Dhaba Indian Kitchen — Restaurant in Livonia

Thought I'd check it out on my way to class because of the good ratings. A very nice Lady (possibly manager) greeted me very well and suggested I come by later because I was in a hurry to class. I was looking forward to their samosas so I called them to place an order. A Man picked up and very rudely tells me that they don't serve meat - which to me was surprising because I hadn't asked for a meat samosa and their menu indicates they serve meat. He proceeds to say I had to come there to make an order and hangs up. So I drive myself there to get the samosas - he doesn't greet me, tells me he can't make the samosas because it'll take him 20 mins. I ask him if they have anything that would take less time. He says chilli chicken and as I give him my debit card; he rudely says "cash only". I tell him that I didn't know and ask him to be more polite next time. He starts yelling at me in Hindi, which I don't understand. I tell him I don't speak or understand Hindi. He swears at me in English. I tell him he should treat customers more politely. He goes "I don't need customers insert swear word , I can do well without customers". Also pushes through the door at the counter as if to assault me. I just left disappointed. Regardless of how good the food may be, I'm sure this guy will lose customers because of his sheer rudeness and vulgarity. I will never go to store again and would also warn anyone who plans to. I feel bad for the lady and I hope she fires or divorces this lunatic so that her...

TL;DR - Amazing food, reasonably priced, pleasant hosts - give this place a go for a weekday lunch or weekend dinner!

This place is literally a "Dhaba", i.e a punjabi restaurant inside a gas station and a very informal/casual setting. Food/vibe very reminiscent of such places back home in India. The hosts (owner couple) are very friendly and conversation is always pleasant. They don't have any seating, only pickup/takeout and delivery. I'm vegetarian and cannot speak to how good the meat dishes are - but all the veg dishes i have had so far have been nothing short of amazing, spiced and seasoned very well. The food also keeps very well overnight and somehow seems to taste better at lunch the following day. Tadka Dal, Malai Kofta and Chana Masala are must haves and don't forget to ask for Achar. The review ratings of this place is simply not representative of the true quality of this place - do yourself a favour and try the food here atleast once, i'm certain it'll become permanent fixture in your takeout rotation.

The couple of criticisms i have - Paper takeout containers - super clunky to use and it is a race against time until it falls apart/leaks food. Oily samosas - they taste good, but super oily and i always feel guilty...

I have mixed feelings about Dhaba Indian Kitchen and I think the 3 star rating is appropriate here... At a high level, I went into the restaurant expecting great value while in a modest package (especially since everyone called back to the roots of this style of restaurant). I think they deliver on the experience of finding good tasting food in an unexpected location... but I'm afraid that might be extent of it.

From a pragmatic perspective, Dhaba Indian Kitchen makes it easy to order and pick up food (online ordering is available, and there's an easy way to pick up once you enter the storefront -- definitely appreciated during the pandemic.

The value proposition is what gets me. The taste of the food is solid, but not amazing... From my perspective, there are 3 elements that you can tweak here: taste, appeal, and price. In my experience so far, Dhaba provides decent taste, but too much of the appeal leans on how the restaurant is presented, and the prices are too high for just decent food. I'd expect either amazing food for this kind of price, or a lower price showing this as a value option. As it stands, it's just not a compelling choice among the numerous Indian takeout options...