TUMBI Craft Indian Kitchen — Restaurant in Santa Monica

I love the way this place creates a perfect ambience for a modern Indian eatery yet fails to create the balance with their food.

Tumbi is located at the extreme end of third street promenade facing the Santa Monica Blvd, they have both indoor and outdoor seating. The interiors are very modern reflecting rustic Indian look.

I was very excited by the look and feel of the restaurant and ordered the following,

Lahori Fish & Idli Fries

The fish fry was very dry and the spice mix of the batter had no flavor. Idli is a savory steamed rice cake which pretty much every South Indian family eats for breakfast. It felt like eating deep fried chewy plantains.

Lamb Kheema Pav

I like the flavor of the lamb kheema but the meat was very gamey. Kheema means minced meat. Lamb meat can be very gamey and if not cooked with right amount of spices it's very hard to get rid of it's gaminess.

Patiala Chicken

This was my favorite of all the food that I've tried. Flavorful chunks of boneless chicken fried to perfection with great balance of spices.

Kashmiri Rogan Josh

Kashmiri Rogan Josh or Mutton Rogan Josh as it's popularly known all around the world is a delicacy from the state of Kashmir. Chef over killed the recipe by using too much of onion paste which makes the dish more pungent when eaten with a naan.

A very generous amount of micro greens have been used as garnish on most of the dishes served, which makes the presentation of the food look great but do not help with the flavor. I am not impressed by neither the taste nor the flavor of the food, hence it is a 3...

I rarely leave reviews, it’s either when it’s 5 star or 1 star but this experience warrants one. I visited this restaurant with family with high expectations, only to be met with overpriced dishes, shockingly small portions, and service that left much to be desired.

Let’s start with the food: while somewhat flavorful, the quantity was almost laughable for the price. 3 pieces of paneer for $17, a small 12 oz coke for $6, even smaller Mango Lassi for $7 4 small puri of Dani puri for $12, portions were too small period. Straight robbery. I’ve never left an Indian restaurant unfulfilled and unsatisfied, this one is the first. Usually Indian restaurants offer rice with the dish, here you’re left to just eat the dish alone after you finish roti. Charging premium rates is one thing, delivering value is another. I understand rent and overhead are increasing, especially in Santa Monica, but that doesn’t justify cutting corners on portion size, quality, or service.

Service was slow, inattentive, and careless. Orders were taken incorrectly, and it felt like no one really cared to correct the mistakes. When I corrected and ordered what wasn’t delivered, it just added to the wait times. When a restaurant starts prioritizing cost-cutting over customer experience, it shows, and not in a good way.

Running a business in today’s climate is tough, but if the solution is to offer less while charging more, customers won’t stick around for long. There are too many great options out there that understand how to balance quality, service, and value, this just wasn’t...

I've had great Indian food in LA and elsewhere in the US. And TUMBI is without a doubt the worst Indian food I have ever had. The "Goan Prawn Masala" tastes like they microwaved half a jar of Walmart's Great Value Curry Powder with a can of raw coconut milk -- goopy, gelatinous, yellow gunk with a consistency somewhere between baby food and "personal lubricant." The portions aren't generous either; only four shrimp in this massive bowl of spa-scented two-in-one shampoo. The grilled paneer was only slightly better, but only because it's hard to ruin cheese. Despite the nice presentation, these massive blocks of curd were still cold and raw in the middle with almost no flavor. The rice was weirdly squeaky with large chewy grains, almost nothing like the fluffy Basmati you'll find at even the grimmest takeout joint. I'm confused how they even achieved this odd texture in a bowl of plain rice. Having lived in India for almost a year, I felt genuinely embarrassed when I saw a large group of India tourists take their seats at the table next to me. I had a crazy impulse to scribble a warning on a napkin and pass it over, but in the boozy streets of Santa Monica, I suposed a place like TUMBI gets by on beer goggles and munchies, and things like ingredients and flavor are an afterthought.

To be fair, the interior decor is nice, and the presentation is fine I guess, which is why this is a two-star review instead of a one-star review. But to be perfectly honest, you'll have a better dinner if you go for...