Honest Vegetarian

Honest is right down the street from my workplace. Some of my co-workers have either been to Honest in another city or heard really positive things about it, so we were excited to give it a try during our lunch break. It is completely vegetarian for any meat-lovers out there, but the food is extremely rich and filling that I personally don't mind at all. The majority of Indian restaurants in Phoenix are mostly "westernized" types of food - butter chickens, tikka masala, biryani, etc. Honest specializes in Mumbai street food which is much less common. I was able to try a lot of new dishes that I had never heard of. We ate family style and split a lot of dishes - Honest Special pav bhaji, bhel puri, palak paneer, and a few others that I can't remember. We ordered about 5 or 6 dishes between 6 people and we left very full with several boxes to go. The portions appear small, but some of the dishes are very rich and filling (pav bhaji, palak paneer). One of my friends has spent a lot of time in Mumbai and she said the food was decent but not completely authentic. For me with no baseline for how it should taste, I thought it was excellent!

So, if you visited under prior owners you would have entered a stale industrial opened area. They have softened it and brightened it. The furniture is comfy and it's not nearly as loud now that they have some furniture to absorb the sounds. This is a chain restaurant that originated in India in 1975 that was started as a food cart. In 2022 there were 39 restaurants in the US. They have an extensive menu. You can choose between vegetarian, Jain, swaminarayan. I ordered a garlic noodle dish. The waitress was kind enough to tell me that the peppers in there will light you up. I have Hindi friends. And they don't claim a temp until there are flames shooting out my ....... So I heeded her warning and asked for no peppers. Everything was wonderful. Freshly made. Fresh ingredients. So flavorful. The masala soda was interesting. Hold your breath and it won't taste so bad.

Ok, so I found two cheat codes for this place. First is to take your Indian friend here and have them order all the food stuff. Secondly take the boss into paying for it all as a team builder event.And with that said, let me preface that while I've had Indian food before I've probably always played it safe and ordered things I knew I'd like. But this time we just have food flying in and we all had it family style so I got to have a lot of different things, which is a wonderful way to immerse yourself into the food experience.So here is what we tried (and pardon me as I may have got these mixed up)Katappa Sandwhich. This boy was messy, but quite good. It was much more smooth than a lot of the other foods and had no spiciness that I remember. This felt "very American" in its composition. Very safe for the less adventurous.Dahi Puri. These were good and a bit different to my American tongue. I think I ate like half of the order myself. Quite good. The cold sour cream next to the breaded ball was delicious.Pani puri. This is something I had never seen before and was quite a treat. A bit spicy and had great texture. Having to load your sauces inside was kind of fun too - how spicy do you want it to be determined how you loaded it.Garlic chili noodles. These were quite good. It was one of the favorites the table had. Cannot go too wrong with noodles. Garlic was just right on these guys as was the moisture content (not too slippery and not too dry where they all stuck together). Gobi Manchurian. These were spicy. But man were they good. The texture of these was superb as well.Crispy veggies. Same flavoring as the Gobi Manchurian but somehow better. More crunchy. I may be getting these two up - the one I liked more was the one made with cauliflower. The crunch of the cauliflower with the spiciness was superb. Pizza. I think it was the Indian style bhakri pizza. This was the least favorite of the group. Ok. But far from the NY or Chicago pizzas out there. Not my speed.Naan, garlic and bullet. Both good. The table liked the garlic more.Cheese/Paneer butter masala, Malai Kofta was terrific! Great sauce. If my memory serves me correctly they had same sauce but I liked the cheese one better. So good. One of my favorites.Lemonade. Not the standard Minute Maid. Good.And last but not least we tried to continue our immersion into Indian food and decided to try Paan. And let's just say that I was not ready for what Paan was, nor were any of my co-workers. It comes in a leaf, and has some sort of nuts in the middle and is drizzled with some sort of sauce. I took a big chomp out of this and instantly knew I was in trouble. First off, I couldn't swallow it - it required a lot of chewing. Secondly, it was a hardcore rush of mint/soap taste unlike anything I'd ever tried before. Once I got it down the taste was overpowering and didn't seem to sit completely right in my stomach. And to be honest, I felt like I could still taste it 2 days later. In some ways I wonder if Paan was just so foreign to me that my body didn't do well with it. Or maybe I had tried too many things and Paan just set me over the edge. Or maybe I had some sort of allergic reaction (I'm allergic to a lot of things). In any case, for me, Paan is the only hard pass out of the whole buffet of food that we got.Also, a disclaimer. I am not one who likes spice. I do not seek it. But, when in Rome. To me there are different spices. There is spice that is just going to burn your mouth and you cannot taste it. I do not understand why people like this type of spice. Then there are ones that are more flavorful and generally less hot. All of the food I ate today was spicy and flavorful. The hottest one id say was the Gobi Manchurian but even as such it was still a good, tasty hot. Nothing that I reviewed above should be considered too weird for timid Americans who aren't sure about the menu - except the Paan. Beware of the Paan. Lol.This truly was a great experience and I'm glad I went with a group and was able to sample so many different things in one sitting instead of ordering one thing and hoping for the best never knowing what else on the menu would be better or worse. I would definitely like to come back here. This is a strong 5/5 for me.

Don't walk, run here!!! Fast service, fantastic food! We started with the bhel which was delightful and I had the Bhaji Pav as my appetizer! Good portion size and delicious meal.

Vegetarian! Sure let's try it! I believe outside decor had the outdoor lights hanging from the previous establishment. They added a tuk tuk which is like a little golf cart vehicle for driving people around in India. When you walk inside they have some nice up-close pictures of some of their dishes, some instagram worthy picture spots by their moped, a food stand and an a greenery vibe with chairs and their brand HonesT. There were plenty of seating everywhere with hues of yellows and bright colors adorned with lots of colorful bangles. They have a glass area so you can see the cooks. One area that we were sitting at looks like it can be a private area to seat around 20 people. We decided to do street foods only- What we ordered: Bhaji Pav- Vegetable curry with species and bread (pav) $14. Flavors were wonderful but it was spicy for me. This presentation was different for me because the pav was all mixed in the bhaji whereas I've had it with bread on the side and you dip the bread with it. Fried papad 2pc - this looks like a big round tortilla chip. It's actually made of lentils and some salt and eaten as a snack. Kids always love these. $2Dahi Puri- this is made of puffy crisp wheat shells (puri) filled with potatoes, cilantro mint green chutney (spicy), tamarind chutney (sweet) and topped with yogurt (dahi) and sev (crunchy fried gram flour), cilantro and purple sliced carrots (which is new to me). This is a fave of mine and is a Mumbai popular snack. $9Then we also ordered another Dahi Puri without the green chutney but still had some spices that was a tiny bit spicy. Yogurt helps to clam down that spice. Plain Uttapum - rice lentil pancake with some chutneys: a coconut chutney, tomato chutney, sanbar (which is a vegetable lentil soup). Sanbar was good but a bit of spice $9 Steam Idli (2pc) - South Indian rice cake (which are soft little mounds with texture of a cake) with similar sanbar and chutneys like above. You dip the idli into the sanbar and chutneys. The rice cakes fell apart so that is not what I'm used to. $7Mango shake - refreshing mango shake for the summer $8Overall tastes were flavorful, spicy is roaming around and a variety of options were available. Next time I'll have to try entree dishes with naan and some other typical foods that I've also tried. The server kept asking us if we wanted to order desserts and we kept saying no. We were full. Other than that the staff was attentive. Payment is done at the table. Until next time.

Don't get fooled by the decor and the looks of the restaurant.I don't know how to describe this vegetarian Indian eatery. They have table service but the food menu has too much variety that gives food court vibe!Got seated immediately. We ordered 2 chai, Samosa chat w/d choley, Mysore masala dosa, and wada pav. The food came so quickly that we were surprised. Like we literally just ordered.The chai was decent, came in a red mud cup! The chat was stale. The samosa clearly was stale. The dressing on top just saved the flavor. Next our Dosa was moist, mushy, and cold. It was not crispy at all. How can a freshly made Dosa be soft and cold? The potatoes inside felt too dry. The chutney and sambar were clearly stale. Next the wada pav was decent then the dosa. I wish a normal Hawaiian bun instead of sweet brioche bun was used. The bun totally killed the authenticity of Wada Pav!It breaks my heart to see promising new business go downhill and give low importance to the quality of the food. Add to the irony is the name of the restaurant, Honest! Pls don't go by the decor. The food definitely does not deliver.

We were excited to explore this new Indian restaurant with an Interesting name.It's great to have a pure vegetarian/ vegan spot.I feel such options are definitely limited.The food itself is a solid three stars, nothing exceptional, the curries were basic.Ambiance is inviting, and xtra points for cleanliness.Service was ok.We were there on a weekend and it was getting difficult to manage tables.Loved the mango lassi, dabeli and different chat options on the menu.Extensive variety but Pricing on some of the items is a little on the higher side.Definitely check them out if you haven't.Cheers!

You have to try this place if you are vegetarian or vegan! This place is on my radar since the time it opened and finally got a chance to try for a lunch. The ambiance, decor everything is 5/5, finally an Indian restaurant who has given some importance to the look and feel of the place. We were seated and the service is quick and everything is digital, the menu is available and placed order to the server. We went with couple of chaat items samosa chaat and dahi poori, both excellent, flavors were good and tasty. I would highly recommend the chilli garlic noodles, the taste is top notch. We tried the chaas, it was alright and not the best. Overall a good place for lot of options. I hope they stay consistent and quality doesn't go down. The pricing is expensive and for two it turned out to be $75, it's valid for the food but not completely justified.

Spent over $40 for a single person and ordered 3 items. None were good enough and I wouldn't recommend this place. Who adds a ton of cardamom seeds in mango lassi? Every sip consisted of 2-3 seeds. Terrible experience!

This was my first visit . Restaurant is very clean, Ambiance is very nice, service is prompt. Food is delicious . Will definitely come back soon!