Besharam

Being a Gujarati and vegetarian, Besharam is a go to for us. It is one of the very few restaurant with veg tasting menu. However, we went ahead with a La carte menu. We started our dinner with mango lassi, chai and cocktails. The cocktail was mild, but the chai made me remember the tea stalls of Ahmedabad. I really loved the taste and the smell of cardamom coming from chai. For appetizers, we had drunken panipuri and pav bhaji puff. The panipuri was amazing however the name might be misleading. It is not at all drunken panipuri. They just add a drop of gin which is very hard to even taste. I wanted to try it by name but be aware it is very misleading. The Pav bhaji puffs were amazing with melt in mouth puff pastry. For mains we ordered, maska paneer, malai kofta, cheesy garlic naan and roti. The paneer was fresh and soft just like homemade paneer. Koftas were amazing. The roti was more like thepla. And for dessert we had Shrikhand Cheesecake. The cheesecake for super luxurious with perfect sweetness. They had added blueberry compote on the top which I think was unnecessary. It was not going with the flavors of the cheesecake. The overall experience was amazing.

I had high expectations after hearing about this restaurant from my friends, but unfortunately, this place was a bit of a letdown. An Indian restaurant that charges for chutneys - that's a red flag in my book. Let's start with the positives first. Finding the restaurant tucked away in the Minnesota Street Project felt like stumbling upon a hidden gem. This also meant that parking was easy to find, which is great. The restaurant is vibrant and has a warm and pleasant ambiance. Now, let's switch gears. Besharam definitely lived up to its name (which translates to "shameless" in hindi) when it comes to service. We were a party of 5. While the 4 of us were waiting for our 5th friend to arrive, we decided to order some appetizers, only to be told by our server that they only take full order (not sure if that's the restaurant policy but we didn't bother to clarify). Anyway, after our friend joined us, we decided to order a few appetizers and one entree. When we were ready to place our order, our server kept pushing us to order more food for our party size, despite us telling him that we were okay with what we were getting. We've never had a server be so pushy that it felt a bit sales-y. When we politely opted for our own selection, he seemed almost disappointed. Speaking of selection, the pacing of our food left a lot to be desired. Everything seemed to arrive at once, turning our meal into an unintentional eating competition. We were inhaling food to make space for the next dish on our table (partly because our servers didn't do a good job of removing empty plates from our table). The food itself was a mixed bag. Mango lassi was delicious - thick and creamy with perfect sweetness level. The masala chai was okay. Most of the dishes fell flat and were bland. The Dahi Wada, a lentil dumpling in creamy yogurt, was good and flavorful because of the tamarind chutney. The Pav Bhaji Puff, a unique take on the classic street food, had potential, but the pastry crust was a tad dry. The Drunken Pani Puri, a fun twist on the traditional pani puri with a boozy filling, was a playful idea, but we could hardly taste the gin. The Dabeli Paratha, a flatbread stuffed with spiced potato filling, was decent, but nothing special. The Kachori Dumplings, another lentil dish, were a bit underseasoned. The Malai Koftas, vegetable dumplings in a creamy sauce, were the clear winner - flavorful and rich. The Garlic Naan, on the other hand, was very cheesy and filling. Apart from their a la carte menu, they also have a tasting menu priced at $75/person that is served family style and requires everyone at the table to participate. In my opinion, it is not worth it. You are better off ordering items from the a la carte menu.

The food was not so great and did not live up to the hype. We went for lunch and ordered Mango Salad (which was ok), the Thali (malai kofta was ok, Daal and Kadhi was pathetic) and Bombay Sandwich (which was a joke and the worst I ever had served with full of sugar tomato soup…. Thought it was chutney but the server mentioned it was soup lol). The sandwich bread was so pathetic that my household bread was much better than this…. Not desirable…Didn’t feel like leaving a tip after that but the server mentioned 20% service charge is mandatory and mentioned on the menu (felt like a complete rip off). I had to be Besharam myself to write this thing and don’t know if charging unnecessary service charge by default is even legal. Not recommended… Rooh is much better at the same cost! Vegetarian options: Bombay sandwich,

We enjoyed a birthday dinner here before a basketball game and absolutely loved the atmosphere. It is lively, yet cozy, with an open kitchen, which looks filled with wonderful chefs doing their magic. Still, despite the creative yummy plates, prices ate both justified. And we all absolute despised the black sheep meatballs (vegan) as it tasted gamey, strong, salty and was churning in our stomachs for hours on. Stay away from it and you’ll be in good hands here. PS: that was the beat cheese naan ever!!

2 of us went there for lunch today. We ordered a "Bombay sandwich" and an "Egg Uttapam" (or whatever it was called). Had 2 masala chais, and 2 desserts (carrot halwah and shrikhand cheesecake). The chais came pre-sweetened and were overly sweet. The carrot halwah was reheated (right before my eyes) and didn't taste that fresh. The shrikhand cheesecake was overly sweet too. And the main entrees also left a lot to be desired. The Bombay sandwich ($22) was nothing like a sandwich you'd get in Bombay (which is usually a flavor bomb) and bland, and the Egg Uttapam was also quite bland. It wouldn't be a problem if the final bill didn't come to $116 (which included a mandatory 20% tip). Was it worth it? Not really. Will I be back? Not really.

We really wanted to try pavbhaji and other things but sadly 4-5 items we asked were out of stock from a very small menu. Please don't go to this restaurant after 8 pm.

Sales-y server, pushed us to order much more than needed. Came home with a ton of leftovers. Very greedy behavior on their part. Staff asked us to return the table, alleging that they needed our table for another party when the restaurant was visibly empty. Weird and unprofessional.

Really excellent!!