Honest Indian Vegetarian Restaurant Austin

Best vegetarian food, fast service and cool atmosphere! Have been here multiple times and will go! Highly recommended for Indian street food, especially for vegetarian options.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Edit: I visit Honest one every few months to see if things got better. Not really. Same stuff again. Very spicy. Their Manchiruan Medley felt so overpriced, I got 2 paneer pieces and 2-3 gobi pieces, overall 8-9 pieces for $13. Are you kidding me? And their Punugulu is neither good nor bad, can be skipped.

Hit or miss. Their bhel puri is bad. It's definitely not authentic. Too much masala. No hint of tamarind/sweet dahi/sweet chutney. And when asked for some raita/dahi to spice it down their smarty waiter said 'it doesn't come with the order'. Yes genius it doesn't and it's too spicy how do I eat it?

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 1

They improved the food taste.
Please add less oil

Delicious.
Spice level was solid.
Definitely coming back.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Pure vegetarian place with good chaat options

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 5

Disappointing restaurant eww .. Worst food ever

I went there a week ago to eat some food. I had a really bad experience. The customer service was poor. The food was really bad, like worst. The owner was rude and I can even see dirt on the serving utensils. I complained but they did nothing. Worst experience ever.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Ordered save puri - taste was ok but “honestly” it was cold to eat and hurt my teeth
Other Items are expensive but quality and taste are not upto the mark

The food is really good and fresh. Definitely coming back for more.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

A Honest Review for Honest Restaurant

I recently visited Honest Restaurant, excited to try their Indian street-style food. Unfortunately, my experience fell short of expectations.

The Pav Bhaji was a major disappointment. Instead of the flavorful, veggie-packed dish I'm familiar with, I got a half-daal, half-bhaji mixture with no green peas or tomatoes in sight. It tasted more like a dal than pav bhaji. I've had better pav bhaji from Indian food trucks in Austin.

The Idly Chutney was another letdown. The idlis were thick and crumbly, making the center inedible. The chutney and sambar were okay, but not enough to redeem the dish.

The Tripping Schezwan Rice was the best of the lot, but still underwhelming. The rice quality wasn't great, and the excessive use of food coloring was off-putting. I think authentic Schezwan dishes rely on natural ingredients for flavor and color.

In summary, Honest Restaurant excels in hospitality, but the food quality and authenticity need improvement. I hope the chef takes feedback seriously and revamps their dishes, starting with renaming the Pav Bhaji to Dal Pav.

Dietary restrictions: Lack of good quality oil.
Excessive food coloring.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 4

One of the few honest places that serve different curries. Amazing individual flavors for every one of them. Amazing service. Will be back again.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Edit review (2024):
We have been regular here and their food was fine. But the waiting staff has some excessive obsession of collecting the menu cards back, almost like we are going to steal their menu cards. This has been going on for a while.

Today however was the limit, we placed our standard order that we do for kids and were scanning the menu cards for more dishes, the waiter (non Indian) asked us if we are done with the menu cards and he can take them back, we said no we want to see through and order more ( there wasn’t any crowd in restaurant so it wasn’t like the were short of the cards). That dude came 5 times, in like 5 minutes to take the card back.. we gave it away, fed the kids, didn’t order anything else .. also we asked for more chutney, which we can pay for, he said no more chutney.. we were shocked! Not going back.. they can keep their menu cards to themselves .. AWFULL!

New review (2023):

Their chaats are awesome as usual..

BUT SKIP THE PUNJABI THALI…
The food is nothing like Punjabi cuisine and it’s stale! Also, they don’t explicitly tell you what sabzis are there even when you ask before ordering.

Old review (when they opened):

The food is great, but the service is below average… may be they are still figuring it out.

Food: 4

Service: 1

Great experience

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Dahi Puri, Bhel

Overpriced, less quantity, zero customer service

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Special Pav Bhaji, Dahi Puri

Worst service and very rude! Everything’s so overpriced for so less quantity! They literally charge for everything including extra yogurt, lol pathetically cheap!

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1