Gorkha Palace

prancer71

The St. Paul/MSP area has a ton of Indian restaurants, so simply calling the food here tasty or flavorful wouldn't do it justice. Why is it better? Because of the meticulous preparation--all dishes are made to order w/all natural ingredients (even their ghee is made from scratch) and w/rice bran oil, and the end result is consistent--never excessively greasy, salty, sweet, etc.; anyone w/considerable experience eating at curry houses and buffets here and throughout the US can attest to the fact that some joints overload their food w/oil, usu. to compensate (or smear over) culinary errors or shortcuts, but not this place. Accordingly, there have been a considerable no. of reviews for this place citing the higher price tag compared to other Indian/Nepalese establishments. Ho hum--quality costs $$. Restaurants that make it a point to obtain their ingredients from select suppliers instead of opting for the cheapest are inevitably forced to transfer that cost onto its diners.

Maharshi Dey

Overall, I'll give it a 4.3/5 - from an authentic Biriyani perspective. Good: Very nice and clean environment, really nice customer service, soft nepali music in the background, nice outdoor seating area was also available, available city parking, steamed chicken momo with tomato sauce was 5/5. Could be better: Chicken Biriyani was not Indian style. Was more of a Nepali style Biryani as much I have had before. Ghee and saffron smell was missing and had quite a lot of dried fruits (almost like a fried rice). I bit on whole spices like cardamom twice, which may ruin the taste for many. Water refilling was slow. Many tables had water jugs for self refilling but mine didn't. P.S: Non Indian subcontinent people will probably like it more than what I did.

Linda Bella

Today I ordered the Chicken Tikka masala. What I loved : the sauce was super creamy and I had ordered it mild, and even so, it was quite a delicious flavor profile. Objection: white chicken breast meat. It was dry. This dish would be helped by using thigh meat. We also ordered the Goan Shrimp curry (green sauce) and my boyfriend slightly objected to the tails on the shrimp. His was medium hot and I could enjoy it just as well. We were given a big platter of rice to share between the two of us. The rice was perfectly pilaf. The momos were nice, we had the combo platter. Veggie was my favorite, not salty, flavorful, tender dough. All are winners, the sauce that came with them was reminiscent of my tomato based Tikka masala. Our companion had the shrimp Biriany and she loved it. Lots of rice, shrimp and veggies in her dish. My mango lassi was absolutely delicious and I ended up ordering 2. We waited what seemed like forever to get our orders. The appetizer momos arrived at the same time as the entrées and the waiter removed my empty mango drink without asking if I would like another one or attempting in any way to replace it. I tend never to drink the tap water offered, so I was left without a drink. I successfully flagged him down after he passed us by several times. The food was tasty, satisfying, more than enough to satiate our appetites and while we weren't offered dessert, I'm not sure we could have coped with any. The menu had the 18% gratuity notice that they were going to avail themselves of it... But, they also cite a city statute that allows them to tip themselves without touching the server tip. So, this means that you're going to pay a 40% tip... A forced one to the business establishment and a customary one for the server. There were several occupied tables, in a sleepy Wednesday lunch hour. Our server garnered about a $20 tip from our table and the restaurant did likewise. Let's consider that the meals weren't super complicated and mask mandates have come down for indoor dining. I'm mystified that other establishments manage to make ends meet and aren't charging what seems an arbitrary fee post pandemic. I loved the food and the garlic naan was the best part, tender, slightly sweet, lightly charred and overall, to die for..... But it might behoove the image of the restaurant to lower their forced gratuity or just increase their prices.

Tommy Williams

Very good food. Very proud to be organic and locally sourced. Could use some lunch specials, pricey menu. The Momo appetizer combo is really good, forgot to take a picture before it was almost gone!