- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
India Sweets & Spices
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Sponsored Result
You Might Also Consider
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market
- 34 reviews
- Location:
- Laguna Hills, CA
"Reasonable/Low Prices, Fresh Food, Prepared meals, Clean/Wide Aisles, Friedly Staff, Great quality real food. I am not one for the…" read more »
12 reviews for India Sweets & Spices
Now it's time to review the other half of the India Sweets and Spices.
What other is there than the magnificent wall of pickles?
FRESH PICKLES!
Yes my friends, hidden in the condiments tray next to the steam table are their house made, fresh mixed pickles, and they are yummy beyond compare. If you've only can canned or jarred mixed pickles, you are deprived!!
So what do you order to eat with your fresh pickles?
From the steam table, the Palak Paneer is potent, best eaten with some fage greek yogurt. The carrots and potatoes are like a yummy carrot pickle cooked with fried potatoes, sweet, spicy, earthy, satisfying.
The chili pakoras are sometimes a bit too thick (not stupid, just doughy), and vary wildly in stomach wrenching heat. If they look good, I say get some, risk it.
My favorite by far is the aloo paratha, they make it fresh, and they make is CORRECTLY. Both sides are even and thin, the filling is well seasoned, but not over spiced (some bad versions taste like a christmas cake). Imagine a more satisfying version of a samosa, made so fresh for you that you see fresh unwilted coriander leaves in the filling.
It's all cheap (I added a picture of the menu), less than half the price of most actual Indian restaurants, so pick up a aloo paratha, and some fresh pickles for lunch... you won't regret.
....and on the other side of the store, next to the wall of pickles, they had some McVites Ginger Nuts last week. BEST DAMN COOKIE SOLD! Everyone else just carries the nasty digestives, none of the salty, treacly, spicy, snappy joy of ginger nuts.... except at India Sweets and Spices.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
7/10/2007
I bow down before the wall of Indian pickles.
Floor to ceiling, covering the entire side wall, the… Read more »
India Sweets and Spices is one of those places I've driven by a million times, but have never went to. Well, today I went in because I was looking for some tamarind paste to make pad thai sauce and I read somewhere that you can find it at good Indian markets. India Sweets and Spices has a reputation of being the best in Tustin.
I got some odd looks when I entered the store, but I just smiled and went about my business. A little over half of the unit is the actual grocery store and the other part is a restaurant. As far as size goes, it's tiny. I think my 1000 sq ft condo is twice as big as this place.
I looked high and I looked low. I looked at a ton of products I had no idea what they were. Thankfully, most were in English, I'm just unfamiliar with Indian food. I found tamarind-date paste in the refrigerated section, but I think dates would impart a sweeter flavor than I needed. I settled on some tamarind sauce at $3.99 a bottle.
Their food is Awesome!!!
I havent tried such good indian food in years- Yea the store may be a little small and stuffy but who cares as long as they have everything under one roof.
The good sign is that you actually see MANY indians eating their food
Their packed goods and vegetables are very fresh
i know some stores on the same street with expired goods
When it comes to indian food, groceries, and movies this is the place i prefer to go to
Most indian ethnic stores are known to carry expired goods. ( the neighbor Saral Indian Grocer, carries things as old as Dec 2008 expiry date. Jezz!! Stay away. )
But India Sweets & Spices are one of those few establishments, that has integrity running their business.
Its a family own/run business and the minute you walk in you could tell no one there works for daily wages. They are very passionate about helping people find what they need. The owner behind the sweets/snacks counter was little shy, ,but it doesnt take a lot of effort before they being very friendly with you.
There is always a crowd, Indians non indians, which is good sign. Helps them keep fresh goods.
I think their food counter (which is 100% vegeterian. ) has some delicious food. I guess its one of the very healthy option of Indian food, sinice most of the curries are full of vegetables, and not much grease or cream. They are fresh and tasty, and 5.99 for a 2veg/rice/roti or puri/raitha special. I think this is the first place I saw having puri in their specials. For those who are not familiar with the term Puri - its more like Chalupa, but made of wheat. Its yummy with the garbonzo dish or potato dish.
I did buy few sweets, they had good variety. Its not one of those artesia store with hundreds of choice, but what they have, is of good variety.
I liked shopping here. Service and quality were exceptional, and it was a pleasant experience.
I always like coming here because it has good turnover and I don't feel like the proprietor is trying to take advantage of my relative cultural ignorance, unlike some other little shops I've visited. No bugs in the pappadum, no expired nasties just waiting for a sucker. It's all good stuff, even fresh produce.
We buy spices in bulk here, a whole bag for less than the little shaker at the supermarket, and I heart the wall of pickles! Not to mention the oh-so-yummy and different imported cardamom cream biscuits...never seen anywhere else.
Today we were hungry, and it was lunch time, so we tried the vegetarian prepared foods. Wow! The chili pakoras and onion bhajis were among the best, if not the best, I've had to date. They fried those and the samosas fresh for us, which was quite nice, but the samosa was pretty on par with what I've had in the past at good Indian restaurants. That's not a bad thing, it was very good, but not the standout that the bhajis were. And the saag paneer...when I opened the container I smelled the spinach more strongly than usual, but each bite was different, so many flavors and spices working together to make what is absolutely the best saag or palak paneer I've ever had. Now I love me some saag, and have to try it wherever I find it. Sometimes it's bland--not this. Sometimes it's watery--not this. This was well-cooked, well-melded. Even the mister couldn't help himself once he got a bite. I want to try everything there, if it's all this good...
I am down w/this place. $2 DVD rentals (1 night), and they have a way bigger selection and faster service than Laxmi down the street.
Sorry Laxmi, but I'm going to have to dump your ass for the next best thing.
$2.29 for handmade rotis in the cooler. They taste a bit better than Mission wheat tortillas. And are faster to cook on the stove. They aren't like real rotis from an Indian mom's hand, but hey, they taste better than tortillas w/Indian foods.
Several specials, like buy 2 get 1 free snack packets, $0.69 Indian style chow mein (try it, my ppl know chow mein!). And samosas/aloo tikki are only $0.75 each (cheaper than Laxmi).
It's like finding a hotter Indian g/f than the one you've got. Score!
No frills quick and easy delicious indian food. Oh and you can grocery shop while you're at it.
My friend and I met here on her lunch break. Easy because you walk up order and get your food then walk to the register when you are done pay and you're out the door.
Good sign: Lot's of actual real Indian people eating the food!
What we ate: SInce I'm not at all an actual real indian person and I am a shameful food lover that didn't take the time to learn the names I actually I don't know the names of what we ordered. We got the special for $6.99 and after that we just pointed at things... I know included in our special we got the option of two vegetable dishes, one was a yellow curry YUM!!! In addition we ordered two samosas, two fried vegetable thingies, and one fried potato cake thingie. All the food was delicious we cleaned the platter.
What we drank: We both ordered mango lassi and agreed that it was too sweet. We are used to the "Indian Sweets and Spices" in West LA. It is great to know that this one exists in Tustin however. Who new orange county could even come close to west-side cuisine?
Oh yeah we also walked over to the grocery section and picked up a few items. So after ordering everyhting we laid our eyes on that looked good, two drinks, and grocery items, total bill came out to $23. Great Prices!!
Great place for sharing... do like we did and create your own buffet!
Parking is a bit tight but we both quickly found spaces.
Actually I had expected this place to be just another Indian grocery store but was very pleasantly surprised by the fact that they were somewhat different. This place has produce which is actually fresh! Most of the Indian grocers I've been to have dried out good which is so unappealing, but here? The eggplants were brightly purple, they had fresh peas Indian style, bitter melon, and other vegetables and did I mention -- VERY fresh?
Like the other reviewer said this place specializes in sweets and boy was there a lot -- the ubiquitous gulab jamun, kulfi and a host of others I'm not familiar with. They even have a steam table of Indian food which a bunch of people were eating. There are small tables where you can sit and eat the food too. Very convenient.
We purchased different rotis and naans as well as curry powder and a huge bag of brown basmati rice. Not many places carry brown basmati rice in a large bag. I went to Wholesome Choice yesterday and they didn't have it in a large bag and I ended up buying a small bag for 4 bucks. This large bag was about $12.
Hubby was highly impressed with all the pickles and chutneys available too. This is indeed one of the better Indian grocers in the area.
I didn't know about the lassi, but I'll definitely get one next time I'm in there.
I like this little shop. It's an Indian lover's one stop shop.
You can buy basmati in bulk or just about any imaginable flavor of pickles. You can rent a bollywood film, like Flavors, or get some yumm Indian food at their small deli for about $5. AND they even have a pretty good sized case of sweets, like ladu or they can just make you a sweet mango lasi. They seriously jam pack this tiny place with goodies.
They even have a few booths where you can sit and eat if you buy some of their deli food.
Whether you want to try a new experience or if you love Indian food, I am sure you will like this great little locale
A coworker brought in some samosas from here to our potluck, and based on the samosas alone - this place is clearly 5 stars!! $0.75 for very large samosas stuffed with potatoes and spices and whatever else they put in there, topped with what I thought was mint chutney (but the coworker told me i was wrong). These things are great and worth every quarter!
Unfortunately, I liked the samosas so much I had to come here for lunch today and try the lunch combo plate.
For $5.99 you get:
Rice
2 Entrees
Yogurt
Wheat Roti
Pickled Vegetables
"Salad" (chopped onions)
I'm AWFUL with knowing the names of Indian food for some reason, so although I can't tell you the proper names for everything, I'll give you a basic rundown of what I had.
The rice was just white rice, it was much more plain than I've had at other Indian places.
For my two entrees I chose one that was the yellow sauce with cheese cubes, and the other was potatoes and radish with what looked like spinach mixed in with it. I wasn't all that impressed by the entrees. I've had the yellow one with cheese at other places before, but at this shop it was very sweet! Sweet and tasted kind of like cinnamon. The potato and radish one was just very bitter. Almost too bitter. The kind of bitter that grabs the back of your throat on the way down. My friend had the garbanzo bean choley and that was pretty good, but again, not the best I've had. She also had another entree with tomatoes and onions and stuff. She liked it, but the bite I had just kinda tasted like soggy tomatoes.
The wheat roti was alright, although I would've preferred garlic naan or something. The yogurt was nice and sweet, but not really my bag. The salad was just chopped raw onions. Nothing else in there. The pickled vegetables were full of flavor and extremely pungent. Too pungent for my friend. A really bitter heat to them, kind of like horseradish. I'd pass on these again.
I decided to try a Pakola and it was really gross. Tasted like I was drinking straight perfume. Don't know why they call it an "ice cream soda" but whatever. My friend had an Apple Sidra and she thought that was almost as gross as the Pakola. I thought it was alright, just tasted like Manzanita Sol or whatever the other apple juice soda is.
Overall I wasn't very stoked on the lunch combo. Victor, the owner of Wheel of Life, was the person in front of me in line with his family, so obviously people like it! And I will definitely be back for the samosas!!! Just not the lunch combo.
-------------
Just wanted to add that even though this sounds like a pretty lousy review, the samosas are dirt cheap and the best I've ever had!! That's why I gave them 4 stars despite the pretty lukewarm lunch combo review.
india sweets & spices is a small vegetarian indian grocery store with a little deli built in. the food served is very traditional indian cuisine. they have some imported goods and huge bags of rice.
where else could you pick up curry flavored top ramen?
I can't comment on anything in this shop other than the sweets, because that's what I went to the shop for. I was not disappointed. The sweets are excellent. The selection isn't as extensive as the sweet shop I went to in Little India in Toronto, but they had my favourites and they were good.
