Best Of India — Restaurant in Portland

We dined in and ordered our standard first time fare to compare. Butter chicken, garlic naan, paneer pakora, navartan korma (sp?), and Indian tea.

I'll start off saying the chef/owner is fantastic. Great customer service and nice to talk with. He is dedicated to his craft and it shows! He welcomes honest reviews and is open to growth which is 5 stars from me. So really I'd give 4.5 stars if I could. 5 is rare for me. Butter chicken was out of this world amazing. Deep flavor, rich and addictive. Korma was delicious too, as was the naan, and rice was fluffy and appealingly plated. Paneer pakora was some of the best I've ever had, perfect balance of cheese and fried crust. We also liked the chutneys. We were given complementary rice pudding desserts which were also delicious! We will definitely be coming back to sample more of the menu.

So the only reason for a half a star off leaves the "Indian tea" which I think was chai tea. I ordered it iced and it was slimy, or had some kind of slimy maybe tapioca starch or rice starch slime inside that I could pull on with my straw. Not a pleasant feeling swallowing it. Also there was no spice! No detectable cardamom or cinnamon, and the color was very pale. I will order a hot one next time to compare but I was very confused...maybe it wasn't supposed to be chai? I welcome any insight to this drink as I've never had anything like it. Maybe I'm totally wrong. Another small deduction for atmosphere, only because there were no booths or comfy/private places to sit so it was open and awkward. Hopefully they can add that as business grows! Overall clean and inviting and amazingly delicious! Definitely going to try the lunch as others...

Have been looking for a new Indian restaurant since the pandemic and found Best of India an excellent place to revisit. During our first visit, last night, we chose the mild seasoning and it was pleasing. My wife isn't as adventurous about hotly seasoned food and she liked what we were served. Standard foods for the first visit: rice, Naan, Biryani vegetables, chicken curry for her, chicken kabobs for me. There was a ton of Naan. We brought home a lot of food. Next time I'd skip the rice or Naan to ease the expense some. The restaurant is currently in a Grand Opening phase; so, it's very clean and modern in appearance. The decor is simple and not distracting. Modern Indian music and video was playing. I wasn't facing the video but I liked the music. Parking in the lot is tight but we found an open spot @ 5:30 pm on a Saturday and didn't have to park in the street. We didn't need a reservation. I think 7 or 8 other people came in while we were there and a lot of tables were still available....

Haven't eaten it yet, but the atmosphere, vibe, and the efficiency and friendliness with which they took my to go order 10 minutes before close tells me a lot. Other reviews suggest they're not starving for business, so it's just good customer service.

I got the chicken saag. Now I've eaten it, it's just what I was looking for. The flavor is dimensional, rich, and keeps going on and on. And just the right amount of spice (I asked for white American medium, even though I've got a high spicy heat tolerance for a white American, knowing Indian food is some of the hottest in the world). Perfect interpretation. Hits right away, lingers, plenty to satisfy, without melting my face off and putting it into the bitter-is-all-I-taste...