Kama Bistro - Wicker Park — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Some good things. Some need a lot of work.

Let's do the good first.

7 people, bunch of stuff.

Roasted cauliflower (don't know what's it called as it's not on their online menu). This was TERRIFIC. A simple yet flavorful half head of cauliflower.

SeaBass. This was DEVINE. It had the skin on and the fish was cooked BEAUTIFULLY. In spite of it being a narrow but thick piece, the fish was really flavorful, juicy and did not dry out. The mash potatoes and sauteed spinach, while not something I tie with Indian food was ok. The fish was just fabulous.

The saag masala was a nice touch. Lighter and not as bold as you would get a traditional Indian restaurant but still extremely flavorful.

The naans we got were really fresh, soft and hmmmm, yummy.

The lamb shank; the gravy on this was FANTASTIC. It was so good I couldn't stop. The lamb while flavorful was disappointing in terms of of how it was cooked. See lamb shanks I've had before (at very average places) actually fall off the bone. You need just use your fork and the whole piece comes off. This was not cooked like that. I had to use a knife to get the meat off and finally went all in with hands. I have no problem with going all hands in but just said that it wasn't cooked to perfection.

Paneer lemon tadka was a disaster. While I understand and to a certain extent appreciate efforts for creating fusion, this dish just did not work out well; at least not to a South Asian palette. I 'think' it might be geared towards an Americanized palette so I can't say that it's not something that should not be on the menu. It just didn't do it for any of us.

We ordered 3 deserts; the bourbon gulab jamun, the kulfi and the crem bule coconut putting (sorry, there is no desert menu online so don't remember what these are called)

The gulab jamun was way way way too sweet. The texture was alright. The kulfi itself was great and hit the spot. When paired with some kind of sour cream, didn't like it.

The biggest issue was the crem brulee desert. So when you think of a crem brulee, you expect to break the top with your spoon. That's not what we got. There was no breaking of anything (other than our hearts). The taste on this is two fold; when you put it in your mouth, the juicy and sweet flavors take over and create a magic in your mouth that leaves you wanting more. However, once the juicy flavor is gone, you are left with coconut pieces (a lot) which you have to chew and boy that was ANNOYING as it was taking away from the dish in a bad way. This desert has A LOT of potential but it needs major fixing.

The worst for the last (which is what triggered the 3 star instead of a 4 star). Knowledge. So as I mentioned, we ordered the crem brulee coconut desert. Once it arrived, we noticed there was nothing to break so thought maybe the server got us something different and made a mistake. We needed to clarify so we reached out to him to confirm. According to him, it was the right desert. However, he had to check his ordering machine to make sure he got us the right thing. To me, this has given me the impression that this guy had no idea what he just served so he looked at the order history to see what it was and then said yes, it is the creme brulee. Hmm, not good; not for a restaurant of this caliber. Unforgivable indeed. You cannot not have people who know their stuff on the floor. If they don't, they need training.

Additionally, when we shared with him that we were expecting a desert where you would have to break the top with a spoon but this is nothing like what we were expecting. He did apologize but added 'this is how we make it.' Ouch. Not a response you give your patrons my friend especially when you are trying to sell something that is available at every other restaurant around the world in a certain way and yours is nowhere close to what it 'should' be. In this instance, it was what he said and the way/manner he said it in that kind of...

5 stars for the food, hands down, but sadly (and it pains me to say this because I hate leaving negative reviews) 0 stars for service 😭

I booked our reservation for tonight, 11/30/24 at 7:30pm, for myself and 4 girlfriends on 10/29/24 (so a month in advance!). We arrived on time and were seated right away. The food was excellent! Everyone loved every single thing we ordered - explosive flavor, beautiful presentation, and well executed. Our cocktails were also wonderful.

However, our service left us a bit flabbergasted… Our waiter seemed fine at the beginning of our reservation. We placed our orders and everything came out timely, but we were missing one order of samosas. Our waiter didn’t come by to check on us until about 20 minutes later (they were busy, and it was Saturday night, so we didn’t mind too much), and I very nicely let him know we were waiting on one more order of samosas. He curtly told me I didn’t order samosas and that our table only asked for two orders. I replied that I ordered a third order, and he told me he’d get another order put in. Frankly, if there is any form of fried dumpling on a menu, my big booty is ordering it, so I knew I ordered them and was a little taken aback by our server’s response. Later on at 9:15pm — so less than two hours into our reservation — our server approached our table and told us we needed to leave because a large group was waiting for our table and his manager just yelled at him… We were in the process of divvying up our bill and were getting ready to leave, and we were so bamboozled that we were basically getting kicked out of the restaurant when we’d been there less than two hours… especially considering we’d had a reservation that had been reserved a month in advance. We were quite embarrassed and felt extremely unwelcome. We quickly understood why our server never asked if we wanted more drinks — because we obviously weren’t welcome to stay very long. Very strange ending to an otherwise nice meal.

Updated on 12/6: The chef and owner, Vikram, responded very nicely to my review, and we discussed further via email. Because of his response and wonderful customer service, updating my review to 5 stars. Thank you, Vikram! I really appreciate your...

We ordered a variety of dishes, including the Kerala Fish Curry, Goan Fish Curry, Lamb Rogan Josh, and Lamb Shank. The standout dishes for me were the Lamb Shank and Kerala Fish Curry. The lamb shank was tender and flavorful, and the Kerala Fish Curry was rich and creamy, thanks to the generous use of coconut milk. It paired perfectly with the bowl of rice served on the side. We also enjoyed the Lamb Chops appetizer, which came with four juicy pieces that were full of flavor. However, I did find that the Lamb Rogan Josh and Goan Fish Curry sauces tasted somewhat similar, with a tangy flavor that didn't quite live up to my expectations. As a Keralite who loves fish curries, I must say that the Kerala Fish Curry at Kama Restaurant didn't quite measure up to the authentic flavors I'm used to back home. However, the flavors were still good, and I appreciated the effort to recreate this traditional dish. We also had several drinks, and I highly recommend the Cloud Nine and Weekend Getaway cocktails. They were expertly crafted and delicious. However, there were a few issues with our order. The Lamb Rogan Josh initially came with chicken instead of lamb, which was a mistake. But our server was quick to rectify the situation and ensured that the correct dish was sent out promptly. Additionally, the atmosphere in the restaurant became quite smoky towards the end of the evening, which I assume was due to kitchen smoke. This caused my eyes to burn a bit, so I hope the restaurant can find a way to improve ventilation in the future.

Overall, I would still recommend Kama Restaurant to fans of Indian cuisine. The service was friendly, and the food was mostly delicious. With a few tweaks to address the minor issues I mentioned, I think this restaurant could be truly...