Mountain Bites - Indian & Nepali Eatery — Restaurant in Lafayette

The restaurant is inside the gas station!

TL;DR: the food is good but do take out.

I want to point out the fact that it's in the gas station because I showed up thinking it was its own location and was dismissing the gas station altogether. I looked around multiple times trying to find it before making the realization. 😅

The food is amazing. I tried both the chicken tikka masala and the butter chicken over rice and they were both amazing. They were very well seasoned and creamy. The garlic and cheese naan was also quite delicious.

While they do offer sitting in case you want to dine in, the space is very small therefore making it feel small/crowded even when empty. Tables and chairs are wobbly, and overall not very well taken care of/dirty. They don't have regular dishes or silverware as they are mainly set up for take out. No soft drinks available as part of the restaurant either, but you can purchase separately from the gas station's convenience store. The only drinks available are the mango lassi and masala chai.

I personally had the mango lassi which is basically a blend of mango and yogurt. Very smooth and creamy overall, though I wasn't a fan of it. Though this is mainly due to my personal taste buds not being fond of yogurt paired with the stupidity of not reading the menu and ordering strictly after looking at the picture. If you like both yogurt and mango, you might enjoy it more than I did.

The person attending us seemed "lost" as if he is new but he was super friendly. So he might just need a bit more time to become more familiar...

Located inside Centaur Food and Fuel, it is tough to find at first. I ordered chicken Tika masala and paneer vindaloo with garlic Naan. I requested one order of yellow saffron rice AND basmati rice, but instead, I was given a large basmati rice. My receipt does say basmati under both dishes so maybe he didn't hear me correctly.

Overall quality isn't bad, but for the same price there are tastier Indian food spots, but this is a very small spot inside the gas station and does not have a large kitchen. It is good enough, however. The Naan is pretty average, and the spice level of the food is normal. I ordered medium, and I've eaten at TONS of different Indian restaurants, and this is properly spiced. Some people may have a different idea of what medium spice is, which may be too hot for them, but for context, I am generally a wimp with spicey food. The medium is spicey, but certainly not intolerable, although the vindaloo i received is spicier than the tikka masala. The Tikka masala was standard quality for average Tikka masala, and the vindaloo was different than vindaloos I've had at other spots. This particular recipe has A LOT more garam masala in it, but that's okay because it is good enough. Given the location and quality, I feel like they should come down in price, but they charge the same as a nice Indian restaurant, so I won't be returning to this location for Indian food. For the two dishes, Naan, rice and mango lassi drink plus tip, I paid $55. Service was good and fast...

For first impressions this place has everything going against it. It is located inside a gas station. It is located a short walk away from the high school meaning the store is often packed with high school students. In order to cater to these students culinary desires the menus includes pizza by the slice and french fries. All of this led me to have low expectations when I ordered lunch. My expectations were vastly exceeded when I tried the food. This place is really good. I've eaten a lot of Indian food and it is usually "pretty good". The food at Mountain Bites is in the really good to excellent tier. I've sampled most of the Indian food on their menu it have not been disappointed. One thing to note: If you ask for spicy prepare to get spicy. I like spice and the medium level here is equivalent to spicy at many other...