RAVIS Chao Phraya Indian -Thai — Restaurant in West Chester Township

I am an ethnic food fanatic, and I've eaten at almost every Indian restaurant in the greater Cincinnati area, as well as in many other parts of the country when traveling. When my former co-worker from Hyderabad found out, he insisted that I to go to Ravi's, for the best Indian food in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana. He told me "It is the closest thing you can get to being in Hyderabad, without having to go to India." While I can't evaluate the accuracy of that claim, what I can say is that the food at Ravi's far surpasses virtually every other Indian restaurant within 5 hours of Cincinnati. The amount of flavor in the curries is intense, in all of the right ways, and be warned that you do not get to choose your spice level, but the staff seem to be good at making sure it isn't too spicy for people who don't want it hot.

Let's take a second to talk about Biryani, because this is a dish that is really underrepresented in the range of Indian cooking styles in our region. Biryani is a saffron-spiced rice dish, cooked with a choice of meat, and/or veg only. The flavors that get developed in the sealed cooking vessel with all of the spices, veg, and meat (if so chosen) is remarkable, and I highly recommend ordering this if you've never had it.

The Dum Biryani is the classic style of biryani, but the 'Special' biryani is exactly that. They take a classic biryani and top it with an extra serving of '65 spice' seasoned meat of your choice. I have no idea what is actually in 65 spice, (and neither did my coworker when I asked him) but I had the paneer 65 appetizer to try it and it is amazing! Spicy, savory and deep flavor that gives whatever food it is used on a vibrant red color. It definitely brings some heat!

I can't recommend Ravi's enough. One thing of note is that the service is more of what I have come to understand is the 'indian style'. You will not be waited on in the same way that you are in an American restaurant, and I am fine with this. You will need to ask for more water, which in the ayurvedic tradition is not served with ice, and the take out containers for your leftovers (you will have them, portions are pretty generous) are in open shelves on the restaurant floor. Lastly the bill does not come to you at the table, your meal is over when you pack your food up and approach the register to pay. While it is different from normal American service, I have no problem with this kind of service, and in some ways appreciate that it isn't as overbearing as American service can be.

Bottom Line: go to Ravi's and enjoy the best Indian cuisine in the greater...

It pains me to leave this review. I have eaten here in the past and have recommended this place to so many people. It is the first place I had been to where their Indian food is actually spicy! I was so excited to eat here again. I ordered the same item as last time (bhartha) and requested a 7. The scale is 1-10. Last time the 7 was wonderfully spicy and I probably wouldn’t go above an 8. The gentleman taking my order was surprised, verified I really wanted a 7 and I confirmed I had gotten it before and loved it. He was like, cool. Then ordered a 5 for my husband’s meal. The owner came over while the guy was confirming our order and told us the 7 was really spicy. I again confirmed I was aware but was good with it. Our order was to go. So we had to wait a long time for our food, but ok fine things happen. Get home, so excited to have my mouth be on fire with delicious Indian goodness. THERE WAS NO HEAT AT ALL. Pretty sure the owner overrode my order and dropped me to like a 1 or 2. My husband’s food had more flavor, and we did not get them mixed up. He ordered a chicken dish. Mine was also made oddly. Not the normal Bhartha I am used to. It was like a masala base with sliced eggplant thrown in, when I ordered it the last time it was not like that. At this point I don’t know that I would go back since I can’t trust them to make what...

One of the worst experience of eating at a restaurant in Cincinnati area..we just dined in on April 27th at 9 pm at Ravi’s… The service was way below pathetic…We had to ask for water thrice, food was served but there were plates given to eat so we had to wait 5 mins to eat , no rice was served with Andhra Chicken, no raita or salan was served with Biryani - we asked but the server was busy attending the other party of 4. There were no customers other than that. So we ate without the side dishes. When the bill was bought - we asked for discount as the dish was incomplete but she just refused to give any discount either. We even told her that we are dissatisfied but there was no apology offered. I have dined at Ravi’s several times before but today was terrible and my last visit to this restaurant!

Response to Owner’s reply: Your response perfectly reflects the arrogant and poor attitude we faced. We had said that we are reaching in 2 minutes..just to save waiting time for food we had ordered in advance-not what you’re saying!!! We stayed there for more than 45 minutes!There were just 4 guys dining together in your tiny place. Anyways hope you focus on improving your service rather than being...