Indian food is one of our all-time favorites and (almost) anywhere we go in the world, we will eat Indian. We had been working our way through the Indian restaurants near Henderson (where we lived before moving into Vegas proper) and now we are ready to eat our way through the places on this side of town (which is closer to Red Rock Canyon.)
Here are the food items we are basing our ratings on: the rice, the mint and tamarind chutney, vegetable korma, butter chicken, and palak paneer
We really don't care about ambience. This is about the food and here's our rating system:
Here are the food items we are basing our ratings on: the rice, the mint and tamarind chutney, vegetable korma, butter chicken, and palak paneer
We really don't care about ambience. This is about the food and here's our rating system:
- Our star ratings:
Below 3 stars we are labeling as "Duds" and they are not recommended. We are doing 0.5 star increments.
3 = Straight down the middle - decent enough but not really memorable (but we may try it again to give it another chance)
4 = Well, well aren't we happy campers?! - we'd recommend it and would definitely go there again ourselves
5 = Heck yeah! - among the best we have ever had anywhere
Restaurant Name |
Location |
Star Rating |
Comments |
Mint Indian Bistro |
4246 S Durango Dr (second, original location 730 E Flamingo Rd) |
5 |
When I (Stef) first visited Vegas many years ago I went to Mint (Flamingo location) because I was vegan and they had a vegan menu. I fell in love with Mint's food and it stuck with me through the years as one of the BEST Indian restaurants I have ever been to. When Rick and I moved here, I took him to Mint to get his opinion (NOTE: we are no longer vegan/vegetarian so we ate meat dishes). Rick ooh'd and ahh'd his way through the meal and agreed, it's up there. Since then they have opened up a second restaurant, which is closer to Red Rock. Although it may be a hair below the original location, it's still pretty damn good and we will stick with a 5 rating. |
Mt. Everest |
3641 W Sahara Ave |
4 |
We've eaten a bunch at Everest (and take out through the pandemic) and it's consistently good - with rich, developed flavors all the way around. |
Spice Indian Cuisine |
4001 S Decatur Blvd unit 31 |
Dud |
It's not the worst Indian food I've experienced, but it's far from gaining our business again. It was VERY bland. Usually basmati rice has flavor and their rice was like plain starch. The flavors in the dishes fell a flat enough across all of them - like they used old spices, or not enough - and the veggie korma was waaayy too sweet. This is a newer restaurant on the Vegas Indian food scene, so perhaps they are working out their kinks. They are rated high on the Google star ratings (4.6) but only have 197 reviews - so it's skewed quite high (Mint and Mt. Everest rate 4.1 and 4.2 respectively with nearly 2000 reviews and they are FAR superior to Spice). Since they are new, maybe they will work out their flavors, but considering the other excellent options, we aren't sure if we'd go back. |
Rani's World Foods |
4505 W Sahara Ave |
3.5 |
Rani's is a very informal spot located inside of an Indian Market. You order the food at a counter and it is served in disposable plastic dishes. They have a limited menu that varies by the day and all of their dishes are vegetarian, so we weren't able to test our normal comparison dishes, but came close with a butter paneer (comparison butter chicken) and sarson ka sag (comparison sag paneer). Rick and I each got the daily special ($10.99) which comes with your choice of three dishes plus rice and roti (no naan). We each got different dishes and tasted a wide variety of their offerings (butter paneer, dal tarka, sarson ka saag, potato curry, chana masala, karhi pakoda). They were all good to very good. Each dish has its own unique flavor, ranging from gentle to stronger. The flavors themselves were also unique, dipping into many different spices (which isn't surprising given the spice selection the have at the store.) Some details on the comparison dishes: The butter paneer was good, but the sauce spices were different from other butter sauces we've experienced. It tasted as though it might have had a hint of cinnamon? or clove? We did like it. The sag was made of mustard greens rather than spinach, so it had bitter overtones (where as spinach sag tends to be "soft and gentle.") The spices were also stronger than a typical sag, but complemented the bitterness nicely. I enjoyed it as well. There was not one dish we rejected. The rice was lovely - long grain, great texture, with peas and some subtle spices to complement it. One of my favorite dishes was the karhi pakoda, which had a couple blobs of chickpea flour (like a dumpling?) in a lemony, creamy, curry. They also have a large selection of desserts and confections, so we tried a few. I got the halwa (grated carrots dessert) - it wasn't overly sweet as some of them can be. I think there were boiled peanuts or a soft nut of some sort in it. Rick got what we think was a verity of gulab-jamun (he just pointed and said he want "that" - it had no sign on it - but with some ingredients in addition to the rose water - cocoa? Fig? Coconut? All of the above? Who knows, but he melted in pleasure eating it. We really enjoyed Rani and will definitely return. |
Little India Cuisine Halal |
8465 W Sahara Ave Suite # 108, |
TBD |
Have not tried yet |
Lazeez |
8560 W Desert Inn Rd #D3 |
TBD |
Have Not Tried Yet |
Angara India Spiced Grill |
4165 S Grand Canyon Dr STE 105 |
TBD |
Have not tried yet |
Rusi Indian Restaurant |
4850 W Flamingo Rd Suite #43 |
N/A |
They were closed (even though it was during restaurant hours - may be out of business?) |
Royal India Bistro |
3700 W Flamingo Rd |