Gill's Cuisine of India Restaurant
Category: Indian/Pakistani [Edit]
Neighborhood: Downtown838 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90017 (213) 623-1050
20 Reviews for Gill's Cuisine of India Restaurant
I love this place, it has some of the BEST Indian Food I have ever eaten. Their buffet is a bit slow and hectic but whatever, it's cheap so I don't care. The atmosphere is kind of strange, but I like it. It's better than douchebag hipsters at the Electric Lotus, that's for sure. Strange mix of people and always something interesting.
Despite all the gentrification, it's still very difficult to find good vegan food in downtown LA. Gill's is one of the few places I can count on always being open, until of course the Stillwell gets converted into lofts.
Gill's might be a bit difficult to find at first because it's located inside the Stillwell Hotel. There's nothing seedy about the hotel and if low-income housing bothers you, well frack off.
Everything I've had at Gill's has always been great. Service is good. And I really like that this is a family-run operation. Their kids hang out and even help out. They do have a television screen, which can often be discrating, but this is mostly my fault because I love Indian music videos! Although there are plenty of tables, I always choose to sit in one of the booths with a tall Himalayan Blue Lager.
The only thing that bothers me about this restaurant is that it's always so empty. I usually only find one or two other couples dining in. Perhaps it's because most of their clientele is still downtown business people and I always come by for dinner.
Mediocre food, creepy atmosphere with poor lighting. The buffet does not include naan - you have to pay extra. Surely, there must be a better Indian buffet downtown.
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Very weird location, at the back of a lobby in an old random hotel downtown. I've always enjoyed the food here though, and I love the lunch buffet. Apparently others have different opinions, but this is one of my favorite lunch spots downtown.
This used to be one of my favorite restaurants downtown---I ate dinner here 2 or 3 nights a week. No more. As I understand it, the business was sold, and I'm sorry, but the quality of food and service deteriorated quickly and dramatically.
I haven't been here for probably 6 months now, so maybe I should give it another try. I just almost shudder to recall the food and service on that last visit.
But maybe it's just me. After all, I really don't understand the terms "seedy" and "rundown" when talking about the Stillwell, where this restaurant's located; and the neighborhood itself is in the middle of South Park's gentrification area. So the atmosphere really isn't that bad, by my judgement.
But, as I said, maybe it's just me...
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Although this place is nestled back inside of a seedy hotel, do not be alarmed. The food here is authentic, reasonably priced and perfectly seasoned for the North Indian food connoisseur. The chicken tikka masala is perfectly textured with spice and consistency, it goes great with any of their regular or flavored naan bread. Also, I recommend the tandoori chicken and the samosas are delicious. If it's Indian food in Downtown Los Angeles you are looking for...........look no more.
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The four stars are for the lunch buffet, not the decor or service. If you can get past the creepy dankness of it all, $8.95 gets you a great all-you-can-eat lunch. I want to keep eating until I explode, but at some point self-preservation kicks in and yells "stop!" Highlights include Tandoori chicken, daal of the day, mataar paneer, brinjal bhaji, naan bread, salad, fresh oranges and some kind of desert.
**addendum**
Never, ever order delivery from Gils, unless you really, really like waiting. It's always been slow, but it had been well over 2 hours when I finally canceled my delivery last time. They didn't seem too sad about it either. I'll stand by my low-budget 4 stars because I still like the food.
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This is the only Indian restaurant in the downtown area. Plus they deliver, although, it may take 45 minutes to an hour. Whenever we crave Indian food, this is where we order from. Once, during a weekday lunch, I decided to go for the buffet, however, if you want a grade A eatery, this may turn you off. So I suggest that you order a delivery first, judge them by the food and then brave the restaurant.
Do you know where the Stillwell hotel is. It's so rundown and it's the sort of "hotel" that people may rent by the week or month. The restaurant, the seats are in tatters and sort of dinghy, but man, the food. Some of the best chicken tikka masala. And I always order the onion naan, as the garlic naan, sometimes the garlic is burned. Yes, I would definitely order delivery from here, but....maybe not eat there.
Living downtown for a few years now, Gill's was one of the only restaurants that would stay open past the business crowd 6pm exodus. When first moving to LA, we'd get lost everytime we left our building, so delivery was a great option!
This is as good as any Indian I've had (which granted is Electric Lotus, Surya and Nawab in Santa Monica). I love, love, love the Chicken Tikka, Garlic Naan and Samosas. We always get delivery in fear that the actual restaurant may spoil our high acclaim for the food.
If you live in the downtown area, this is a great option for when you don't feel like venturing out. Delivery usually takes 45 minutes to an hour.
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Gill's by no means serves up exceptional Indian food but if you are looking for something different for lunch I recommend you give their lunch buffet a try. Be forewarned, as with most Indian restaurants the ambiance is negligible and the service is efficient with minimal interaction (a grunt here, a shake of the head there). The vegetarian options are always good, the naan soft and tender, and if they have sweet rice fight the temptation to overindulge (it is damn tasty). Don't let the decor of the Stillwell Hotel scare you away, give Gill's a try - there are far worse options in downtown Los Angeles.
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I noticed that there weren't any reviews from the downtown regulars, so I thought I'd share some thoughts.
For people who work downtown, this is a great location to head to. They have an all you can eat buffet for about $10. It's not the greatest food in the world, but I can easily fill up on their chicken vindaloo and naan.
For large parties, they will usually be willing to set up folding tables in the hotel lobby so we can seat 10-15 fairly quickly. For downtown, being able to host groups like this for lunch is rare.
Finally, for you starving students, restaurants.com has coupons for Gill's where you can buy a $25 meal voucher for $10-15. With a coupon code, you can even buy it for as little as $5.
Mike
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I will avoid the urge to be loquacious on my first review, so here goes: go here for the garlic naan bread and stay for the samosas. They are both amazing. Previous notes about the hotel (think Jake's YMCA digs in Blues Brothers) are justified. The walk through the lobby will put hair on your chest if the naan doesn't.
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I'm not really a fan of Indian cuisine, but my boyfriend loves it, so I'm forced to eat it pretty regularly... not that I'm an expert, but I do have other restaurants to compare it to. So I went here for an office lunch, and despite my not wanting to go, the food was actually better than expected! They have a buffet at lunch, and we got there semi-early for the lunch crowd, so they were very accommodating for a party of 8. It definitely got busy as the lunch hour went on though, which I found somewhat surprising. However, one of the girls I was with said it's always packed at lunch. The price was reasonable, especially if you filled your plate a few times. Strange location in the back lobby of the Stillwell Hotel. I always have strange experiences when I eat in the Stillwell's restaurants, but for some reason we keep going back!
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I love downtown and the fact that there is an Indian restaurant that delivers makes here that much more wonderful. I've actually never visited the restaurant, but I order form them about once a week. As a fan of Indian food I've had a chance to visit many Indian restaurants and I must say Gil's is my favorite Chicken Tikka Masala. I also love their onion naan. Definitely my favorite thing to order in.
Gill's food is pretty good, but it's the ambiance that works for me. If you take away the patrons, you could be in NYC. The cave-like restaurant (no windows) in the back of a quasi-flophousey hotel on Grand gives it a certain j'en-sais-quoi. Je *do* sais that I'd avoid the buffet--buffets are germatoriums in their best incarnations, and the sorry hot-stations at Gill's are particularly dubious--but the aloo paratha is substantial and tasty, their sauteed okra is the only acceptable okra I've ever had, and their vindaloo doesn't sear off the tops of your tastebuds. Go with a group of friends, bring your own wine (their selection isn't good), or have a tasty Indian beer. Wander about about a pound heavier, but without having been fleeced (Gill's is eminently reasonable, price-wise). Enjoy!
If you're looking for quality Indian cuisine AND you're downtown this is the place for you. Though seemingly hard to locate in the back of the always entertaining Stillwell Hotel, once you find it, you'll be happy you did. And don't worry about the bum in the bathroom of the Stillwell, he's harmless. Just walk on through the lobby to the green and yellow Gill's sign at the far end where the decor is well placed and the chairs are the coolest. The lack of windows add to the ambience, keeping the fragrance of the fire just several feet away in.
On to the food. The naan is fantastic and in abundance with just the right amount of soft fluff and crunch. Perfect for a bit of dipping. And I've never had such juicy Chicken Tikka, every bite has zest and juice without even a hint of the dryness that many Chicken Tikka's have. I've also had their Lamb Masala, which is creamy and perfect over their cheerful basmati. Beverage wise, you can't go wrong with the Lassi and they have a several Indian beers to choose from as well. Price wise you're looking to spend about 10 a person for a meal and non alc. beverage and though I've never been able to catch the lunch buffet, its available from 1-4 for only 6 or 7 bucks. So if you're downtown working, ignore the Koo Koo Roo and CPK for once and find Gill's.
Most important of all is how Metro accessible it is. Being in the South Park area and located on Grand between 8th and 9th streets there are many choices on how to get to it:.
Transit Access: Red Line 7th/Metro, Blue Line 7th/Metro, Local 14, 37, 78, 79, 2, 16, 316, 4, Rapid 714, 720 and several others, all within a 1-4 block radius.
I've come to the conclusion, after multiple meals here, that this is one of the worst Indian restaurants I've ever eaten at. At best it is average, at worst it is putrid.
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I really really like the food here. I am also a big fan of having to run the strange gauntlet of the Stillwell Hotel lobby to get there. There's great, run-down old furniture to look at, cool architecture, and always-revised signs about having visitors in your room, phone use, etc (isn't this a hotel??)
Anyway, when you finally get to Gill's, get the vegatable samosas. They are excellent. I also love the sag paneer. Very helpful wait staff. I usually go for the busy lunch buffet, but dinner is fun in a hardly inhabited, spooky kind of way.
You do not need reservations. Gill's also does takeout, by the way.
I can't tell you anything about this place other than to beware the afternoon lunch coma, after visiting for lunch time goodness.
Buffet lunch, good Indian food. We get them to deliver for lunch at my office and they love us because one of our staff speaks Hindi and orders from them in Hindi.
It's Creepy inside the creepy hotel location, but good food.
I went to the lunch buffet with a friend of mine. It's a small restaurant inside the Stillwell Hotel, so first you have to park in the right parking lot. Then you have to walk into the entrance and all the way down. Now, I love meat. Lots of it. Beef, chicken, lamb, etc. However, when we went, 2 out of the 8 or 10 buffet entrees were meat, and one was tandoori chicken. For those who don't know, tandoori chicken is made by marinating the chicken in some crazy sauce and plopping it on the grill. I did it all the time as a kid with my mom. So, if you like a lot of vegetarian items (at least 75%) in your buffet, then you came to the right place. The price is good too, especially for downtown LA. However if you like meat like me, then it's not going to be a great experience for you.
Also, the service was irreparably slow, as to the fact that basically one guy was working the restaurant floor. I had to tell him to get me water twice, and they flubbed on the utensils. Plus, they take a long time to bring out the naan for your table, which I wouldn't mind if I didn't know that you should be continuously making naan if you are going to put it on anyone's table.
So, it gets 2 stars, for the service and the lack of meats. They should make more meat entrees! Where is my lamb vindaloo, my chicken tikka, my chicken curry, etc. etc.? Not here in their lunch buffet, that's for sure.
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