Bombay Express — Restaurant in Seattle

Tried this spot recently for some Bombay-style street food cravings, and here’s my take:

🍴 What I Tried

Vada Pav, Pav Bhaji, Noodle Tikki Burger, Chole Puri, Veg Fried Rice, Paneer Manchurian & Masala Chai

⭐ The Verdict • Vada Pav: Pretty decent! Not quite what you get on the streets of Mumbai, but enjoyable. (Still not sure why places keep adding onions to vada pav — that’s not how it’s traditionally done 🙃). • Pav Bhaji: Just okay — didn’t capture that bold, buttery street-style flavor. • Noodle Tikki Burger: A fun twist! Crisp tikki with well-seasoned noodles made it a nice bite. • Chole Puri: Excellent — puris were fried perfectly, and the chole had just the right masala balance. • Veg Fried Rice: Surprisingly good, flavorful without being greasy. • Paneer Manchurian: Decent, though not the classic Indo-Chinese flavor bomb. • Masala Chai: Skip this one — lacks the punch of proper kadak chai.

🪑 Ambience & Service

The ambience is pretty basic and doesn’t give off any Indian street-food vibes. It’s a self-serve setup, but the food comes out quickly and efficiently.

📌 Overall

A nice spot to check out once if you’re in the neighborhood. Everything is reasonably good, but nothing really makes me want to return when there are better Indian options around the Seattle area.

Still, I’ll give them a solid 3⭐ for the effort they’ve put into recreating Mumbai...

Updated review, 2/9/25

Recommendation: Good spot for late night meals, better than most other older options on the Ave for Indian food. The traditional dishes are better than their fusion attempts.

The Good: Really good Malai Kofta One of the better places for Puri Chole and Pav Baaji Masala Paneer Crunch sandwiches are pretty good for a quick snack

The Okay: Manchurian is okay, nothing exceptional, nothing too bad either. The vegetable biryani tends to taste more like a pulav, but that's par for the course for most restaurants nearby The paneer burger is okay, but the lack of heterogeneity makes it feel like I'm eating a spiced cheese melt.

Could be Better: Names of dishes on the menu try to be clever, but sometimes miss the mark entirely and can lead to disappointing experiences Prices vary wildly between apps and in person ordering, so definitely do your research before deciding how you would like to order. The fusion dishes may be hit or miss

Ambience: A very college-student centric, hang out and chill area that reminds people of cafeterias and Co-working spaces. Great for casual, no frills meal

Service: Generally nice people

Edit: Responding to the Owner's comment: Thanks for addressing the issue regarding the Kulche Chole and fixing the menu on the app. Changed the rating to...

Really spacious, fun, well-designed dine-in area with great music playing. some of the furniture / floor tiles are a little worse for wear, but I guess it's a sign that it's well frequented. we came in around 11:30 on a Thursday night looking for halal options for dinner after a concert at neumos (many options in cap hill closed at 11). sooo many mouth-watering options I didn't know what to choose! we ended up getting a samosa chaat, masala crunch chicken sandwich, goat-in biryani, and a mango lassi. the samosa Chaat was easily the best (would get again), followed by the sandwiches (which I would wait before ordering again), and the biryani was overly spiced, and the meat was fatty and hard to chew. we were definitely disappointed by the biryani, but to be fair it wasn't a highly recommended dish here.

next time i want to try the chili momos (new addition to the menu! 3 days old 😋), pav bhaji, Manchurian Gobi/ chicken. seriously I've been deprived of Indian street food I guess.

ETA: I tried the butter chicken and pav bhaji this time, the butter chicken was good, standard, came with peas rice but I got like three pieces of chicken 👎🏽. pav bhaji was also good, but for the price I think the samosa chaat is a better bang...