Cafe India Bar & Grill (Bay View) — Restaurant in Milwaukee

Updating my review to 5 stars. Below was my original review for 3 stars based on one bad experience, but I haven’t had a single problem with them since. Their food is amazing, their service is wonderful. They are friendly if you are new to Indian food and will recommend what to get. All around a great business and restaurant.

Old Review. I just want to first say that I truly love the food, and most of the time, the service. It’s amazing, and I will be back. The 3 stars is because of our service yesterday. My friend and I arrived and within 10 minutes we ordered an appetizer and and received it, and it was just as normal as any dinning experience. Then nothing. Half and hour goes by and our waiter never came back. Since the room isn’t very big we can see him, and he’s favoring a big table in the corner (my friend and I assume it’s because he will get a bigger tip). Well, we waited, another table came in about 10 minutes after we did and they had already had their order taken. So we waited, literally watching our server helping the one big table. After 30 minutes, another waiter saw that we had just been sitting for awhile and asked if our order had been taken, which it hadn’t. We placed our order, and another 40 minutes goes by with no interaction from anyone. By this point, my friend and I are annoyed because I had just finished a 10 hour shift, and she had just gotten off work too. So finally my friend asks the manager if we can just get our food to go, and they notice that we have been here for awhile. If they had just been busy it wouldn’t have been such an issue because I understand being busy and having to take care of a bunch of people, but (1) our waiter literally abandoned us. He never came by us again. We know he knew we were upset because he wouldn’t even make eye contact with us when he passed our table, and (2) two other tables were seated after us and had already gotten their entrees (one table had come in after we did, ordered, received entrees, eaten, and left, and we still had nothing). After this 3 servers (not our originally one who abandoned us) had come help us to make sure we were ok. We didn’t want to be mean because, like I said, we absolutely love this place and we had never had bad service before, and we will definitely be back, but we just wanted to express that we were upset that one table had came in about half an hour after us and already had their food, and one table already left. One of the waiter’s (I think his name was Sid) was extremely nice, and apologetic, and he even discounted our food. He is the kind of server I expect to get from Cafe Indiana because every time I’ve been there they have been extremely nice and welcoming, but the first waiter...I don’t know. After reading some other reviews that say “I had a problem with one certain waiter” if I was the manager I would be rethinking his position at the restaurant. In the end, we left a tip and I hope that Sid was the one who received it. The first waiter, absolutely, did not deserve it. Again, we will be back. The food is outstanding, and it had a friendly environment, even if you are new to Indian food. 5/5 stars for the...

With so many greats reviews and a promising punjabi menu, My family and I decided to dine in here all the way from Chicago. It was mothers day and my mom wanted to try this restaurant out and I want her to be happy so we came here. I called around 5:30 to have a reservation anytime between 7:30-8. The guy on the phone said you dont need one. I doubled check with him and told him we are coming from far away so I want to make sure you have a spot for us, he replied 'Yes sir, we have plenty of tables available'. When we arrived the dining room was full. I asked what's the wait time they said It'll be around 20mins. I'll give them kudos that the wait time was under 20mins. But thats why I called. When we got sat nobody came to greet us for a good 10-15mins. Then our server came and asked what we would like - we ordered 3 drinks. 1 Mango Lassi, 1 Coke and 1 Masala Soda. We ordered the appetizers as well since the service seemed slow. The Mango Lassi and coke came within a few mins but they didnt bring the masala soda until our appetizers came in which was like 15mins. We ordered 3 appetizers - 1 Hariyali Chicken, 1 Chicken Pakora, 1 Malai Chicken. The Hariyali Chicken was pretty good we liked it. Then the Chicken pakora arrived and It was terrible. Chicken dumped in flour and fried. No salt, no seasoning, no flavor what so ever. Then they brought out the Malai Chicken which was also a disaster. We were hungry so we finished it somehow. It tasted like a roasted chicken with No salt or flavor. And this time the Chicken was very dry inside. It seemed overcooked. Then we ordered our entrees. We ordered - 1 Kadahi Chicken, 1 Chicken Tikka Masala, 1 Tandoori Roti, 1 Laccha Parantha and 1 Aloo Naan. Both chicken entrees were very watery. Especially the Chicken Tikka Masala. It tasted like a sweet tomato soup with overcooked dry chicken. The Aloo Naan was burnt but they still served it, shows the quality. And the Laccha Parantha was undercooked. I could feel the raw dough. Disgusting! We asked for the manager and told him what happened and I told him 'I dont want any of this food, just bring me the check for our drinks and appetizers'. He walked away no apologies, no comments. He came back with the bill. We paid and we were on our way back. I dont know how they are getting such good reviews with such awful food. Thankyou Cafe India for ruining the...

This was my first visit to Café India. We were seated promptly and enjoyed a good meal with pleasant service. Side note – although the music videos constantly playing were entertaining, they were extremely distracting while dining. We were also seated right next to the TV, so I would probably request to sit away from it next time.

We started off with the Samosa Vegi, which were tasty. The sauces were nicely done with a little heat and complimented the samosas well. For our entrees, I opted with the Vegetable Malabar (Coconut Curry) while my significant other chose the Channa Curry with Lamb. We ordered one side of rice and one side of the Garlic Naan. I will say that for the price of the Vegetable Malabar, there weren’t a lot of vegetables in the sauce, especially compared to other vegetable curries I’ve ordered elsewhere. The sauce itself was great, but it would have been nice to have included a little more substance with more vegetables, and maybe an option of tofu (which I didn’t see on the menu, just cottage cheese cubes). I will say the same about the Channa Curry – delicious sauce, and there were some garbanzo beans present, but it would have been nice to have some vegetables. The sides were a good addition and definitely necessary portion-wise, but it is unfortunate to be charged extra for even rice, which I feel is a basic element of ordering a curry and shouldn’t cost extra (or maybe just build it into the cost?). Now that I’m looking at the menu again, I’m guessing we paid more for the Garlic Naan, which our server asked if we would prefer when we tried or order the Naan as the side choice, although no up-charge was mentioned (I appreciate when it is at least mentioned when a suggestion is given, like charging for an extra side of sauce for example).

We had a nice meal at Café India and I would return, as well as recommend it for a nice option in Bay View. However, I would probably choose something else on the menu, and hope it would be a little more substantial with more vegetables in the curry versus just...