We stopped here for lunch on a long road trip, and were pleasantly surprised by the entire…read moreexperience. Our server was knowledgeable, funny and friendly. The lunch menu let our family of four eat family style and try a number of things, all of which were delicious. We had enough leftovers for another meal, which they helped us pack with all the right containers. The advantage of ordering is the dishes are prepared fresh, and to me tastes better than eating off a buffet line. The mushroom mutter was my personal favorite, and it was quite rich so I'm glad there were other dishes to try and fluffy rice and naan to eat it with. On the way our everyone got a mango lassi for the road, and these too were excellent. It's very close to I-10 and easy enough to get to when traveling. We left with food, drinks, had freshened up our travel waters (which was very clean tasting from the restaurant), and were in a great mood from eating a proper sit down lunch. Definitely will be back, and recommend you try it!

Unexpected delight! The reviews were good, the location was close, and I love Indian food. As I…read morepulled in, it definitely isn't a lavish establishment, but don't let that steer you away! Staff was friendly, lunch prices are great, and food was "wow"! Highly recommend!

Best naan + apps in Tally. I highly recommend getting an order of the "Essence Special Naan" to…read morestart your meal. Great service and environment too. It feels so homey.

I had a great time at the Essence of India. The food was delicious. The restaurant is very clean…read moreand organized. I asked Floyd, the server, what he recommend and he suggested a Lamb Roganjosh, with garlic bread and rice, and a mango juice. He was very friendly and helped me get exactly what I wanted. I highly recommend it! I loved it. They said it was a medium spice which is very accurate for my taste. I am definitely coming back. #HiddenGem

I think there were really good spices at this restaurant, especially in regard to the Vindaloo meal…read moreI had here. While I was here there were also some nice shows that were playing on the TV.

This is a convenient place to go for quick and easy Indian food. It's a self-serve place. We didn't…read morereally interact with anyone for service other than to find a place to sit and when we had to walk up to pay. We even got our own drinks (Coke products) from the fountain. I was thrown off by the saag as it had tomatoes in it. Also the butter paneer was more sauce than anything and had to fish for the paneer. Everything tasted fine though. $20 a person for lunch seems a bit steep though. It's not in my top 5 places, but it's not terrible. Probably won't go back unless there's no other options.

We tried this place for the first time for dinner on a Friday evening. We were seated right away…read more No reservation needed. We started with their mixed platter as appetizer, which comes with chicken kebabs, chicken tikka and shrimps and lamb. We also tried their mysore dosa and Bombay chicken dosa. What I liked was that the service was fast. Our server Willborne was nice and quick. We appreciated his recommendations. The dosas tasted good and the mixed platter was also delicious. See photos below. I really liked their masala chai as well. Everything tasted great and we will return to try other things on the menu.

We'd been before, but that time we waited 35 minutes at our table and no one ever greeted us. So,…read morewe left. Deciding to give it another shot, we went last night. The service was very good, and the mango mojito was well crafted. This was all because the poor guy was host, bartender, server, and bus boy. The food, on the other hand, was a different story. We started by ordering Chicken 65 and Samosas for an appetizer. They took forever and came out barely warm. For dinner, my wife ordered the chicken korma and I the Chole (Chana) Masala. We also ordered the butter naan and the cheese and garlic naan. My wife's dish was okay. It's not as good as several other places in town. My dish was really weird. It's one of my favorites, usually, but this came out as a thin brown sauce with chickpeas that has just been taken out of the can...a bit al dente. This was not the usually thick masala that I've had many other places. This sank right through the rice. It was not good and I did not take it home as leftovers. The naan, for which you pay $3-4 was a single piece of naan cut into four pieces. The garlic cheese naan had garlic butter and a cheese powder of some sort sprinkled on top. Not a good value. There are other, more amazing Indian restaurants in town that we will continue to frequent. We've given this two tries and won't be back.

We ordered pani puri and a chaat. Also mango chicken and tacos and ghee curry. All of had amazing…read moreflavors. We've eaten at Musaafer in Houston that has gotten a Michelin star. This was on par or better. So yummy The waiter was super nice and pleasant and had great recommendations.

We are big fans of global flavor, and Indian food is at the top of the list. After living outside…read moreof Tallahassee for a few years, we are glad to be back, and even more excited to find that Zaan Indian Cuisine had opened during our absence. The last time I was in the building, it was Café Cabernet. Yes, I am showing my age, but that was the last time I was in the building. I was curious to see how it would be reimagined as an Indian restaurant. Imagine my surprise when it felt like a brand new experience walking through the door. Beginning with the darkly tinted windows which create a warm moody ambience, despite the sun shining brightly outside, then walking into a beautifully appointed bar with stunning Emerald green barstools. Over the bar hangs a custom chandelier that sounds like wind chimes. We had already looked at the menu before we came in, but we took an extra moment and decided to order a cocktail and an appetizer before our meal. The Paneer Pakora arrived beautifully presented. The portion was absolutely enormous, and the two of us had half of our dinner orders leftover to take home. I imagine it will reheat beautifully in our air fryer. We ordered the chicken vindaloo and chicken tikka masala. Zaan utilizes a mild medium hot scale. Some restaurants will use a one through five I ordered medium and it was a proper level three if that is what you are used to. The staff to customer ratio was balanced in the customer's favor. The service was impeccable, the staff was available within eyesight the entire time, yet they did not hover over our table. We also ordered garlic naan, and I truly believe that what we left with in our to go containers was another entire meal. The portions are very generous . We are early diners, but I can tell you that this is also a perfect place if you want to stop in for a cocktail at a sexy bar, and order some appetizers. The fellow diners that were there during our early bird visit were mostly younger families, but I would definitely head back for drinks and appetizers later in the evening as the decor really lends itself to being a bar as well. It was a little hot to be on the patio, but I imagine that during mild weather that is the place to be! One thing that motivated us to visit, is the owner being so active on the local foodies page. Anytime someone asks for recommendations for a special occasion, brunch, birthday dinner, the owner is immediately in the chat recommending his business. They were very responsive to my request for a reservation via social media. There is a large attached parking lot so parking is not an issue. I can tell you that the outside is very deceptive. Unless you knew the previous business in that location, it might be easy to just pass right by. Please don't. You definitely need to visit if you are looking for global cuisine with a fantastic environment. They appear to have a VIP table for special occasions as well as a private dining room. I saw to go orders running continuously through our entire visit. We will be back soon and may even take the spice level up a notch.

This is a hidden gem in Tallahassee! I came here for the first time with my daughter around 2pm on…read morea Wednesday and it was deserted. We were a bit concerned but we were willing to give it a chance since the menu looked great! We were craving Indian food and a quick yelp search brought us here. We were greeted warmly upon entering and seated right away. We noticed the cool mural in the back with the Tallahassee skyline depicting the new and old Capitol buildings. There were logos for some Tallahassee teams- FSU, Tallahassee State College, Leon high school and Rickards high school. Notable omissions were FAMU, Chiles high school, Lincoln high school, and Godby high school. There are others too such as Gretchen Everhart school, FSU school and FAMU school among others. I'm interested to know why those few schools were chosen for the mural while the others were omitted. There were Bollywood music videos playing on a tv in the back right near our table. We got a kick out of that but a couple times we noticed it was too loud and interfered with our conversation but not enough to complain. Anyway, the menu was extensive and included several vegetarian options. Our server was wonderful. The food we ordered looked beautiful and tasted delicious! We ordered the yellow tadka dal and paneer tikka masala served with white rice and garlic naan on the side. We both ordered mild versions but I definitely could have handled medium spiciness. It's good to have another option for great Indian food in town!

I was looking for an affordable, healthy restaurant in the area. Al Safa fit the bill!…read more Parking is free and plentiful. The interior is date-worthy with tasteful décor and comfortable seating. Al Safa is the first fully halal restaurant in town! They also own the halal grocery next door. Halal, an Arabic word meaning "lawful or permitted," requires food to go through a specific process from farm to packaging or plate. The animal has to be healthy when slaughtered. Even the preparation is considered sacred so the utensils used can't touch "haram" foods such as pork or wine. A vegetarian meal can't be cooked in a pot used for meat. Because halal options are limited in Tally, the menu covers everything from Indian curries to Greek gyros ($13). You can order a Turkish kebab, Middle Eastern shawarma ($8) or American burgers and fries for the kids! This isn't fast food, it's cooked to order. I had the $14 Chicken Malai Kabab known for its silky, creamy texture and flavor. The tender marinated chicken is well-seasoned and complemented by the yogurt sauce with coriander. A larger portion and more veggies would've added a star. But I did not regret choosing tasty butter naan flat bread instead of rice. In short, I recommend Al Safa!

Nice concept and fair prices for college kids. The butter chicken was too spicy. Mango Lassi is…read moresold in a pre packaged container.

I took my co-workers here after reading there would be free naan with a food purchase for their…read moregrand opening. The restaurant decor is colorful and inviting, with some great beverage choices of varied tea and juice in addition to your standard soda machine. I chose to have a bowl with a mix of basmati and cauliflower rice. I wanted butter tofu, but I think the server misheard me because I ended up with butter chicken, which was still delicious. It is understandable I was misunderstood, as it was hard to hear the servers across the glass with the loud music thumping. I chose to add pickled onions, lentils, and other roasted veggies with sweet chili sauce. I am not sure if the butter sauce was made spicier than most restaurants or if the sweet chili kicked it up a notch. I am good with spice, so it only enhanced it for me. My co-worker, who is more sensitive, said the butter chicken had some kick to it, however. I thought the naan was good, but some feedback I heard from colleagues was that the naan was a Publix Stonefire brand instead of being made from scratch, and there could have been more garlic added. I gave 5 stars due to the flavors and options being on point. The owner was there to greet and assist and was quite friendly.

I was very interested when I saw the sign for this restaurant outside of the Greyhound bus station;…read morethe lack of reviews on Yelp, overwhelmingly positive yet bare reviews on Google, and use of stock images for their website and advertising only intrigued me more. Ordered through the phone because not sure how to park at the bus station without getting towed. The lady was accomodating to splitting the order over the phone but didn't get it quite right, she ended up splitting the order two ways instead of three. She got the spirit right though and that's what really matters. We pulled up after about 20 minutes (she gave us 25 minutes on the phone) and they were cooking the food so we had a chance to look around at the wares they offered: blingy necklaces, assorted shoes, and run-of-the-mill gas station snacks. It was a little cramped in this area; it would be hard to fit more than 5 people at once without social distancing. The lady at the counter was behind a glass shield, but wasn't wearing a mask. She was nice, though. The kitchen is open, so I could see the cook was wearing a mask. The menu for Indian food is not posted inside the store itself, instead what's posted is American food that they also provide. Utensils were not provided in the bags. There was probably a station with utensils but I didn't see it. We travelled to the Den at FSU to eat outside at the picnic tables. The bags didn't leak, everything was packaged neatly. I had samosas (they gave me 3 instead of 2), lamb rogan josh, my friend had butter chicken, and my other friend had fried rice. We did not ask for the spice level on the phone, so we were nervous about how spicy the food would be. For me, it was a good level of spice (I would say medium). The samosas were good! I would get them again. I only wish they had chutney or something to dip it with, but I dipped mine into the rogan josh sauce and it was tasty. The lamb rogan josh itself was kind of disappointing. The container was filled to the brim with sauce, but the meat itself was mostly big chunks of bone. I had to cut the meat off of the bone, and there was barely any. The butter chicken was tasty according to my friend, but she said it tasted more like a tikka masala than a butter chicken. She ate all of it. My other friend was unpleased about the level of buffalo chicken in his rice. There was barely any, and it tasted like spicy Chinese takeout. Overall, this was a pretty interesting experience. My expectations were low and thus met. I would say the food is authentic, and if you're up for adventure I recommend coming to the bus station.

Loved having lunch here. The price was a steal for the amount of food I got. My belly was full…read moreafter a hard workout and this food felt replenishing. Everyday has different food and I can't wait to try more of it! I loved the chocolate, coconut, peanut dessert at the end was a TREAT!