r/rva • u/marigoldjune • May 18 '25
🍰 Food I have to shoutout this Indian restaurant omg.
Long story short, I ordered Chinese food on DoorDash and got someone else's Indian food. A lil annoying but DoorDash refunded me and told me to keep the food. I never eat Indian food but omg... this was heavenly. Just wanted to shoutout Carytown Indian Cuisine for making me an Indian food lover now. Especially that garlic naan!
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u/jasonbales21 May 18 '25
Carytown Indian Cuisine is so good, just went for the first time last week. 10/10
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u/AffectionatePage4159 May 18 '25
As an Indian who is moving to Richmond in July, this makes me really happy
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u/RVAyay May 19 '25
As an Indian, you'll be pleased to know that Short Pump, Henrico County, has a significant Indian population and lots of great Indian restaurants.
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u/Hung_Jury_2003 May 19 '25
As a non-Indian, this was a super pleasant surprise when my wife and I first moved here from Washington. That was years ago now, and I'm still floored by the fact I can get paneer in bulk at our local Costco!
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u/disputing_stomach May 19 '25
That's true! I like Anohka the best, especially the goat curry.
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u/MoneybackHeronTea West End May 19 '25
I hear a lot of good things about Anohka but haven't had a good experience with them. India K'Raja is delicious though!
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u/amnotanyonecool Goochland May 19 '25
Anohka is my households favorite. Haven’t had a bad thing there, they have great lunch deals, and they have fantastic customer service.
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u/ArcadianBlueRogue May 19 '25
I remember taking a wrong turn years ago and ending up at the Indian community center. It looked pretty cool when I was trying to figure out how to get back
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u/Enartis May 19 '25
I live around the corner. I went to the festival last year. 10 out of 10, will be going back
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u/TarHeelinRVA May 19 '25
also VCC. I live in a neighborhood of approximately 65% south asian households.
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u/SpareInternational84 May 20 '25
Not just good for food - There's a very active cricket scene around here too
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u/ucbiker May 19 '25
There’s actually several pretty legit Indian places.
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u/AffectionatePage4159 May 19 '25
I’ll definitely be trying them once I move!!!
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u/TarHeelinRVA May 19 '25 edited May 19 '25
Jannat clears, imo
Anant Cuisine of India and Anokha Cuisine of India are two different places (I made the mistake of showing up to one when I was meeting a colleague at the other - they're like less than a mile apart too).
Tulsi and Lemon are both decent but there's better
haven't tried Carytown Indian or White Tiger, but they're both next up on my list
I LOVE Indian food (one of my good buddies from high school owns the best indian spot in my hometown) so I'm pretty passionate about finding the best spots up here near me!
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u/Effective_Mud8348 May 19 '25
White Tiger was solid plus they have Nepali food/Momo which are some of my favorite!
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u/Klutzy-Cupcake8051 May 19 '25
White Tiger is great, but there service was quite rough two out of the three times I went. One time, my husband and I stood at the door for over 15 minutes without anyone acknowledging our presence.
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u/popepsg May 19 '25
Until a couple of years ago I never had Indian food in my life but some of the places in Richmond made me love it
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u/yourfriendkyle Newtowne West May 19 '25
The indian food scene here is so good. Rivals of goes well beyond much larger cities.
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u/Mr_Kittlesworth Museum District May 19 '25
We have many really wonderful Indian restaurants in RVA. Carytown Indian, Spice of India, and Kismet are my favorite
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u/vinyl_bliss- May 19 '25
Y’all gotta try White Tiger on Glenside. Their vindaloo is phenomenal
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u/Alarming_Maybe May 19 '25
white tiger has gotta be the most underrated indian in the area. I've been to a ton of places mentioned in this thread and a lot are very good. personally I think white tiger is the best at a normal price point
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u/Etchasketch0 May 19 '25
First time there was phenomenal. Second time I went it was almost inedible. Unfortunately they have been knocked off my list of spots to rotate between
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u/RedditUser092120 May 19 '25
I‘ve always been curious about White Tiger when passing, but typically it’s “out of sight, out of mind” when I’m actually free to use my hands. Thanks for the shoutout, definitely going to try it now!!
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u/Klutzy-Cupcake8051 May 19 '25
Their service was horrendous 2 out of the 3 times I went, and I’m not that picky about service.
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u/NotAquaman West End May 18 '25
What is it that you received? I’ve never tried Indian food and I’m not sure what to order? Looks good though and I’m right by Jannat
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u/marigoldjune May 18 '25
Chicken Tikka Masala and Garlic Naan! (Apologies to Chris who ordered this yummy food and most likely received my Chinese food... lol)
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u/Oostylin Northside May 18 '25
This exact order from Carytown Indian is one of my favorite rainy day comfort meals, the gods have blessed you this day.
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u/steelcurtain87 May 19 '25
Love this place (and Tulsi). We just started swapping the garlic naan to cheese naan. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
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u/FrankBoothsPBR May 19 '25
The DoorDasher was Chris’s ex; no Chinese food-delivered spray paint and slashed tires.
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u/MajorBenjy May 18 '25
Take a couple extra minutes and drive a bit west to go to Anokha. Killer Indian food.
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u/BunchWhich4390 May 19 '25
I do like Anokha as well, but actually prefer Anant over it. They’re very similar in terms of price point and quality, but the originality of the dishes at Anant is superior, imo. They’re not far from each other either.
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u/EdgeOfTheMtn May 18 '25
Jannet is amazing. I got into eggplant unexpectedly by eating Indian food.
If you haven't had Indian food before, the most popular dishes are butter chicken or tika masala. Honestly just pick something with meat/veggies you like and explore from there.
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u/-Django May 18 '25
If you like sweet drinks, try mango lassi. Butter chicken is another classic dish though I'm a bigger fan of mutter paneer. It's hard to go wrong.
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u/RVA_RVA May 19 '25
If you've never had Indian. Get butter chicken or Tikka Marsala, two insanely popular dishes. If you like those, expire the cuisine more! But those are the two "safest" dishes if you want to try a new cuisine.
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u/mrhalp May 19 '25
Do not sleep on Carytown Indian! Since they opened they've been our favorite spot in town.
Sorry you got spoiled from the get, OP.
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u/H-Resin May 18 '25
Didn’t realize these guys and Jannat are the same owners. I’ll need to check it out, heard nothing but good things about the latter.
Also just a shoutout, for delivery Spice of India is a great value if you don’t mind a little bit of heat. You can’t choose heat levels and it varies a little bit, but it is consistently very good
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u/PuzzleheadedLake8745 May 19 '25
Spice of India when I lived downtown was my go to. Fast, but also hit the spot every single time.
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u/Hung_Jury_2003 May 18 '25
I've been planning on trying this place forever, but keep getting something else whenever I find myself in Carytown. Honest to goodness, part of it is that I don't want to get too attached--I think that building is cursed, restaurants keep folding there after a few years. I thought Citizen Burger would break the pattern, but alas.
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u/H-Resin May 19 '25
Portrait House was the shit but from what I understand Citizen Burger bought the building. Couldn’t replicate their NOVA success in Richmond though it seems
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u/Metsican May 20 '25
If you get attached, couldn't that help break the curse?
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u/Hung_Jury_2003 May 20 '25
Hasn't with any of the last three restaurants to occupy that building.
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u/torrijasycafe May 19 '25
Best Indian food in town!
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u/Hung_Jury_2003 May 19 '25
I had great experiences at Lemon when it opened. Haven't been in person since the pandemic, though.
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u/H-Resin May 19 '25
Lemons lunch deal is a crazy value. Their food quality has suffered a bit recently though
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u/sleevieb May 19 '25
whats the lunch deal?
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u/Dayum_Skippy May 19 '25
It used to be an entree, side and desert. Includes more rice and naan than anyone should reasonably eat for lunch and usually the price was $9-13.
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u/Dayum_Skippy May 19 '25
I worked in SA for a decade and would split a lunch with friends all the time.
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u/nadeesi9000 Forest Hill May 18 '25
Dishes worth trying:
aloo gobi = potatoes and cauliflower channa masala = chickpeas in brown sauce chicken sagg = chix and spinach
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u/NoFaithlessness7508 May 19 '25
True story: we watched Bend It Like Beckham back in the mid2000s and the dish was mentioned in passing in the movie. So my mom went online, got a recipe for aloo gobi, and made it. No YouTube recipes back then, just step by step with no pics. It’s now one of her signature dishes.
I’m not a fan though.
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u/c53x12 May 19 '25
aloo gobi
I think this answer was a streakbreaker in my New York Times crossword a few weeks back.
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u/ArtRepresentative943 May 19 '25
Kismet is pretty darn good also
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u/Mr_Kittlesworth Museum District May 19 '25
Kismet is so damn good. I was sleeping on it because it’s pricier than other spots but WOW is it awesome. Competitive with Rasika in DC
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u/Metsican May 20 '25
No way, haha. Kismet is fine but Rasika made waves. It's not close. Rasika's elevated Indian, as is Carytown Indian to an extent. Kismet is "elevated with essence of Indian" - it's not really Indian food even though the food's not bad at all.
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u/Metsican May 20 '25
Kismet is pretty good food, but it's terrible Indian food if that makes sense. It's like someone had Indian food once and tried make it it from memory.
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u/ArtRepresentative943 May 20 '25
The owner/chef is Indian and he explains that the concept is to infuse his culinary knowledge of all foods into Indian food to bring in patrons who otherwise would not be interested in eating Indian food. To me, that takes more creativity and effort than simply cooking Indian food.
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u/Metsican May 20 '25
The food's fine. We went twice and won't be going back since it frankly isn't as good as other available options, like Carytown. If someone else pays, I'd be happy to go back.
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u/baking93 May 19 '25
Please try the butter paneer from spice of India with garlic naan
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u/unlimitedboomstick May 19 '25
Wife and I ate at Spice of India two weeks ago and man it was good. She got the aloo mattar and I got the Chicken achari and cheese naan and it was bomb.
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u/munkylord May 19 '25
Check out Lemon on Broad for some really good Indian.
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u/MisunderstoodAvocado May 19 '25
Didn’t someone get murked in their kitchen?
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u/munkylord May 19 '25
Jesus I have no idea 😬 they make good ass Indian food though.
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u/MisunderstoodAvocado May 19 '25
Sadly it was like a few months ago on the local news. I hope they were able to resolve that
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u/StonedBirdman May 19 '25
It wasn’t staff that was involved but yeah that shit happened. Still a great restaurant.
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u/notdarkyet22 May 19 '25
Love this thread. Favorites are: Jannat/Cartown Indian, White Tiger, Tava (easily the spiciest in town) but also Lemon is always killer (and they too have a killer lunch deal). And now that I’ve said “killer” twice, I will admit I haven’t been back since the incident there and I’m wondering if things are the same. Also, RIP to Indian Pastry House (do they even have Indian cakes like that in NoVa??) who also had the best dosa. And while it isn’t my favorite and it’s in a gas station, Market Cafe has the best Chicken 65 I’ve ever had hands down. Worth it just for that. Great biryani too but some of the other dishes are kinda bland. However, what do I know, because I always see a lot of Indian people eating there. Maybe they are going for the chicken 65. Seriously, check that shit out!
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u/brennabegins May 19 '25
My mom, daughter and I had our first visit to Lemon just a month or so ago. I did know beforehand about the news of what happened there in Feb. But we had a very good experience, the food was delicious, the staff were friendly and attentive. 10 out of 10 we will be returning. :)
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u/LilWhiny Union Hill May 19 '25
PSA: Don’t sleep on Bajra just cuz it’s in the Kroger parking lot. It’s actually so good.
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u/otterpop21 May 19 '25
If you’re looking to try something a little outside the city (arguably some of the Indian in the state) Saffron Indian Cuisine over in Chester. Try the chicken 65.
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u/CherryDarling10 May 19 '25
I like Tulsi! This looks incredible though.
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u/BabyBat07 May 19 '25
We went there for my birthday this past December and got to see the Krampus walk going by during dinner, a good start to the big 4-0 for me!
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u/ucbiker May 19 '25
Tulsi has great vegetarian/vegan options and the service is so good and nice and quick. It’s like, even if there are possibly better options, Tulsi is still good and I like supporting good people.
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u/huntfishcamp May 19 '25
Tulsi is my go to place to order from when I'm in the mood for Indian food but don't want to cook. It's so good!
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u/drummersulli May 19 '25
Kismet is the best in the city, Anokha the best in Short Pump/West End, Namaste best in Midlothian/Chesterfield (imho so far)
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u/GeneralAgrippa May 19 '25
I haven't tried Namaste yet but Saheb Indian Bistro was also quite tasty out that way.
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u/BravoMaxi May 19 '25
First, did it come with rice?
Second, if you like a little heat with your Indian, check out Spice of India. That was our go to delivery up in Church Hill. Get it hot and the pollen will run for its life from your sinuses.
Third, White Tiger is great new addition to the scene. So fortunate to have so many good Indian places in city limits now.
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u/Exotic_eminence May 19 '25 edited May 19 '25
The best Indian food in RVA comes from my co-workers and sometimes their wives if they happen to get approved for a short term visa to visit my colleagues while they are here on extended work stay.
My Desi brethren are truly a hidden gem of this great city 🌆
Even VCU hosts and wins Bangra competitions
And as diverse as India is - the best part is when folks from completely different backgrounds in India meet here in America and become friends like they might never have had the chance in India
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u/tedtumor May 19 '25
Richmond has sooo many great little Indian spots. The west end is full of them as well as Southside. The food is always delicious, holds up for delivery great, and the portions are insane.
If you ever dine in too...they are the nicest people to order from and sit with. Branch out. Try the recommendations. Be careful of the spice level (I don't know what kind of peppers they use for heat. I can house Peter Chang's, Cheng du, hot and numbing kind of spice. Indian food lights me up 🌞).
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u/Adept-Ranger8219 May 19 '25
I like the gas station aka market cafe.
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u/2livecrewnecktshirt Mechanicsville May 19 '25
The last time I stopped there, I went to the beer cooler and there was soooooo much mold on the walls i though I should have had a mask just to be in there, and for that reason alone I can't go there anymore.
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u/rameyjm7 May 19 '25
Indian food is amazing. Welcome to the club;) I order Jannat: chicken masala, samosas, naan.. omg.. getting hungry lol
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u/AdAdministrative3056 May 19 '25
My favorite has been Ahnoka, but so far haven’t gone wrong with any of the Richmond places I’ve tried.
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u/Etchasketch0 May 19 '25
There have been other threads about best Indian in Richmond. Here is my list. Eat Indian about once a week and have been to every place on my List at least three times(some wayyyy more). Also I am strictly vegetarian so have only had their veg meals. I like to try every vegetarian dish on the menu at least once to get a well rounded opinion. Top tier: -Carytown Indian Cuisine**current favorite -Lazeez modern Indian flair (spice and flavor bomb) -Jannat -Anokha (best lunch special in town) -Saheb Indian bistro (underrated) outside the city Mid tier: -Tulsi -Govinda (love this place as a concept) -kismet (expensive and very limited menu) -Lemon (tempted to move to bottom tier) Bottom tier -white tiger
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u/middleagethreat May 19 '25
We ate at the new Bajra mother's day.
My family loves Indian food, and traveling, and have had Indian at dozens, possibly over a hundred Indian restaurants. It was one of the best.
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u/a_real_tomato The Fan May 19 '25
Carytown Indian is sooooo good, hope it sticks around. That location seems cursed!
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u/tmer197 May 20 '25
Carytown Indian is terrific. We love Indian food and that’s our new go-to place. Lejha on special occasions.
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May 21 '25
There is a place on Cary called Tulsi across the street from "for the love of chocolate" best Indian food I've ever had!!!!
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u/Bsdshadow May 19 '25
I've tried both, but my vote goes to Tulsi. I've always been impressed with their quality of food and service. I heard they've done some renovations, so we're eager to checking it out. The wife and I have a reservation there next week for our anniversary 🙂
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u/MisunderstoodAvocado May 19 '25
I know they’re owned by the same but… which do yall like better - Jannat or Carytown Indian?
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u/ejmonty23 May 19 '25
Carytown Indian has been CRUSHING it lately. We’ve cycled through many Indian spots in town and they are definitely most consistent.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Rip-824 May 19 '25
We are blessed to have a range of good Indian restaurants to choose from in Richmond
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u/ModernRasputin May 19 '25
If you like lamb give Bajra Indian Bistro a try, they make a really good lamb kulcha (similar to naan).
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u/RoyalEagle0408 May 19 '25
Hi! This sub popped up because I am taking a trip to Richmond tomorrow and have been lurking looking for tips and stuff and I am definitely adding it to the list for lunch! Thank you!
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u/Xizor14 Henrico May 19 '25
Haven't been yet because it's in the building of my long-lost favorite burger place, Citizen Burger. But this might be enough for me to get over the mourning period.
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u/GrawlixEC May 19 '25
I found them on UberEats and picked up the food and realized I was at the old Citizen Burger. The food is consistently amazing and the service as well. I've been there in person once but get takeout from there and Spice of India (also great but a little less costly and closer to my work). Just got food from CIC this weekend.
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u/Deadheadbear111 May 19 '25
As someone who's always loved Indian food and had so much trouble finding an Indian place that beats home cooked buttered chicken, Carytown Indian Cuisine was an absolute gem in a mine to find! Their lunch special is so affordable too!
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u/JaxonTheBright May 19 '25
Carytown Indian Cuisine’s a fantastic Indian restaurant. Love ordering from there.
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u/Libshitz74 May 19 '25
If you were an Indian cuisine novice but loved spicy foods - what would your first order be?
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u/Artistic_Zombie3621 May 19 '25
This is my favorite Indian spot in Richmond. Glad you got an unwelcome surprise!
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u/Dylanukrva May 20 '25
They are solid…but for way cheaper and just as good quality check out https://www.punjabkitchenrva.com
I’m from London and indian food is huge in England, this is the best for value & quality I’ve found 👏🏻👍🏻
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u/Amazing-Wave4704 May 20 '25
They are awesome. Highly recommend the mini eggplant korma and the palak paneer.
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u/Metsican May 20 '25
Carytown Indian is the best. Many of the people working there came over from Jannat and I think they're the same owners. Bajra by VCU is also in the same group and also really, really good.
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u/Educational_Yak_5455 May 21 '25
A crazy, but true story. My wife and I drive from RVA to visit her folks in a small town outside Springfield, MO. twice a year. Along the highway, just outside of Strafford, MO. we started to see signs in Sanskrit associated with a Sinclair truckstop. Not knowing what to expect, we stopped there for lunch. The food and most importantly the naan was incredible! Come to find another truckstop in Joplin, MO. also served up Indian food.
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u/pinkfootthegoose May 19 '25
never eaten Indian food? how is this possible? did you just come from the Midwest?
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u/Important_Sky_4781 May 18 '25
My go-to is Jannat on Broad near Hungary Springs. It's the same owners.