Ajanta India Restaurant — Restaurant in Kettering

PROS: The food tasted good. The chai was excellent and didn’t taste like it was made from some type of instant powder. Service was good. There was no wait and it was clean inside.

CONS:

1. I’ve never been to an Indian restaurant that doesn’t serve naan WITH their meal. It’s like when you get food at Mexican restaurant, you get chips and salsa. It just comes with it. You typically don’t have to ask for it, and definitely not pay for it. I’ve never been to an Indian restaurant where you have to pay for the naan the side. Especially at $4.99 EACH piece of garlic naan. I’m just glad I know how to make Indian food myself. But it was my birthday, so I was being treated.

2. Rice portions: also, I’ve never seen a restaurant serve one portion of rice to be shared among two people. It was about 1/2 a cup cooked. Normally, at restaurants you would receive rice with each person‘s entrée. I heard this place used to have a buffet before the pandemic, so why is it that now they’re being so chintzy with their portions? We did get full off the servings, but it was because we were eating really slow I think.

3. I had ordered lamb vindaloo and there was maybe three or four pieces of lamb, and the rest was potatoes and so much sauce it was ridiculous. That is what the naan bread is for but because we didn’t have but one piece, I just left all that there. We didn’t see any point to buying a whole other piece for $4.99. Naan is not that expensive to make.

4. Food was very overpriced for the portions received. Again, it was filling, but I am from California and have been to so many Indian restaurants and never saw such small plates in my life. I know you’re probably thinking that oh Americans eat big portions. I agree some restaurants do over do it a bit. But do they think by putting food on tiny plates it will make it look bigger? Plus the “sampler” appetizer was a joke. Any restaurant would serve two items of each sample appetizer because typically people share. But this thing was so small we had to cut everything in half. The sampler plate was barely 4”x3” big. I was not expecting that.

5. This is the kicker for me. I saw beef on the menu. I was shocked! NEVER in my life has any Indian restaurant I’ve EVER seen have beef. If they are to be true to their culture, they would not serve that. Cows are considered so sacred they don’t even touch them. They’ll stop traffic and people will wait for them to cross the road rather than push them out of the way. I know they’re probably trying to cater to the locals here, but man, stay true to your culture and just say no to beef.

So if you have a lot of cash, not too hungry, and want to spend a lot of money on a little bit of food, this place is for you. I’ll continue searching for a better place. This is my first Indian restaurant I’ve been to in Ohio and it...

I will never go back there after today. It was a horrible experience!!! I feel so embarrassed and insulted.... We went for a after graduation party with our guests (12people). I called to make sure that they'll hold the lunch buffet time for us. But when we reached a guy (waiter) treated us very badly. He was literally shouting at us, bcoz we're five minutes late. He was so rude, that he threatened us saying "hurry up! Take ur food!! Otherwise we will close it and u have to pay the dinner rate. Where is other people? I will not let them have the buffet, they have to order lunch!" I just felt so insulted as a host to the lunch gathering that, I wanted to walk out... but as some of my guests had to leave early, so there was no other option! I talked with the manager and asked to be nice to my guesys, but that male waiter was still so rude.. 4 of us had to order dinner.. we were fine with ordering dinner.. as we were late.. but then the manager let us have the buffet. So we started, as we began eating, that rude guy stopped the buffet and put the left over in our table.. This is a shame how they treat their customers!! I will never ever go back there... and I suggest you all.. try to avoid 'Ajanta' it would be best not to go there.. if there's other...

1/14/23 I came here with my fiancé and his aunt for lunch. We were greeted and seated quickly.

We ordered the special Thal spice level 3. They have spice levels from 1-6, we went with medium heat. It was a great choice, not too spicy for us. We got garlic naan too with it and it was so delicious! Highly recommend trying that with whatever dish you get. We also got the mixed platter appetizer before our food. His aunt ordered chicken tikki masala level 3 spice.

They bring out a condiment trio platter of chutney, mint dip and a sweetened brown sauce. All of which are delicious but the tomato onion chutney is pretty spicy. I'd recommend to try some yogurt mixed with it and it helps calm the heat. Our food came out pretty quickly. My fiancé and I split the special thal as it was enough food for the both of us.

For checking in on Yelp, you can also save $4.99 so definitely take advantage of that special

Overall, the food was super delicious, my favorite was the goat and the chicken tender (literally the best fried chicken I've ever had, and I've had so many variations) I would most definitely return here again in the future. Great service, ambiance and food, couldn't...