Namaste Indian cuisine — Restaurant in Tupelo

Originally from Chicago, of Indian descent, I was privy to numerous Indian restaurants to choose from, many of them very good. After moving to MS, I had to travel to Memphis to be able to eat at an Indian restaurant. I recently moved to Tupelo and was excited to see a new Indian restaurant had opened. Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical, as it has been a challenge to find a couple really good Indian restaurant in Memphis. My mom who was born in India was even more so. But, to our surprise, this restaurant was excellent! The atmosphere is light and modern in its Indian decor. The service was on point, with Amey being our waiter. He was awesome! Amey explained everything to us in detail and was extremely attentive to our needs. We had pleasant conversation with him as well and he made us feel valued as a customer. We ordered chicken samosas, chicken 65, butter chicken, butter naan, saag paneer, and lamb biriyani. First off, the presentation was impressive with its plating. Everything tasted freshly made. Overall, the serving portions were not skimpy, as I have experienced at other restaurants. Only the butter chicken was a little light in the amount of chicken served in the dish, but the flavor made up for it. It was excellent, along with all the other dishes! The presentation and serving of the lamb biriyani was cool to see. It was a particular style that is baked in a pot and covered with bread. It was then cut open by Amey, prior to serving. It was filled with flavorful pieces of lamb and tender rice. Every dish was full of flavor! We also tried their mango lassi. It was so good. It was also my daughter’s birthday and Amey brought out a complimentary dessert of gulab jamun for her. This is a popular dessert in India. It is deep fried dough that is immersed in a fragrant simple syrup. It did not disappoint, as I have been in the past at other restaurants . The dessert was buttery, tender in texture, and fragrant with cardamom and the perfect ending to our meal. We also met one of the owners of the restaurant. He made a point to take time to meet the diners at each table and converse with us. That made us feel very welcome and valued. Overall, we will definitely be back and give it five stars all around. Mom was very impressed. So happy to have this...

Wanted to give them five stars but we were disappointed with the service.

1. Food is upto par with any typical mediocre Indian restaurant, considering it’s in Tupelo we were kinda satisfied. We are originally from south Asian descent so very familiar with the local cuisine.

2. Service is negative five stars, don’t go over the weekend or holidays. Staff is very overwhelmed with no co-ordination. Communication is extremely poor between wait staff and kitchen. We ordered appetizers including chicken seekh kebabs and chicken malai boti and our party of 10 was done with eating all the food and appetizers were still not served despite asking several times. Finally after 1 hour we were told that kitchen is getting the order ready now, we eventually ended up saying to just make it to go. There wasn’t any real apology offered for all this as well. They did not seem to be bothered by it at all. We brought this to attention of the owner and he brushed it off and said oh kebabs take time, lol.

3. This was our second time and service was much better for first time given our party size was only 3. Food was also better the first time and we received attentive service. They need to pay attention to customer service.

4. This is our first time going to any Indian restaurant and meat is not halal. Some of our party members don’t eat non-halal meat and it was a set back. Hope they will bring halal meat in the future to be more inclusive in the future.

5. When we opened our to go box at home our order was wrong, there were no chicken malai kebabs packed we paid for and they put something like this in the...

We had the pleasure of dining at Namaste last night, and it was a fantastic experience! Having lived in Memphis for over a decade, I’ve developed pretty high standards for Indian cuisine — and Namaste exceeded them in every way. It is in a building transformed from a rustic BBQ joint, into a beautiful restaurant with decorative Indian art and rugs adorning the walls and ceilings.

We sampled several dishes, starting with the butter chicken and lamb tikka masala, both ordered medium spice. The flavors were rich and layered, and the chicken was so tender it practically melted in our mouths. The chicken tandoori arrived at the table steaming hot, fresh off the grill, with a deep smoky flavor that was delicious.

We also tried the chicken biryani, which was prepared “parda” style — sealed with a bread crust to lock in flavor. It had a bit more heat than the other dishes and brought a wonderful contrast to the meal. They provided a cool yogurt sauce to cut the heat. My son and son-in-law opted for the chicken vindaloo, extra spicy. They found it pleasantly hot but still well-balanced, with a sauce so good they joked it was drinkable. Naturally, we couldn’t resist a few orders of garlic naan, which were perfect for dipping in the sauces!

Our server, Avi, was fantastic — friendly, knowledgeable, and eager to recommend dishes. They know many in the area are probably new to Indian cuisine, and the staff is happy to answer questions and help guide choices.

We are thrilled to welcome Namaste to Tupelo and highly recommend...