Spice Waala — Restaurant in Seattle

An amazing Indian restaurant unlike anything you've probably had in the US before.

I took my family here while on vacation from Cincinnati, OH. While Cincinnati is (somewhat surprisingly) known for having some good, authentic Indian restaurants near the university, Spice Waala was unlike anything I've ever had before - no pages and pages of curry and Tandoori dishes; no obligatory styrofoam container of Basmati rice with every order. I like your typical Indian restaurant as much as anybody - but Spice Waala is different and that difference is for the better!

My family of 4 (my wife and I and our 2 boys, ages 4 and 6) tried a little bit of everything and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had 3 Kathi rolls - Paneer Bhurji (cheese), Aloo Tikki (potato), and Lamb Kebab - along with a plain 'egg roll' (no filling) which my kids liked the best. We also shared several of the sides, which are incredible (and mostly new to me): Bhel Puri (savory rice puffs) tasted like an elevated, deconstructed rice crispy treat Papdi Chaat (Indian nachos) were fascinating! The chips were crunchy and came topped with potatoes, yogurt and chutney Masala Aloo (fries) was familiar and yet delicious, and the green chutney served with them tasted totally right (I'll eat almost anything on fries - ketchup, malt vinegar, mayo), but this worked!

To top it all off, they have soft-serve, with flavors inspired by India. The boys and I shared a bowl of Pistachio and Cardamom before we left and it earned my 4 year-old's highest compliment: "this is really good. It tastes like real ice cream." He proceeded to demolish most of the cup (which was a generous portion).

To sum it up - Spice Waala is quick, accessible (even for kids!), delicious, affordable, unexpected and definitely a place I will come to every time...

Spice Waala was one of the most memorable meals I’ve had in the past 12 months. I have been trying to visit but unfortunately would visit too late or on days they were closed. Thankfully I finally visited on a Saturday late morning and couldn’t have been happier. I ordered the chicken tikka and lamb kebab kathi rolls. I got the chicken tikka with an extra egg and it had a great flavor. I don’t even care for lamb but the lamb kebab I would say was even better than the chicken tikka based on the bevy of flavors. My favorite by far though was the papri chaat. I had never encountered papri chaat before but I’m so glad I tried it. Theirs was comprised of homemade crackers with seasoned boiled potatoes, yogurt, cilantro, pomegranate seeds, and sprinkling of sev. All the flavors were amazing. The soft boiled potatoes were balanced by the rich, crunchy crackers. The yogurt did well to add tartness and a mouth-coating dairy element to offset spices and the cilantro and pomegranate added more brightness and tartness. I keep on thinking about all of the food at Spice Waala and plan to return soon!

I am adding the following based on some other reviews I’ve seen. I really don’t think the “lack” of menu items is a negative, in fact, I would prefer an establishment do a few things really well instead of adding extraneous menu items that are not as good.

On a more positive note, I forgot to mention that the value of their items is through the roof. The rolls are a reasonable $7-$8 and the technique and flavor make the food an even better value.

Finally I just saw the response to my review and I really appreciate the acknowledgement. I wish Spice Waala...

Updating this to 5 stars. Since moving to the neighborhood in March this has become my favorite lunch takeout by far. Tried a few more things too (lamb roll, aloo tikki roll, papdi chaat) and all are good but I keep coming back to the chicken tikka roll and aloo tikki chaat. So good.

Overall really good. I've never been to India so can't comment on authenticity, just what I like.

I've been here twice now - first time got the chicken tikka roll with egg and mango lassi. The roti on the chicken tikka roll was a bit charred giving it some bitterness, but overall it was really good despite that. Mango lassi was great with strong mango flavor, small-ish portion but they list it on the menu.

The next visit I got paneer bhurji roll and aloo tikki chaat. Paneer roll was pretty good, just not my favorite - I discovered I prefer cubes of paneer to crumbled paneer. This time the roti was not charred though. Aloo tikki chaat was amazing - such a great flavor combination. I thought the sweet yogurt might be weird with the savory potato patty but I loved it, and really loved the chutneys. Also for takeout it's served in multiple containers so the fried potato patty doesn't get soggy from the toppings.

I will say I slightly prefer Roll Pod for kathi rolls, though that is where I first tried them so maybe that's why. But I like both, and loved the aloo...