A Bizarre Night At Bawarchi

After an exhilarating complimentary hip hop class, I headed over to Bawarchi in Culver City. I had never dined there before but had heard about the restaurant from others and believed it to be similar to the Samosa House. Unfortunately, the establishment, which had previously been completely Vegetarian, recently added meat to their menu and cut way back on their vegan options. Since I was already there, I decided to dine there regardless and try their limited menu items.

The customer service was horrible and enough to make me want to run out the door and leave. I tried paying for my meal using Level Up, which would have given me a discount, but the cashier refused to accept this as payment. I found this to be very disturbing, as there were signs throughout the restaurant, as well as on the door, advertising how they accepted this type of payment. I then took out my Green Menu card to receive a 10% off discount, which was also advertised on the door. The cashier shook his head again, stating that they would not accept the card. I was pretty furious at this point, since the restaurant was so misleading with its claims of accepting discounts. I realized arguing with him was getting me nowhere and I was about to leave the restaurant, before he told me he would give me the 10% off discount.

I ordered the combination plate ($10) and received a $1 off with the discount. Since the plate was made vegan, I was short-changed some food, since the plate normally comes with yogurt and they didn't bother to replace this with a vegan item. Nevertheless, I received plenty of food.

The entrees I chose were jackfruit, soy fish and a potato curry. The jackfruit was very savory and lightly coated in a tomato sauce. It was a little too salty, but had lovely seasonings. The soy fish was my favorite and had a slightly fishy taste and was very chewy. It was very buttery with a subtle garlicky flavor. I also found the potato dish to be quite good, although the potatoes were a little too dry and overly cooked. I like that it had a sweet flavor, balanced out by spiciness. The rice was decent, although the accompanying vegetables were fairly mushy and did not seem fresh. The salad was also very bland and I would have preferred that it was dressed.

Next, some roti and pappadum came out.

The bread was very chewy and a little dry. I would have appreciated a little more oil to give it moisture. I really enjoyed the pappadum, as they were very crisp and had a wonderful lentil flavor.

Overall, the food was decent. I am still annoyed at the limited options and poor customer service and doubt I will return. It also seems that they have raised their prices in the past few months, thus it is not as good of a deal as it used to be. For quick service Indian food, I much prefer the Samosa House, or if you have a little more time, Streets of India.