Kolachi Tandoori Grill express — Restaurant in Schaumburg Township

Dear Kolachi,

Since moving to the US (and NW Burbs in particular) 3years ago, I’ve wandered aimlessly down every Desi food street in search of good biryani. I’ve done every google search possible on best biryani places, and have tried over 40 different ones (even in Tulum). Unfortunately while those places met somebody else’s low standards, as a Karachite they were nowhere near any street level biryani I could eat back home (so I don’t know what the hype for those is all about).

Having given up, my wife and I took biryani off our menu from outside. We continued experimenting and perfecting our homemade blend and while we are 90% of the way there, the itch was still left. After all great biryanis are made in Daigs (huge pots), and no matter how hard you try from grinding your own spices to adding potatoes to whatever, it never comes out quite as lovely as a good daigi chicken biryani. For us, good biryani meant traveling to Karachi once a year and over indulging in just the one dish we missed so much. On the last trip I was having Biryani Centre less than 3 hours after landing, so you know I’m serious here. We even tell ppl the only two things we miss about living back home - family and biryani.

It wasn’t until my wife’s pregnancy cravings that the search was on again. The closest we had gotten to previously was Karahi corner on Devon but the new mgmt loves elaichi and ruined the dish completely. So we looked and looked until we found the reviews on here about Kolachi. Reading the name, we had at least some hope that the owners were from the Biryani Capital of the World (Delhi can have it’s anda and veggie biryanis and Hyderabad can have it’s namesake but those are not even close to Darbari chicken biryanis in any sense of the word). We half heartedly ordered some chicken biryani along with other BBQ items for take out and hoped for the best.

When we opened the box, the aromas were just right. This was going to be ominous.

One bite in and I was immediately transported to Tariq Road on a Friday night. The only things missing were the sound of metal spoon hitting metal daig, and aaloos (if you don’t have aaloo in your biryani you’re probably Punjabi and I’m sorry you’ve been missing out). This is a huge feat considering there was only one employee working at Kolachi. After devouring the 4 pc biryani and finally taking a breath of air, I looked at my wife and said the words we longed to say for nearly 3 years “we found it babe, we found it”.

In contrast to another reviewer’s comments, this place can not only survive, but thrive, if you just keep making this biryani consistently. You don’t even need to sell anything else if you can just get your marketing/location right alongside serving this delicacy.

We will be back for more, next week, and every month after as long as we live in the Chicago area.

Signed, A True Biryani Lover &...

So I was there Saturday night May 15th with a party of 17 people. When we arrived, we were told there was no reservation in their system. However, we called two times to confirm the reservation. When I confronted the person who took my reservation, he mentioned I did have a valid reservation, but no one seems to listen at the restaurant. Not to mention no one was wearing a mask, not the owner or server or staff. No one was practicing social distancing either. The restaurant seated another family right next to one of our booths.

The restaurant ended up giving us an 8 seat table and couple of booths which we gladly accepted. We then proceeded to order 3 chicken biryani, one chicken tikka masala, 8 zinger burgers, one mutton kahri, 3 basket of fries, 7 plain naans, and two pitchers of drinks (one sprite and one coke.) We were told the food would take 45 minutes but the sandwiches and fries for the kids would be out much earlier.

I do feel bad for the one female waitress, no one was trying to help her at the restaurant. One guy was just sitting at the front desk on his phone the entire time. I even heard the female server ask him for help but he never got up. She brought the biryani out first after about 30-40 minutes, somehow the fries and burgers came much later, which was hard to believe. Shouldn't take about 45 minutes for fries and burgers. Anyways, the chicken tikka masala came out along with the mutton kahri but no naans. The female server was scrambling trying to get us everything but we were no where able to eat. We didn't have proper utensils, no cups, water, drinks, napkins, no ketchups for fries. We literally had to ask multiple times just for some utensils.

Again, I feel REAL BAD for the female server as she had ZERO help and was struggling to keep up. You could see the frustration when one of the kids asked for ketchup, she got upset saying she is super busy and the ketchup wouldn't come anytime soon. All this time, we had no drinks and kept asking for water and other drinks we ordered. We never did get the sprite we ordered, she gave us coke instead which was fine. Again, I understand what she was going through but it's not the experience you want at a restaurant where you don't have cups, napkins, drinks etc.

I didn't even get to the food at this point, the mutton khari was mutton korma. The biryani was good but the chicken tikka masala was the worse tikka masala I've ever had, no one ate it and it was left on the table almost as is. Only reason some people ate it, was due to hunger. The mutton korma was okay but disappointed because we ordered Mutton Khari. It wasn't worth the trouble of telling them, at that point we just wanted to leave.

My advice to ownership - Hire proper staff, have better customer service, and adhere to Covid-19 protocols. Please don't try to argue with...

If you want real Pakistani food that’s freshly made, nicely presented, takeout neatly packed and tastes 100% authentic, look no further than Karachi House! Delicious freshly made food, good ambiance, reasonably priced and personable service! I can’t say enough about this place. Try it once and you’ll be hooked!

We found this newer Pakistani restaurant that opened up about 8 months ago here in Schaumburg. It’s located in a strip mall behind a Taco Bell off Roselle road. The inside is very clean and you get nice aromas of spices from the kitchen. The owner was very personable, friendly and patient with my husband over the phone while taking his order. We liked the menu very much as it was simple, good variety of dishes and manageable. We ordered last night which everything was 100% spot on authentic! We’ve lived here in Schaumburg almost 15 years and this is the first place that got the real deal authentic flavors down perfectly! I’ve lived in Lahore, Pakistan so I know.

We tried Chicken Biryani, Tawa 1/2 chicken, Chapli kabobs and naans. The Tawa chicken was moist and flavorful right down to the bone, Chapli was very nicely seasoned and I believe this is the chefs own fresh ground masala blend. They give you 3 decent sized patties. The patties could have been a little bit thicker but they were so delicious so I’m not complaining. The Chicken Biryani was nice and spicy. The chefs recipe is excellent. The rice portion was very generous and you get a chicken leg and a thigh. I wish there was a 3rd piece. The chicken in the Biryani was flavorful and cooked perfectly. The naans were a great accompaniment to the chapli and Tawa chicken. Soft, fluffy with a nice little bit of chew like they are supposed to have. I loved their raita! This chef found a way to make a raita without it spoiling from the cilantro (Way to go! He’s a genius!). It was a delicious raita and I liked that it was made differently than other places. Something new for your pallet! Perhaps his signature sauce?

Overall I was amazed that they managed to keep all the flavors of the food unique and separate from one another. No dish tasted identical of spices. I’m so glad we found this place and this is our only Desi food stop...