The Desi Accent — Restaurant in Lombard

Located across the Yorktown mall, this is a hidden traditional Indian restaurant. The restaurant is neat and clean with very good service.

We have some allergy restrictions and since Indian food could be heavy nut based, we talked to our server about it. He explained which all dishes have nuts and which ones we can order. He was very clear about reusing same oil between nut and none nut items thus resulting in cross contamination. They take allergies very seriously. We also talked to Sue who was great in providing food recommendations and helping us order.

We started the evening with various appetizers including: Kale Pakora: these came highly recommended by Sue and I am really glad we got it. These were a major hit as the pakora's were very crispy and tasty. Samosa were really big and could easily be shared between 3-4 people. Chilli Paneer was one of the few Indo-Chinese dishes they serve. It had nice soft paneer with lot of vegetables and sweet sauce. Very delicious. Tandoori Paneer was good but the paneer could be softer.

For dinner we tried various entree which included:

Palak Paneer, heavy on palak and some Paneer. This had a nice flavorful kick to it. Malai Kofta was made the traditional Indian way with white curry. You don't get this type of Malai Kofta here normally and definitely an acquired taste that anyone wanting traditional North Indian food would love to have. Dal Makhani was not too heavy. Murgh Tikka Malai Masala was finger licking good. It reminded us to traditional chicken you get in streets of Delhi. Lachcha Paratha was very delicious. Butter Naan came piping hot straight from the kitchen and you could just eat them straight. We ordered them three times. Unlike naans from other restaurants these naans were not too thick so you could eat a lot and not get full by just eating bread.

Overall extremely satisfied with the food. Everything was very flavorful amd reminded us of traditional food from streets of India. Highly recommend anyone looking for Indian...

We decided to dine here for our anniversary as we had enjoyed a previous visit with friends. The most appropriate word to describe our visit was "awkward".

We got seated right away. The guy who seated us asked us if we wanted to order drinks. We responded that we just wanted water. We picked up our menus and he stood there waiting to take our order. We explained that we needed time to look at the menu so he finally left the table.

Two other different guys came to ask if we wanted drinks. Nope for the second and third times. Still happy with water but we did order an appetizer.

I had questions about the menu. The descriptions are not good. "Frontier style" - what does that even mean? And there are all these little green and red dots along side half the items on the menu with no key to tell what they mean. I've seen many menus and these made no sense.

We decided on the vegetable and chicken selections on the Thali part of the menu. Whichever guy came to the table, we told him our order. Surprise! They no longer serve those meals.

So, back to the menu and we decided on some basic dishes. We figured they were served with rice, right? Nope. Rice is an additional charge. That is like serving a burger with charging extra for the bun. It just feel like they nickel and dime you. Add $2 to each meal and serve it with rice. As a customer, it feels better.

The food was okay. The appetizer was the best part of the meal. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Whoever is running that place should step back and gets someone who knows about restaurants and customers there to run it.

Happy...

We went in yesterday for a party of 8 people, most of us were from out of town. It was a special occasion. A few days ago I briefly spoke to Sue (the owner I believe) about the occasion and what we were looking for. When we arrived, they had personalized menus for us, very nice touch and it included cocktails. It started with heavy appetizers chicken, lamb (2 types), shrimp, pakora and tikkas. Two plates of each were just enough. The important thing is that they gave us enough time and space to sit and talk and catch-up. The lamb chops were the best. The shrimp were big and juicy and cooked just right. Most places overcook the shrimp. The chicken had some spice that reminded me of great meals in Delhi. Rest of the food was good. The main meal was limited by design to chicken biryani and few side dishes.We ended with mango kulfi, faluda and gulab jamun. The pann was a very good addition. We left full not feeling heavy which is the perfect feeling when leaving an Indian restaurant.

The reason this was a great experience was because we were a group of busy people travelling from all across the US and it took a brief conversation with Sue to make it a memorable experience. She made all the decisions. The food was good, but other restaurants have good food too, the personal touch and taking ownership of this small event was exceptional. I think in a crowded world of Indian restaurants this was a refreshing experience.

Please keep up...