Tava Indian Kitchen

tastes amazing!!! so reasonably priced. Definitely going to this place again next time I am in town.

The set up is similar to Chipoltle, but with Indian food. There are limited options, but the food looked like it had been sitting there a while. The taste was okay, not great. I ordered toto bread. They heated up son bread that seemed old and not fresh. Wasn’t the best food we have had for the price we paid.

Chipotle style but so much more rice given and tastes fresher as well.
I had the chicken burrito with Tikka sauce, cucumbers, yogurt sauce and their special medium spicy cilantro. My husband had a chicken bowl with daal and veggies with a sweet sauce. The chicken was so juicy and flavorful. Every ingredient tasted fresh!
Their mango Lassi was thick but the right consistency and sweetened perfectly. The iced Chai was just right to wash down my spicy burrito.
The gentleman behind the counter was very helpful in explaining how the menu works and even suggested which sauces would be good with each of our dishes.
Small space to sit down but there are also outdoor seats.

My husband has been coming to Tava occasionally and when he suggested we stop by one evening, he described the concept to me. So I said, it’s like Indian chipotle? And sure enough, when we arrived, the employee explained that it was like Indian chipotle.
Except, I don’t really like chipotle, and I really liked Tava! I got a bowl with brown rice, paneer, tikka sauce, and all of the sauces plus chilies. Delicious! A really nice option for fast food that tastes fresh but is more exciting than a salad. I’m not sure I would find myself craving Tava, but it certainly fits a niche of good, cheap, quick food.
The food was tasty and satisfying, service was friendly and efficient, and music included both the Temptations and Michael Jackson.

I was a little disappointed by this spot. I really did want to like it, but the food was pretty meh (considering how much awesome indian food there is in the bay area). The staff is very friendly and they do let you try things before you choose them. I love the bowl concept, but it just didn’t work great for this place. :(

As everyone says, this is a chipotle style twist to Indian Food. When planning a big birthday party, I thought it would be a unique twist and a easy to eat meal at the lounge I had rented. I placed a order nearly a week and a half before on the phone with their catering department. My party was in San Francisco, and hence I placed a order at the SF location. They charged my card, and would be delivering and setting up about an hour before the event.
About an hour after my order (around 10pm) I got a call from the catering dept saying this restaurant will NOT be open on the day I had ordered for, and thus can no longer cater. I was caught in a bind, but the catering dept said they were very sorry, and had some kind of mix up. I had no time to look for another restaurant, and opted to pick up the food myself from their Palo Alto location. The catering department said they would keep it all ready in warming bags (the ones they use for transport/​delivery) and I can then return them the next day. I would also be refunded my delivery fee, because I’m picking it up myself. Keep in mind the order I had placed was for 55 people!
The day of my birthday I drive up to the Palo Alto Tava location, and the manager says he has no warming bags for me, (4 hours before my party). He said he never had, and nothing was discussed about them. They had packed the food in cardboard boxes, and then called the catering dept in which they tried to convince me that they had decided cardboard would better. In what planet is cardboard better?! And why would you not tell me this ahead of time! I was also very concerned because they were fairly small boxes for 55 people. I asked the manager and he said I had placed a order for 55 portions, not people. What kind of ludicrous answer was this?! I had paid over $ 700 and the chutney’s were the same size if I ordered for 10 people.
As this was merely hours before my party I had absolutely no choice but to take the food, and serve semi cold food to my guests, making sure no one took more than a spoonful. It was absolutely awful. How do you pack chutneys in the same container regardless of the portion sizes. I would have expected atleast 3 – 4 times the amount for the price.
This is now nearly 2 weeks later and I’m still awaiting my delivery credit since I picked it up myself and feeling slightly embarrassed for the food I served my guests. I will NOT be eating here, nor recommend this for any catering purely based on this experience.

I was pleasantly surprised by Tava Indian Kitchen. The food was very good and everything seemed very fresh.
Like others said, Tava is similar to a Chipotle or Freebirds style design-​your-​own-​burrito restaurant.
You first choose the base (e.g., burrito, salad or rice bowl). Interestingly, my burrito wrap was sitting as a lump of dough right in front of me and was formed and cooked after I ordered. I don’t know if that is the norm, but it was nice to see that my roti wrap wasn’t pulled out of a bag.
After you’ve selected your base, you choose either white or brown basmati rice. I’ve tried both and enjoyed them.
After the rice, you choose your «protein.» The chicken is good but the lamb is head-​turning good. I was surprised — because lamb is a difficult meat to get right. The garbanzo beans are decent too. I’ve not sampled the paneer bhurjee yet.
Next, you choose a sauce. The tikka sauce is very good and just a bit spicy. In fact, I like it so much that I haven’t tried the daal yet (or any other sauce for that matter).
Finally, you choose vegetables (e.g., cucumber, tomato, cilantro, etc…) and a chutney. The yogurt raita and cilantro are both great!
I suppose that the best thing about Tava is that the employees seem to be very patient and helpful. Today, the guy that made my burrito and rice bowls was very helpful. He explained the different meats, sauces and vegetables well enough that I could choose well even if I was new to Indian cuisine.
In fact, I would rate the food at four stars — very good for the price — but the service and cleanliness of the restaurant is worth a very strong «five stars» rating.

I had always heard about this place but had never visited ! I just went there yesterday it is absolutely great options for vegetarians! The garbanzo beans, panner, tikka and dal was great in taste ! The lady divided the tikka and dal for me ! I had a great experience. They also serve garlic naan and mango lassi! I had a wonderful experience and the serving was really filling !

Like their food, chipotle style Indian food. I was just wondering if why we don’t have many Indian food joints replicating the chipotle model. The lamb was real good.
Quick to go lunch, not much wait time.

¹⁰⁄₁₂ One Star Review:
Just had an utterly awful experience trying to order online via EAT24– screen keeps refreshing with no warnings. Called location to try to confirm — got hung up on twice. When I finally made contact, the person told me it was my fault the phone line kept dying. I guess I won’t be going to TAVA anymore. Fail.
EDITED ¹⁰⁄₂₂ Three Star Review:
I was immediately contacted by the resto CEO to apologize for the bad service. He asked follow up questions that were intended to help him solve the problems, which were both related to staff and systems. He sent me coupons in the mail with a hand-​written letter apologizing (again) for the poor service I really appreciate his making it right.

Like many others have said, this is totally like a Chipotle-​setup style Indian kitchen. First of all, the place is kept really clean and has a lot of seating (well, a little inside and a lot outside). The staff upon arrival was sweet and offered to explain how it all worked, including letting us sample any of the options we wanted. Choose your base (roti tortilla, salad, or rice bowl), then pick your meat/​veggies, sauce, and spice. Simple, elegant, and to the point!
I got the rotiritto with lamb, brown rice, tikka masala, medium spice, and all the veggies, while the lady got the same but with chicken. Both came out smaller than I was expecting for the $ 8+ price but whoa was it GOOD! The roti tortilla was very much like a flour tortilla, but a bit more fluffy and softer while still having enough strength to let the innards breakout. The lamb was alright, but I was hoping for a fuller flavor with a kick. The chicken was tender, plentiful, and the one to get! One thing I couldn’t get over was that the veggies used were simple chopped lettuce, tomatoes, and red onions. It actually went well with the Indian flavors, but still was a bit weird for me.
The bowl option seems to be the more popular choice, so maybe I’ll try that out next time. Anyway, overall quick, easy, delicious option right across from the Stanford campus and high school.

If you chipotle style and you like Indian this food will make you sing!
Loved the lamb Options the delicious sauces and the delicious drinks!
Great setting and ample outside seating in the development.

Wow. I’m not normally one to leave negative reviews, but this is a milestone… The first time I’ve ever had rude service at an «Indian» restaurant, and I eat a ton of Indian food. I don’t know about the rest of the staff but this one, overweight Latino guy with douchey forearm tattoos is terrible.
I came to the bar to order and commented that it was odd that they were playing bachata in an Indian restaurant. And he said, «so what?! I’m not Indian!» perhaps so I could be in awe of his Latin pride, which is fine, but kind of a weird statement. Like I had personally offended him for playing Latin radio at work or some such nonsense (though, honestly, the music sort of just reminded me of what they used to play in the back kitchen — away from the customers — at the café where I made sandwiches in college. Bachata definitely does NOT remind me of delicious Indian food. Maybe delicious Dominican food… But I digress!).
I then asked him which he liked better — the paneer or the garbanzos. And in an elitist tone he said, «I don’t know I’m not a vegetarian!» Umm… excuse me? Neither am I, but I suppose maybe I look like one. Thanks, I love being attacked for looking like I could be a vegetarian. What kind of a bozo makes that sort of a comment to a customer, anyway!!! Super unwelcoming. To top it all off, I chose the brown rice to be healthy and it was STALE and HARD. They can’t even cook a new batch of rice every couple of hours, which is like the cheapest thing to make. Wtf?! Crappiest «Indian» restaurant experience I’ve ever had. For inexpensive and fast Indian food I’ll always be going back to Sitar — either in Cupertino or Santa Cruz. They’re at least nice to me there and take pride in their food! ;-)

Seemingly healthy, Chipotle-​style Indian food. The concept is good, but it neither compares to other Indian places in Palo Alto nor does it compare to Chipotle. I’d eat here more if it were less wanna-​be Chipotle (burroti?!).
I always get too many different toppings, and the cardboard bowl feels like it is going to disintegrate as it’s soaking up all the different sauces. Tava is also expensive for what you get-​$ 10?!-so I end up eating everything and leave feeling gluttonous.

It is a very cool concept, meshing Indian food into a burrito. However, I just didn’t get that authentic Indian food experience. There was a mother load of rice in my burrito and not enough sauce. I could have asked for more sauce, but those kids were moving way too fast for me. I got overwhelmed by their questions.
What I did like a lot was how they made the naan fresh. Took dough and pressed it on some cooker. Had me smiling there. So I don’t think I’ll be rushing back to Tava kitchen. Rather hitting up a legit Indian restaurant with some good lunch specials or better yet a buffet.

Indian Chipotle is HERE!!!
Pick your base (salad, rice or burrito), pick your protein, pick your flavor (tikka or daal) and your sauce. The flavors are great for a fast food joint! They definitely need more locations!

Indian chipotle. It’s okay, but definitely not great.
The combinations are just too much. Everything goes in. Things that don’t really mix, and certainly Indians would never mix.
I liked the idea conceptually, but as an Indian, I thought the taste felt short even if I judged it on fusion standards.
I’m glad it’s here and nearby — I want something resembling Indian that is cheap, quick, and easy sometimes — but it would also be awesome if it were better.

As everyone else here has summarized, this is Chipotle for Indian food. Or trying to be.
This tiny spot is located in the verrrry back of the strip mall across from Stanford. Y’know, the one with Sur La Table. I believe the official name is Town & Country Village. It is a mecca to students and rich housewives, so be ready to drive around a minute for parking if you show up at lunch.
Overall, I’d say this is a decent lunch option. It’s very fast and the service is good. The woman who helped us was patient and sweet. The actual fusion of Indian food is a bit iffy. It is not a place I’d recommend if you have a craving for something resembling authentic Indian grub — but it is fine for a quick spicy bite. I would suggest the rice bowl over the other options, as it’s less messy than the burrito-​y idea and less odd than Indian flavors over salad. The garlic naan was just so-​so. Price is ok for the area, but maybe a few dollars too high for anywhere else.
Also — this is definitely a SMALL take-​out restaurant. There is minimal seating, most of which is outdoors. Do not come here with a large party who wants to sit and eat a leisurely lunch.

Indian food Chipotle style! Great idea, but sadly the salad bowl concept falls short.
The vegetarian options are very saucy and in turn don’t really meld well with crisp, cool, lettuce. I should have thought of this going in, but since I always get a salad bowl at Chipotle, I thought it might work.
Apart from the odd mix of textures, the chickpeas and paneer were both very flavorful (perhaps too flavorful mixed together?). Love that they have a number of sauces and chutneys to accompany, and that they let you put as many items /​toppings in your meal as you want.
If you are going for the low-​carb, vegetarian route, you may be disappointed. If you’re going burrito style, or rice bowl, I’m sure you’ll be satisfied!

The Chipotle concept of pick-​your-​own ingredients works for some places. But for me, Tava is not pulling it off. …At all.
Why?
First: One of the best features of Indian food is having a meat or veg simmered in a sauce over time; it allows the flavors to merge and the dish to become a coherent whole. Not so for Tava, where each component is kept separate until the last-​minute merger. Welcome to dissonance.
Second: Only two sauces are offered: Tikka and Dal. Last time I checked, Dal was not a sauce, but a delicious vegetarian dish in its own right — stewed and spiced lentils and/​or beams. So… Tava really offers just ONE sauce. (No, I would not like my Dal with unflavored chicken, thank you.)
Third: My meal was just over $ 10. Hey that’s weird… for just a few dollars more I can go somewhere else for an Indian buffet; and choose from a dozen individual, crafted dishes. Hmm. Maybe I’ll do that next time. It’s really the same idea but done better — pick the dishes you like; and MUCH more variety! (
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Three stars max, but the final straw for this Tava location is that it’s always overrun by high school students at weekday lunches. Palo Alto High is just across the street, and with their «open campus» policy, Tava can be a real zoo. At noon the line is always out the door; plus, there’s no place to sit. Just Not Worth It.