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| - I have been eagerly looking forward to the opening of Tandur for month. Ordered takeout online today, starting with something simple, namely chicken tikka masala, basmati rice, and naan. After tax, it was around $11. On the whole, I would rate this 3.5 stars but am rounding up to 4 since it's the first week. The food was not much different from what one might find at a typical Indian restaurant.
What I liked = (1) most importantly, the flavor of the tikka masala sauce was very good as was the rice, and chicken was very tender; (2) the order was ready as soon as I walked in, 2 minutes head of the promised time; (3) the place looked clean and modern, though I did not eat there.
What I liked less = (1) the portion was on the small side, not tiny but not very filling for the price; (2) the sauce, though flavorful, was the thinnest I've ever seen (have eaten at about 30 Indian restaurants in 6-7 states), almost watery; (3) the naan was not bad but was very thin and lacked much flavor, unlike the thicker chewy naan offered at most other places; (4) a small sharp bone fragment around the size of a grain of rice was still in the chicken, which I luckily caught before swallowing; (5) although I ordered takeout, there was no cutlery or even napkins in my bag (and their lack was not mentioned when I picked up the bag). This would have been annoying if I had needed to eat on the run or somewhere those items weren't available.
All in all, it was a pretty good start. As a point of comparison, Trader Joe's has a very good chicken tikka masala frozen meal, which costs about $4 and is not that different. Tandur's meal was roughly the same size, perhaps a bit larger (plus naan), and the flavor was about the same, perhaps a bit better. So for $11, I don't think I'll be eating here every day, but may swing by once every month or so.
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