Chal Chilli

This is a great place for a quick bite for lunch or a catch up meal with your friends. It’s BYOB, has friendly staff, and delicious food!

I went here on Christmas Day for dinner. The people were very nice, they were running behind and had no tables or menus ready for our reservation (a big party had just come in that I think threw them off) but they were very apologetic and did their best to get us seated right away. The food was pretty good, but it took a while to come out. Again, I assume it was because of the big party, and the hostess came to apologize and check in a few times, so it didn’t bother me much. I enjoyed the experience quite a bit until just recently.
For some reason, they seem to think that it’s okay to spam my cell phone with text messages asking me to complete a survey. I get them at least once a week and sometimes multiple times a day from all different numbers. I’ve been searching the reviews to see if anyone else complains about it, but I seem to be the only one. They only could have gotten my number from Open Table, where I made my reservation, which is incredibly frustrating. They’ve been ignoring my multiple requests for them to stop the texts, as well. All-​in-​all, if it wasn’t for the texts I would still be pleased with the experience and want to go back, but now I’m regretting it and probably will never go back. I recommend going without making an online reservation, and whatever you do, do not give them your phone number.

I ordered through them directly so they don’t have to pay to seamless. The food took almost one hour to arrive even though the promise time was 30 mins. Had to call 3 times to ask them about my food. They said 10 minutes every time i called. The food was really disgusting. It is not even near thai food. Its more like indian food with coconut milk. I would never order from them again. I had to throw the food in trash.
Later on i realized there bad reviews on seamless and Unilocal.It was too late.

I want to preface that this is most likely one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. Since this is a mobile review though, I’ll be brief. It is primarily because of the service and food, though. When we entered no one sat us for five minutes. Given, there were two full tables so the waiter was inside the kitchen trying to get everything organized. However, when he finally did come out, he told us to wait another five minutes just to clean one small table. That’s totally fine, no big deal. I was in a rush but to be fair, my own fault for not coming earlier. After finally seating us, he completely ignored us he entire night and every time we called him over (e.g. when ordering or for our Groupon), he would rudely scream at us or seen extremely frustrated. Honestly I’ve NEVER been treated the way he treated us at another restaurant. Of course, the restaurant didn’t let us use our Groupon even though we bought it before changes were made and in the contract that meant we could still use it. Took forever to refund and I didn’t even get money but Groupon bucks. The manager was nice about it, at least. Now the food is a completely different story. Not only did we never receive our paratha (we had to cancel because after finishing our meal we couldn’t wait another hour to which our waiter rolled his eyes, loudly sighed, and shook his head. Wish we could have gotten a single refill of water), but the food was HORRIBLE. I uploaded a photo of the chicken skewers which were completely raw. Raw chicken for me is an instant two stars already nonetheless all the other issues. The chilli chicken flavor was good but the chicken pieces were all gizzard, fat, and garbage parts of the chicken. (This is coming from someone who is Taiwanese and would regularly love that if I didnt pay as much as I did and they dared to put a LITTLE bit of wine in it to reduce the gamey taste.) Overall the WORST experience I’ve had in such a long time and the absolute worst experience I’ve had in regards to service. Shame on you, Chal…
Edit:
The manager has contacted me and after reading many reviews, I see she has made a distinct effort to reply to others as well the SECOND they make a post. (I literally got a message maybe no more than 5 minutes after posting.) I think this kind of management is extremely honorable and will change my rating to 2 stars for effort, on her part. I understand how frustrating and difficult it is to have a server ruin a diners experience, particularly as a manager. A+ for effort and imitative. Thanks.

Do not eat here. Seriously. The food does not taste good at all (coming from a party of four). There are vegan and vegetarian options which is nice to hear but tasted really weird. Not how I would imagine a fusion of Thai and south Asian.
Also very slow service. We were the only ones waiting for food but it took at least 40 mins to get the food.
Just don’t eat here.

I was a bit hesitant to come here at first due to mixed reviews from customers in the past. I also was aware of the small space this places accrues so I was afraid it would be too small for my birthday gathering. In the end, the smallness of the space (I think it could seat about 20 – 30 people) proved to be one of the best parts! It made the experience very homely and warm.
The food was excellent as well. I ordered a chicken pad thai and it contained the perfect blend of spices and flavor. Delicious. Towards the beginning, my friend fell down the stairs leading to the tables and ended up breaking the little handle (it was sooooo funny) but the person who was in charge for the night didn’t even complain. He simply got a couple of nails and a hammer and fixed it up.
The service was great from the one person who was present. The food was great. The atmosphere was awesome. Thank you so much for a great night, Chal Chilli. I’m craving your food so I’ll be visiting again soon.

Great food and great service!
Over the past year and a half the restaurant has been open, it has continued to get better, from the décor, to the menu, to the service.
The new menu has fantastic fusion options which are creative and delicious.
Great spot to grab lunch or have a nice dinner. The ambiance is charming.
If you’ve eaten here before, I recommend giving it a second try. They have definitely improved (from the guidance of the TV show Restaurant Redemption) .
if you haven’t eaten here before, definitely give it a try! I love the Thai Basil Steak and the Spicy Chicken dishes.

The Basil Curry was great! the portions were pretty large and it was a slow day so the owner even came out and spoke with us. Overall, it was a pleasant experience

I love love this place! I just hosted my first year anniversary party here and everything was amazing. They closed the restaurant for us to accommodate our party of 35. From the food to service — it was just perfect. It’s a very homely environment and they treated us like kings and queens. I understand it’s a small restaurant with a very small kitchen but they do a lovely job in taking care of all of their customers. Will be back very very soon.

Brought my brother tonight, food was excellent! I got the pad se ew tonight. Tasted so fresh, and could tell it was made with care. Def recommend to anyone! Ask server to help pick a delicious dessert. He always makes great reccomendstions!!!

Hi Ayesha,
Thank you for the quick response. I am a little unclear of the disconnect between Groupon and your restaurant.
We purchased the Chal Chili Buffet Groupon on March 13^th, 2014, and it was valid until June 11, 2014. We dined at Chal Chili on Saturday May 18^th, well before the Groupon expired, and four months after you assert the Groupon ended.
I am happy to provide a screenshot of our redeemed Groupon from my phone if necessary. I am indeed confused why you claimed we ate there 9 months ago.
Therefore, this Groupon was on sale four months subsequent to when you ended your Buffet, and did not expire until six months after the Buffet ended. This is a serious problem with Groupon if this deal went on so long after you notified them of the changes, and I hope you bring it up further with them. Typically in these sorts of situations Groupon immediately offers a refund to all customers who purchased it.
On your other point– on May 18^th, you (or perhaps another employee) informed us there was a fire and/​or smoke either next door or in your restaurant. They then apologized for all the soot on the plates and napkins. Again I’m not clear why there’s no memory of the incident, but perhaps it was not a big deal in the scheme of things.
I have no interest in slandering your restaurant, I was simply stating the facts and our personal experience.
Having lived in South Asia and traveled to Thailand, we were truly excited for such a Fusion. Perhaps if we do decide to return one day there will be a different outcome.

We suggest you come hungry and with a large group. There are so many interesting and exciting options on the menu you will want to try them all. Next time (and there will be a next time) we will bring a bottle of our favorite wine and try a few more dishes.
The restaurant is small which made it very intimate. We found it comfortable and we really enjoyed the lively Indian music. It created good background ambiance while not stifling conversation.
Service was outstanding with a high degree of attentiveness, yet without being overbearing.
Overall we were pleased with out new find, and we’re sure you will be too.

HORRIBLE.
None of the food resembled what I had while in Thailand. Also, took the delivery guy an hour and 45 minutes to deliver the food.

This restaurant is a solid 3 star. I had not realized that it was such a tiny tiny place when I had searched for an affordable Indian or Thai restaurant that had a table for 10 available on a Friday. So it is partly my fault for not realizing how difficult a large party is for a small restaurant. So we patiently waited for space to clear, which really was not long.
My friends were thrilled it was byob, a big plus. The menu was interesting and most dishes were very flavorful. The negatives: many menu items were not available, and no entrees except a handful of Thai curries came with rice or sides. A lone steak on a plate, really? (Which by the way was not a skirt steak at all and rather tough — but had delicious sauce). Great that we had the opportunity to choose roti, paratha, or rice to accompany… But breads did not arrive until 20 – 30 minutes after the meals were served — meaning most of us sat and stared at our dishes after waiting 30 minutes for them in the first place.
Overall we had a good time, happy with food, and enjoyed owning half the restaurant for the night. An improvement in kitchen efficiency and service, and including rice with entrees even if it means raising the prices, would really go a long way to increasing the stars here. Wish them the best of luck, as there are always kinks to be worked out for a new place.

Chal Chilli was not our first choice on this evening. We bought a bunch of beer and headed to Bhatti Indian Grill on 27^th and Lex, but found that they were too busy. Searching Unilocal for another BYOB place, we found Chal and decided to give it a go.
Our party of 6 showed up to the tiny restaurant, but could not be seated yet even though there were only 2 other parties there. Don’t get me wrong, there were 3 or 4 open tables, but instead of rearranging them for us, they opted to sit us against the wall and had us wait until one of the bordering parties left so they could merge a table into ours. It is an odd thing having to wait for a table at a place with only 2 parties and 4 open tables… but so be it.
So BYOB was obviously great, with no corkage fee or anything like that. WE poured our beers into the provided mason jars for a bit of «class».
Each person at our group ordered an entrée, but I only tasted 3 of them. Pad-​Se-​Ew didn’t have much flavor in it, but I only had a bite. My wife ordered the Chal Barbeque Lamb which was very flavorful and excellently spiced, but sinewy and overcooked, making it waaay to chewy for my taste.
My order was the Short Beef Ribs which was FANTASTIC. I did not expect to get meat of this quality from an Asian/​Indian fusion joint in Little India, but low-​and-​behold here we are. They serve it bone-​in with a light spinach and coconut «sauce» draped on top. It wasn’t really a sauce as there wasn’t much liquid added to it, but it was moist enough to stick where it needed to stick. The meat was tender and fatty, like a good brisket, and just as flavorful too. I would definitely order this again when in the area.
The service was not that great. The staff was nice and pleasant to talk to, also knowledgeable about the menu, but the time to get food out to the table, and the time to clear plates was a little high.
A note on the Unilocal checkin offer… even though it says nothing about limitations on the offer itself, the waitress refused to honor multiple checkin offers from all of us who checked in. She claimed it was only 1-​per-​party instead of one per checkin like every other Unilocal deal I have ever seen. Kind of a bait and switch if you ask me. She did honor one though and we ordered a Friend Banana with Ice Cream dessert which was nothing special.

I ordered for lunch on seamless and it was pretty nasty. I ordered the garlic pepper which I’ve ordered from many other places and it has never looked like this. The picture I uploaded may not do it justice but its very suspect pieces of chicken in some sauce that made the whole thing appear pink. As one co-​worker described, «It looked like dead baby gerbils.» I couldn’t even bring myself to eat it.
UPDATE: I have added an additional star as a result of getting a very nice phone call from the manager who saw my initial review. It isn’t the first time I’ve been contacted like this but it was def. the quickest response. She offered let me order again on the house next time and assured me that she spoke with the kitchen about the way the food looked.

Cute place in Murray Hill. We braved the snow on a Sat night to get here and it was worth it. The actual restaurant is cute in that should be in a strip mall type of way with spa music playing and minimal décor.
The food was a good value. My pad Thai was $ 11. With the Unilocal check– in, I received a free dessert.
The biggest issue-​the length of time it took to get our food. When we sat down the restaurant was completely empty with tables filling up as time went on. We waited close to an hour for our dinner.

I honestly was shocked at how this experience turned out. The restaurant seems like a hidden gem. It is not thai food and it’s not Indian food it is a cross between it. The food was spicy and flavourful. I was most impressed with the presentation. Overall a great experience when least expected.

Well,
The food at this place is not bad. Nice fusion of cuisines.
Not amused that my server repeated many times ‘you’re dining alone?’ No, my invisible friend needs a seat too –_​–
Overall, the staff is very friendly and nice. The presentation of the food is pretty. But…
The service? Es muy mal. Bad enough to subtract 4 stars. A party of 6 people were taken care of and catered to more than I was at the table right next to mine. Yes, I was solo dining but the experience was just ridiculous. Really? I waited OVER 30 min for my food to be taken from my table after I was done eating. That didn’t happen to the tourist table beside me…
I was doing travel planning during this time so I wasn’t in that much of a hurry. But SERIOUSLY? I felt I wasn’t given any courtesy.
I do NOT like to be kept waiting for dumb amounts of time. I wasn’t properly attended to.
Super annoyed at my experience.

I should’ve checked the reviews before stepping in that door…
Ordered a flat noodle and papaya salad to go, the person at front didn’t even know what I was ordering. she asked me to point them out on the menu.
15 mins after, she gave me my food laying SIDE WAYS in a to go bag.
The flat noodle tasted fine, but the only veg in there was bean sprouts, looked unappetizing (picture shared). I know they are a «fusion» restaurant, but the food resembles not even a hint of Thai flavor. The papaya salad really was the weirdest I’ve ever eaten. but edable.
It was more like a take out from a random little Chinese place. Comes with a little stomach upset afterwards :-(
I don’t get the good reviews, maybe just an off night and I happened to be that lucky?
For me it’s a never.