook chicken, if it is not cooked enough, it is a bit stringy. This was their tandoori -- and the flavor of the marinade did not seep through. The chicken on the inside was bland (and the yogurt marinade on the outside was a little pasty).

In addition, their chicken makhni was overcooked. I had to ask for some hot sauce, as the dishes on a whole were very bland (for me, a red flag for a northern Indian/Nepali restaurant).

Reading over the other reviews, I may have been visiting on an off day, but I am not sure about this. The buffet might be great for the area, but the spices and meats are mediocre when I compare it to the Indian and Himalayan restaurants I have visited across the...