Tilak — Restaurant in San Francisco

Having lived in India for a bit and traveled there twice in the last 6 years, I have developed a decent palette for Indian food (both north, south and regional cuisine). In a nutshell, Tilak does a fair job of dishing out flavorful Indian food. Some dishes were a hit, some not so much, hence the one star that got dropped.

Chef Tilak is a celebrity chef who has cooked for many corporates and celebrities. Justin Timberlake, AirBnB. He is from Nepal and his crew is from Nepal also. He started Tilak in the southern end of the Mission, mid-Bernal, focusing on the northern Indian flavors.

We started with an appetizer: dahi chaat (yoghurt, potato filled fried conch shells with spices and drizzled with green chutney). Unfortunately it was too sweet, and the yoghurt felt off, super gummy. The key is to balance the savory elements with the sweet.

We also used a Yelp offer for a free glass of wine and redeemed it after some hesitation on the hostesses part for a glass of mango lassi instead. Unfortunately this turned out to be too sweet. We noticed another table left almost half a glass full without drinking their mango lassi.

Luckily, the rest of the experience was top notch and earned 4 stars. We ordered paneer tikka masala as our entree - the paneer was fresh and the tikka masala curry was masterful. It has the right amount of fenugreek and worked very well with the biryani and naan. We asked for medium spiced and that turned out to be the right call.

Veggie biryani was the star with the fried onions and nuts that complimented the perfectly cooked basmati rice and the sautéed veggies that were full of flavor.

Tip: For 6 bucks order the bread basket. You get 4 different naan and roti breads, that would otherwise cost you $10+. The naan was crispy and helped us scoop up the delicious tikka masala gravy.

Shanti, our server, from Kathmandu was lovely. When we told her about the missing roti. While getting us the check got us an order of roti to go. Also when she noticed that we had not touched our mango lassi, she offered to make it right. Great service. Same for Sim, the hostess who desire her boss chef Tilak not being around, swapped the free wine for mango lassi.

Overall 4 on 5 stars and we will be back again, minus the appetizers and mango lassi. Also eat there while it’s fresh and warm and enjoy...

Came here on a Friday evening around 6 pm and was seated right away. We were promptly greeted and seated and asked whether we wanted ice in our water.

We ordered the following: Aloo Tikka Chaat Bites, Gobi Mussalam, Chicken Tikka Masala, along with Lemon Rice, Bhature, and Garlic Naan.

The stand outs for me were the Bhature - best to eat while still hot. It was so airy and delicious. I used it like a pocket to eat with the items we ordered. Their chicken tikka masala was very creamy and flavorful but not too salty. You can pick from four levels of spiciness. We picked level 2 which was not spicy at all for me. But I can handle some spice.

I don’t think I would order the lemon rice again. The naan had the perfect amount of garlic. Next time I will just stick to the naan and Bhature.

We had plenty of leftovers as there were only two people in our party. Parking wasn’t too bad because we came on the earlier side. There was a steady flow of patrons and some purchasing take out but it never got crowded. Staff were all wearing masks.

Would definitely revisit this...

3rd time door dashing. First time it was great - high quality Indian food in every angle. 2nd and 3rd were not the same. The dishes are doused in oil, and the naan is excessively buttered. Why is this necessary? Why can’t you just put a normal amount and let the dishes ingredients speak for themselves? This restaurant is now undistinguishable from any ole run of the mill Indian restaurant. Also heads up, the chicken tikka masala and butter chicken are identical - there is no difference

I’m never ordering from this place again, I know of other restaurants that don’t abuse oil and butter as ingredient’s. Once you try Indian food like that you won’t want this buttery oily nonsense

If the owner is reading this, whoever was in the kitchen a couple months ago, put them back in. Or please use less oil and butter, putting a lot is...