Tasty India — Restaurant in Oak Harbor

As an Indian (ok, ABCD) who has traveled extensively in India, I can say based on experience that my dishes at this neighborhood Indian restaurant were mostly authentic Indian food served with authentic Indian service. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that we all preferred the food to multiple neighborhood Indian places in Seattle.

The curries were nicely spiced with visible crushed whole spices showing they were using fresh spices not taking shortcuts. Some Americans or British people might take exception to the fact that the curry dishes weren’t filled with whipping cream and butter grease, but let’s be clear that doesn’t happen in India so I took that as a positive not a negative. We orderered the veg kofta curry (nom nom), the lamb Punjabi curry (also nom nom), and a chicken tikka masala for my Bristish husband (also tasty and less “fake tasting” than the usual garbage my husband likes). The naans (we ordered butter, paneer and spinach) were tasty with a nice crisp on the outside and soft inside. The naan weren’t drowning in grease as often happens at a neighborhood joint, which means I could actually eat and enjoy them. The only low food point was the Kachumber salad, which I was expecting to be similar to a Raita/village salad. Instead it was more akin to a relish plate than an American salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and onions with a little chaat powder scattered on top. That said, I’ve had that kind of relish plate served as Kachumber salad (as well as something resembling a horiatiki salad) in India so whatever.

As to the service, like many restaurants they seem to be struggling to staff experienced folk and it was our waiters first day. ,with the current post-pandemic labor crisis it’s a little hard to ding them too hard for that. It did mean that logistically there were some challenges (like our waiter didn’t know if they had beer and if so, what types) but they had a positive attitude and were helpful and we got what we needed.

Also, they aren’t the frantically running around type. Which means that sometimes people would come in and it would take a minute for folks to realize they were there. But America is the only country where I feel like we expect our servers to be running around madly. When I have time for it, especially when dine in, I personally prefer the kind of time service provided In most other countries, including India, where everything is a little leisurely but not late, which is how I’d describe the service here. If you are short on time just factor that extra few mins in.

The chef came out and checked on whether we enjoyed our food. She and her partner (husband?) we’re all quite kind and trying to do their best to provide good service. They were all quite sweet to our young kids.

If you can, I would suggest calling in an order as the online ordering system (or perhaps calling to confirm) as seems based on reviews to have some glitches.

Having moved to Oak Harbor from Seattle with its myriad Indian restaurants and lived in the Bay Area before, I had low expectations. I was worried I would have to cook all my Indian far food myself. But Thank goodness Tasty India exceeded my expectations so I can lean on...

TL;DR Version: The food was good. Service and execution have a long way to go if they plan on staying open.

Longer Review: I really liked the food and realize that they just opened a week ago but they are very inefficient. We had to remind them of our order several times, food took quite a while to come out (30+ min) because they messed up the order still (though they did comp us the dinner because of that), and we had to ask for things like silverware, refills, etc. They burned something and it made a bunch of smoke so they opened the door to the outside which helped clear the smoke but people had to put on their coats because the temp dropped to about 60 degrees inside.

There was one table that had a small group seated at it that ordered a drink and they brought that quickly but then that table sat there for 15+ min without anyone coming to take their order. They gave up and left. Shortly after, another group was seated at the same table and it took them over 10+ min to get their waters. They were even accidentally brought a bowl of rice before they even had drinks or anything at all on the table. They then sat there for another 10 min without ever being brought a menu so they, too, left.

The men's restroom doesn't have dividers up at the urinals which are straight back in the restroom from the hallway so every time the door swings open people are potentially seeing more than they signed up for. The restrooms also don't have changing tables for infants.

They really need to streamline their processes. They could really use a bus boy solely to clean the tables and serve water. We got there right before it picked up but once it did pick up the train started coming off the tracks quickly. Multiple customers came and waited for about 20+ min for a table and then gave up and left. Overall, it took my wife and I 90 minutes to get in and get out. They are really limiting their income potential by taking so long for each group. If the inefficiencies aren't corrected in the near term they are going to lose customers and probably have to shut their doors.

I'll give them a few more chances with a month or so in between each visit so hopefully I can notice a marked improvement. I'll definitely update my rating if it improves. The food was good and Oak Harbor doesn't have another Indian cuisine place so I really hope they figure it out so...

We got to the restaurant @ about 7:20ish, another couple arrived @ the same time. We waited in the door way as it is a small place & all tables & counter were full. People got up to leave & servers tried to clean tables & seat people. We sat before other couple as they were chatting with someone @ another table. They were finally seated right in front of the door so you’d think they would have been attended to first, but they weren’t! We waited! And waited! Another couple came in & were seated immediately & got menus while we still waited! Finally asked for the menus from another couple sitting @ the counter who had just gotten their order taken. 1) Servers need a lot of help figuring out who should be served & in what order. Can I suggest being given numbers when you arrive or divide tables in sections for each server? Obviously with a new restaurant there will be problems. Once we ordered & got food ( not all @ the same time!) it was fantastic! Great flavors etc. My husband took home leftovers. I ordered the coconut curry& he had the chicken Malai ( there are 2? Same name) he had the one with cashews & pistachios. Naan was just ok. Weird to order everything separate. Waitress was new, had no idea about pronunciation or what things tasted like or what items were in the entrees. 2) Can I make a suggestion to the owner? Buy matching glasses & silverware! 3) Have the staff taste your food so they might have some idea of what they are serving! These are easy fixes! 4) Move the ATM to another location instead of where you have to ask a patron to move to use it. 5) Buy smaller less bulky tables! You could seat more if you do that. The article in the local paper said you have other restaurants, so you should know this! 6)Train the servers! Don’t let them disappear & not be cleaning & checking for new customers! Most importantly the one male server did fix all the problems of missing food or delayed food as he’s been in the business before. The girls were totally lost. This is a small town & a few bad comments in the media can ruin a restaurant. We’ll come back, but not until the problems are solved in a few months. To other patrons - Take out might be a better option. But overall the...