Monsoon India

Okay, perhaps I’m spoiled by the likes of Kamana in Kailua-​Kona on the Big Island or the exquisite 5-​star Indian food I can get on the mainland — east coast (Kebab Factory, Somerville, MA) to the west — (Amber India, Santana Row, San Jose, CA or Malibar in Santa Cruz, CA or even Sitar’s food there is passable enough) — or — or — well, this place was mixed. My 81 year-​old travelling companion, who doesn’t even understand the menu (she’s had so little experience with the foods) had lamb Rogan Josh which, to be sure, was good enough. I had Channa Masala and it tasted like somebody tossed some tomato sauce out of a can into the pan, added a very weak mix of spices and threw in some chickpeas. This might be a regional variant from other Indian restaurants I’ve experienced, but quite honestly, I can make it better, and I’ve had excellent versions of this in the other restaurants mentioned. The Peshawary naan was again a pretty big dissapointment. For the superb Indian restaurants who dedicate someone to making just naan all day, this looked and tasted like it had been made awhile before and served as ‘fresh.’ Doesn’t wash, as far as naan is concerned. Same with the Pappadums, which tasted like they were either bought packaged (like those horrible store-​bought taco shells) or had been made ‘awhile before.‘
Service was fine, people were kind and accommodating, and I had no problems with it as did another reviewer or two. My friend had a Mai Tai which she considered undrinkable, and they gladly offered her a free masala chai, which she liked very much — and didn’t charge her for the Mai Tai. So heads-​up Hawaiian visitors, it’s probably not fair to expect an Indian restaurant to make killer tropical drinks. Go to one of the fancy resort bars known for this (Royal Hawaiian is a good bet) and you’ll likely be much happier. Plus you’ll see some great local Hawaiian (Not Tahitian) hula. So it’s a win/​win all around. And there was no TV that I could see — a huge, huge plus in my book. Music sounded like contemporary Indian — a little lively for dinner, but hey. I truly don’t want to pick the place apart.
In closing, if you’re not too fussy like I am (had my own restaurant years ago), you may well enjoy this little place, but I think there has to be better — I just wasn’t in Honolulu long enough to find out.

Been here for the buffet a couple times before. I will not return. The food is bland. It is inconvenient to come here. There are better Indian options on the island.

I took some friends from the mainland for dinner. There was a party of 11 of us. Service was HORRIBLE, it took over an hour to get our appetizers and they NEVER came back to refill waters. Since the tip is already included in our bill for a party of that size, I guess they figured that they didn’t need to offer us any service.
We also noticed that the prices listed on the menu are different for Japanese menu, vs the English menu. So make sure that you order from the Japanese menu, as the prices are lower.
Food quality, once we FINALLY received our food was acceptable, but the wait was way too long, especially since they were not super busy. Prices are WAY too high for the portions, even for Hawaii standards. (and even with the Japanese menu prices).
I wont we going back or recommending it to other visitors.

Excellent food and great, friendly service. It’s now Bombay Palace and just as good as it was as Monsoon India. We eat here at least once if not more during all our visits so when we saw the name change and some negative Unilocal reviews we were apprehensive but gave it a try. So glad we did! We had samosas, chicken Tikka massala and naan. All were amazingly good.
I highly recommend this place!!!

Great food…
Great service!!!
Can’t wait to try more of this menu!
Parking in discovery bar.
More people need to know about this place!!!

Our dinner was absolutely delicious! Our server, Cayla gave us incredible service with a smile and we had at least 3 different people check on us to ensure everything was fine. I highly recommend this restaurant. You won’t be disappointed. Mahalo Monsoon India for making our dinner special especially because it was my wife’s birthday :-).

Best place to eat India food. Giving 5 star on basis of following:
1) Location: At heart of wikiki beach
2) Food quality and Taste: good
3) Service: Good and less wait time
4) Menu and food choice: Plenty

When the wait staff greets you with, «Hi guys, welcome back!» it’s save to assume you are a regular. There’s a reason we come back — the food. Simply amazing. We’ve tried many of the selections on the menu, and have yet to be disappointed. First timers, try the samosas to start. Then go for the chicken tikka masala. The naan here is also fantastic. Wash it down with a mango lassi, and you’ll be hooked. Monsoon India — it’s where to go for authentic Indian food in Waikiki.

I think this place is now called Bombay palace. Nevertheless being Indian I love Indian food and I had definitely to try this one .
First the ambiance of the place was very good. Which is lacking in most Indian restaurants.
Good selection of alcohol I’m not a beer drinker so not sure what they had there.
Food now I would rate pretty good it was pretty close to food back home. Portion sizes are decent. For all non Indians I would recommend spice level mild I tried medium and I had a decent time next morning …
Overall was happy with the restaurant…

We were sat down at a table outside which we thought would be nice for a change. Ended up that we saw our waitress once, to take our drink orders. (We ordered water. Which took 8−10min for us to receive) finally got the chance and ordered our food and received it 45 minutes later. Water refills came right before the end of our meal, after being without it over half the meal. We ordered the chicken Marsala which was good and the cheesy naan which is even better, BUT the naan came in a woven basket COVERED in mold. Disgusting! Sorry but this place just lost my business.

Food was authentic and excellent. The service was flawless. Pricing was a little high however the location was probably responsible for that more then anything else. The only thing stopping me from giving this 5 stars is that it wasn’t very cool. I think they need better AC although I was not uncomfortable. I recommend this to Indian food enthusiasts!

My family and I came here after the huge disappointment at Café Maharani. It’s nice, décor is very homey to the Indian culture. It was great to be serviced right away, which caught us by surprise, we were expecting the long wait as if we were at Maharani. One thing that amazed us, was 2 of the chefs were Samoans, how nice, yet awkward. It was awkward for them too to see samoan ppl come into an Indian restaurant lol. I would definitely come here again!

Really outstanding. The garlic naan was the best I’ve had. The lamb vindaloo was spicy, but not over the top and had plenty of meat. Service was friendly and efficient. Great find.

When my husband said he wanted to go to an Indian restaurant while visiting Oahu, we started to search and found several to-​go places that sounded all but apetizing. Somehow, we stumbled upon Monsoon and the fireworks we saw on the drive over must have been a sign of how our meal was going to go.
Upon walking into the place, we were pleasantly surrounded by the smell of Indian spices and calming atmosphere.
The food delicious! My husband and I shared vegetable samosas, chicken tiki masala and the bread basket (with three types of naan). We had leftovers, but would’ve eaten it all of we could have. Having eaten authentic Indian food in Africa and India, we both knew this was the real deal.
The staff was friendly and the food was killer. We are definitely going back the next time we are in oahu.

Veg food was awesome, kadai paneer was really good. As everyone else mentioned naan is good.
If you are an indian better ask them to make it spicy.
Prawns biryani was the only reason for the rating of 3.

The Tandoori chicken came sizzling hot & is very good, basmati rice cooked perfectly. Ron’s Butter Chicken is very good as well. Love the garlic naan! Chai tea made fresh and is delightful!

I went to Monsoon India on my first full day in Hawaii. We were in a rush as we had booked some submarine excursion that we had to go to within two hours. Because of this rush at a small restaurant with our large group, our overall experience was sub par.
The food was actually okay. Their naan is fantastic, probably one of the best I’ve ever eaten (and I’m Indian). The butter chicken was not the best, but still okay. Relatively, the other curries were better, but still fair at the highest mark. The plain rice we asked for was severely undercooked.
A large problem of this restaurant was the service. There was only one server and one cook. As our group had a lack of time, this led to a lot of panic, as the food took a really long time to come. The kitchen also lacked simple supplies like spices for the biryani we ordered or even mangos (I had ordered mango lasso, which I didn’t get because of this). We had to pour ourselves water, and get napkins and utensils from nearby tables as the server ran around trying to support our big groups. I felt bad for the smaller groups around us who waited a long time just to receive any attention.
While my experience was poor, I still believe that this restaurant is still not as bad as how I remember it. There are definitely better Indian restaurants in the area which you should look at.

Let me start off this review by saying that I backpacked around india for a month last summer, so I am very familiar with authentic Indian food.
Monsoon India was amazing! It Absolutly exceeded my expectations. My boyfriend and I are both vegans and the server was super accommodating about us asking the ingredients in almost every dish (sorry!)
We ordered pakoras, veggie samosas, Chana masala, roti, and one other thing that I can’t remember the name of and it was all fantastic! We ordered it medium instead of spicy and I’m glad we did! The total came out to about $ 50 so it’s not super cheap but you’re paying for authenticity and quality!

First, this Restaurent is not Indian. I fail to understand why people are not honest and straight forward. This is a Pakistani Restaurent owned by Muslim owners and chefs. There is nothing wrong with it. But please do not mis guide general public as Pakistani and Indian foods are bit quite different
Secondly, we find the service was horrible we had to beg to get water and utensils. Half the dishes we ordered the waiter forgot to bring

Food was mediocre. And I have had mediocre indian food. The Naan was good.
Service was bad. Had to flag down people to get more water, add more food, etc.
Ambiance was weird, why were the lights pointed at the AC grate? not at the pictures on the walls?
Food was OK, really salty. Not a great place.