Desi Village

The food is below subpar. Service sucks. Avoid this place. There are better indian places in university city

The chicken tikka masala, veg samosa and mango lassi are extraordinary and a chicken biryani is a bit specie but it taste good

I have had two experiences with Desi Village. The first was 2 years ago, so I won’t write a review for that. What I will say is that it was a poor enough experience that it took my husband and I this long to give it a second chance.
Last night we were craving Indian, and I recently saw the GrubHub sign outside Desi Village’s storefront. So we said, «oh heck, why not?» Our first experience had everything to do with poor service, and we didn’t remember the food being bad.
Delivery came quickly. That was nice. We sat outside in our yard by candlelight and began to eat. I got a chicken tikka curry, and my husband ordered eggplant. He loved his dish and practically licked the bowl. He enjoyed the naan and his giant veggie samosas. His only complaint after was that he felt like he ate way too much starch, and it was catching up with him.
My chicken curry was 2.5 stars. The sauce was lovely, but the chicken was tough, as though it had been microwaved too long and added to the curry. I also had Mulligatawny soup, which was 90% salty broth with some bits of spinach floating in it. Kind of non-​descript, but edible. I added a side of mango chutney, because I am a mango addict. The chutney was very gelatinous, and strangely just as salty as it was sweet. So I only used a bit of that. We got a free mango lassi because our order totaled a certain amount. The lassi was heavy on yogurt and milk, light on mango.
Now, let me say this – I have some food sensitivities that typically don’t apply when eating Indian. They’re usually a problem with asian cuisines. I get extreme bloating immediately after consuming anything with MSG in it, followed by worse problems. I also avoid gluten, because it irritates my system on a milder level. I can usually get away with a bite or two of bread, or a sip of beer, and I’m unaffected. On this occasion I had a sip of my husband’s beer earlier, and I had a little bite of naan, Naan is the hardest of all breads to abstain from. Gluten-​free peeps, I am sure you can relate.
But what happened to my body 20 minutes into my meal was equal to the gluten attack that first made me give it up, which involved half a Dock Street pizza and growler of IPA. Plus, I had all the symptoms of an MSG attack. I stood up after eating and I had to sit back down. It felt like I had swallowed a hard plastic ball full of air. My skin hurt from my stomach expanding so quickly. It was bad. I’ll spare you the details.
I have no way to prove that Desi Village uses MSG, but no other ingredient has ever caused this kind of instant reaction. If you are sensitive to gluten or MSG, or have IBS, I suggest that you avoid this establishment. There’s a place on 40^th and Chestnut that clearly labels all their GF entrees in their extensive buffet. A much safer option. You’ll be fine, just watch your portions.
The funny thing is, I accidentally ordered from that place on Chestnut first. I had to call the restaurant and GH to cancel the order so I could get what I wanted from Desi, which had a much shorter wait time. This was probably an omen I should have heeded. I am so sorry, irritable bowels.

August 14,2015. My daughter and I enjoyed a different cuisine. Never had Indian cuisine. Veggie platter. Very good.

The food here is subpar. I ordered chicken tikka, biryani, and naan. It was all subpar. There really arent any good words to describe my experience here… Imma keep it movin

We ate here for lunch on Saturday. What a treat!
Both of the dishes we ordered were delicious, and the portions were fair. We both left full but without much to take home (other than a lot of rice). The prices are about what I would expect for a sitdown restaurant in this area. The service was fast, friendly, and attentive.
As the other reviews mentioned, the atmosphere leaves a little to be desired. This is a no-​frills restaurant where the food is the primary focus. I wish they offered lunch buffets here!
We will definitely be returning here in the near future.

Food was good but the chutney was really gross they added green food coloring I do not recommend the chutney at all

This food tastes like mediocre leftovers warmed up in the microwave. The service is very poor. They don’t ask you during the meal nor after whether the food was good or not. The rice was dry and the chicken was hard as if it had been warmed up multiple times. I would not recommend this place unless you are absolutely desperate for Indian food. Skip it and go to mood café for a chicken Chaat instead.

I really like it here! The food is really flavorful and filling. It’s pretty standard Indian that you can get across UCity, but something about this place is better. Everything is piping hot and really fresh.
My friend and I had questions about some of the ingredients in the dishes and the manager/​owner came right out and explained things fully. The waiter was constantly filling our water glasses and seemed genuinely curious about whether we enjoyed our food. I dig.

I’ve only eaten here once and was very disappointed. The entrees were too greasy and oily (layer of oil at the top of each). They were also lacking in flavor. I don’t think I’ll be going back.

This is by far my favorite restaurant in West Philly and one of the best Indian places I’ve tried — and I’ve tried a lot! My go-​to is the chicken tikka masala with garlic naan. The sauce is incredible and the amount of chicken included seems to have increased over time. I also love the lamb vindaloo and just recently had the aloo cholley for the first time and was very pleased. One of their house specialties is the baingan bhartha which is an eggplant dish — it’s really good but the eggplant is mashed so it didn’t totally satisfy my vegetable fix! Whenever I actually go to the restaurant to eat I order the vegetable somosas (amazing!!) and the mango lassi. Service is pleasant and delivery is fast!

I normally don’t like to review places I’ve ordered from only one time, especially when I order only one entrée. However, my experience with Desi Village tonight was considerably less than stellar.
My primary gripe at the moment is that the deliveryperson who brought the food to my building was incredibly rude to the lovely people at the front desk. I have only secondhand information, but I know that he left the food there and stormed out, blatantly disregarding the protests that the front desk could not be responsible for the food left there. I understand that I ordered pretty close to closing time, but behavior like that is unacceptable no matter the circumstances.
The food itself was unappetizing. I ordered Paneer Makhani, which I normally love. Unfortunately, it looked absolutely disgusting, and when I tasted it, it was very bland. The few flavors I could make out were unpleasant.
Why two stars instead of one? The naan was absolutely delicious.

I ordered from Desi Village recently via Grub Hub. The food far exceeded my expectations. I got the samosa chaat and chicken ginger-​garlic kababs. The chaat was just what I hoped and delicious, and was enough to last me for 2 meals. The kababs on rice were incredible. Very flavorful and left me feeling satiated but not overly full. I plan on ordering from Desi Village often! (Plus, delivery was very fast via GrubHub and there’s no delivery fee.)

Desi Village seems to go in a swing of good then bad based on time of year and whose cooking. Unfortunately we ate last night and was back to being beyond ‘meh’. The chicken tikka masala was limited in actual chicken or veggies (2 chunks of peppers versus the normal veggie heavy dish), the sauce was way too sweet without much flavor and the chicken was over cooked so badly it was hard to chew. The samosas got thrown away after one bite and luckily they didn’t screw up the naan or rice. Disappointed as I would love to love this neighborhood spot but unfortunately won’t be coming back.

I wish there was an option for no star. Decided to try it out during University City dining days. It’s the shabbiest, dingiest restaurant I’ve ever seen that was still open for business. The place is just plain dirty and grungy looking. From the front door that used to be white to the caked on dirty, dirty carpet. The walls are just disgusting and need a good bleaching. I was afraid to eat there & was surprised that the place was moderately full. If the dining area looked like that I can only imagine what the kitchen looks like. Btw the website showcases pics of somebody else’s massive gorgeous clay oven. Such deceptive advertising. The place was just plain disgusting and dirty. Stay away. Don’t even waste your time. So many beautiful clean aesthetically pleasing restaurant choices in the area. Someone please call the Dept of Health – it really was that nasty.

This place is excellent. Really high quality fresh spices and delicious meat and the best northern Indian sauces. Ordering out through seamless is affordable and eating in you have big quantities and a festive time. They really care about their craft here.

If you ate at any Indian restaurant in West Philadelphia, you’ve eaten at them all. They all share the same themes – lukewarm curries and masalas prepared by cooks heavy-​handed with the cream, butter/​ghee, and oil, sagging naan, and deeply fried meat and vegetarian dishes. All served with heaps of undercooked rice and slowly served/​delivered. Desi Village is no different.

Ordered the same thing I get at every Indian Restaurant since I was a child:
Veggie Samosa’s & Chicken Tikka Masala
Veggie samosas were okay, they doused them in sauces before they were served so I didn’t have the option of how much, little, or if any sauce I wanted to use.
Chicken Tikka Masala was perfect consistency and taste, but not very large portion!
MOST IMPORTANTLY: I Specifically chose this restaurant because Unilocal said they had outdoor seating and they allowed dogs. FALSE ON BOTH COUNTS. However, since my dog is a registered service animal they were forced to let us eat with him in the restaurant anyway.

I like the atmosphere. It’s calm and good for conversation. Bring your date here if both of you enjoy good Indian food! Even if you don’t, you’ll be turned into liking it. I love their lamb biryani, medium is usually enough for me but if you can’t handle spicy that much, just say none at all. Their mango Lassi is awesome and so does the chicken Tikka masala. :-) I like the garlic Naan a lot, combine with the tomato soup it’s just delish! price is good, not too pricey considering the good service and great food.

These guys are open no matter what the weather conditions are!
My wife and I were staying overnight at our friend’s place close to Upenn. We had limited grocery in the house and decided to order online for Indian food. This was one of the few places that was open even in the heavy snow, but given our hunger pangs we took a chance!
We ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala, Daal Makhani, Mango Lassi and the Samosa chaat apart from the usual bread and rice. Delivery was prompt and within the 45 minutes time frame as promised. The food was surprisingly warm.
The food was good. I would say it is surely value for money compared to other places close by given the quantity they serve. It could have been more spiced up, but we are not complaining given that they delivered and everything else added up!
We will visit for dine in next time around.