Given that Atlanta is in fact a vibrant and ethnically diverse metropolis, we do have our fair share of good Indian restaurants. While we have not tasted every single restaurant in metro Atlanta, we've eaten enough curries and dosai to be able to pick a few favorites. Most of these places will be in Decatur, and this isn't just because we are lazy, Decatur happens to have a massive Indian community with strip malls of food and shops. The local thrift store has discarded saris on a daily basis!
For pure vegetarian cuisine we love Udipi Cafe, this place serves lovely non-greasy south indian vegetarian fare and even has a buffet that I happily partake of. I adore Udipis' breads and recommend all of their curries, the Dal Tadaka is especially flavorful.
Meat eaters can get their fix at one of two places we highly recommend; Bollywood Masala, or Zyka. Bollywood Masala has great atmosphere; a large screen playing bollywood videos and extra large bollywood star posters overlook modernist inspired furniture and starry wallpaper. The comparison to an Indian video store has been made by many. While the food is generally the same as most other places, a few standouts need to be mentioned: tandoori paneer and this interesting fish curry that I wish I could remember the name of. The waiter mentioned it might be too strong or too fishy, but it was one of the most interesting things on the menu. Overall the food is good but not great and we come for the hot bollywood hip gyrations.
Zyka is a cafeteria style place in a Montessori school. Sounds like the beginning of a joke...but their spicy chicken 65 is no joke. Eat the butter chicken! Feel the arteries clogging! The butter chicken is seriously tasty, I have to eat it at least once a year but stay away from the eggplant dish unless you feel like sweating or blowing your nose...that stuff is too spicy even for me who once cooked a dish so spicy I made people hallucinate. Zyka is also very fast and very cheap. Just thought I'd throw that in.
Bhojanic offers something a little different for the average American indian food eater. Yes, fusion and tapas are generally two words that make us run screaming from a place since usually those words are synonymous with 'fad' and 'suck'. Bhojanic isn't either of these, its actually pretty good. Not everything is a hit, the all you can eat Thursday tapas menu does get boring and the thalis are woefully average. Almost all of the tapas and chat are worth a taste, especially the pakora and almost anything with the chickpea-cilantro duo. While the thalis are average, when fresh tilapia makes the fish curry taste above and beyond the curry of duty. Oh yes, I went there.
Drew's honorable mention buffet: Chat Patti.
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