Nizam Indian Restaurants in Los Angeles — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Nizam of India was the first meal that I ate during my recent trip back to LA. It was a small hike from my hotel, but the reviews for this place were very promising. It was also lunchtime, and like most of the Indian restaurants that I've encountered, Nizam features a lunch buffet. The glutton in me both loves and hates the concept of buffets.

In addition to your typical chicken tikka masala and tandoori chicken, Nizam featured several items that I have not previously tried, including chicken jalfarezi. There is even naan and garlic naan on the buffet, so you can fill yourself up with the most delicious carbs ever even though it doesn't jive with the bulletproof diet/lifestyle. That's perfectly fine because I'd take a bullet for the naan here! ...Okay, not really, but I am quite happy that they have easily accessible naan.

I dined at Nizam around 2:00PM on a weekday. This was approaching an off-hour for lunch, and I was mildly worried about this fact. Some places close during off hours, while others serve substandard food during that time. Nizam does neither of those things. The food that I ate was simply perfect. A great test of a restaurant is the amount of respect it has for its customers. After this visit, I have the utmost confidence that Nizam would never serve substandard food.

To make a great experience even better, Sam, the owner/operator, took impeccable care of the guests in the dining room. He added a level of personalization that is often lost at buffets. Additionally, my water never sat empty even though I drink like a camel that hasn't had anything to drink in ages.

I loved my dining experience at Nizam, and I would...

I watched a movie at the 'Landmark'; which is directly opposite to this restaurant. I had to catch a flight back to Boston the same evening and I had just an hour left to catch a cab to the airport. I noticed this restaurant and decided to give it a try. The easiest thing to order in any Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi restaurant is "Biriyani", you can choose the meat (chicken, lamb, goat with the sub-choice of bone or boneless). I chose lamb-boneless.

The food was ready in 15 mins, and stating that the food was good would be an understatement. It was well prepared and properly seasoned with coriander, cashews.

Spice levels: Low/ medium spicy/ hot: Always ask for medium spicy when ordering a dish such as "Biriyani" and also ask for "Raitha" - the curd side dish that goes along with any rice item in Indian cuisine". Some places (but not this) provide you with ("salan" - a spicy gravy as well so that you can mix and match the salan and raitha according to your taste buds).

The lemon that comes with the Biriyani actually has no purpose. It would only make your dish a bit sour and different. Traditionally that is not how Biriyani's are served (i.e. with a lemon).

The only thing that took me by surprise is that, you gotta pay extra for the "Raitha" (spiced yogurt) that usually accompanies any rice dish.

The food was great, the service was decent, and ambience was good. I had a good time in LA. I will surely visit this place again with my girlfriend.

I hope my post...

Hey all. If you wanna eat Indian food, you’ll get anything but... We just had dinner here, and almost all cooked orders were as bland as Popeye’s spinach.

In fact, If anyone knows what Indian food is like, I would know better, cause I’ve been there Kolkata for 11 years.

More to the point, if I was blindfolded and wasn’t told what I was having, I wouldn’t have guessed I was having an Indian affair!

The cauliflower (aka pakora), spinach (aka paneer palak) and lentil paste (aka dal) we ordered weren’t just bland as hell, but whatever they were like, they tasted something akin to Mexican. Well, I’d go for Mexican chile instead of their lentil paste.

The skewered chicken breast (aka tikka chicken masala) was a little better but I couldn’t tell that it wasn’t middle eastern kabab. As a matter of fact, the same chicken kabab at nearby Zanko tastes a whole lot better.

Then came the lamb biryani we ordered. I know biriyani, I make it at home, fragrant and rich with aroma. The biriyani here was more like instant pot rice and lamb. Again I couldn’t tell it was biriyani.

My honest recommendation: If you wanna just fill your stomach, its ok here at Bland Central. But If you’re looking to taste Indian food, you’re in the...