Lahore Karahi, San Francisco

A friend of mine visiting from Austin recommended this place saying it was the best Indian food he'd eaten in a long time!! I was actually ashamed that an outsider had to tell me about this place when its been there all along in the Tenderloin neighborhood close to my favourite Indian-Pakistani restaurant - Chutney. So I took the first opportunity to have dinner at Lahore Karahi this Friday (07/27/2007) after watching the just released Simpsons movie. My initial impression was good, they actually have menus and come to the table to take your order. And this is also the first Indian-Pakistani joint in the Tenderloin with carpetted floors!! The waiter suggested that we go for their speciality Tandoori Fish instead of the Sheek Kabab. So we ended up ordering Tandoori Fish, Karahi Chicken, Lahori Chikkar Chole, Saag Paneer and some Garlic Naans. The restaurant started getting crowded and since they have only one chef/cook, it took about 30 minutes for our food to arrive. 30 minutes can be an excruciatingly long wait when you're as hungry as I was that day !! They also had only 2 waiters and the service was also very slow. The water and onions that we ordered never actually arrived. As for the food, the Tandoori fish was truly delicious, infact the best Tandoori fish I've had in a long time. The Karahi chicken and the Chikkar Chole were also very good and had the right balance of spices. The Saag Paneer was a little too spicy for my taste and I wasn't too impressed with the Garlic Naans which weren't soft enough and too oily. I'd still recommend Chutney over Lahore Karahi but I'm glad there is another good alternative to Chutney just round the corner.