King of Spicy

This place is a hole! There was nothing spicy about it and the server was clueless! She didn’t even know what kind of beer they had. She asked me to just name some beers and she would know if she had them or not??? They had neons advertising beers they didn’t even sell! WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?
The bar area looked like a dungeon and the bartender was preoccupied taking selfies.
Atmosphere — My high school cafeteria had more
Food — Very bland
Service — OMG are you kidding me right now?
Cleanliness — Questionable
Save yourself some time. Move along folks.

Best Indian food I’ve had in Charlotte. Everything we ate was delicious. All the meats were cooked very well. Looking forward to coming back here.

Just turn and go back!!!
Take this piece of advise from an Indian! WORST food ever! Stale food in the lunch buffet and absolutely horrible taste.
I just hope I don’t fall sick after today’s lunch buffet!

Worst food ever. We group of 10 people went for buffet –lunch on Sunday and had a horrible experience. The restaurant was not at al crowded, just one family apart from us. Food was cold and old. Soup was cold and spicy, they had chips which had smell in them we had asked them to change it. samosa were not cooked and frozen (peas and potato inside were super cold and hard) rice and biryani was dry. cocunet chutney was completely spoilt. Dal was also not good. we had to ask them to change 3 to 5 items because of smell and bad taste. Ras malai milk was smelling. The person at the cash, said that they don’t expect much people on Sunday so they dont cook and we should have called before coming so that they would have cooked the food right. manager was not apologetic. Worst indian food i ever had in charlotte.
Would never go back.

New restaurant that honestly looks a little sketch from the outside but it’s too tasty to not return. The manager came and spoke to us several times. And the food! My girlfriend and I had no idea what to expect and just picked two random things on the menu. As a testament to how great this food was, just let me say that I now try to cook Indian food at home because I was inspired. Weekends here are a lot of fun too. Definitely would recommend this place to anyone. Their naan, their saag paneer, all great.

The food was very disappointing!!! I was craving for Indian Chinese and thus ordered Darjeeling noodles. What I got was a plate full of vegetables and semi cooked noodles with no flavor. Simply no taste. It was a total disaster. If you are new to Charlotte and are looking for Indian food then this place is not the answer.

Firstly, I would be wary of any deals: Groupon, Unilocal,whatever. There’s a sign on their door that reads that they do not accept Groupons. I got a rather lengthy and confusing story when I asked about this. It was something like they don’t get any payments or aren’t getting their money back or something. It sounded strange.
We were there already, so we decided to give it a shot. The lunch buffet was sparse, but what was there was quite good. It was also very rich and very filling. The hostess came out with a basket of fresh naan which were super tasty. There was a feeling of, if I were to try and order more naan, they’d get testy with me.
There were a lot of vegetarian dishes. The tofu was especially tasty. I usually don’t eat chicken, but I tried a bite of the chicken tikka masala and it was not the best. I would definitely stick to the biryani rice and the chana masala and tofu curry.
Weekdays the lunch buffet is $ 6.99 and on Saturdays it is $ 12.99. Hmph. Not accepting Groupon. Hmph. If I do come back, it probably won’t be fore a long while.

Loved the food. We all shared and sampled. A huge bonus is karaōke on Friday nights. Karaōke + Indian food = Service a little slow when obtaining checks.

4.5 stars
First of all, shout out to Chuda for inviting us to try out King of Spicy, I’ve been expecting good things with the most recent Unilocal reviews. Also, our server was wonderful. Very friendly, helpful, and attentive. King of Spicy’s décor is reminiscent of a Mexican restaurant and complete with a bar with seating as well as regular table seating. The menu is pretty large considering it covers South Indian, North Indian, Indo-​Chinese, and Nepalese foods. It was so hard to decide on food, everything sounds good.
We ended up ordering the Gobi 65 as a starter, really good and flavorful. The crunch factor was perfect, very hard for a majority of Indian restaurants to nail. Nicely done! I also ordered a Mango Lassi, which was refreshing as well and not overly sweet. We then ordered the Bhindi, Kadahi Paneer, and Chicken Tikka masala to share as an entrée. I was very pleased to see that naan and rice were included with the curries, great idea. Nobody likes to order expensive naan on the side. And I must say, the garlic naan was phenomenal, very flavorful and not too doughy. It was basically my favorite food item of the night next to the Gobi. The curries, specifically the Bhindi and Shahi Paneer, were very similar to Sri Lankan food. The Chicken Tikka was good as well though it wasn’t the best. I had to dock a half a star because our entrée curries were very oily though I’m sure you can order the dishes with less oil (I will be doing this from now on).
We will be back, especially to try out the buffet option ($ 6.99 M-​Th) and all the other menu items that sound delicious! There is a weekend buffet as well but it is much more expensive. NOTE: I did notice that there was a sign on the door stating that King of Spicy does NOT accept Groupons anymore despite the fact that it is still an active deal one can purchase! I unfortunately did not get the chance to ask about it. Thanks King of Spicy and Chuda for showing us a great time, we will see you soon. Cheers!

I really wanted this place to shine. Ever since Woodlands was sold years ago, their recipes and quality have remained at a level that does not give me a desire to visit. KOS is even closer to me and I wanted to try them and at the same time try the Unilocal Eat24 system which collects the order and payment and sends it to the restaurant for the customer.
Service at Eat24 was spectacular. It went quickly, there were no problems, and I will use their service again. Their site presents the same quirky hipster attitude as Unilocal itself. At the restaurant, the cashier was confused, but polite. She had never heard of Eat24 and didn’t know how the take-​out order had been paid without her taking the money. She left for the kitchen and came back educated. Then, everything went smoothly. Now, on the food from KOS. (Is that not a strange name for a restaurant?)
The Samosa came 3 for $ 4.99, a bit high but clearly made at the site. The crust was uneven but tasty; obviously, the thicker parts were not done at the same level as the remainder. The filling was milder than I expected and had flavors that did not come from a mix; I think they should work on the taste, though, as it was on the edge of bland. The mint chutney had heat and made a nice contrast with it. The tamarind was quite sweet and didn’t have the stronger tamarind flavor I prefer when I make it myself.
I do not recommend the Mixed Vegetable Pakoras for $ 5.99. These are not individual items but a ground vegetable mixture covered with potato slivers and fried. The coating was too heavy and the taste of the fritters was not distinctive. I recommend they use the traditional when possible but the ground vegetable mix is just not a winner in this case.
The next dish was Chettinadu curry and was the single meat item of the order. Something broke down here. I ordered Lamb, spicy. The lamb cost $ 2 additional, making this item $ 14.99. The container had written in legible black magic maker, «Chettinadu Chicken.» Many restaurants offer labels that are nearly illegible and this was excellent. The container was dark, so that didn’t seem like chicken. Besides, who wants the Chet with chicken anyway? I opened it and it smelled great. There were many chunks of meat and not too many potatoes — another good sign. First taste … beef. This tastes like beef. Look at the lid again … chicken. Taste again … beef. But beef is not listed as an option for the Chet. Oh well, I don’t cook beef Indian curries for obvious reasons, but OK, I’ll press on. The texture is OK for lamb, but the taste is still beef. But there is no beef on their menu at all. This is not a «pure vegetarian» restaurant like Woodlands and I assume that cookware is shared between meat and vegetarian dishes, but they don’t offer beef anywhere on the menu! This was odd. I saved some in order to give to a friend to blind taste to see what they taste. Anyway, I liked the fresh curry leaves, but I can make a lamb curry that tastes better and spicier, though I do not label mine at all!
After the one meat dish, we went back to vegetarian, the strong backbone of the many cooking styles across India, though not Himalaya, their other specialty. Aloo Gobhi, $ 9.99, was nice. The onions were very thinly sliced which makes me think that they use a machine to create bowls of onion slivers to use in several recipes. The slivers become hair-​like and limp, creating an odd texture to contrast with the potatoes an cauliflower. I love the cut of the cauliflower but the potatoes were the same small size as found in the «Chicken”/Lamb/Beef curry above. They were not overdone. Again, my request of «spicy» was toned down; they did use some heat but it was one-​dimensional. I think they do that for everyone to avoid complaints. I recommend for this dish a combination of the dried Sambol pepper and the fresh Serrano or Thai Bird’s Eye to create a couple levels of heat and flavor. This was probably the most successful dish of the order.
Last was the Daal Makhani, at $ 9.99. Why was the daal so high at nearly $ 10? Well, it seems that every «entrée» dish comes with white rice and a piece of naan. This is a mistake. This meant that my order came with three containers of white rice (not my favorite and not particularly well cooked) and three pieces of naan. Uh, that’s a lot of starch. I know the idea behind what they’re doing; item price must not fall below a certain point. But, they should offer side items that can added to an order without including more starch. Anyway, it had good texture and good taste. I ordered it medium and it came mild. I take it that the cooks or the owner did not live in Southern India. If you are used to spicy food, you will be disappointed. There is no way in the Eat24 menu to choose anything «spicier»; you might try adding a special comment to the order. I’ll try that next time.
To read the full review, visit
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It’s a good thing our dinner group went to King of Spicy with our very own «in house» expert on all things hot, Tonya P, aka, Queen of Spicy! She is an excellent food tour guide and helped us order an enormous feast.
The space for KOS is a bit mysterious and has likely had a previous life as a Mexican restaurant/​nightclub or a Bar and Grill. It has been reincarnated into an oddball but entertaining Indian restaurant which also features some Indo Chinese and Nepalese food. Loved the Bollywood dance videos on the big screen — very distracting but in a weird and pleasant, «I wanna get up in between food bites and bust a move» kind of way.
The best thing I ate was a special order not on the menu — Samosa Chaat — damn it was good. I could eat a 5 gallon bucket of Samosa Chaat at one sitting. The next best item for me was the Gobi 65 — a delicious crispy cauliflower appetizer. Great Dosas! Killer Naan (especially the garlic)! The Chicken Tikka Masala was up to par and the okra dish (Bhindi do piyaza) was a surprise hit. You can custom order your spice level. Don’t be offended when they ask you if you want it «Indian Hot» or not (and be careful what you wish for)! The beer selection is not very exotic — Coors Lite to Stella Artois, but they will have Indian beer soon.
Great place to go with friends, try some new dishes and get your Bollywood freak on!

Came here with a group of seven and we ordered a lot of appetizers and some entrees to share. Got a great sense of what they can do here foodwise.
It is located near the old Eastland mall site, but that should not deter you since they are a stand alone building and have plenty of parking spaces around the building. Best guess is that the building used to be a mexican restaurant of sorts, but don’t be fooled by appearances.
You walk in, there is a rather large dining room, a small stage, and two pool tables! Definitely got a sense that we were in for a treat even before we sat down. Behind the «stage» there’s a wall were a projector was showing youtube indian dance music videos… Pretty awesome. Especially when the videos started buffering (maybe when more customers came in to use the wifi). Super charming anyway.
Now the real star of the place: the food! Probably the biggest hit with our table was the cauliflower (gobhi) appetizer… came with two dipping sauces, delicious. We also ordered dosas (mild and spicy version)… garlic naan (a must)…Chicken Tikka Masala was solid. The Bhindi-​do-​piyaza (okra) was pretty darn amazing. And we had a couple other things, including something that was not on the menu but our resident indian food expert requested it and they obliged.
Overall a great experience and I can’t wait to go back to order off the Indo-​Chinese part of the menu!

Ok the food is amazing but please update your hours!!! I’ve had trouble TWICE ordering food because the kitchen is closed from 2:30pm-5pm which is fine but if I call ahead on Saturday at 2 and ask if you are serving food and you tell me yes, only to get there at 2:15 to be informed I have to eat what’s leftover on the buffet and you won’t be bringing anything else out because your kitchen is closed! For $ 13 a person? No thank you. You couldn’t have warned me about that over the phone? It’s kind of an important detail. That being said the food is too amazing for me to even want to give them less stars, but sheesh people.

Went for the first time after finding this on Unilocal.We split some chicken tikka masala and ordered two appetizers: samosa and Gobi 65, thanks to a review by another Unilocaler. Not so adventurous, but we were short on time. Splitting our entrée was a good idea — the portions are very generous. We split the tikka masala, adding an extra dish of rice (which was unnecessary), and we had enough to take home. Even the Gobi 65 appetizer was a generous portion — we took some of this home too. Check out pictures on Unilocal to see what our meal looked like.
Everything was delicious, and I loved seeing familiar Nepalese dishes on the menu. I’d like to try some of their Himalayan dishes next time I visit.
The prices are reasonable, and there’s a great deal on Groupon that I’m looking forward to buying soon. The staff was great. Our waitress was very kind and patient. I’m sure she would answer any question you have. She also took the time to talk to us and offered to box and bag our leftovers. The manager came around to our table to see how our meal was, too.
The environment is nice — definitely feels like a hidden treasure. The building’s unassuming, and the interior looks like it was used as a Mexican restaurant in a past life. There’s a stage in the middle of the restaurant that I’m very curious about.
I’ll add more photos the next time I go, which will definitely be soon!

Amazing food! The only place in Charlotte that serves indo Chinese food like you get in India. Also, their traditional Indian dishes are fantastic!

No way on earth it could have one star. Horrible Indian food. Half of the dishes from Menu are not available. Can’t go if you are expecting Indian food here. We had horrible soup, pakoras as starter and had taken their signature fried rice with King of spicy ingredients. Turned them into to-​go after testing it. You could get next steps.
Can’t go ever again.

A new place in town with amazing Indo — Chinese food. Very nice ambience, spread over a wide area, includes bar, dj area, pool/​snooker. Very nice staff. Loved thupka, soups, momos n all other things. Large portions served.

Me and my buddies found this gem coincidentally. The staff here is friendly and helpful, they would explain dishes that you have no clue about. The food here is fantastic and delicious. Indian food is known to be spicy but they always ask you how spicy you want it to match your tastebuds. Highly recommend this place if you’re looking to try some Indian cuisine or if you already enjoy it!

Oh my gosh, I’m SO excited for the first Nepali/​Indian restaurant in Charlotte. King of Spicy is so good and the staff is very friendly! They have a huge vegetarian selection and many meat options. The veggie momo (like dumplings) is delicious! At my table we had the Chicken Biryani, Bhibdu-​Do-​Piaza, Aloo Gobi, and Vindaloo Lamb, everyone loved their meal! Also with each meal you get to pick your level of spice so even if you don’t like spicy food you can get something delicious but if you like super hot, they’ll melt your face off! So good I will definitely be back! Long live the King!

The king is dead, long live the king.
By king of course, I mean the Woodlands, just down Albemarle Road — maybe a mile away from this location. That long-​time locale, generally regarded as having some of the best Indian in Charlotte is not, of course dead, but it may be in a run for their money if the new kid (er, king) on the block gets up and running.
We stopped in for a bite, and overall came away impressed.
To start with, they are in the old Rumba building in the middle of the lot near Chuck-E-Cheese’s. This place has been empty for a while, so it’s good to see it occupied again. Unfortunately, it has a bit of a musty smell. Hopefully it’s because it hasn’t been open for a while, and once it is in regular use, they can take care of the issue.
One noticeable task they have in front of them is that the building is gigantic (unlike Woodlands, which is rather, shall we say, intimate). Part of it is filled with pool tables, that were in use by what seemed like family members or friends — making it a challenge to have an enjoyable, quiet evening. Not bad, just not quiet. Part of the place has what could double as a dance floor, with two or three tables scattered about. There is also a bar.
Perhaps the best part of the place is that the service is top-​notch. Everyone is happy to help, and eager to please. This is good, because the food service is very slow. Not quite Situl slow, but still slow. Dishes come out one at a time, and on an erratic schedule. Even on a Friday night, when were were virtually the only table there, you’d think they could have done better. Perhaps they are still warming up the boiler. We’ll see what happens.
Once the food did start coming out, the quality was amazing. The cauliflower in the Gobi 65 appetizer was tasty, and they even split the large appetizer portion into two sections, one with more spice and one with less, for two different palates. The dosa paper was flaky and buttery, which could be eaten all by itself — plus, the filling was brought out in it’s own bowl, so as not to soak the inside.
Naans were also flaky, and though they have a special King of Spicy Bullet Naan, the garlic variety had the best flavor. The Bhatura chickpeas and puffy bread were amazing, as with just about everything, definitely garnering a trip back — once we finish all the leftovers. I hope they make it through the kinks to keep churning out the food in the meantime. Definitely a tasty option to Woodlands.