Anarbagh - Encino Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Old review:

We have been going here frequently for YEARS! But something has changed, Anar Bagh is declining, and my heart is broken.

We vary between eating there and takeout.

We have eaten this take out food three times in October. Every time was not good. And that’s being polite.

This has not been typical of our experience for previous years. It’s been hot, delicious, and flavorful but no more. It was our favorite place, but no more.

Three dinners in October were cold, flavorless, and for lack of a better word: gross. I thought the first and second time may be a fluke, but by the third, I realize something had changed in their recipes, kitchen, process.

Here’s the issues we are having: Cold/room temp food. We order and pick up quickly. How does this happen? Last time I saw them take out my food from a large lunch box like food container - apparently to keep it warm? I also wonder if they are pre- making the food and distributing as it’s ordered.

The naan bread is cold, doughy, gross. My husband and I could previously eat two, but now we can’t get through half of one. We are throwing it away!

Chicken tikka masala tastes like tomato soup. The sauce is bright orange and not flavorful. I have asked for varying levels of spice hoping it would help the situation, but no. Previously it was dark red and so full of wonderful flavors.

Basmati Rice is cold, clumpy, gross.

I have no idea who to tell these things to. I want them to improve because they are my favorite restaurant. But whatever changes you have made recently, please change back.

I also saw another review saying the same thing- food quality and taste is severely declining. And may I say, it’s not cheap.

For two people we easily spend over $60 each time. So, $180 for the month of October for food we found disgusting. Sigh.

The one good thing is the service is always nice and friendly. And again, it has been wonderful in the past.

PLEASE GO BACK!

UPDATE NOV 2025: Thank you Anarbagh! You have improved your spices and you are wonderful again! I have ordered here again, I’d say about 5 times and has been consistently great - like the old days. Maybe my feedback didn’t make a difference, but my ego would like to think so! Either way, I can now recommend this...

I was craving Indian and I’m new to the area so I’m not familiar with what’s the best Indian food here in the SFV so I consulted the internet, I kept seeing Anarbagh mentioned in a lot of Reddit and social media posts so I thought I’d give it a try.

If I had paid $5 for this I wouldn’t be mad, but I actually paid $26 and what I got was microwave quality food. To be fair, the rice was nice and fluffy, and the naan had a good texture albeit flavorless. I ordered Chicken Makhani (butter chicken) and it was bland, very bland. The first red flag was how quickly they brought it out, then I noticed the texture and smell, there was no strong spice aroma when it gotta to my table and the texture and color resembled reheated leftovers or those microwaveable frozen curry meals you buy at Trader Joe’s. The dominant flavor was sweet tomato, and let me be complete clear, it’s very hard to make ‘bad’ butter chicken, even the microwave stuff is good. And this wasn’t disgusting by any means, it was just extremely underwhelming, especially for how much I paid. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used jarred sauces, that’s exactly what it tasted like and I’d never believe that an actual Indian cooked it. They seemed to have put a lot more effort in to the decoration of the restaurant than the...

If you know what Indian food tastes like, then this restaurant is a disappointment. Let me start by saying, they don't offer masala chai. The most they would do, is add a masala tea bag in hot water, after our insistence, and don't give milk or creamer. So we had to request for it separately. Then came the 'biryani '. Seriously, that was biryani??? Biryani is identified by the spices that go in it. It seemed like a bland fried rice, NO biryani masala, and didn't come with any raita or any condiments. Order separately. The main dishes came on its own, tiny bowls of boiled meat in gravy. The only thing that is good is the chicken tandoori, which came fresh. Otherwise everything else we ordered was a shocker. Of you have an Indian restaurant, atleast hire people who can cook. And offer snacks on side, like other cheaper restaurants, who give onions, picked, salad on side, throw in some papad or dhal on the side. We spent over $200 here, and ended up highly unsatisfied and disappointment. Never stepping foot in this...