On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
Category: Indian
2439 W Devon AveBoth Hema's locations offer free corkage. Bring your own beer or wine and we'll provide the rest!
Mon-Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Loading...
I feel a bit silly reviewing Hema's as she is a bit of a legend already in this city. But I can't NOT do a review of my favorite restaurant in Chicago. Given the choice of any place to eat I will always choose Hema's. I used to go there all the time when I taught at Loyola, now that I live up in the Chain O' Lakes I still drive all the way down to Devon for the experience.
The woman is a genius when it comes to spices. And she's very particular about how food leaves her kitchen. She ALWAYS remembers how spicy I like my food, and if she sees one of her cooks setting my food in the window under spiced she will recook it herself. She and her daughter Pam are also wonderful company. We've chatted with both of them for hours on occasion.
Now, I must warn you--this is a very small place and it's always busy so things sometimes take a little while because everyting is prepared fresh. But I don't get this obsession people have with getting in and out of a restaurant in twenty minutes. I go to Hema's to enjoy the experience. I sit and have masala chai and Pakora and talk to my lover or my dining companions and just celebrate life. If you want fast food go to McDonald's. Dining at Hema's is an event. I could sit there all day and night drinking her tea and taking in the neigborhood.
The Shahi paneer is unparallelled in this city; the Saag Murg is sublime; the poori is addictive; the rice perfectly tender and seasoned; the dal is the essence of comfort food. Hema's is the perfect example of why I am certain that Indian food was taught to humans by the Gods.
You want me to go where?!?! Devon Ave... I'll never find parking!!
I would say my Top 5 best Indian as far as the food is concerned, I would also say my Top 5 worst service.
Service-
I pretty sure the owners are thinking if we just put a lot of staff everywhere then everyone can help anyone... First assign staff to tables, I had to tell 3 different people we needed more Naan, and then of course when we finally got it, we got two orders. Second, you have staff just standing around ignoring people. Not good when people are hungry. Third, not speaking English is fine but Hema's staff didn't even have enough sense to figure out what I needed and all I said was "Can we have another order of the vegetable samosa"... I know she understood samosa just didn't seem to get that I wanted more, she had to call over someone else.
Décor-
Simple, one big open room, and it get loud!!
Food-
Vegetable & Kheema (lamb) Samosa were excellent
Chicken roll - Chicken Khebob is rolled in paratha or phulka with onions, tomato and green
Chutney. I know chicken roll but it's was really good!
Sag Paneer - Fresh spinach and homemade cheese simmered in spices and gravy. Oh yeah!
Navratan Curry - Assorted vegetables cooked in a fresh creamy sauce with a hint of light spices. We almost licked the plate!!
Choosa Tikka Masala - Marinated boneless chicken cooked in a rich creamy sauce. Gone!
Chicken Biryani - Basmati rice cooked with chicken and freshly roasted spices. So much rice but we ate it all!
I will say that I don't ever remember a place charging me for Naan but they do here and @ $2.00 an order which is two pieces.
Four of us stuffed ourselves for only $20 per person. Plus it's BYOB, not bad at all. I'd go back but only if I have some time to kill.
Well... I didn't want to be writing this review. I was really looking forward to my meal here after seeing this place on "Check Please" and reading the good reviews here on Yelp. And initially it seemed as if we were going to have a great meal and a great time, but the staff wasn't going to let it happen.
It started with our waiter. We literally had to tell him two or three times that we needed more time to look at the menu. We all put in orders for something to drink and he finally left. About five minutes later he came back without our beverages, and asked again so finally we ordered a couple of appetizers -- and he seemed not to be paying attention to what we said because when he repeated our order, we had to correct him. Then we made our orders for entrees. At that point he read our orders back to us and he read them so fast that I didn't even catch that he'd completely missed Jim's entree. Fortunately Jim did so disaster averted.
The beverages arrived and the order was wrong, so we pointed that out, and it was fixed. The appetizers arrived and he'd mixed up our samosas with pakoras. We'd ordered one onion kulcha and one naan and a basket of pappadums. He'd repeated that as "One onion kulcha and one garlic naan." "No, we said, "One onion kulcha and one plain naan." We got the garlic naan anyway.
Then almost immediately the entrees started arriving in groups of two, but nothing for me. I told the others "Eat. Don't let it get cold." Except that there were no plates. It took us a couple of minutes to get plates. And I waited, and I waited. One of the female staffers came by and said "How is everything?" I said "I'm kind of hoping to get my entree, and she said she'd go check.
And I waited. Another female staffer came by and asked the same thing. "I'm still waiting for my entree,' I said, and she said she'd make sure it was coming.
And I waited. By now my friends were starting to get annoyed. Me? I'm pretty easy-going. But when another of the wait staff came by, this time a guy, and asked "How's everything?" I said "I wouldn't know, I haven't gotten my entree yet." So he said "I'll go right back and check on that."
Now this wasn't something that takes a long time to prepare, this was green curry fish. Our waiter stopped by the table. "How is everything?" he asked and I said "Possibly it would be fine if anyone had ever bothered to bring me my food!" As luck would have it, the last guy to promise to check on my food was at the very next table taking an order, so he turned and said "Oh, they said it'd be right out." How hard would it have been to come and tell me that before he started taking the order?
I said "It had better be because I'm this close to telling you to forget it."
Yes, I finally did get my fish, and it was good. But y'know, I'm pretty patient and if even one of those people had bothered to come and tell me how it was going, I'd have been happy. I never got an explanation or an apology. And then, as I was finishing my fish, they finally brought the basket of pappadums we'd asked for when we ordered our appetizers. No apologies, nothing. Just plunked it on the table and walked off.
We decided to skip dessert.
So bottom line is here that the food was good; not great but good, but and the service utterly ruined our enjoyment of the meal. We won't be going back. There are plenty of good, solid places on Devon where the service is anything but indifferent and sloppy. We'll be giving them our money from now on.
ETA: The more I think about this the angrier I get. Hema was standing at the desk the whole time we were there. She never paid a bit of attention to anything that was going on right in front of her. Does she even care what we think? I don't believe it, and that cost her another star.
I went here with my friend Lauren on recommendation from another friend and from "Check Please".
As far as the ambiance, I liked it. Not fancy but the lighting was nice and it was clean and spacious. In between a hole in the wall and a more classic sit down.
The service was less than good. The first half of the meal took forever for our water to fill up but then a nice woman started taking care of us and it greatly improved. There was something in my friends water glass and the first waiter didn't seem to understand what we were saying and forgot to replace it or bring us water. But the girl was much more efficient.
As for the food, it was okay. Simply okay. We had the veggie and the kheema samosas' and they were good. Not the best but definitely enjoyable. We ordered the Jal Frezi and the Aloo Matar . Both were simply okay with a leaning towards not that great. The Aloo Matatr was better that the Jal Frezi and I enjoyed it with the rice.The nan and plain rice were great though but that's not exactly hard to do.
Overall it is a nice meal but $35 for the two of us was over priced considering the food and service. There are plenty of other restaurants on Devon that have a little less ambiance but are better and less $. Or more $ but with a nicer ambiance and better food.
I will never go back to this restaurant, and you may want to think twice as well...
I took a group of 8 to this restaurant for dinner, and it totally ruined the evening
There were 3 huge issues
1) The service
2) Hygiene...read more below
3) The quality of the food
Service:
When we walked in at 6 pm, only 1 table was occupied out of apprx 25 ; we were put at the back of the restaurant near the kitchen even though I had asked to be seated elsewhere. Typically I would have walked out, but we had hungry people and so decided to stay
The owner, Hema, also knew about the issue but didn't fix it. The wait staff find it difficult to crack a smile
2) Hygiene: One of the entrees I ordered was a Chicken dish. Half way thru the dish, I had to pull a long strand of hair...yes...HAIR...out of my dish
3) Many of the entrees (both veg and non-veg) were crazy-spicy hot (I eat spicy Andhra Indian food..but this was over the top)...so hot that I could barely tell the difference between a lamb and a chicken dish! the veg dishes were overly salty
Net net, I will never go back to this restaurant again.
This could be a very long review, but I am too tired to go blow by blow.
I suggested coming here because several friends (and fellow yelpers) and I decided to celebrate Dawali in style. Heck, I even put my fancy eatin' duds on. I was going to town!
Well, as good as the food was, the service was appalling. It took much of the joy out of eating there. I know many ethnic places are not noted for good service, and if this were a hole in the wall joint, I'd have cut them way more slack. This is a place, however, that LOVES to point out it's classy distinction from the other Indian/Pakastani restaurants in Chicago.
When we got there, the place was basically empty (see Rris C''s pic, it was us and one other table). Later the place was jammed. Those folks are probably lucky if they got their food at all.
I'll let others in our party fill in more details, but needless to say, next Dawali will be spent elsewhere!
Eh. I expected my chicken tikka massala to have been gound chicken like it sould be. This was just chunks. Oh well, I'll find somewhere else to eat.
I wanted to love Hema's, I really did. But our experience on Saturday night was downright bad.
A group of 6 of us had a reservation. When we arrived, there was no table for us. We waited a few minutes while they cleared off a table in the back. No big deal. However, the table they sat us at was gross. There was water dripping down on two of my friends, and there was obviously water damage up on the ceiling. When we told them about it, they simply suggested we move the table over, but we weren't able to move it over far enough to keep all the dripping water off of us. So gross.
We're a forgiving group, and we probably could have overlooked the above if the service was good. Sadly, it wasn't. It took them 20 minutes to even come take our order, and we weren't given wine glasses or a corkscrew until ten minutes after that. When the food came out 40 minutes later, they brought all of our entrees but didn't bring us rice. WTF? No rice with Indian food? By the time they brought us some, the food was getting cold. And when we were done, we sat with dirty plates in front of us for another 20 minutes before we could flag anyone down and get the bill.
The food wasn't bad, for the most part. A friend ordered chicken jalfrazie, and it was too hot to even eat. We are not wimps when it comes to spicy - we've done thai spicy at thai joints and not batted an eye. But this was practically inedible. The waiter had even said it was one of the milder dishes. So much for that. When we told the woman at the counter as we left, she brushed off our complaints. We weren't complaining that it was hot - we were more complaining that the waiter didn't know to tell us it would be hot, and in fact told us the opposite.
All and all, one of the worst restaurant experiences I've had in awhile. With lots of great choices up on Devon, I will not give this restaurant another dime of my money.
I was late to school but needed my masala fix in a hurry and to go!! So, I jumped off the Devon bus and ordered two veggie samosas, which came with a sweet dipping sauce and on the waitress' suggestion, I also ordered a a Chicken Roll from the Light Fare menu. It's chicken in paratha (type of Indian flatbread) with onions, tomato and green chutney. OMG! It was delish!!!
Next time, I'll skip the samosas and get two of the chicken rolls!! And no, I'm not a slob. They are from the Light Fare menu so they are on the small side - most would be able to eat two easily.
I was at the Lincoln Park Hema's years ago and was disappointed by their chicken biryani so I will withhold the 4th star until I return again but I am looking forward to updating this review real soon!
Thank God the food is fantastic at this restaurant, because the ambience and service is not at all impressive. I will get to the restaurants detriments after I praise it for its wonderful food. The garlic nan was exactly what it should be and the orange scented rice was cooked perfectly. My wife and I had the Rogan Josh (The best I have ever had, including my own and I make a mean Rogan Josh) and Chicken Vindaloo, which was not as spicy as we expected but delicious. Without a question, some if not the, best Indian food we have ever had (including London restaurants).
So... now I will tell you the downside. And I didn't want to put this into the review because we ate there at 5:30pm on a Wednesday and I'm sure it is not always this way: There was no music playing at all, it may have been the most silent dining experience I have ever had... which makes fun conversation hard because you don't want everyone in the restaurant to hear what you are talking about. The service was OK... very (and I hate to say this) foreign... like Asian restaurants, etc. not asking if you want drinks, hovering when bored, no personality at all and taking a long time to clear dishes, refill drinks and get your check (we had to ask) when it is obvious you are done. The owner, Hema, was there (saw her on Check Please TV show, WTTW11) and she was sitting at a table with her husband (I'm guessing) and was helping her son do Social Studies homework... cute... but not when I'm out to eat with my wife. The job of a restaurantour is to take care of service and talk to guests when applicable... I don't care what her son is working on for homework.
Anyway... GO FOR THE FOOD!!! It is fantastic... I'm sure the place is a bit different on a Saturday night, as far an ambience and service is concerned. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for good, authentic, solid Indian fare. Bravo!
This morning I woke up and wondered what the best way to make a few enemies in the shortest amount of time would be....
...then I remembered that I had yet to review Hema's Kitchen and realized I'd certainly have a few people in arms with my thoughts!
The food was just OK.
That's right.
I'm not going to rave about how stellar everything was, because I'd be LYING.
Was the food bad?
Certainly not. But it was not bursting with flavor as I would expect based on the many 5 star reviews I've read. My favorite standby for amazing Indian fare is Himalaya, and Hema's was a far cry from their standout dishes.
The chicken tikka massala was soup and greasy, though the shami roll would be reason enough for me to make a return visit. The aloo matar paneer was tasty, but not the best I've ever had. Peas pilaf is a safe, tasty bet and the samosas were pretty standard. I was disappointed in the garlic naan - it fell flat, lacking that melt in your mouth quality that I was expecting.
In summary - not bad, but definitely not a place I'll crave with any frequency.
Here is the deal.
It is not the best Indian food- as their sign leads you to believe. It's average at best.
The best part- they deliver quick. It's a good option when you are really hungry- but I wouldn't suggest seeking this place out.
You've just been yelped in.
Let me start this off by saying that this easily could have been a three-star review, had the staff here made the least amount of effort at offering good customer service. After the way I was treated, though, I am NEVER coming back here. Absolutely shocking.
My boyfriend and I wanted Indian, and I had a hankering for lamb. After reading rave reviews about Hema's, I was excited to check it out. We were seated promptly, I ordered Spinach Pakoras and Rogan Josh, and he got Shami Kabob and Lamb Vindaloo. I was a little put off when the waitress told us that rice was extra (who does that?) but I shrugged it off. The kabobs were good - nice and spicy, good seasonings. The Spinach Pakoras were pretty tasty too, but the chutney they served with it was a joke. The coriander chutney was obviously watered-down, and the other chutney (I couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be) tasted exactly like cheap sweet-and-sour sauce.
On to the entrees...The Vindaloo was not, as the menu claimed, "very spicy." It was medium at best, and my boyfriend was not impressed. The Rogan Josh, on the other hand, was awful. A few gristly lamb chunks were literally swimming in oil; indeed, I tasted nothing but grease. I couldn't make out any spices or seasonings; it was just the blandest Indian food I've ever had. Now, I'm half-Indian myself; I grew up eating this food, and I know what good Indian food is. This is Indian food for yuppie suburbanites.
At this point, I was quite disappointed and felt I should speak up. I really didn't want to be "that person," but I couldn't eat the food, and I didn't even want to take it home. I explained very politely to the waitress why I wasn't satisfied, and she went to talk to Hema, the owner. She came back a few minutes later and said she could bring me a salad. I had kind of lost my appetite by then, and I asked if they could just remove the Rogan Josh from our bill. All I got from her was a flat-out no.
I went up to the counter to speak with Hema, and was told that "All of her other customers like her food, so why should she bother with one person who doesn't." (!!!) She kept repeating, "It's MY recipe; I didn't force you to order it." I have NEVER encountered someone who knew so little about customer service. If it were my restaurant, the moment someone expressed disappointment, I would immediately offer to remove that item from the bill. How tacky to take it personally that I didn't like her food. She told me, "You can tell your mother that you don't like her food; you can't tell me."
Well, I absolutely can, and do. Hema, I don't like your food, your attitude, or your restaurant, and we will NOT be coming back.
LOVE the new (since October 08?) actually on Devon (not the side street) location of Hema's Kitchen!
Wonderful naan, saag paneer, shrimp vindaloo, and many many other dishes I can only recall lovingly but not pronounce!
The BATHROOMS are worth the visit - incense, candles, mood lighting, big mirrors --- better than some luxury hotel bathrooms I have visited!
I'm really so relieved to see the other poor reviews. We had heard such stellar things about this place, from friends, as well as in the media, but it was truly awful. Tho we had specified that we preferred our meals to be mild, both times we went, the food was tongue-numbingly hot. As well, the service was careless and unwelcoming. Really a dismal experience. There are so many other places on Devon to try.
No corkage fee? Well, apparently that's the legal standard in Chicago if we are to believe all the Yelpers recently....
Anyway, tried Hema's again last night.....went many years ago to the Oakley location and was struck by SEVERE gastrointestinal distress DURING the meal.....
This time, it was pretty good, and no issues, if you know what I mean! We had sag paneer, fish vindaloo and lamb with okra, which melted in your mouth. Great spice in all, and honestly, I was just so relieved to be able to sit comfortably thru the whole meal.
New decor is a bit racy; are those artsy handmaidens on the wall? What are those pictures?
Garlic Naan was ok; garlic taste felt a bit raw to me, and the Papadaam was also not particularly impressive. Not bad, just not great.
I rarely give second chances. Burn me once, and you are dead to me. I don't care what others have to say, I cannot be convinced after one bad experience. I am a mean-spirited bastard like that.
However, I do give second chances for the sake of friends. A friend wanted to check out Hema's. I was in a kind mood (thank you, 70 degree weather) and agreed, even though the last experience at Hema's left a bad taste in my mouth.
It was a complete turnaround from the last time I have been to Hema's. We started with Potato Bhajia and Shami Kebob. The Kebob was impeccable; the bajji were good, but greasier than I expected.
Hema's advertises itself as food from the Andhra/ Hyderabad region. Hema hails from the city of Hyderabad. The hallmark of all Hyderabadi food, in my opinion, is goat/ lamb biryani. You cannot call yourself a Hyderabadi restaurant unless you can master Hyderabadi biryani. So, to put Hema's to the test, I order the lamb biryani. My friend ordered lamb vindaloo. The waitress warned him it will be very spicy, and it was. Authentic vindaloo should make your nose drip, and makes you sweat profusely. Hema's vindaloo succeeded on both counts. My friend needed extra napkins to wipe his nose and forehead. Score 1 for Hema.
Let's get to the biryani. It was pretty close to being a Hyderabadi biryani. Almost, but not quite. But then, this is not the motherland... I shouldn't expect it to taste like the motherland. I still prefer Sabri Nehari's biryani over Hema's. It was quite enjoyable, though. The lamb was marinated in an excellent blend of spices. I give it a 4 out of 5. I was impressed with the yogurt that came with my biryani. It is very typical of Hyderabadis to do that. The yogurt tasted just like it should, thick with a little tang.
We ordered paratha and kulcha to go with our lunch. Excellent choices. I also ordered a masala chai towards the end because it was almost 2pm, and time for some caffeine. I decided to substitute coffee with a nice Indian masala chai. The chai was not to my liking, it tasted a little watered down.
My experience with second chances has always been mixed: like that one time I decided to give a second chance to an old fling...bastard was still selfish in bed. Or, that other time when I gave a second chance to someone I kicked out of bed for smoking in my apt... who later returned to be an amazing lay. I am glad Hema's did not disappoint.
A nice finishing touch was Hema coming to our table and asking about our meal. Sweet lady.
I am now more inclined to give second chances. Perhaps, I should call up one of my ex-flings again, see if they have changed for the better.
This place is not authentic Indian food. It is what i call "Indian food modified for non-Indians".… Read more »
I wanted to like this place. I wanted Hema's Kitchen to go all Sally Field and shout "You like me! You really like me!" But I no like. I went on Diwali; I'm not sure what the holiday is, but from my experience at Hema's, it has something to do with bad service at a restaurant. Three of the five in our party show up for our 5:30 reservation, the other 40% looking for parking on Devon. I know, I know, it takes awhile sometimes, that's a given. We get seated pretty quickly, there was one other table way at the back with folks at it. Our guests arrive a couple of minutes later; we get big pitchers of water and menus. That's when one of the most disappointing experiences in my history of restaurant going begins. Service was bad. I've read a few of the five-star reviews, and everyone says "Oh, these people who want to jump in and out of here, they aren't here for the food...." That's wrong. I like to linger when I eat. But I also like the food to arrive. Our waiter got our orders wrong about 25% of the time. Drinks, appetizers, main course. And up to a point I'll be very easy going about it. But Hema's, sorry, can't forgive when four people ask how things are, 100% are told we're waiting for food, and 25% actually give us an answer. Thanks for asking, but when you go back to check on a dish that's not arrived, how about stopping back by and telling us why it isn't out yet? When the food did come out, it was good. I wasn't blown away; it was good. As someone who likes to linger when I eat, how about giving me enough time to finish my appetizer before bringing out the main course? And how about bringing them all out at the same time, as opposed to the 25 minute interval between all the dishes arriving? No dessert, which is just wrong as far as I'm concerned, but I didn't want to dash down the street to refill the meter with another hours worth of quarters. I really wanted to Sally Field this restaurant. I really did.
FANTASTICALLY DELICIOUS! Having never had Indian food here in Chicago and have been craving it for some time, I thought I would give this place a try. Having been to India and having an Indian best friend , I know the cuisine fairly well. I have experienced fine dining , homemade, to quick grab and go and this was excellent!
There were 3 of us and the service was great. The waiter explained to the other 2 who have never had Indian before great detail of each dish we ordered. We ordered Lamb Briyani, Lamb Rogan Josh, Chicken Korma, Harylani Chicken, Rice Plate, Lamb Samosa, Raita ( by the way you can us this sauce as a way to cool your taste buds) and a number of Naan type breads. All were quite Delicious . It was more than enough food for 3. My friends were raving for hours after this experience you would have thought I bought them airline tickets to India.
The service was great though it wasn't very busy. I care more about the quality of the food then the service to some extent. I am there to eat not be entertained by the staff. As far as I am concerned this place exceeded my expectations.
Hemas Kitchen is on my top 5 list!!!! I will take all of my friends here!
Loved the food! Did not love the service!
I went here this past Sunday for something new and a change from the places I normally go. This place has been in my phone for months now, ever since I saw it on Check Please. I was told by some of my Southern Indian friends that this place was where they ate if they didn't want to cook (along with Sabri Nehari).
My friend and I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala and the the Haryali Chicken with an order of naan and basmati rice. The food was really good and the naan and rice were big enough to share with 3 people. For these items, the bill was $36.
We also took advantage of the BYOB with no corkage fee. I must warn those out there that they did not bring us a bucket of ice for our white wine so the wine was warm by the end of the meal. Still loving the BYOBs though!
The server did not understand much English, but he was very patient with me as I kept changing my mind from the Biryani to the Chicken Masala. What I didn't like about the service is the fact that they seemed to rush us and it wasn't extremely busy and no one was waiting for a table. We got asked a couple times if we were done when they knew we were.
Oh well, the food was still tasty and it doesn't claim to have the best service, and the food was still authentic.
I'll be back for sure (although, I'll be taking a cab, train, and/or bus instead of driving...way too crazy driving over there. For once in my life, I was willing to pay for a valet and there were none around. Figures :)
How do you review a Chicago legend?
Hema Potla has been serving amazing Indian food for a long time now, first on Oakley, and now on her new digs on Devon proper. She and her daughter Pam are two of the most personable restauranteurs I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Does the service sometimes get spotty? Sure. But I'm there for the food first and foremost. The new space is much larger and more comfortable. The bathrooms are amazingly better. However, the best upgrade of all is the fact that she now has a tandoor! Thus, all the wonderful tandoor breads (like onion kulcha, yum) and tandoor-grilled sizzling platters (including a to-die-for murgh malai kebab) are now available, thus making it that much harder to order. Still, I cannot escape without an order of shahi paneer, the ultimate dish.
Is this 5-star as in Alinea 5-star? Of course not. But for Indian, it's one of the best there is, even with inconsistency of service and the occasional kitchen misfire.
This is not a good Place for indian food at all. I wonder how people are giving 4/5 f........g stars for this place. Today I went there and I tried some of non veg items. It sucks in all ways. For eg., Chicken vindaloo - in the menu they wrote some thing like it's very hot &spicy, but it is very mild. Chicken was not properly cooked. This is not a right place for food lovers. Never go there for non veg.
A lot has been written about this place. There has been quite a bit of hype since the place was on Check Please. I really do not care about service; if the food is good, then I will put up with just about anything. It's all about the food.
With that said, I will keep it simple -- This place is way over-rated.
My husband ordered a lamb dish that was tender and had a great sauce. We also had plenty of parantha and naan. I had a daal dish that was also fairly good. I would definitely go back.
On a rainy Saturday, we ventured to Hema's for some spicy Indian fare, and were not disappointed by the food. But the service? Seriously, we could have died at our table and no one would have noticed!
We were the first ones in the place early afternoon; we placed our order for an appetizer and drinks, and perused the extensive menu, which features a great selection of the typical standbys. We ordered the kheer samosas, which were pretty darn tasty. Then we placed our entree order.
Meanwhile, the restaurant started filling up pretty quickly, about 1/3 full. Our server disappeared for quite a while, as we watched all the tables around us being served their food. Was my husband's lamb vindaloo the culprit that required slow cooking? We drank the rest of our beverages, and waited about 40 minutes. Finally, after all the other tables were eating, one of the hosts stopped by to ask us if we needed to place an order. Our server, who finally resurfaced, realized that she never put our order in. Oh well, another 15 minutes and we finally got our food.
The food was pretty good; I especially enjoyed my lamb biryani. And the host did give us a free entree, after I asked for some credit because of the confusion. So all in all, decent food but the service kind of sucks.
We went all the way up to Devon for Indian, walked into Hema's, and realized that she also had a Clark Street location. Oops. Still, we thought we'd stay and check the place out. It was BYOB with no corkage fee, so that's always a plus.
We began with the vegetable samosas and the lamb samosas. I preferred the vegetable - they were loaded with steaming hot potatoes - but the lamb ones were a bit spicy which was a nice touch. We all split the Sag Paneer, the Chicken Vindaloo, and the Lamb Rogan Josh.
The Sag Paneer was pretty good - the flavors weren't anything new, but the cheese was bigger and firmer than I've had anywhere else. That was a pleasant surprise. We were warned that the chicken was spicy, and it WAS....to the point where my tongue started tingling and going numb so intensely that I was a little concerned for myself. This did not happen to either of my dining buddies, so either I'm a pansy or I bit right into some spicy item. I wasn't terribly enthused with the lamb dish - it was certainly good, but there were bits of gristle or something like it throughout the lamb pieces. A bit off-putting. The naan was crispy, addicting, and *huge*.
Service was all right, except the girl who poured our water could NOT do it right to save her life. I think she spilled on the table literally every time, spilling profusely on my boyfriend at one point. Not so professional.
Honestly, I would've preferred something better if we came all the way up to Devon. It was perfectly fine, standard Indian fare, but I'd rather try somewhere else before coming back.
Really fantastic, but I have to say I'd prefer Bhabi's down the street.
Four Stars
Well, I don't know how this place gets a 4 star overall. This was one of the more dismal experiences I have had eating out in a while.
As of the last month I've been back on this Indian food kick and have been trying a few spots on Devon. I had heard about this joint a few times and quickly read a few reviews on here and decided to check it out. What a disappointment.
I went with one other person and we were seated pretty quickly in the not-so-full dining room. It took five full minutes for them to even bring water to our table. Then we waited another forever before someone came to take our order. Between the two of us we ordered vegetable samosas, kheema samosas (minced lamb in them), lamb biryani, lamb kebab, and some plain naan bread. We had tried to order the chicken tandoori appetizer which we were told they didn't have tonight. Odd not to have tandoori at an Indian spot, but okay.... To drink we had mango lassis. I also ordered a chicken mulligatawny which was the only saving grace of my meal, even though it took about 25 minutes to show up.
So after waiting forever to have our orders taken and having only the mango lassis and my soup show up, I have to summon our server to try to get our samosas. Those finally show up about 10 minutes later and they're just okay. The mango lassis were good but not nearly as good as the one my friend had gotten a few days prior at Sabri Nehari. At this point our waters had not been refilled either.
Finally after waiting about an hour total for mango lassis, soup and 4 samosas, I had to flag down the server to find out what the hell was going on. At long last ONE plate shows up. My sizzling plate of lamb kebab... without the side of rice I ordered. Thinking that maybe everything was about to come out we waited another 15 minutes for my friend's meal to come out. Nothing. We start picking at my plate which was no longer sizzling. I hadn't received the yogurt sauce that's supposed to come with it. Also, WHERE THE HELL IS THE NAAN?! C'mon, naan should be on the table pretty instantly! It's a staple of Indian cuisine!!
Once again I flag down someone, ANYONE, who works there. It happened to be the guy who finally came to refill our waters. I informed him that we were missing the biryani, naan, a side of rice and all the sauce that's supposed to come with it. Another 20 or so minutes pass and my rice comes out... So i start digging into my now cold-ish lamb kebab. HOLY F**KING SALT!!!
My meal was practically inedible due to the amount of salt in it. I have never EVER experienced something that salty without me being the one to oversalt it. My rice was at this point cool. The naan was super greasy for some reason and when I finally got the yogurt it was the only thing I could put on the lamb to subside the taste of salt. I could barely taste the meat.
I didn't even bother trying the biryani. My friend said it was adequate. At that point I think we just needed to get some kind of food in us before we starved to death. I just asked for a box and politely shoveled the great remainder of my meal into it to "take away".
The whole experience wouldn't have been so abysmal had the staff been at least slightly apologetic. I know they weren't completely snowed under because I saw plates going out to tables that had gotten in there far after we had. And, even the simplest of things like getting naan brought out to the table was a project seemingly. They seemed to consistently make excuses though and kept saying, "it's coming right out" when in fact it wasn't.
The only good thing about this was that we parked literally right in front of the door! You know how hard that is to do on a Saturday night on Devon with snow on the ground?!?!? That was a sweet parking spot. Too bad it was wasted on crap service and inedible food.
I went here a couple nights ago, because I was in the area and had been to their former Rogers Park location a few years ago and it was delicious. I will agree with someone else who mentioned the food isn't as spicy. I'm the average white person when it comes to spiciness and last time, I had to stop eating because it was spicy (OK, maybe not stop, because it was good, but slow down considerably). This time, my nose got a little bit running, but nothing that required a gallon of water or something.
Anyway, the food is delicious. We were the only folks in the restaurant (5pm on a Wednesday, so not odd for it to be empty), and we got good service. Our server recommended some dishes which were very good.
Now, keep in mind after living in Rogers Park for school, I have been living in the suburbs for the past 4 years, so as of late I have had to rely on the only Indian restaurant I know of out here for my Indian cravings. So in comparison, Hema's is amazing. But in reality it's just pretty good.
I should have been skeptical of a restaurant who self-proclaim as having the "Best Indian Cuisine". The evening began after I've already been boozing for a couple of hours, and those familiar drunken hunger pangs began to wane in my stomach. Someone mentioned "Devon" and we were out the door before the wine bottle hit the ground. Instead of going to our usual place down the street, we decided to try Hema's kitchen because some of us have heard good things about it. The dining room was nicely decorated in lush colors and intriguing paintings (a huge contrast from our usual place). The wait staff were friendly and helpful.
We ordered the saag paneer, chicken tikka masala, channa masala, and chicken makhani. I was starving and still a little drunk, and usually when you're starving and drunk you'd eat the nastiest greasiest heap and proclaim it the best in the city.
Such was not the case with our meal. The saag paneer was bland, which did not help its creamy consistency. The Chicken Tikka Masala was, again, underwhelming, although it was the best dish in the bunch. And the chicken makhani. I had no idea what was going on with the chicken makhani as its spice overwhelmed the rest of its flavors. The naan was also not really worth mentioning, and I typically love naan.
Perhaps they were having an off night or whatever, but I do not think I'll be returning here for my Indian food fix.
Had Dinner at Hema's tonight. The service was friendly and far from slow. The food was spiced nicely - for sure not mild, but certainly not over-spiced. Every dish was had was absolutely delicious, the flavors were varied (& scrumptious) and we ate every last bite.
There is no question that I would go there again.
The good news: The food at Hema's Kitchen is waaay better than what they're serving at Chicago Curry House in the South Loop. (If the Curry House is where you're headed, think again and make the trip to Devon.) And Hema's serves decently-sized portions - not enough to need a doggy bag, but enough to fill you up IF you order naan and rice.
The bad news: the service was V E R Y slow with only 4 or 5 other tables occupied. We had to chase someone down to PLEASE take our order. Then 1 of the 5 plates we ordered arrived and we waited, then requested, then waited for, the rest of our meal. That is so annoying! And unprofessional!
The wait staff seemed not to care ONE BIT.
For $35 for two light dinners, there are millions of better places to go.
This is some of the best Indian food I've ever been had, and I've been to India. There were no Indians eating there, which can be a red flag, but was more of a red herring in this case.
The spiciness level was just right (for me, just hot enough for me to bear. I requested it to be a "little spicy."). The flavors of the food are enhanced in every aspect. Take the veggie samosas: The crust was great, a little flakier than traditional; The insides were not the spiciest I've had, but had a good taste; The tamarind sauce had a berries in it maybe; and the mint chutney had a kick. So every component was enhanced. The naan was a little different from most places, but I loved it and it stayed soft throughout the meal. The daal with saag I had was really great as well, and I rarely see that on menus.
Service was super attentive. I liked the lighting, being many dim lights that added to the general warmth and left you able to see what you were eating.
The whole room was actually a bit warm: they had to keep squeegeeing the windows. Another bit of heat came when someone at another table ordered a sizzling platter and all the spices aerosolized, leaving us coughing a bit but determined to order that next time.
The noise level was on the verge of being too loud, but you could still hear people at your table.
I was surprised by the effort put into the bathrooms. They tend to get severely neglected in many places, even the fancy ones, and my expectations were low as the feel of the restaurant near the back is not as warm. But you turn a corner and instant serenity. Then you go inside and there are candles and paintings and quiet. I almost wanted to chill in there for a while.
Can't wait to eat here again. I'd travel way out of my way to do so.
I've visited both this location and the one on Clark...the food is good at both. The service at both is....weird. Yes, bad weird. The food is good enough to make up for it. But it's still weird. We went for my roomie's 30th birthday and this is how it went. There were a total of 6 of us. We had wine with us. We asked for an opener and glasses. Approximately 10 minutes later, we got up and retrieved these items ourselves from the sideboard (maybe this is how it's supposed to go....maybe why the guy didn't come back?). The waiter finally came back and asked if we were ready to order. We said that we were. He said, "Okay. Just a minute" and walked away. He did not return for several minutes. When he finally came back, we began ordering...we ordered several servings of bread, and he told us that it was too much. We said, "it's okay, we're really hungry." (this was not a lie...we'd been sitting there for about 30 minutes already.) And he told us "You understand that it's a lot of bread," and we again told him that it was okay, if we couldn't finish it we would take it home, and ordered the rest of our food. Why was he arguing with us? Why was he trying to talk us OUT of spending our money there? Weird. Anyway, we got our samosas and assorted other appetizers, and then sat there. And sat there. And sat there. For about an hour (I'd been here before...it does not take that long.) Then he brought out all of our meals, except for the one belonging to the birthday girl....he didn't seem to notice, so we pointed it out. Ten minutes later, her food finally came out....I know it was just rotten luck, but geez, why'd it have to be the birthday girl's? The food was DELICIOUS. Which is why they stay at 3 stars. The guy was just so-WEIRD. And...it's always weird there....but yummy, so I torture myself every 3 months or so.
p.s. We ate all the bread.
MOST IMPORTANT, HEMA'S KITCHEN HAS MOVED to 2439 W. Devon Avenue, Chicago IL. Neither Google Maps nor the Hema's Kitchen website reflect the new address yet. The Oakley location is closed completely.
Food is excellent, service is chaotic, often absent, though always friendly. Very noisy restaurant on a Saturday night. This is about the best all-India restaurant on Devon, if you aren't sensitive to ambience and service problems. Parking will likely only be available at a 2-3 block walk away. This is a BYOB restaurant.
Okay, so two things:
1. I am not an expert in Indian food, having tried only two other Indian restaurants in Chicago.
2. The reason I haven't tried many other places is because I love the food at Hema's, so I keep going back!
The food is HOT--and you can get it as hot as you want it. My tongue can't tolerate extreme heat, so I need to ask for it mild, and they are usually able to do a good job of making entrees both tasty and mild enough for my sensitive taste buds. There's lots to choose from, including plenty of stuff for vegetarians. Love their samosas--they could be a meal in themselves!
The staff is very courteous. On a couple of occasions, I had the pleasure of meeting Mama Hema herself as she made rounds among the diners to make sure we were enjoying our food. Service can be slow at times, especially on the weekends, but this is a place where I am willing to forgive a little lag time in service, because I know I'll get terrific food and leave feeling all warm and spicy inside.
Mmmmmmm...
Parking is difficult, so I highly recommend the #155 Devon bus.
This place is good. Flat out. Channel 11 knows it too. They were a little dead but we got our food to go and man, it was excellent. It was decent priced as usual and it was honestly pretty faithful to real ethnic indian food. Maybe it's different when you sit down there, although they seemed polite.
This place is really overrated. I went here for lunch today with friends and had an absolutely atrocious experience. It took 2.5 hours from the time we sat down until our food was served.
Service - non-existent. We were seated right away. That's the only good part of the service we received here. They were non existent. Our main dishes came out at varying times - one person's food arrived around 20 minutes ahead of the rest. The wait between our samosas and our main courses, was ridiculous - around 40 minutes. Terrible, horrible service. The kind of service you expect in a local hole in the wall, where the food is $3.
Food - Again, a real disappointment. The flavoring in the samosas was just spicy - none of the subtle blend of spices we've come to expect in them. I had the aloo pakora - the sauce was okay, but it was a bag of frozen peas and 3 potato chunks. My husband had the veggie vindaloo - again, nothing to write home about. Our friends had some of the lamb and chicken dishes. All were bland, and noone even took their leftovers home. Not sure why everyone is raving about this food - I've had better indian food in so many places. Its sad to see this place with such a high rating.
Prices - ridiculous for the service and quality of food. they charge for rice? all in all, between four people, we spent $80 for lunch. Kind of ridiculous with sh*tty service and bland adequate food.
I won't be going back again EVER. I'd recommend you find some other delicious Indian place to fill your belly.
We've been going to Hema's for years. We love the new space. The food has not changed except that it costs a bit more than back in the old days.
The service has improved quite a bit. They do not seem to get backed up very much, but I still think the service could be a bit better- pouring water refills, checking on tables a bit better, etc...
But the food is so AMAZING- fresh and made to order and delicious- that I cannot mind the imperect service. The staff is all very friendly and the new space is much nicer.
Food, excellent. Service-sucky, sucky, sucky.
When four people order entrees at the same time, I don't think it's too much to ask that they actually get their dishes at the same time.
I go to Hema's about once every two years, which is about right. The servers never check back, never see if you need anything else.
Chicago, IL
Category: Indian
Chicago, IL
Category: Vegetarian
Chicago, IL
Category: Indian
Chicago, IL
Category: Indian
Chicago, IL
Category: Indian
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the…
Where to get supplies, food, and all sorts of…
My local dry cleaner, watering hole, deli, cafe,…
India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Oh My! Some of…
I have no clue why there are so many people who…
For all of us vegetarians out there trying to…
Here's a list of some of my favorite spots you can…
Want to know where I eat when I'm feeling peckish?…
