I generally don't enjoy eating at downtown Indian food restaurants; somehow I find their blend of spices imbalanced and fake in an attempt to conform to a rather odd Indian food stereotype.
I went to Kothur for lunch with three other colleagues and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. The place is bit hard to find, tucked away between two large storefronts, one of them being a strip club, I think (Edit: It's next to the Panasonic theatre). There are no windows in this restaurant and the decor is modest. It felt like this space was carved out of an area under a stairwell.
We ordered from the lunch menu which was surprisingly cheap and came with generous portions of food. Soup came first, a watered down lentil and vegetable daal, followed by the main course in stainless-steel containers that reminded me of cafeterias and small eateries in India. Besides rice, a fried bhaji (falafel-ish fried goodness) and generous amounts of naan (people like that awful thing so much!), the menu had over fifteen options for the main entree. We picked different chicken dishes, mine being the 'saag chicken'. There was a rice pudding dessert to finish off with. All this for $8!
The waiter was very friendly and polite, he even offered a complimentary bowl of daal for the table to share. How nice, and how Indian!
Overall I was quite impressed by this restaurant and certainly I'll go back!