Zayka Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Springfield

My daughter and I had lunch here - we arrived on a Wednesday morning at about 11:30; no lunch buffet was offered on this day. It was not busy when we arrived, but filled up soon after. It seemed like it took our food quite a while to get to us, however we ordered from the menu instead of getting one of the specials. We assume all the customers arriving after us but getting their food long before us had just ordered a special? So if you are in a hurry, get a special. We might try doing that next time, but I was craving tandoori chicken and it was well worth the wait. My chicken was perfectly seasoned without being "overdone" ... you know how sometimes when too much seasoning is used it can all kind of blend together and be a bit overwhelming? This chicken was so well seasoned that I was able to discern individual spices. Absolutely delicious and exactly what my body needed. Maybe that sounds strange, but it really was just what I needed, and I felt good afterwards (being sure to only eat what I was hungry for and saving the rest for lunch today). They offer a heat choice of "mild" "medium" "hot" and "extra hot" (something like that). I asked for somewhere between "mild" and "medium", and know now that I could have asked for "medium" and it would be just the right heat for me. The heat was subtle at first, but crept up nicely the more I ate. My daughter chose "mild" for her yellow dal and was still able to taste plenty of heat from that. I had a bite of hers and could eat it every day. Well done. YUMMM. (photo shared was from my daughter's vantage point) In my opinion, the naan needed more ghee slathered on top, and a little salt sprinkled over it :) :) :) It was a bit too dry and stiff to sop up the juices at the bottom of my tandoori chicken plate, though I gave it my best try. I've been around Indian and Nepali people for about 25 years and have had my fair share of naan; this was the driest, least-flexible naan I've ever had. STILL DELICOUS ... don't get me wrong ... it just wasn't good for using as a spoon / for eating without utensils. (I had the regular naan, and my daughter had the vegan option; hers was a lot more dry.) 4 stars for the atmosphere. Maybe even 3 stars. At first it was really cold (at least where we were sitting). We sat near the kitchen entry, so there was a lot of employee traffic. A bit of constructive criticism: The ornaments hanging around were very dusty and needed some care. This really irks me because it shows lack of pride or attention to detail. If you can't take care of your ornaments, removed them and use something that is low-maintenance. At least the food showed a lot of love and care, and you could tell, so it's still 5 stars overall, and if the owner or chef(s) reads this, I'd LOVE to come off hours some time and learn how you season and cook the dal. I do my own versions and follow cookbooks, but it's never quite the same. Thank you.

Pricing: two adults. We each ordered an entre, and our own naan. We each had enough left over for a second lunch. Our bill was about $38, and then the tip on...

Such good food here, and service that is equally amazing. I've visited twice recently and both of my experiences were stellar. First, the service and staff. These folks really treat you well, and it doesn't matter who you are. I was a single diner and next to me was a long table full of Indian folks and I was treated with the same priority and sensitivity as they were despite the huge disparity in what our bills would be. This speaks volumes to how great these people running Zayka are. Service is telepathic and never ever smothering, it's really refreshing to experience this after so many upsetting trips dining out. I ordered malai kofta very spicy, a dish that is known for being more sweet than spicy. But, the chefs at Zayka transformed the dish into a spicy-sweet bowl of yumminess. It was one of the best renditions of the dish I've eaten. It was that good. My incredible garlic naan helped sop every last bit of it up, my bowl was clean. While I didn't eat too much rice with my curry, it was fragrant and delicious the way you expect basmati to be. Not to be missed is their taplist, something I almost always find lacking at Indian restaurants. Not so here at Zayka. They have local beers from White River, Mother's, Lost Signal, and Piney River as well as stuff from Goose Island and larger breweries like Blue Moon. To conclude: 5+ stars for their service, 5+ stars for their food, 5+ for the taplist. Google, you should allow 5+ stars for places...

I went to this restaurant with my boyfriend who is actually Malaysian, I have an esophagus problem and I cannot eat extremely hot food we explain to the waiter that we would like to order the food mild as I can’t take extremely hot we explain this in detail that all the dishes that we ordered would be mild. When the food arrives it was extremely hot so hot even my boyfriend would have considered it hot from his own countries food the spices were absolutely intense and the food was absolutely not edible for me. We called the waiter over and explained how hot the food is they missed made a mistake he said no you ordered the food medium this is medium. He said we did not even explain to you in detail that we want to get mild he said I’m sorry you ordered it medium and this is what you’re going to get he was extremely rude. The restaurant did not replace our food so just be aware they have extremely rude nasty hateful waiters and if they make a mistake you’re going to pay for it. So needless to say I didn’t eat any food that night we had to go somewhere else afterwards so that I could get something that did not hurt me the few bites I took caused extreme heartburn and pain. Sorry I have had good food there before in the past but I will never go there again I cannot tolerate heat full...