SFist: In Praise of Mediocrity: East Bay Eats at Flavors of India

guest

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:46:45 -0800

"with a fair number of fairly unappetizing Chinese restaurants sprinkled in between" Oh, it's Oakland... I thought the article was about Clement Street!!! bummer - but glad you've got another choice!

spidra

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:07:36 -0800

I'm surprised Breads of India still gets the sort of fawning reviews it does. Mehak across the street has a hard time with consistency and ambience, but when they're on, their food is WAY better than Breads of India, in my opinion. If you could hook their best chef up with a businessperson who knows how to handle the other things: ambience, consistency, keeping the pantry adequately stocked....they'd conquer the world.

Jeremy

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:21:32 -0800

"I am more disappointed by the snarky, "cool kid" style of the review" Hi! Welcome to SFist! Also, perhaps you should allow that other people have different experiences than you have, sir (or ma'am). Your happiness with the restaurant Julie was somewhat tepid about is duly noted.

guest

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:48:45 -0800

I live near this restaurant and was thrilled to learn they were coming to the neighborhood. I had often eaten at their location on College and Alcatraz. I've been eating Indian food for 20 years and find this food wonderful. I've never been disappointed by what I've ordered and eaten at Flavors of India. Nor was the service slow when I ate there. I often order food to go and pick it up by bicycle, which is easy and convenient. I have eaten at Breads of India and Vik's, both. I love Vik's, but never went back to Breads of India because it was such a long, frustrating wait. I am more disappointed by the snarky, "cool kid" style of the review than by the food at the restaurant, which is made with care and periodically changed and improved after feedback from customers. This review, sadly, is almost a caricature of what someone thinks a cool food review should be -- damining the place with faint praise and smug, superior, self-satisfied comments. I guess that's what it means to be a critic, to have that mindset. I'm glad the tables are often crowded, and I am hopeful they will continue to be filled up, despite Julie's "we were dismayed" sniping. How many of her are there, anyway?

guest

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:31:04 -0800

SFist Julie here (still can't get the system to work for me -- a metaphor?)... Kasey, thank you very much for your recommendations on the University Ave locations. I guess we have a different definition of relocated. I was indeed referring to the now-closed North Berkeley location (which happens to currently house Taste of the Himalayas) which to my mind had re-opened or relocated to Oakland. As for the other "guest" (#1): Ummm... thanks for your input? If I felt like cooking, I wouldn't be calling for take-out. Perhaps my review wasn't clear. Given the options around Lakeshore and Grand avenues, Flavors offers pretty decent food. That's useful info for some folks, I hope.

kasey

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:38:23 -0800

Just to clarify--Breads of India has not "relocated" to Oakland, they merely opened another branch, their 3rd branch (though the second branch, in North Berkeley, did not last long). The original is still going strong on Sacramento at Dwight in Berkeley. But you really should head down to the intersection of San Pablo and University for soem quality Indian and Pakistani food--Breads of India will seem bland and watered down by comparison. Some of the best in the area are Priya, Indus Village and Kabana; further up University near MLK is Udupi Palace, a mini-chain serving vegetarian South Indian food.

guest

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:28:49 -0800

at a certain point you have to wonder, why not just make indian food at home? you'd probably do just a good a job as this place, and the service would be faster, too.