Friday, November 02, 2007

Sizzling India

Having peered in the window of Sizzling India on Main Street in Peoria and seen the mustard yellow walls and basket-woven dining chairs topped with cushions, atop which sat many diners during the lunch hour, I wanted to check the place out.
I know next to nothing about Indian food, and was a little concerned the menu would not have descriptions of the items. We stopped in during a weekday lunch hour, and no menu was presented, maybe due to there being a lunch buffet.
I figured a buffet would be a good way to sample many different items, so since someone had given us water and no server had stopped by our table, we headed to the buffet to select some dishes.
The dishes were labeled with Indian names, which didn't help us figure out what they were, so I took a wide array of samples.
After our first trip to the buffet, we noticed that several tables had a basket of some sort of flatbread. The other thing we noticed was that everyone was drinking water. That's when it occurred to us that we were not offered anything else to drink, and wondered if there were other drink options available.
The first thing I chose from the buffet, adai looked like an orangish pancake. It was different.
Next, I tried some fried cauliflower, which was OK. I also tried a tomato rice and a white rice dish, both of which were fine.
Once I got to the butter chicken, I decided this dish was a winner. The tandoori chicken was pretty good, too.
I also sampled a green bean dish in an orange colored sauce. It was a little like having a spicier green bean casserole, minus the fried onion topping.
StfRon tried a few dishes, too, but ended up mostly eating the butter chicken as well.
The dishes all had a variety of Indian spices to them, some much spicier than others. The lunch certainly cleared out my sinuses a bit, which is not a bad thing.
A server brought us by a basket of flatbread, which is called naan. This bread was soft, warm and very good. The servers also kept our water glasses well-filled until almost the end of the meal, however they kept to themselves very much, and didn't really have much interaction with the customers.
For dessert, we each took a small bowl of the rice pudding. I was surprised to find it had a sort of lemony flavor to it, probably from cardamom, but after the initial surprise, I found it to be kind of tasty. There were also nuts mixed in.
We were not presented with a bill, so we went to the register to pay for our buffets, $8.25 each. While at the register, we saw a bar area and the menu, which featured many more Indian dishes, Indian Chinese selections and beverages.

October 2009 — Sizzling India has closed

8 comments:

Fraochán said...

Hmmm. I have had friends do humanitarian work in India - they said the food was very good....despite suffering from worms. (hahaha - have to love traveling to 3rd world countries!)

Michele said...

Umm, not trying to bum you out, but that restaurant failed their inspection in September.

# Sizzling India, 1209 W. Main St., Peoria, scored a 61 on Sept. 12. Problems included unlabeled and uncovered foods; potentially hazardous foods stored at improper temperatures; improper dispensing tools; improper use of hand sinks; employees eating in kitchen; interior of oven cracked with insulation exposed; soiled and rusty surfaces; torn gaskets; soiled wipe cloths on prep tables; improper use of single-service items; sink missing handle; leaky dishwasher; low water pressure; open Dumpster lid; live cockroaches; improperly closing outer door; floors and walls soiled and in disrepair; potentially hazardous items improperly stored. A Sept. 17 recheck scored 77.

Fraochán said...

Yum yum let's go back Jeep! lol

My Flock Rocks! said...

I read that too in the PJ Star. I have heard the food was good but not sure after reading the inspection report I would frequent their establishment. Although I have heard cockroaches are tasty!

Peoria Peepers said...

At least it was a bad September inspection and not November. I would hope things have improved!

Hariharasudhan said...

has this re-opened.

Peoria Peepers said...

Sizzling India is still closed, at least during the lunch hour. I have not heard that they have reopened.
There is an Indian restaurant nearby, though: Aachi's South Indian Cuisine, located at 917 N. Western Avenue.

Hariharasudhan said...

AAAAACHI......

dont ever go there!!!!!!
food sucks...there.

if there is any quality health audit,they would hardly make it to 20/100

i wdnt recommend that even to my enemies.