Himalayan Restaurant on Lake ST - Meh At Best

Veggies..."Where I can find some veggies for dinner?"

Himalayan Restaurant on Lake Street Disappointed

Veggie-pursuit...not breaded, not deep-fried, maybe an interesting sauce.......

Let's give the Himalayan Restaurant a try...Nepalese food should satisfy my need for veggies.

Not too crowded, and a few places in the parking lot...we headed inside and were seated at a nice quiet corner table with windows above.   The deep ledge held plants in great pots and an assortment of other items.   We also had a great view of the hanging baskets that brightened the patio.

Lots of veggie-based choices, so I quizzed the server about the difference between the asparagus with potato vs the eggplant with potato.  Glad I asked...even though the descriptions were almost identical, the asparagus apparently came with no sauce (not really sure how this would be).   So I chose the eggplant in mild-medium sauce (it's been a tough day....that was as much spice as I thought I could handle).   John chose the veggies in curry sauce with medium to hot spicing...and smartly, he added dumplings as an appetizer.  This turned out to be the best decision of the evening.

Himalayan Restaurant Disappoints

Himalayan Restaurant Dumplings

We waited for awhile...then awhile longer.   Honestly, the wait was too long for an appetizer in a place that was only 1/3 full...nearly 15 minutes.  We had veggie dumplings filled primarily with broccoli and finely diced onion.   They came with a slightly too salty sauce that didn't really pair well with them...it might have been better dancing with some meat dumplings.  So, we enjoyed the dumplings on their own.

Himalayan Restaurant on Lake Street

Then another wait...maybe another 5-10 minutes after we finished the appetizer...and the two ramekins arrived plus a ramekin of rice.   John immediately thought the portions were too stingy for the price...about $13.95 per entree.  But we dug in, each starting with a little of both dishes.   

First things first...it was pretty hard to tell that John's dish was 2 steps up in 'heat' from mine.   Overall mine had a nice level of spicing, while his was mostly mild then you'd hit a bite of hot pepper.   That was pretty inconsistent.

John's dish had a more pleasant flavor...nice amount of curry in a smooth creamy sauce.   But, the dish was 75% sauce.   By contrast, my dish had both a 'bottom of the pot' sense which made it too intense,  plus the bitterness that happens with eggplant and coriander when you don't have enough of something sweet (or at least bland) as an offset.  My dish, like John's, had a really stingy veggie to sauce ratio.   I had exactly one diced square of potato...John said he found 3 in his part of my dish.   More potato would have offset some of the bitter notes on my plate.  Johns' dish had some cauliflower and tomato, a bit of spinach, and some onion.   Both dishes really ended up being two ramekins of sauce with a small portion of veggies in each.

My dish suffered from the additional problem that it was inconsistent across the ramekin.  When I reached the opposite end from where I began, then I was 'rewarded' with 2 bites of fennel seed.   There was one bite of herb at the end, too.   The first 4/5 of the dish lacked any of these elements.

We'd say we were disappointed.  We went out seeking veggies and ended up with 2 ramekins of sauce with a smattering of mostly overcooked veggies in each.   My sauce was too aggressive (probably been in the pot awhile) and in both, the veggies had spent too much time in the hot tubs from which they were plucked.

The dumplings were solid...the accompanying sauce was a mismatch.

We found it spendy at $34 for the 2 skimpy entrees and an appetizer dumpling plate, especially since our dinner was mostly sauce.  The environment was pleasant, especially in the evening with the setting sun through the windows, but the service, while friendly, mostly consisted of bringing the plates and then never returning.

This Visit: Himalayan Restaurant Overall Rating:  2.5 stars