The Sankalp is a restaurant group with ventures in hospitality, real estate, packaged foods, and…read moremore; and this particular location in Tech Ridge on the north side of the strip mall at I-35 and Center Ridge Dr is likely one of the many franchised locations; this one serves both veggie and meat dishes.
They have a standard strip mall storefront; but the design inside is actually quite nice. The booths, while comfortable, can easily be moved when getting in or out of them.
Each time I've gone to this restaurant, there has always been someone to greet patrons and help with pickups.
I've both gotten takeout and dined in with them once each so far. Interestingly, I found my experience between the two slightly inconsistent.
When ordering through their Toast Tab page online, most dishes offer four spice levels: mild, medium, spicy, and extra spicy. The default level appears to be medium which I would recommend based, compared with spicy, given my testing so far; the difference as far as I can tell is that yes, spicy will be spicy, but the base flavor will change from something that is fragrant to something that tastes mostly of straight chili peppers (and not the fruity type of chilies); the chilies cover up the base flavors.
However, when ordering inside the restaurant, they did not mention spice levels, so I'm not sure of what spice levels were utilized.
For takeout, I've ordered the following and also noticed that estimated pickup time on their to-go orders are not very accurate; I arrived 20 minutes after the promised ready time, and I still had to wait about 10 minutes before the order was ready. They have a pretty comfortable sofa to sit on while waiting and writing Yelp review drafts.
Kohzi Sukka (medium) -- the chicken was tender; the seasoning on it was decently flavorful; there were bits of coconut shavings I found, but overall it was not as flavorful as it could have been.
Corn Methi Malai (medium) -- the corn flavor came through quite nicely, and I was able to taste most of the spices.
Malai Kofta (spicy) -- the kofta was soft and fragrant; but the base flavor was covered by chili flavor, no doubt because I selected the spicy option. I'm really not a fan of the chili that they use, especially since it is not a fragrant type of chili. It is possible to obtain spicy food that does not cover up the base flavors; this particular preparation is not it.
Chaas -- I enjoyed this drink. It is watery, yogurty, with spices, and it has a strong cumin flavor.
For dine-in:
Pav Bahji -- I suppose this came as "spicy" by default. The curry was mostly chili flavored, leading to the impression that this was a bland, tasteless curry (when eaten alone). In other words, the flavor had been cooked out of it, and only the chili flavor remained. However, when coupled with the toasted buns the combo yielded more enjoyable bites. Adding the onions and lime juice to the curry did not appreciable assist the bland base. I think the version I received was poorly executed.
Cheese Dosa -- it should be noted that all their dosas come with potato masala (whether inside, on the side, or simply excluded). The provided chutneys were fine, though a bit on the lighter side.
Chicken 65 -- I tasted mostly chili flavor; the underlying flavors which make chicken 65 iconic were quite muted. Also, the signature crispness was absent. There was a lack of tang in the flavor profile. This rendition was poorly executed.
Overall, some common themes I noticed were that their spicy dishes are unbalanced and bland, since the non-fragrant chili flavor dominates. Their "medium" dishes have a decent amount of flavor, but the flavors are not as pronounced as they could be. I suspect if they utilize a different type of chilies, or if they increase the quantity of spices incorporated in their "spicy" dishes, they'll be able to correct for the current defects.