09/17/09

Stuppid

by Cathy12345

I did not know what is so special in this restaurant,People have no sense of Indian food.

I am from england,and I have good knowledge about indian food,but kirans is dissapointing.None of the waiters knows what they serving?They look smart any way.

Its a waste of time and money.Portion size is too low.

Silverware and flat wares are dirty,

Feel lack of Indian concept/Management

09/11/09

look behind the numbers

by seanofthefed

I didn't like this place at all, and the prices shocked my conscience. Here's my advice: don't go. And if you're confused by the positive reviews, dig a little deeper. Look at the number of reviews the restaurant itself used to respond to. Now they don't respond to any. Do you think they've forgotten about the website? Unlikely. I think they've begun writing glowing reviews instead of apologizing. Check out how polarized the reviews are (i.e. I'm guessing 4 or 5 stars come from the owner and 1 star from the guests). Look at the number of positive reviews that come from people who have only reviewed one thing--Kiran's. Amazing, huh?

• Pros: nothing
• Cons: everything

08/23/09

Flavors didn't Pop..

by gourmet82

The host taking reservations had no clue what opentable was even though we had booked through this website. Once i got there she told me that my reservation did show up in their system. Very confusing...

If you're looking for authentic, bold indian flavors;you will not enjoy this restaurant. If your palette prefers mildly seasoned foods with hints of indian spices then this might just be your dream come true.

The food is extremely pricey which was expected since the location and setup was very upscale. The ambiance was great. The food was okay, nothing to ride home about. We had gone during restaurant week 2009 which meant a pre-fixed menu. I ordered the fig stuffed tandoori quail which tasted really sweet. My friend ordered the tandoori halibut which was extremely bland and tasted like.. nothing. We also ordered samosas from the regular menu and those actually were decent. The one thing i did appreciate though was that the chef herself came out to inquire about what kind of chai we were hoping to have after dinner. That was sweet.

Aside from the samosas, the goat cheese naan was good as was the potato stuffed naan. Also, the lamb porterhouse was to die for. So if you're headed to Kirans.. get some suggestions on what to order and what not to. Trial and error is not the way to go here.. not with these prices...

• Pros: The lamb was great.. the chai was good
• Cons: Various.. Read Details.

08/18/09

Best Indian Food EVER!

by CSMobileUser

Kiranls not only has the best food, their service is beyond amazing! The Chef herself came and greeted out table to make sure if everything was good! I simply loved everything!

08/17/09

Such a HUGE disappointment

by Foodie411

We went to Kiran on 8/15 for Restaurant Week. Made a reservation 2 days prior for 8:30. Arrived at reservation time to be told that there would be a 30 minute wait...ok, fine, it happens. We weren't even so much as offered a cocktail while we waited. 35 minutes later we were seated. The waitress brought the drink menu and popadums. The popadums were STALE and the drink prices were absolutely 500% marked up. $25 for a split bottle of champagne. We decided to order a Taj Mahal beer, they no longer carried it, but it was still on the menu. So, we opted for a Kingfisher, large one to split. She came back with a small bottle and told us that they were out of the large bottles and that this small one was THE LAST ONE period. Great. So we shared our $4 bottle of Kingfisher and were already annoyed. They DID have San Pel. for water that was available so we had that as well.

The menu for Restaurant Week had 2 appetizer choices: Melon Soup

with a Canal of Pineapple & Lychee Sorbet

Drizzled with Basil Oil

or

Hearts of Romaine

with Homemade Bleu Cheese & Spicy Cashews

so, we ordered one of each. My melon soup tasted like cantaloupe with pepper in it, completely uninspiring. And the "salad" was a few pieces of lettuce with "cajun flavored" cashews thrown in. Awful. My dining companion is Indian and he was thoroughly disgusted. Now, we have had our share of Indian food, we love it and we've tried many, many different items. So, when the waitress came back and asked if I enjoyed my 1/4 eaten melon soup, I said "it was different" she then asked if I would like to try something "less exotic" Are you kidding me!?!? No thank you.

Entrees, now, the choices looked great. The Lamb Porterhouse was changed to Lamb Tenderloin, but my friend ordered it anyway. I had Tandoori Quail. The piece of lamb was ridiculously small, honestly. It was offensive. My quail was fine, but I felt like in order to make it seem like "Indian fusion" or "different" all they did was put it on a bed of pasta, it was sad. Not to mention that the menu stated that each dish was served with "seasonal vegetables" and by this they meant TWO spears of asparagus and THREE small florets of broccoli. We were flabbergasted at this point. The taste of the food was not even the slightest bit remarkable. The rice was the only great item on the plate, everything else was horribly mediocre for a restaurant that is supposed to be innovative. We felt like perhaps we were being cheated because we opted for the Restaurant Week menu as opposed to spending more money, but, one would think that everything should be delicious regardless. Not the case. Dessert was fine, but only one option. Ice cream, wow. So, about $100 later, we left the restaurant ANGRY. We received the bottle of San Pel. for free and the waitress was very nice and attentive but those were THE ONLY highlights of the night. We were so discouraged at our waste of money and time. If you want good Indian food, stay away from Kiran's. It's mediocre at best. Go to Bombay Brass. for a better meal with true Indian flair. We will not be returning.

• Pros: It smelled good
• Cons: too many to list in this small space

08/15/09

Great Restaurant

by n4v1n

This is the most upscale Indian restaurant I have been to. Being an Indian myself and a New Yorker, I would say that if you're looking for Indian food with a more modern touch and french influences, this is it. The ambiance is really nice and the menu provides those who are new to Indian cuisine a way to try it with out being overwhelmed, but can also cater to Indians who are looking for more traditional food. The fact that it is more upscale than most Indian restaurants does not mean that the food is any better other Indian restaurants, but it gives those who are looking for it, a pleasant experience. The wait service is excellent and their recommendations were spot on. The manager came to our table to talk to us an couldn't be more pleasant. I've been here twice already and hope visit this place again.

• Pros: Food, ambiance, service, manager, owner
• Cons: price

06/30/09

Best restaurant ever!!

by Mesapino81

I don't know what the negative reviewers are talking about. This restaurant takes the cake of Indian food places in Houston and restaurants in Houston overall! Went to dinner last night with my boyfriend. Service was terrific. We started with a fabulous bottle of Zinfindel and Goanese Shrimp sautéed with fresh curry leaves and coconut, and for dinner I had Lamb Rhogan Josh - which is a boneless leg of lamb braised with onions and anise sauce. Shared a side of spicy garbanzo beans and my date had an off the menu lamb tenderloin with baby potatoes and asparagus. I was impressed they had whole wheat bread, and of course had it stuffed with more lamb. Delish!! We will definitely come back again and again. What we had was so good! I hope we have enough will power to try other items on the menu. :)

• Pros: Ambiance, menu, service, wine list
• Cons: None - Love it!

06/18/09

Totally over rated

by Curry101

Very dissappointed, heard a lot of good things about this restaurant. The food was over priced, the saag had not been washed properly as while I ate it there was grit/soil in my mouth. The tomato soup tasted like it was something out of a can. The vindaloo was not hot (chili) at all. The yoghurt was sweet, I like raita with out any sweetness. Good points - brinjal was yummy and the waiting staff were awesome.

• Pros: Staff were amazing
• Cons: Food was not good at all

01/01/09

Very disappointing

by jbbrown1900

We've been to Kiran's several times in the last two years and done take out many times also. Our experience has usually been good, even though the portions for vegetarian options have been quite small and the service sometimes has been a bit brusque.

We decided to take our visiting family for New Year's Eve dinner there. The first course of Tandoori veggies was lovely and succulent, but everything from there went downhill. The red pepper soup tasted very mediocre, not too unlike Campbell's Premium Bell Pepper soup. The sorbet was even worse, tasting like a store bought one. Still, none of it was too bad.

The main course was simply put----Terrible. The koftas were hard with little sauce, the vegetable dish was very dry with much of it hardened up. It seemed like it was mixed in with Indian pickles and put on a platter. The "apricot biryani" tasted like a microwavable TV dinner. The dessert was supposedly souffle, but tasted more like half cooked scrambled eggs.

All this would've been tolerable if not for the fact that my wife got sick within an hour or so of eating this meal. As the night progressed, the rest of us got pretty sick too (except for my in-laws who did not eat the souffle). The crowning glory was that we got charged an extra hundred or so bucks and the owner did not seem all too apologetic except stating that our bank will take care of it !!!!

Needless to say, we're neither going there ever again nor are we going to be too shy about discouraging our circle of friends and business associates from frequenting this place. I can understand such a terrible experience had it been some shoddy Indian restaurant in Hillcroft, but not from a supposedly upscale place such as Kiran's.

There are much better Indian restaurants in Houston that are more deserving of our patronage (Indika is excellent).

• Pros: Parking
• Cons: The terrible 80s style jazz music, the mediocre food, unsatisfactory customer service

11/21/08

Good veg food, small portions, little expensive

by NYtoHOU

We moved from NewYork to Houston almost a year ago. I have been to Kiran's 3 times now, 1st time I was there I thought that I am not going to miss NY Indian food anymore because food was great at Kiran's. But the other two times I was there it lacked something. I would say overall the food is good no doubt. (veg only, I am a vegetarian, so I don't know about non-veg dishes). but I think it's a little expensive, may be because it's right there in Galleria. But I would rather go eat somewhere else next time for equally good quality food but less expensive.