Spicy Monsoon

This restaurant is Closed.
I attempted to go here a couple times, but the restaurant was not open (even during advertised hours).
Their phone number is disconnected, they don’t respond to emails, and a call to Living Social confirmed them as out of business. No fun.

Ok so I’ve been here about 5 times, owing to the fact that it’s about a stones throw away frm where I live. The very 1^st time I went, we ordered the veg biryani, and after about 5 mins they said they were out of rice. Understanding as we were, we ordered the stuffed naan, it was quite good. Twice I’ve had the idli here, soft as a feather cushion but the sambar is always an epic fail.
My most recent (n worst) exp, 2 weeks back, where we called in an hour earlier, clearly stating that we wanted our food at a particular time cos I’ve an infant at home. Ordered dosa, idli, veg biryani and butter paneer. Went there on the dot for pick up, a girl very politely came n told us there was no idli. What baffles me, is that I asked her if everything was available at least 10 times when I placed the order. Had to order the puri over there, tat took another 20 mins. Now for the sickening part. W went home, wondering y there was a nasty smell in our car. Only to find that the biryani was stinking of rotten fish. Dinner ruined.
My 2 stars are solely based on the fact that the service is always good and some of their food is really nice. Go here, eat the south Indian stuff and run home. I hope no one has a nasty experience like I did.

Namaste Unilocalers…
This place is great. My experience is based solely on the buffet that they serve for lunch. The selections change, daily, and they offer a nice vegetarian section along with a carnivore side.
I love my food spicy, and while the owner said her food is typically a bit spicier than others, I found that to be not the case. Don’t get me wrong, it was tasty and I will definitely be back, but the food was not spicy. I am going to order off the menu next go around to test their spice levels :)
If you dine in, you get complimentary naan bread and the service is great. I always love local shops, and it helps that the owner was kind and knowledgeable. Check this place out if you are craving Indian and happen to be in the neighborhood… just know that while they open at 11:30, the buffet was not completely ready until about 11:45 — 11:50…just in case you are short on time.

Friendly staff and clean-​looking place. Unfortunately, we didn’t like the food… at all.
Palak paneer tasted like pureed spinach with cubes of cheese (no flavor or spice whatsoever). The paneer butter masala tasted bland spice-​wise, and it was really hot, which caused an extreme burning sensation in my mouth from the peppers. Speaking of which… that’s definitely one of my pet peeves with bad quality Indian food… it’s so freaking hot (peppers) that you can barely eat it and there is little-​to-​no flavor to the dish.
Naan was good, but tasted a bit old. Also, the prices listed on their menu on their website are slightly different from what they have printed on their menus in the restaurant. Not a big difference (a dollar here. 50 cents there), but just worth nothing.
The quest for the best Indian in Austin continues…

IMO this is the best Indian/​Pakistani place in Austin. Food is always fresh and the place has been spruced up recently with a full scale renovation.
The menu is limited as compared to other Indian restaurants, but that only affirms the quality and freshness of the food. Some dishes are spicy and none are unedibly hot, which is the way it should be. A lot of other places over do the whole hot & spicy thing. Good Indian/​Pakistani food is spicy, not hot (unless if it is South Indian)

The significant other and I love this place. Our basic order generally consists of chicken tikka masala (butter chicken on the menu), garlic naan, paneer briyani (not on the menu, but they are very nice about making it) and a ton of samosas. Yes, we eat more than we should, but it’s so well priced and way better than g’mahal which is right down the street from us. Plus, every time I’ve been in, there are always older Indian people here, which let’s me know it’s probably pretty legit.
Also, the owner is always so nice to us when we come in, and while we’ve never actually eaten in, they’ve recently done some remodeling and it’s quite nice!
I’m giving this a 5 because it has great food at a good price, and I’ve never had a bad experience coming here.

I had two lunches scheduled back-​to-​back at Indian buffets, so I got to do my own north Austin Indian food smack down. Two men enter, one man leaves. Taj Mahal and Spicy Monsoon.
Spicy Monsoon gets better every time I visit. The owner comes out and visits each time, talking about whatever latest small business challenge she has met. Honestly, the results are mixed. But where there is variety, there can be unexpectedly great results:
— fantastic halwa. Best I’ve found.
— Always a decent chicken or goat curry
— Good biryani for a buffet. Better than expected.
— Tandori chicken with a little char on it. Imperfect, but good.
There was a fantastic accident on the buffet today. I asked the owner what its called. «chicken and cabbage» I fully expect a recipe I’d never heard. It was something she cooked up at home, liked it, and served it. Anything you don’t recognize is bound to be good, and probably won’t be there when you return. I side with experimentation.
I’ll be back. Frequently.

So I have gone here twice now. The second time I went, I have to say that the service was AWFUL! I was just going there to pick something up, but I had to wait forever. I called my order in. When I got there, a man in front of me was placing an order. Instead of asking if they could help me, the woman wandered off without even acknowledging me. Eventually she came back and I told her who I was. Then it took her about 10 minutes to figure out how to use the credit card machine. There wasn’t anyone dining in, so no excuse for the lack of service. Even with calling in my order, it took me 30 minutes once I got there to get my food and get out. The food was very good, but I left frustrated. I will take my rating down one star for bad service.

I went there for their lunch buffet, which was a reasonable deal. Their bread is very good but most of their food doesn’t taste good to me. It lacks… substance (other than ghee) and it’s not flavored very well. It has a hole-​in-​the-​wall décor in a bigger place. The lighting is fluorescent and there’s no music, so I can’t give it points on ambiance.
I might still go back there because it’s right next to my house, but I prefer other places in North Austin.

After reading the hit and miss reviews, I thought I’d give this place a try. I love indian food and and this was a big disappointment. I went on a friday night around 7pm. There was only one table of 4. other than that, it was completely empty. Décor is very sterile with outdated furniture. Most of the staff looks rather unfriendly and you don’t feel welcomed.
I ordered pakoras as an appetizer. It took 20 minutes before they came out. I got the butter chicken… which was so spicy hot I was unable to eat more than a few bites. Some of the chicken also had cartilage I had to spit out. The rice was dry. My mango lassi was good. There are no descriptions as to what each dish is on the menu. I sat around for at least 20 minutes after the meal just waiting to ask the waitress for a to go container. Nobody came by the table after the food was served to check on us. There’s more staff than patrons in the restaurant so I don’t understand the lack of attention.
This was overall a pretty bad experience that I’ll never subject myself to again. It wasn’t even close to being acceptable. There are much better indian restaurants in the area.

Not the worst I’ve ever had, but I certainly won’t be going back. The signs out front said «under new management» so maybe that’s the problem because the other reviews lead me to believe this would be okay.
We walked in to a pretty bad first impression. 7pm on a Saturday night and there was NO ONE there. It smelled kinda strange and other than the table tops nothing looked very clean (white floors make it really obvious when you do a half-​assed job, and the high chair was covered with crumbs and stuck on food, including big globs of something bright red on the legs — dried jello?). I should have walked out, but I didn’t. Note for next time, trust my instincts.
Nothing was so bad I would send it back, but nothing merited a second serving either. The Pakoras were too greasy and just didn’t taste great. The butter chicken was not to my taste (not buttery enough and I just didn’t like the flavor). The shish kabob (not spelled this way on the menu but this was how it was pronounced) was a big sausage without casing, which surprised me since I was expecting cubed meat and veggies, but the menu has no descriptions so it is a total crap-​shoot and it wasn’t good either, I had one bite and didn’t come back for more. The garlic naan wasn’t smeared with a nice garlic paste so the taste was evenly over the bread, instead there were enormous half-​clove sized pieces so you had no garlic or a mouthful depending on which bite you were on. The plain naan and the paneer in spinach (why can’t I remember the name of this dish?) were okay. Overall everything was greasier than either myself or my husband would have liked.
As mentioned by others, the service left something to be desired. I didn’t order dessert and I won’t be coming back for seconds.

Excellent: Behari beef and Naan
Mediocre: Palak Paneer
Subpar: Chicken korma (seemed old or reheated)
As you can see, the menu is hit or miss. Prices were reasonable (~$ 8 per dish). The restaurant was clean and well lit. However, it was quite warm when I was there — not sure if the A/​C was just broken or if it’s always like that. Also, the waitress, while very nice, could be a little more professional. She was holding our water glasses at the top edge (easily remedied by using straws) and her thumb was submerged in the raita as she served us a bowl (not so easily remedied…). Finally, just in case the owners are reading this, a little Indian/​Pakistani décor would add a lot to the ambiance.
Bottom line: If you can’t go to Houston for your Indo-​Pakistani food fix, this is an acceptable substitute. It definitely has the potential to be great if the owners can make a few fixes.

I love great indian food and since moving to Austin have been looking for a place to go for my weekly fix. I’ve shopped around a bit but I don’t need to look any futher, Spincy Monsoon is the real deal.
The samosas were perfectly seasoned and filled with a delicious vegetable mixture. The chicken takka was super tender and flavorful and the Goat Biriyani rice was some of the best I’ve ever tasted. We washed it all down with Mango Lassi’s that were both refreshing and delicious. The service was excellent and the atmosphere is perfect for a low key evening meal. Overall, easily 5 stars. I’ll definitely be back soon.

This is a quaint little Indian/​Pakistani place that has exceptionally good food. For a buffet the dishes were spicy and not the usual Indian buffet type, lots of great tasting uncommon dishes. The dish trays are small which means that the food is often fresh as they add more food. This has become my new favorite Indian/​Pakistani buffet place, even though the drive is a bit long I can always justify it as a trip to eat and go to Fry’s.
The décor is simple but very clean, sometimes you smell the bleach from the kitchen when they open which means they are doing an extra good job at keeping the kitchen area clean.
Overall, if you like spicy Indian and Pakistani food then you have to try this place.

Went there last night in a party of 3.
Ordered the BBQ platter (all kinds of tandoor meat), Palak paneer, and Chicken Kat-​A-​Kat (a chicken «street» dish, very spicy and savory) with some garlic naan.
It was the best Indian meal in Austin so far, dishes were well prepared, well spiced, and no complaints.
The Palak paneer was not the best ever, however as leftovers the flavors blended much better.
The place has an austere decoration, however don’t let this fool you, the food is certainly very good and doesn’t seem to be as americanized as other Indian restaurants.
It is as good as it gets.

I love Indian food. That being said I am not a big fan of the Indian Buffet. I prefer quality over quantity. My husband on the other hand is a big fan of the Indian buffet. We saw a coupon in the Chronicle for a buy one get the other half off at this buffet and decided to wander up north and give this place a try. The chicken Korma tasted like non I had ever had before and had mores bones then chicken it. It also seemed like the base was of oil, not cream and nuts and spices. I felt bad because the owner asked how things were when we left and I said pretty good. If he would have looked at my plate he would have seen that everything I put on it had one bite taken. On the plus side I didn’t consume too many calories for a change.

Didn’t taste like chicken… some unidentifiable items.
The naan was delicious.
a girl can’t live on naan alone unfortunately.

Went to Wells Branch for dinner. This is a new Indian restaurant and they just opened for 2 months.
It’s located at the corner of Mopac and Howard Ln. The traffic was good enough before. After the highway was built, there are less and less traffic to bring the business in. At the dinner time, this business corner is so quiet.
I like spicy Indian food. So I ordered coconut based Goat Kurma and creamy chicken dish butter Chicken. Both of them tasted so good. Both dishes came with rice, but I like naan more. So I also ordered two naans. They are so fresh. Totally loved the experience.
It’s a small family owned restaurant. The kid was watching the netflix movie from the big tv, I was totally into that movie too.
The whole family was so polite and friendly.
The dish portion is not very big, but the price is all under $ 10. So very reasonable price.
BTW, I used their WIFI to surf. value added service.

This place is AMAZING!!! I’m from LA, and I would definitely go back to Austin just for this restaurant! My college roommate was from India and I haven’t had anything as good as her food… until I found Spicy Monsoon.
Everything is so delicious! I can’t even choose one dish… chicken, lamb, veggies, dal, naan, everything hits the spot!!!

Best Indian food in Austin! Seriously.
I grew up in India and have a hard time finding good Indian food in the States, especially in Austin. It’s a bit north, but worth the drive. Reminds me of my mom’s food, so I’ll definitely be going back regularly.
Actually authentic, and you can ask to make it spicier.
cheap and very friendly staff.
Also great vegetarian options! I loved the dal!