Kashi Bistro

I got food poisoning from the last time I ate here. I don’t know what has happened to this place, but I highly recommend not taking the chance of eating here and getting sick.

Tasteless combination of dishes served with undercooked basmati rice. Like a bad song, I’m still trying to rid my memory of the taste of the rice. Yuck!

What happened? The quality of their food went down, way down. There was something different about the usual foods we order. Disappointed.

I’m very glad there’s a place like this in the food court of Hillsdale.
This place opened up, I don’t know, like about 2 years ago? but anyways, the first time I went there and I loved it already, so I just kept going. it’s very cheap for Indian food, and the food tastes really good for the price I’ve payed. You can get very full just with 10 dollars… you get 2 naans, rice, and 3 sides.
I’ve had a lot of their dishes. I’ve had their Saag and potatoes, their Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Vindaloo, which is super spicy (I don’t recommend even if you think you can handle extreme spiciness, it… it was like… atomic) and Aloo Gobi (highly recommended, really good)
Compare to other Indian restaurant, the food here has a little bit less flavor, but that’s not always a bad thing, really depends on what you like.
Finally, I need to say, The MANGO LASSI IS A MUST. It has that nice, round, mango flavor, the sweetness, like the first day of summer… and the last day of school… and it mix in with the mild sourness… OHH MY GOODNESS. MUST, A MUST, SERIOUSLY.

I work very close to Kashi.
I work even closer to a different indian restaurant. However, instead of walking half a block to that other place, I get in my car and brave the mall at lunch for Kashi.
I love these guys! they’re family-​owned, delicious and super-​fast. Try them and you’ll be won over instantly!

A whole bunch of yuck piled inside a take out box. EW. I was really disappointed with Kashi Bistro’s food. The service wasn’t much friendlier. With the nice counter and signs, I really expected a lot more from Kashi Bistro… but
The best part of the meal was the rice. THE RICE. The other curries (all vegetarian) were overloaded with salt and not much flavor… well, other than extreme spice with no flavor. I never throw away food (I’m fat and hugely pregnant, so yeah — I eat everything) and I tossed 75% of this meal.
The veggie samosas were filled with a brown blend of something… everything was pureed beyond recognition, and the overall taste was unpleasant. I tried using the tamarind and mint chutneys to help, but that wasn’t successful either. The mint chutney was strangely white with a milk-​like consistency, with green flecks of mint floating around. The tamarind was thick like apple butter, and just wasn’t good. The naan was tough and reminded me of cardboard. No flavor, just hard and unappetizing.

Walking around the Hillsdale Mall today my husband and I decided to grab some lunch, I recall book marking this place a few weeks ago when I was searching for somewhere that actually had Chicken Madras so decided to give it a try.
The place looks nice and clean with a large selection of food.
I opted for a 1 entrée combo with Chicken Tikka Masala (come with Rice, Daal and Naan for $ 6.49) and asked if I could swap out the Daal for Aloo Matar which I was told was fine.
My husband had the 2 entrée combo (again with Rice, Daal and Naan for $ 7.99) with Chicken Madras and Chicken Vindaloo and asked for it without the Daal.
Despite being told swapping Daal for Aloo Matar was ok we actually got charged an extra dollar for it… seemed a bit much seeing as it’s potato in place of chick peas and my husbands was the same price with or without it but I’m not one to cause a fuss so we paid and found a table to sit at.
The food was surprisingly good for mall food and the portions were very big! Mine was way too much and I ended up having to ask for a box to take half home.
Chicken Tikka Masala:
Lot’s of white meat chicken and pretty good as Tikka goes, little more spicy than expected.
Chicken Madras:
Was actually more like Korma and poor hubby was quite disappointed as it had lot’s of Coconut and was very creamy. Madras is typically more Tomato and Ginger based with lot’s of Chilli.
Chicken Vindaloo:
Very spicy! As it should be of course but was very Tomato-​y which is something that is not expected of a Vindaloo… not to us Brits anyway.
The Naan bread was also really good, better than a couple of the pricier restaurants we have tried. Plenty of flavour and nice and soft to soak up extra sauce. Yum.
From this experience we discovered that my husband and I should have probably ordered what each other had (less the Vindaloo though!) As I love my creamy Coconut Curry’s but we’ll know for next time!

I was walking to the food court finding something new to eat. All of a sudden I stumbled upon this place. I wanted to try this restaurant because I had never tried Indian food before in my whole life. I ordered the curry chicken with basmati rice and it came with a naan which was an Indian style tortilla. When I tasted the curry chicken it was the best thing i’ve ever tasted, the basmati rice and the naan was delicious. I can’t wait to eat here again!!!

The Hillsdale Food Court is one of my favorite mall food courts! Only b/​c it’s so diverse. I hadn’t gone in a while, so when I last visited, I noticed Kashi Bistro — yay for Indian food! Anyway, I decided to order the Chicken Tikki Masala entrée w/​naan. Got kinda disappointed that I had to wait for new naan, and that the rice was really bland, and that the meal wasn’t cheap enough (for mall food) :/​. But the staff was really nice, so mucho props for that!
To conclude, if you’re shopping and craving Indian food at the same time, I recommend this place. Buttt, if you don’t want to spend too much of that money you just saved from that huge sale at Nordstroms, anything in the food court will do for that starving tummy!

Easily gets my business among many competitors.
Here’s how I spend an EVEN $ 10:
1 Chicken Madras W/​Biryani instead of rice.
1 Medium Dr. Pepper
1 Slice of Nan
There is seldom a line, and their entrée options are appealing.
The owner/​manager is personable and the staff is pleasant to talk to.
This restaurant deserves to make money.

Great mall food, I think the may be the best I have ever had in any mall. It was moderately priced at $ 10 for; a bottle of water, one entrée with rice & nan & a side of raita. The portions of food were huge but the raita portion was miniature. If I wasn’t in a mall, this is just 3 star Indian food in my book, for mall food its more of a 4 stars meal. The flavors were mild and the food was only semi fresh– nan was sort of dry, rice was overcooked and mushy.
The service however was some of the worse I have ever seen. Granted, it is the holidays, crowds of shoppers abound. I felt like the middle-​aged Indian woman (most likely the owner) helping serve me at Kashi Bistro was wishing me ill-​will with her gaze, never cracking a smile. She helped other customers out of turn in front of me with out apologizing, just rude. She reminded me of the Soup Nazi in NYC. :(The person scooping the food on the plate was robot-​like and free of emotions. Maybe it was an off day?

I really wanted to like this new-​ish Indian place at the Hillsdale Mall food court. The signage is modern and inviting. The servers are friendly and helpful – more so than at your average Indian corner restaurant. And what’s not to like about rounding out the Asian collection of options at the food court?
But alas, the food lets the place down. It’s comparable to an Amy’s Kitchen frozen entrée and decidedly worse than those vacuum packed Indian box lunches you can get a local Indian grocery store or Trader Joe’s. The flavors and textures are dull, the naan was dried, the tandoori chicken was so overcooked it was nearly crunchy all the way through. The spinach saag was so bland it tasted as if they had forgotten to add the salt.
The rice pilaf was passable, though, and the mango lassi was quite tasty. So if you think you an make a meal out of those two items, this place might work for you. Otherwise, head out to nearby Annapoorna or Bollywood.

I decided to give this place a try since its close to my workplace.
Not good. Not recommended.
Saag Aloo was OK at best, Nan was chewy and biryani was… lets just say its not biryani and its bad!
In the combo, while it says 1 Nan, beware its quarter of a Nan!

The tandoori chicken needs alot of improvement but everything else was pretty good. Butter chicken was very tasty. I would definitely give this place another try. So glad to have something different besides the usual burgers and fries.

I like Indian food but this didn’t have bold flavors as authentic Indian restaurants have. I used a coupon so my two-​meal combo (Tikka Masala & Jalfrezi) came with a 3^rd veggie dish. The veggie dish was so bland, the only thing Indian about it was the curry smell. The naan (they said it’s freshly made) was kinda gummy/​too stretchy, which made me think it wasn’t really freshly made. The rice was not that great either.
I won’t be coming back, sadly… but that leaves other Indian places open for me to explore!

Hmm. I really wanted to like this place. I love Indian. There is not enough Indian in the City, and definitely not the fast food kind either.
For food court-​Indian it was just OK. I thought it was really reasonable, 2 entrees, rice & naan for around $ 6 – 7 but the portions were small! I did get an awful lot of rice though. Too bad the rice was not that tasty.
Chicken Tikka Masala — Actually not bad, a little on the salty side, no spice but better than I had expected.
Saag Aloo — Okay. Needs more spinach/​greens. Kinda looked funny sitting out. Spices seemed slightly off.
Veggie Curry — Hmm. weird tomato sauce that tasted a little sweet. It wasn’t bad but I probably won’t order it again.
Chicken Pakoras — Cheap as hell. Dry as hell. Won’t order again.
Veggie Samosas — Wayy too dry. He said chutney was included. Surprise! No chutney in the box.
The food was pretty bland. Everything was mild or even below mild, if that’s even possible. Naan was relatively cheap (25¢ per quarter of Naan) but they have a 4 piece limit (which would equal one Full piece of naan anywhere else).
Servers were nice. Food sits out like Panda Express style. Will probably eat here again if I’m shopping at Hillsdale only because the other mall foods are boring and this is pretty cheap in comparison.
Does not reheat well. Naan is bland without any curry.
Giving it a solid 3 stars because this food is slightly better than some buffets I’ve eaten at in the past.

1 star to start.
Food (0 stars):
The food was not enjoyable at all. The only food item that was passable was the chicken tikka masala, with the naan being very stale and chewy. We ordered a cauliflower entrée and a saag paneer entrée and I don’t recommend these.
Service (0.5 stars):
The staff was very friendly as this was a grand opening, and were patient and helpful.
Value (0 stars):
I found it a bit sneaky that no matter the number of entrée items, they used the exact same plate, but increased the price significantly. I realize this is a food court, but I would have liked the quantity of food to increase by paying more money.
Experience (0 stars):
This was not an experience I would want to have again, as the food was very bland and forgettable. To top it off, we didn’t even get that much food for our money, so we were left with partially empty stomachs, filled only with mediocre food.
Overall:
1.0 — Baseline
0.0 — Food
0.5 — Service
0.0 — Value
0.0 — Experience
=============
1.5 stars

This place is a solid 2.5 stars, but I bumped it up to 3 because the service was good, at least…
Like another Unilocaler wrote, I didn’t have high expectations because it’s an Indian restaurant in a mall. To go. Next to Hot Dog on a Stick. So yeah… not expecting a Michelin star meal. (Or even an Olive Garden caliber meal.)
FOOD:
1. Chicken tikka masala — Better than I expected, actually. The meat was pretty tender, and the flavoring wasn’t too far off from the authentic stuff… er, good Americanized stuff?
2. Spinach with potatoes — Not bad. I don’t think they mixed this dish with cheese.
3. Mixed veggie curry — Hmm, no thanks! Way too much ginger. I couldn’t finish this one because it wasn’t that good.
4. Naan — A little too dry.
5. Rice — They didn’t serve basmati, I don’t think, but it was still decent.
6. Veggie pakoras — The dough was kinda weird, both in taste & texture. I wasn’t really impressed with them… too much onion, not enough other green. Probably wouldn’t get these again.
LIKES:
1. Kind servers.
2. Relatively cheap — you can get a combo plate with 3 entrees for $ 7.95.
3. Bonus points for attempting diversity and giving hungry mall-​goers some ethnic options!
GRIPES:
1. Food didn’t sit well after. I felt pretty gross and sluggish all afternoon after eating this for lunch.
Overall, there’s room for improvement, but not bad for a fast-​food mall Indian restaurant.

Bammer.
One, the tandoori chicken looked like burnt dried pieces like when you arrive 5 hours late to your friend’s bbq. You know, when you gotta peddle through the foil bin. I mean, it looked so bad, even the server agreed with me it was pretty horrific.
Chicken tikka masala was even steven with something I bought from TJ’s. I mean, no depth at all — just like a sauce out of a can.
The spinach with potato — weak sauce. Like boiled kale and potatoes. No flavor at all. It tasted, for lack of a better word, healthy. If that makes any sense at all.
$ 7.30 all-​in for two entrees, rice, and naan. They had great marketing throughout the mall — the buffet line looked clean — even the signages look great.
Too bad the execution sucked. It definitely grabbed my attention.

Finally Hillsdale has replaced Kelly’s Cajun Grill with something more palatable. Kashi Bistro is opening this week with flavorful Indian food for the hungry shopper. Though their signage and menu isn’t all up yet, they are having an opening special which I checked out today. $ 5 for 2 entrees, rice, naan, and a soda. I tasted the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Tandoori Chicken. The Tikka Masala was surprisingly good for a fast food Indian joint. However the Tandoori was a disappointment, the chicken being dry with almost no spice or flavor. I would have been happy with two orders of the Tikka, or maybe some of the yummy looking spinach dish.
I think this place has real promise, and I’m excited to see what will be on their full menu. It will be nice to have a quick Indian place nearby.