Chai Bazaar Indian Restaurant & Take Out — Restaurant in Vallejo

Great food, great service, and military friendly!!

I came to this place the other day after hearing about it from my family.

It is family-owned and operated and run by a very sweet young couple who immediately greet you when you walk in (“Hello sir!” and “Welcome Aunty!” is what I heard a few times while I was there).

The staff seemed very friendly and made every effort to help you find what you were looking for and kept mentioning their fresh-made Indian food, which I decided to try as I love Chicken Tikka Masala and admired all the effort they made to highlight their menu.

They also offer you a fresh cup of chai as you wait for your order (they’ll literally pour you a cup after you order your food).

The husband (whose name I did not catch…or I probably forgot it after he told me - sorry bro!) was very kind and sweet to all the Aunties in the store (there were tons!) and he even asked me about my military service as he seemed very supportive of service members.

I also saw this guy work really hard as he was helping customers find something one minute, then bouncing back into the kitchen to help put together someone’s to-go order (he’d talk to the cook while reading off a giant iPad to verify everything was there), then rushed to the very front to help assemble a brand-new shelf they were putting up in another aisle.

When I asked him about his business, he mentioned that COVID really took a toll on him, but he was committed to still keep going and even said that he now has a 2nd job driving shuttles in the afternoon to keep his business alive, which I thought was really touching as I don’t think you could get any more American than that - a hardworking guy who is driven to keep his family business going no matter what.

I ended up buying a big order of Chicken Tikka Masala, a giant stack of Garlic Naan, and a few orders of Samosas to go - all of which tasted very fresh and rich.

Based on my first impression of this place and family-friendly vibe I got from it, I think it’s definitely worth checking out if you are looking for a nice Indian store with some great Indian food and want to support a local family-owned business that works very hard to make you feel welcomed...

I’m very sorry to give this review but our food was basically inedible. We got carry out last week and could not have been more disappointed with the flavors. I got food to go once when they were still a grocery store and thought the flavors were good but not this time. My wife, who will eat almost anything, agreed that it was nasty and we both threw it away. We don’t do that and we’d bought enough to have leftovers for lunch but it was offensive to the point of causing us to wonder if it was all rotten. We got 3 very different style curries and they were all off by a lot. I hate to say anything bad about a small business but our experience was raunchy and I hope the folks running it will make significant...

I was excited for this new place opening up. Tried calling few times, never had luck anyone picking up. Nice location and set up I will give that up front. Stopped by and finally ordered a 3 curry meal. Nicely suited employee scraped the remaining 7-8 pieces of garbanzo to make my 3 curry complete. Was surprised by the portion size for a meal.

Hate to say it but Jag uncle in the front had hard time understanding my hindi and english and charged me for the chai. which I thought was complimentary but not. Its just a dollar but was not up to the taste at all. I would wait to go back if things change.

2 stars for the location and setup. The three stars would remain unpaid for the service and food...