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| - After living in a culturally rich city with great Indian cuisine, one would think it'd be hard to match all the way out west here in Phoenix. However, while India Oven may not be the most authentic experience, it certainly matches the quality of any Indian restaurant I've dined in.
The atmosphere is warm and inviting, but not overdone; simple and straightforward. The staff are both welcoming, friendly, and attentive.
Their dinner buffet, which is what this review is largely based around, is $11.95 with a respectable spread. They've got an equal amount of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options with chicken and lamb and even have mango lassi. Overall, all of the meat dishes from lamb vindaloo to tandoori chicken were all clean and amazingly tender; none of that annoying grizzle or dry chewy meat. One of the most exemplary examples of this was surprisingly, the chicken curry: clean, tender, moist, and flavorful. Even the chicken in the bryani was moist! In total, the flavors in all of their dishes were strong and savory, but at a mild spiciness level accessible to outsiders (aka me). The naan is brought around fresh and has a great aroma and taste, if not just for the fact that it's fresh.
However, even though the food was all very very good, a lot of the flavors were new and different to what I was used to. For instance, their tiki masala dishes tasted more tomato-based more than creamy, their saag and daal had other flavors aside from spinach, the and even their vindaloo tasted different. Again, this is not to say that any of the food was bad, as this was certainly not the case, but their style was definitely new to me. While I understand I am by no means an expert on Indian cuisine mostly eating dishes targeted towards westerners, I felt India Oven's style of food was both unique and accessible to those new to the genre. Their spice level was lower than what I'm used to, their flavors were clean, yet still touching on those deep mixes of spices, and there was nothing overly adventurous or intimidating at the buffet.
All in all, I definitely see myself being a repeat customer with India Oven now being my go-to place for affordable, great tasting Indian-style food with friendly staff and tender meats. And in the end, authentic or not, even though they may not fall in line with the norm, the taste and quality of their food alone makes me a fan. We're maybe even treading into 5 star territory.
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