Bikanervala Dublin — Restaurant in Washington Township

I know that most people who give reviews are the ones who are disgruntled and dissatisfied with any place, so I think it is also important to note when some place is good. And I will leave an honest and everything-on-the-table review so it is fair and just.

Yes, it is crowded. yes, they just opened. Yes, the restaurant is small and working tirelessly to accommodate everyone and trying to make sure everyone gets a table and gets to order. When we first went, we encountered a conversation between the guy outside and one of the staff from inside saying - "don't let anyone inside, there is no space, take their name and let them wait". This did make us side-eye each other and we were going to pick up our order and leave but halfway through deciding, they said they have space inside and then there was another 15mins of wandering and checking what space would work. If you are expecting a first class service restaurant, this is not the space. If you have ever been to any restaurant in India like Saravanaa Bhavan, this is a fairly common situation to manage crowd and I do believe they are doing their best to accommodate everyone. Yes, some people can get hurt on not getting served immediately and treated like a king or expecting a fine dining experience but I do not fault them; they just opened and everyone wants to try their food. The crowd will become more manageable as the initial interest goes away.

Now the food, whatever we ordered was served well, the owner even checked the tea before making sure it was served to us and asked us multiple times if it is okay so needs to be re-made. And mind you, the tea was 2.99$. I would visit again just to have chai-pakora. The bill was also very light on the wallet and unlike "Neehees" there was so stale smell or "aftereffects" of the food so far. Everyone in our party enjoyed the dishes.

The sweets are what bikanervala are known for. The sweets are amazing and definitely worth it. The staff were kind, jolly and simple lovely. Shout out to Bhavya (sorry!), the owner, and all the staff who constantly checked in with us(our server Luz), offered extra sweets and chatted with us. I will definitely be...

I was present when the incident mentioned in the previous review (by Sowmia Venkatesh) occurred, and it left us feeling quite uncomfortable. There were no visible signs or any staff members providing information about the rules when we first entered the restaurant, which made it feel very rude when the staff asked a customer to vacate their table.

Additionally, the weekend before the restaurant officially opened, we were excited to check it out. We saw the new place, and the door was open with people inside and food being served, so we decided to go in. Again, there were no signs to inform us of any restrictions. We waited in line, and when we reached the counter, we were told that they were only serving sweets that day, as it was open exclusively for friends and family. We had no prior knowledge of this. After that experience, we almost decided not to return. However, we decided to give it another shot and visited a few days later.

On our second visit, we ordered the deluxe thali, which was quite good. The poori and aloo bhaji were okay, but the portion of bhaji was smaller than expected and didn’t seem proportional to the amount of poori.

Eager to try more dishes from the menu, especially the ones featured in the pictures on the walls, we went back today. We were hoping to enjoy some tea and snacks, but once again, they were not offering many of the items displayed on their large screens. Instead, there was a small paper menu near the counter with very limited options. To make matters worse, they were out of chai! (How can an Indian restaurant run out of chai?). We ended up ordering pav bhaji and chole bhature, but there was no pav in paav bhaji ; instead, we received dry, hard bread that turned into rusk by the time we ate it. The chole was just okay.

On a positive note, the sweets were excellent, and the lady serving food was very pleasant...

We went there a few days after opening. I don’t believe they were prepared for such a large number of people, and very few servers. Anyway, I dont mind that, and as it stabilizes it should experience better being there. My review would be focused on the food and presentation itself. We were only 2, so it was easy to find a table. We first saw many people ordering chole bhature and after gathering from them that it is good, we decided we would try something else for the review sake. We asked if they had the burger meal and they did not at the time. They didn’t have friend momos either. We were told they since they just opened, they would start full service a week later. We then ordered samosa chat and realized they used the same chole as chole bhature(or at least it looked it it) on top of samosa. It was delicioussss. We then ordered dahi puri. Wasnt sure if it was double layered, but the puri was very crisp, and did not get soggy after a while which typical dahi puris do. Also was very sweet, cold and tasty.somebody with a sweet tooth would love it. We finally ordered onion kulcha with makhani dal and raita. Onion kulcka was soft, and makhani dal was creamy. Raita was good. We finally finished it off with gulab jamun which we felt was standard. We really liked everything we ordered. If you’re going there in March/April of 2025, do give it a try but be patient as your order can be a little slow due to the crowds. We would surely return to try the rest...