Reviewer's Summary: Good Food & Good Service; Limited Desserts
Chilli Chicken in Queens is that rare Indian restaurant in the New York region that offers both fine food and pleasant service.
Located on Roosevelt Ave in Jackson Heights, a short distance from the Indian market on 74th St, Chilli Chicken serves a variety of Indian Chinese items.
The restaurant has nothing by way of ambience but if - like us - you crave good Indian food, Chilli Chicken is the right choice. Forget the ambience and focus on the food.
Famished as we were when we entered Chilli Chicken for lunch the other day, we ordered several items including appetizers, vegetarian and non-vegetarian entrees and rice and noodles.
Upon hearing our order, our friendly waiter Kailash Bisht (who hails from the western part of Nepal) said that we were probably over-ordering but that he would neatly pack the left-overs.
For appetizers, we ordered Gobi Manchurian (golden fried cauliflower florets Manchurian style) and for the main course we asked for Chilli Chicken ($10.95), Vegetable Ball Manchurian ($8.95), Vegetable Chilli Garlic Fried Rice ($6.95) and Vegetable Chilli Garlic Noodles ($6.95).
Our waiter Kailash returned a few minutes and apologetically informed us that the restaurant did not have Vegetable Ball Manchurian. So we settled for Okra in Szechwan sauce (diamond cut, golden fried Okra cooked in Szechwan sauce).
As if to compensate for not having our choice of Vegetable Ball Manchurian, the restaurant gave us two complimentary glasses of Mango Lassi.
Gobi Manchurian is usually our preferred choice of appetizer at Indian Chinese restaurants. At Chilli Chicken, the Gobi Manchurian was just heavenly. They were a treat to eat, with just the right touch of spiciness to suit Indian palates.
Other appetizers on Chilli Chicken's menu include Chilli Paneer, Chicken Lollypop, Mongolian Chilli Chicken, Vegetable Fried Mo-Mo and Papaya Salad.
Having licked our plate of Gobi Manchurian clean, we moved on to Chilli Chicken ($10.95), the popular Indian Chinese dish from which this restaurant draws its name.
We were swept away by the taste of the Chilli Chicken. It was just delicious. Spicy and also a wee bit tangy, we felt we'd attained Nirvana. It's that good.
While tasty, Vegetable Chilli Garlic Fried Rice was a little dry and could have used a bit more oil. We had no complaints with Vegetable Chilli Garlic Noodles.
Okra in Szechwan sauce was not as spicy as the other items on our table but we thoroughly enjoyed it nevertheless.
The portions at Chilli Chicken are fairly large unlike at a lot of other Indian restaurants in New York.
Mango Lassi was good but not outstanding.
Besides Vegetable and Chicken items, Chilli Chicken also serves various Lamb and Sea Food entrees.
Although Chilli Chicken lists Rasmalai, Gulab Jamun and Fried Bananas with Ice Cream on the menu under Desserts, none of them were available during our visit. We were offered the humble rice pudding, which we declined. The other alternative was the frozen Kulfi Ice Cream (not made inhouse but procured from outside).
We love our Indian desserts but with so limited choice at Chilli Chicken, we decided to skip desserts altogether.
If Chilli Chicken wants to move up into the excellent category of Indian restaurants in New York, it ought to quickly fix its desserts problem.
But for the desserts issue, our meal at Chilli Chicken was a very satisfying experience.
Chilli Chicken in Queens is a restaurant that overall offers tasty Indian Chinese food. Our waiter Kailash repeatedly inquired if everything was fine, promptly cleared the finished plates and made sure our water glasses were full.
When you consider that most Indian restaurants in New York offer neither tasty food nor courteous service, Chilli Chicken in Jackson Heights comes across as a rewarding surprise. We can't wait to get back to this fine Indian Chinese restaurant in Queens.
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