Everest on Grand — Restaurant in Saint Paul

My wife and I love Indian food, so this Nepali restaurant seemed like it would fit the bill (we had looked up the menu online just to be safe.

We arrived near to close, maybe 1 hour and 15 minutes before they closed up shop, but we still received quite excellent service. I strongly got the feeling that this is family owned and run business, which easily kicked it up a notch in my experience - and it was only confirmed when our food arrived. I started with a "Taj Mahal Premium" lager, imported from India - I quite enjoyed it, and wish I had ordered the larger size bottle (I don't normally drink much of anything, particuarly beer, but this was shockingly good), whereas my wife Elizabeth ordered a mango lassi (think like, a yogurt milkshake) since we both ordered the same dish, in the end - Palak Paneer; however I ordered mine to be of medium spiciness, Liz asked for "as spicy as you can make it." ...,my wife REALLY likes spicy food.

In the picture I will include with this upload, you will be able to tell which is hers - it is the one that is significantly darker orange than the other, far more delicious medium spiciness.

.....oh, of course I am being facetious! To each their own and she doesn't take issue with my vegetarianism, so why would it bother me that she wants to butn her tongue off with flavors.

We both were enjoying our food extensively when our server came to check on us, and I asked him why the Palak was mostly orange when nerly every other Palak or Saag dishes had been 98% green. The server explained that the process they used was to blanch, blend, and then cook roma tomatoes, mixing most of the spices at that level, and then adding the blanched and shredded spinach (using nearly the same amount of spinach as they would've had to use without this method - and that the spices along with the acidity from the tomatoes allowed magnification of the details of the dish, sweetness and umami that were otherwise lost in such a spice-heavy dish.

We went home happy, with intent to patronize again (maybe even a place to take our parents soon!), and our leftovers didn't even last 12 hours in the refrigerator.

TL;DR -everything was great, the slight bit higher prices WELL made to be worth the date night because of the quality, service, atmosphere and EXTREMELY flexible and diverse menu. Speaking from the perspective of a lifelong vegetarian, seeing so many main options on the regular menu is so, so heartening and vindicating....

And in no way are the veggie options worse - they were the STARS...

My only regret, aside from several others, is that I didn't know about it earlier, and that I allowed too much time before enjoying the place again. The food is excellent, decor is casual and pleasantly Nepalese, and the crew are kind and friendly.

Regrettably, this is only my 2nd visit to the restaurant. Each time, everybody ordered a dish they wanted, and we placed them in the middle of the table to share. Sharing is the best way to enjoy any meal, but it's especially important and culturally significant to share meals with family, friends, and neighbors whenever possible. I wish everyone encouraged this.

We ordered the lamb Tikal(sp) marsala both times because it was so good, and the other dishes were different between visits because I hope to try everything there. The place is that good.

The food takes some time before set at the table because most dishes take hours to prepare. They've done an excellent job developing their processes to stew certain long-stewed sauces, meats and veggies which they combine with other ingredients in order to bring the food to your table relatively quickly instead of hours. It's definitely worth almost any amount of wait to get your food. Luckily it hasn't been that long. It comes out faster than many good cooks could get it to the table. If you're starving, order some naan and humus.

The wine selection is small, but good, and match the food well. My favorite each time was a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand with powerfully melon and tropical fruit flavors to compliment the spice of the food. Delicious, and only $25 a bottle. Order a couple of these, unless you're alone.

If you enjoy food with exciting and deep flavor, you need to try this spectacular restaurant across Grand Ave from Kowalski's...

Authentic Nepalese food in the Twin Cities. The reason for the average rating is the price point. The location is great, the service is friendly, the atmosphere great. The food was good, but needed seasoning if you're not able to eat spicy things.

Personally, I have a very common stomach (60% of Americans) & esophagus (20% of Americans) situation that has been ignored by the food industry during the "ADD A LITTLE KICK" revolution in the American dining scene over the past few years. The failure of food professionals to deal with this hee-yooge percentage of their client base astonishes me.

Everest on Grand has stepped above the crowd by offering mild versions of most of its menu items. This is wonderful. Unfortunately, though, they haven't met the other part of this industry-wide challenge, which is the requirement to make mild food flavorful, as well as less fiery. I say "requirement" because I'm talking about a unique restaraunt in a prime location in a major city. When each dinner entry costs between $17-$23, and your appetizers are $9-$10, missing that point is not really so great.

Point of note: the line menu isn't the same as the on site menu, but they do still offer what's in the online version. I do recommend this restaraunt overall - just maybe try it for lunch...