Ekta Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Lower Merion Township

I am an Indian and the surprising (to some) fact is that I almost never go out to eat Indian food. Why you ask? Well because I can cook most Indian dishes by myself at home if I choose to but also because most Indian places I go to end up disappointing me. So when you read my comments, maybe it's worth keeping in mind that, on average, I like one out of every ten Indian restaurants that I try out.

With that being said, I found myself here last night with some colleagues from work. We ordered samosas and cashew rolls as our appetizers. The samosas were very average. Frankly I think that samosas sold in frozen packets at Indian grocery stores are more savory than the ones we had here. These were BLAND. I also found it surprising that they had offered only one set of chutneys (a mint & a tamarind) for the entire table. Having been seated at the end of the table, I often found myself bugging the person seated next to me for passing the chutneys. The cashew rolls are not something I come across very often and therefore while there was some excitement in trying those out, they were very forgettable. They are unlike anything I have had and not in a good way.

For our main course, I went with the Goan fish curry. Having been to Goa as a kid and having tried out lots and lots of fish curry, I have very fond memories of Goan fish curry. Sadly Ekta's attempt at that was a BIG disappointment. In my view, Goan fish curries should have an abundance of coconut and they should be somewhat lighter in consistency than say, a paneer butter masala. Neither were true for the curry I had here. I also like to see large portions of the fish in my curry and get a feel for the fish itself as I am having it but in this entree, I found that the fish had crumbled and had been cooked to the point where it was hard to get any feel for its texture/ flavor. I had the same impression as I have at most Indian restaurants - the chef probably prepared a common creamy base for many of his dishes and then only made most minor adjustments to them as he went along.

Service was just fine. Being a BYOB place, we had bottles of wine that our server opened for us without making much of a fuss. His accent was a bit hard to understand at times and this was true for some of the other staff at the restaurant too.

All in all, it was quite a forgettable experience for me. Judging by the lack of fellow natives (or co-ethnics, to get all technical), I think it is a reasonable bet that the Indian palate would not think much of what Ekta has to offer. But the place wasn't empty either and my colleagues seemed to enjoy the food enough that three out of four ended up leaving with what was left of their entrees in doggy bags. So I suppose if you are not a particularly finicky eater when it comes to Indian food, your taste buds may approve of Ekta. Prices are reasonable when compared against other Indian restaurants that I...

This is the absolute best Indian food in a restaurant that I have had! Specifically referring to their Malai Kofta and Paneer Tikka Masala (I usually get it medium spicy or spicy depending on what I’m feeling that day). I have been to many Indian restaurants such as Indeblue in Philly, Rasika in DC, ghee kitchen in Miami, and countless others over the years, and I always compare the malai kofta and paneer tikka I eat elsewhere to ekta’s! Their onion Bhaji is also tasty! I have driven an hour at times to pick up food or eat here, I have also frozen it to take to another state so other people can eat it. The taste and quality is ALWAYS CONSISTENT, and always good. If I were to die tomorrow, I would want to eat their malai kofta and paneer tikka masala as my last meal. Kudos to the chef and everyone else involved,...

The food at the Bryn Mawr location is the best in this area. The people that actually take your order at the table and bring you your food are nice. But the management is rude, they ignore you when you walk in, they're rude on phone orders, they're not at all helpful in figuring out how or where to sit people. I once had to tell the hostess how to make the table arrangements work. It was an easy solution but she just said there was no room because she couldn't see an obvious solution - all it took was putting two small tables together and adding a chair at the end. No fire or occupancy codes were being violated. She was just clueless and completely uninterested in customer service. If not for the management the...