DESI SPICE

She says:
We should have known that it would be too good to be true to have a fantastic Indian restaurant next door to the nearby Midtown Art Cinema. We’ve walked past Desi Spice dozens of times on the way to the movies without even noticing it, but we recently stopped by with my brother and his wife one night before a show. After all, you never know when there might be a hidden gem right in your own backyard. As it turns out, though, it couldn’t have been much worse.

He says:
Dinner got off to a shaky start when I ordered a mango lassi that was so sickeningly sweet that I couldn’t finish it. It was like drinking honey.

Our group split the vegetarian sampler for four, which includes samosas, fried onions, dal, saag paneer, two types of vegetable curry, naan, and rice. The samosas were solid though they left a bit to be desired. The outer pastry was nice and thick, but the potato and peas within didn’t stand out in any way.

The rest of the entrees in the sampler suffered from a fatal flaw – the complete absence of any spice. This is all the more peculiar since “spice” is in the name of the restaurant. It seems that Desi has so thoroughly Americanized its dishes that this “Indian” cuisine no longer tastes Indian. In fact, it doesn’t taste like anything at all.

She says:
Agreed. The dal was the only edible dish, probably because it’s the only dish you wouldn’t expect to be spicy. The other dishes – a vegetable curry, sag paneer, and some other forgettable dish with veggies – were completely bland. Coupled with the fact that most of the veggies (and the paneer) were overcooked, this meal could have been repackaged and sold as baby food.

As we were leaving, my sister-in-law took another look at the menu. At the bottom it read “If you like spice, please tell your waiter.” Wait a second… Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Isn’t Indian food supposed to have some kick?

We say:
Desi “Spice” is unfortunately lacking.




Desi Spice
931 Monroe Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30308
http://www.desispiceatl.com/