Hari Om Shri Ram | Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Mount Shasta

Been here twice now and it is the best Indian food I've ever tasted. Let me preface the rest of this review by saying yes, I did give it five stars. I would give it more stars if that was an option. I would take stars from other restaurants and give them to Shri Ram.

The first time we went I immediately had my doubts, as the service was questionable. We kind of stood around with some other people waiting haphazardly to be seated, having to order our food off a menu written on a white board at the bar prior to being seated. The host/owner was amazingly personable and gave honest opinions on the food, but appeared quite disorganized. Once we were seated we waited a long time for the food. The waitstaff appeared somewhat clueless, and our chai was delivered to the wrong table. Time passed. Finally the food arrived. And it changed my life. No joke, the best Indian I've ever eaten. It made all the awkward waiting -- and the heavy cost -- worth while. When I went to the bar to pay I had to recite my order again because it didn't appear to have been written down anywhere.

Jump ahead six months and we're back in town so we go in for dinner. A little more streamlined with the seating, had to take a picture of the menu so we could order from the table. Again, waited a while to order and get food, but today the owner was waiting tables himself and appeared to have no other front house staff working. Our entrees came out before our appetizer and we weren't the only patrons who had to ask a couple times for our tea, but again, the food was spectacular. Words cannot describe how delectable this food is.

I only say all this to belay any worries a future patron might have. If you're in a hurry or just impatient, then maybe not for you. But if you have a little time to kill and a good attitude then just sit back and enjoy. The waiting and cost is a small price to pay. I would do much worse things for this food. Much worse things. ...

The food was great but that's not the only thing that builds your experience. Based on the owner's suggestion, we had ordered for a veg thali with Saag Paneer and a Chicken Thali. The food was absolutely delicious. In vegetarian thali, we got a mixed veg (very different than the usual Indian mixed veg), daal, rice, with a small naan, palak paneer. He also added a gobi aloo as well which we requested instead of daal. All of the food felt light weight but flavorful and filling too. The Chicken thali had all the above and a chicken tikka as well. The 2nd time we had food there, we had ordered for veg pakoda and chai. When we called up initially, he wasn't pleased as it seems like they don't serve the pakoda and chai by itself. You need to have dinner as well along with. This was absurd to be honest. But anyway we arrived there and the owner was apologetic and served us the pakoda and chai. Pakoda was great and very flavorful but the chai was not good at all. It felt like the chai was made in a vessel which was used for other dishes and not washed well. Chai had a strong flavor of veg curry. The hospitality was good. We enjoyed talking to the owner initially, as others have mentioned but eventually it felt a bit intrusive. At times it was hard to have a conversation with my wife while having our lunch(and dinner, on day 2) as he would come back with something to talk about. I must say, he won't let you miss your Indian "neighborhood uncle" :-D. He mentioned the following words "organic" and that he is a "botanist" Multiple times during our 2 visits to this place which became repetitive to me after some time. One of the reasons why we kept wondering if we should get a take out instead of having the food there on the 3rd day.

Having said this, next time I am in Shasta I will surely get food from here if we have a craving for some spicy...

We got the paneer butter masala, eggplant bherta, and a cup of chai.

On the food: My partner and I enjoyed our food. It was very different to paneer butter masala we have in the bay and I liked it a lot for that. Paneer was soft and absorbed the flavors really well. Eggplant bherta was also really delicious. It was my first time having it, and I loved it a lot. The chai was also nice, I enjoyed having my little Parle biscuit with it while reading a book (from their shelf)! Food was unique and tasted different!

Service: The waiter / server was super chill and fun to talk to. There was a larger table and another group of 2 people when we went but he was pretty good about checking in while we were waiting. I know places out here are usually smaller staffed so I don't mind the wait. Food was well made and I appreciate it for that so much. Everything was worth it.

Atmosphere: The decoration in here along with the two large sofas by the bookshelf in the front was all beautiful and very warm. We enjoyed the way we felt walking in and the homeliness inside this space.

For the rating: 3 out of 5 because of the cost to the amount of food we got, specifically for rice. The prices were a lot for the portions (to me) considering what I could get in the bay area for less the cost. I understand that prices are relative to ingredients being organic among other things. And that everything is listed. So it's all expected. But if you're used to larger portions / pieces of naan, it can be hard to justify the cost, no matter how organic it is. The oz for curries are specifically listed while it isn't for rice, so was surprising when we got our food served. Again, I still liked the food a lot and this spot is great for good Indian food...