Alachi Masala
“We enjoy the BYOB since we aren't overcharged for drinks and best of all NO CORKING FEE!”
“A good, small, quiet, in many ways typical Indian place, and better than a few of the other Indian places I've tried on the UWS.”
“A super tasty, authentic, delicious, BYOB Indian spot in Upper West Side – score, we're going to come here a lot.”
Alachi Masala
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Yes, it is BYOB and yes, there is no corkage fee. As you can tell by my tagline, I LOVE when places are BYOB and that is why I feel super comfortable giving this place 3 stars.
My brother had never tried Indian food before, but he's been wanting to. He likes spicy foods and in recent years has gotten into Thai. I was more than happy to meet him on the Upper West Side, so we chose Alachi based off of a recommendation from someone he knows.
We ordered vegetable samosas which were good but nothing to really write home about. Garlic Naan was fantastic, but it was my first garlic naan. I had only ever had plain before, but with my brother trying Indian I knew I had to splurge. He ordered the Chicken Salimar and he absolutely loved it. But this is my review, not his.
I ordered mattar paneer and I just really found it to be lacking flavor. I also thought the paneer was a weird consistency, like I could have been convinced it was tofu. I like tofu so that's not a huge issue, but I saved up all my calories for a reason and this was not it.
Prices were like meh, service was like meh, ambiance was like meh, and it was generally just oddly quiet and meh.
I don't know if all the other people that reviewed Alachi Masala are that easy to please, or if I am that spoiled. What I DO know, is what a decent Chicken Tikka Masala tastes like. Trust me, I have had many, related to a serious Chicken Tikka Masala addiction. The one I had over here was…. good enough to eat, but that's really just about it. Like somebody else already mentioned: The Masala sauce is way too much in the direction of thickened tomato soup. The servings are not even that big in my opinion. The rice that comes for free on the side is somewhat decent. The naan was definitely tasty. Fresh, nice and fluffy with a hint of butter. Then again: They did charge me $3.25 for it, while I was having a lunch special. Chicken Tikka Masala with rice was $9.25, then with the naan and tax it still came out to be a little over $15,- including tip. For mediocre food, I still think it is relatively expensive then. I might go here again, but I quite likely will try a different Indian restaurant, in the hope that the chef is actually able to create a real, Indian style, chicken tikka Masala. Just to finish things on a nice note: Service is quick. Personnel is friendly. Place looks plain, but clean and neat.
Came with a friend for dinner. Very good service. Chicken tandoori was dry but still tasty. Portions are big, watch out! I was given two legs of chicken! Very beautiful inner ambiance, very typical of Indian restaurants.
AMAZING FLAVORS! NAAN SO FLUFFY AND SMOOSHY!
Chick tikka masala was great – lamb dishes are great. I love the Lamb Rojan Josh. My GF literally licked the Spinach Paneer off the plate, it was so good.
Thank you Alachi Masala! You are the Upper West Side savior of take out indian food!
But DO NOT use the online ordering service. There's been a mistake every time I've used it. Last night, I ordered "pick-up" and was shocked to find a delivery guy at my door.
The food is bland, nearly tasteless, across the board. If you're a fan of Indian food, this will look like Indian food, but it surely won't taste or smell like Indian food. I once had Indian food in a backward inbred hick town called Van Horne, Texas. That was the worst Indian food I ever had. This is the second worst. Lucky for Alachi Masala, they're not a *close* second worst… but still second worst.
Delivery is sloppy. No utensils and no napkins, what cheapskates! It's not like their food is cheap. The delivery guy shows up with a credit card receipt, but no pen. Come on, guys! Snap out of whatever coma you're in!
And while you're at it, please make better food.
Appetizers
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Papadum: C-
Our papdum was burnt. I didn't even have to taste it. It LOOKED burnt. And then when I ate it… *munch* *munch* … yup… totally burnt. How could they give us obviously burnt papdum?
Meat Samosa: A
This was actually excellent. Light flaky crust; might have been homemade. Meat flavored and spiced well; nice consistency.
Vegetable Samosa: B
Your standard samosa. Extremely delicious, but very much like every other samosa (I consider "B" to be average.)
Chicken Malai Kabab: C
Chicken Wing marinated in ginger and garam masala
Do you think I'm STUPID or something? You really don't think I know a chicken wing when I see it? This ain't no stinkin' chicken wing… IT'S CUBES OF CHICKEN BREAST! Puh-leez! It was juicy but like all the other food, completely and utterly bland. And it was chicken breast, not chicken wing!
Crabs Bombay: D
Apparently they pureed the crab because I didn't see any crab, and they didn't use enough crab because I couldn't taste any crab either. My wife says she can detect a veeery small crab aroma, but personally, I didn't. Too sweet. And too aromatic given the amount of crab they used. If I purchase something with "crab" in the name, I want to taste at least a hint of crab. If they don't want to use more crab then they should cut the aromatic spices to let the crab flavor shine through.
Lasuni Shrimp: D
Yuck! It tastes like Chinese sweet and sour shrimp.
Chicken Specialties
================
Chicken Korma: C
Soft meat, but tasteless. The sauce texture was more of a gravy, less of a cream sauce. Wasn't creamy at all.
Tandoori Specialties
================
Chicken Tandoori: B-
Slightly dry, slightly tough. The tandoori flavor is very weak. The chicken suffers from not being marinated nearly enough, which would've helped with the dryness, the toughness, and the weak flavor. Still, tasted good and not completely dry, so I give it a B-. Let's just say it's not the most impressive tandoori chicken I've ever had, by a long shot.
Tandoori Fish Tikka: C
The description says "salmon marinated in subtly flavored spices". Next time please marinate it grossly, not subtly, because I could detect no marinated flavor except for the mustard you put in your marinade. Yeah, that's right, biatch. I totally saw right through your mustard. Next time, turn up your spice dial and turn down your mustard dial on this dish! The salmon was juicy, which was nice, but it was totally bland, and it had a slightly fishy smell, which salmon should NOT have.
Chicken Tikka: C-
Some nondescript fish. Could've been tuna, I suppose. Can't tell because the cubes were so small. Other than a slightly fishy aroma, it was nearly flavorless. It was juicy, so at least it had something going on.
Meat Dishes
==========
Lamb Rogan Josh: A-
After all the food disappointments, I was actually pleasantly surprised that the rogan josh was so good. The lamb was soft and flavorful. The sauce was aromatic and complimented the lamb quite nicely. Like Earl Grey, rogan josh is not everyone's cup of tea (har har!) but if you enjoy this flowery aromatic dish, then you'll probably be somewhat impressed by this one.
These guys are artists. Make no mistake about it.
In my personal classification system, restaurants have three kinds of food artists in the kitchen:
1. Those that ensure that there are bold flourishes in the food (in terms of taste and texture)
2. Those that play on subtlety, hinting at flavors, notes, and contrasts
3. Those that excel in extracting all flavor out of a dish, so that the eater focuses on nutritional content alone – avoiding the debilitating side effects of an addiction to tasteful food.
The food artisans at Alachi Masala work diligently and consistently in executing per the third category, though they may occasionally slip up and confound your taste buds with a whiff of what you can get elsewhere.
No. No. They haven't given up trying after all these (7+) years, nor are they simply going through the motions. They are executing per a thoughtful strategy of differentiation.
Having long marveled their consistency, I could perhaps be excused for trying to see how other Indian restaurants in the neighborhood were faring, and so had not been here in the past 5 years. But, recently my resolve weakened and I thought of giving them another opportunity and ordered delivery. The Chana Bhajee with Poori truly surprised me. Not for the fact that the Poori looked nothing like one, but for the fact that I actually finished the Chana Bhajee! Amazingly, their consistency had not wavered in the intervening years and neither did my inability to fully appreciate their art. So, I had to deal with generous leftovers remaining from all 5 dishes that I ordered: Chicken Salimar, Chicken Xacuti, Lamb Chili, Gosht Bhuna, and Emlyka Murg. Now, I trust you'll appreciate that I am not getting into the details of the individual dishes because as their intent is to extract all flavor out of a dish – it would be pointless to focus on any flourishes or ingredients.
Sadly, one can't award these guys a wooden spoon signifying their relative merit compared to other Indian restaurants in the city, for you do survive their food without bowing your head to the white deity in the bath room. Still, credit must be given where credit is due.
Small restaurant. Nice, but slow service. Food was pretty decent. Split a chick pea appetizer, chicken entree, and regular na'an. All were decent. BYOB which is a nice plus.
If you are on the upper west side, and you like indian spices, I highly recommend trying the Chef special chicken Salimar Chicken. Slow cooked in Indian spices and oh so delicious!!! Ambience is somewhat casual. Byob. Prices reasonable.staff courteous.