hey, Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â date . 02/03/2013
I have liked the food at URU SWATI in the past.However, the CHAATS quality has been going from good to bad to worse lately. I gave them a benefit of doubt the last time I ordered 1..Dahi batata puri AND Puneri misal  but it happened again. I had ordered out and picked up the food - I live a block from the place. The food was stale, the kachori chaat and samosa chaat seemed as if it was 5 days old and heated up as well as chewy. The  kachori chaat , samosa chaat was horrible and believe me I know when I eat a good chaat . The curry in both the kachori chaat and the samosa chaat was sour indicating that it too was stale. Overall a very horrible experience again ... uru swati just lost one loyal customer !
I am so ashamed. I have lived here all of my life and yet I've never actually been to Devon. Luckily, a friend took me here for my first (but not last) visit. We came at about 6pm on a Sat night, which was the perfect time as only 30 min later they were packed.
We ordered the Bhindi Masala (Okra), Palak Peneer (Spinach and cheese), Veg Jalfrezie (mixed veggies in curry), and garlic naan. The Bhindi Masala was my favorite, but everything was so good. For all that was ordered, we had more than enough for dinner, leftovers for each of us and it was $16 each with a good tip. Uru-Swati is also BYOB -- which makes it a really cheap night!
The food is still good, provided it's all timed correctly by the kitchen.
HOWEVER ....
Cleanliness. Seriously, my partner ordered tea and it came in a pot, with a mug. The mug was filthy. LIke, lipstick-on-it-filthy. So we requested a new one. Again, FILTHY. While we asked for another mug, I started to look around and saw veritable drifts of dust and funk in corners. The service here has always been lackluster, the food great, but I can't stand dirty.
And then the server brought out our third round of cups. He must have thought we objected to the type of mug, so he brought two teacups instead of another mug. And these were also filthy. At this point, we sent the tea back. I talked my bladder out of going to the bathroom so I could hold on to the mystery enough to eat a fantastic mysore masala dosa.
As good as the food is here, it's too dirty and inattentive for us to come back. We're sad now, as we don't have a veg Indian place to go to now. (Arya Bhavan, your grody bathrooms and refusal to take a lady's order rules you out!)
Augh!
Forgive my thorough review, but I feel it's my duty, since my family is South Indian, to help out other yelpers the best I can with details about the food here.
Uru-Swati markets itself as a South Indian vegetarian restaurant, but the food tastes, unmistakably, like South Indian food that's been prepared by a North Indians. Â Mostly that everything has been sprinkled with a bit of sugar and dried mango, and it had barely any ginger, which is a staple in South Indian seasonings. Â Barely any of the foods really carried the flavor profile that i associate with South Indian cuisine. Â
We ordered:
Idli Sambar: Â The best part of the meal, easily. Â The idli were very light and fresh, and the sambar was well made and full flavored, with chunky vegetables. If I were to come back, this is the only thing I'd order: I'd place one idli in the bowl of sambar, and just have that as my meal, leaving the other two for later.
Chai: Â Really, really good chai. Â Both Indian places and regular tea places do silly things with chai. Â They take all the possible things one might put into a cup of chai, and put *all* of the different spices in each cup. Â To me, this is silly - tea should be simple and fresh, not a confusing muddy mix of spices. Â Uru-swati actually does their chai correctly - very strong, a little bit of spice, and a clean finish. Â
Dahi Vada: Â To be fair, this is sort of a silly dish to order at a restaurant, and I should have known better. Â Dahi vada consists of a deep fried fritter that's been soaked in a spicy yogurt for several hours, and is one of my favorite comfort foods ever. Â But there's a problem with serving dahi vada at any restaurant: how do you know when people are going to order it? Â Â There's a small window between when the vada haven't soaked enough, and when they're oversoaked, which is why even restaurants in India have trouble pulling it off. Â It's a dish you make at home for special guests who are arriving at an expected time, and hosts usually tell you that dahi vada is being served, so you know to arrive at the expected time to eat. Â Uru-swati got around this by soaking the vada, maybe, thirty seconds before serving it to us, which wasn't horrible, but isn't the way the dish is supposed to taste. Â The yogurt was also sweet instead of spicy, and lacking in ginger and salt. I wouldn't order it again.
Masala dosa: sort of average and not even hot. Â Neither of us felt like finishing it. Â I wouldn't order it again.
Pani puri: These are a popular street food that are fun to eat. There are little crispy hollow balls, and you break it open, fill it with flavored water and perhaps some lentils, and pop the whole thing in your mouth. Â They're a wonderful, salty-sweet, sour treat to have on a hot day. These were good, and came with tamarind chutney, mint-water, and a little mix of potato and beans. Â Everything was a bit bland and the puri didn't pop they way they should,but it wasn't bad.
Rajma Masala: Â My boyfriend ordered this. Â It was quite good, but only because it tasted like there was a stick of butter in it. Â
Garlic Naan: Â Excellent, excellent naan, which only proves further to me that this restaurant really is a North Indian restaurant.
Overall, a good solid "meh." Â Eating here made me itch to go across the street and buy the ingredients to make the food correctly.
Uru Swati is my favorite South Indian place to dine, offering authentic cuisine in the heart  of Little India in Chicago.
My husband and I love Ayurveda healing food  and have been to other restaurants in the area, but this place is just the right one- from the friendly customer service to the tasty dishes. Truly healing through food.
I was here recently on a week night.
The ambience: Â stellar, as in trendy, like a college town hang out cafe, really cool, never seen a place like this for an Indian place in my life.
Cleanliness: Â 100/100
Washrooms: Â It does not get better for an Indian restaurant, very nice really and the paper dispensers actually work.
Wait Staff: Â Not sure if this place is a traditional restaurant place, but our order was taken and so I tipped, but many Indian places on Devon are self serve and no tip is needed, so, this puts upward pressure on the bill. Â Having to tip when eating snacks and Indian fast food does not go well with me.
The owner is nice, and wants to make sales. Â Seems like they are targeting mostly to American young crowd (who want to be able to BYOB) since we were the only Indians there. Â I really liked this place because of the cleanliness, the trendiness and the decor is exceptional and very cozy. Â The furniture is very cold and dull.
And the Food: Â The masala tea was perfect, the dosa was a bit cold, but crispy, pretty good, we had Paper masala dosa, sambhar was perfect as in awesome. Â The baigan bharta was the best I have ever had outside of India, in fact even I cannot make it that good and I am a very good cook. Â Naan perfect. Â Everything was stellar really. Â The aloo tikki, there was something to it, I have never had it like this, it was divine.
The best part about the food was that the guy who served (probably the son of the owner and may be the cook also) served it with impeccable grace. Â Food comes quickly.
But it was really a great change for us. Â I would really visit here much more often if I was 20 something.
Not much of an Indian food eater, but really trying to. Â Sooo, take my review with a grain of salt. Â I had the samosa, fabulous. Â I loved that they were made with chickpea flour. Â I also had the Mysore Sada Dosa. Â Hmmm. Â Did not enjoy this. Â I think it is me? Â I would give this place 4 stars, because it seemed alright, but it took a really, really, really long time to get our food. Â And we were the only table in there. Â The chutneys were tasty. Â I would try this place again.
Review Source:I tried to go somewhere new recently when the Indian craving struck, but somehow my feet landed me in front of my old standby Uru-Swati.
Unfortunately, that turned out to be a mistake. I don't know what happened- whether there is new management or if it was an off night- but I was seriously disappointed in the whole experience.
First of all, the prices went up since my last visit, but the quality went down. I used to love their Papdi Chaat, but this time it tasted like a fryer. Plus the ratio of papri to topping was off, so the dish was rather dry.
The service was also pretty terrible. I was completely ignored for most of my meal by my server, as well as a busboy(?) who stood not five feet away from my empty water glass, watching TV. Finally, I got up and helped myself to a pitcher. He watched as I did this and then turned back to the TV!
I'd been meaning to come here for a couple of years, as it has a reputation for being one of the premier vegetarian Indian restaurants in Chicago. I'm glad I finally made the trip!
Mixed Pakore ($8.95) contains an impressive array of vegetable fritters, which great for a large group. Dosai pancakes ($6.95+) are much better than the offerings at surrounding competitors - voluminous, thin without being brittle, and spread with a mildly spicy sauce. The vegetable curries that they come with are served on the side, rather than inside the pancake, which increases the edibility component. Uddapam ($7.95+) are an interesting twist, with a number of vegetables cooked into the pancake itself; tasty, but the Dosai stil star here. We tried two curried dishes - Vegetable Koftai ($8.95) and Dal Makhani ($8.95); both of these were very sumptuous, but perhaps a little too rich and not spicy enough for my personal taste. Naans (Regular $1.95, Garlic $2.95) are pillowy soft and pleasantly crispy, although they too suffer (very slightly) from the ghee being applied with an excessively liberal hand.
Pricing is very fair (three of us paid $17 each for roughly twice as much food as any of us needed), and service was surprisingly attentive - I'd heard from others that it was notably bad here, but this was not the case on my visit. All in all, Uruswati offers authentic Indian cuisine, which tends a little on the tame side for my personal taste. Perhaps they profiled our all-white party and toned down the spicing a little bit (which I couldn't blame them for, but which is somewhat suboptimal for me - I was raised by a Jamaican nanny, so bring on the heat!). I'd recommend it for everyone, and recommend it highly for Indian food novices!
Popped in here to get some idli and sambar.
I really loved the inside of this restaurant. Â It is funky and modern. Â Quick service as well. Â The idli I ordered was very good. Â Well made, could tell it was fresh, and the sambar and coconut chutney tasted authentic. Â I will definitely be back again!
This place took me back to Chennai. Awesome food. We always rate an Indian restaurant by tasting the sambhar. Uru-Swati had the authentic hotel sambhar taste which got a 10/10.
Service was friendly, food came out fast, it tasted good and we left with happy faces and tummies.
I wish I was in Chicago..
Sadly if you are a transplant from California or New York, Indo/Pak food in Chicago is a dissapointment! In fact, I have stopped eating India food on Devon because I think there is better quality food available in downtown at India House or Gaylord! Â
Stopped by on a late Saturday afternoon on Devon, not excited about any of the regular spots like Sabri or Tiffin. Pulled out the yelp app and this place had some good reviews so we decided to try it out. Here is what we ordered and my review
Mysore masala dosa - excellent dosa and coconut chutney. Pass
Poorui/Bhaji - Both poori and bhaji came out cold, salt was lacking in the bhaji. Fail
Mooli paratha - Not stuffed well with mooli. Came with daal makhani, not a true north indian combination. Was okay.
My favorite Indian restaurants in the world. Â My definition of world is pretty limited, I have only eaten Indian in a few countries. Â I ate so much at Uru-Swati, I could barely breath walking out, but I did manage to have a big smile on my face. Â For vegetarians and meat eaters alike, there is no better place. Â My husband and I ordered a lot of food, so I feel that I got a great sample of the menu. Some of our favorites are:
Pav Bhaji- spicy and delicious, my favorite
Bhindi Masala- okra has great consistency, not mushy like other okra dishes
Tadka Dal- Usually go with the dal makhani, but this was really good. Â I loved the creaminess of this dish. Â This was my first time trying a yellow lentil dish, and I cannot wait to have more. Â
I am looking forward to trying more items on their menu. Â The menu is elaborate. Â Bring a group of friends so you can try a lot of dishes.
i have been here twice now, and can definitely rank this among my very favorite Indian food. The samosa chat is out of this world-- what do they do to it? Who knows! it's delicious and saucy. Â I ordered the same dosa two times-- the first, it was PERFECT. the filling was spread out pretty evenly and the pancake was nice and crispy. The second time, it was a little less good-- maybe gloppier? Â But we still ate the whole thing... We also got chana masala, palak paneer and matar paneer. Matar paneer is my favorite of all things, and it was so, so good here. so good! actually, it could have used a little more paneer. And the naan is really good, too!
my only gripes, which are keeping me from 5 stars, are:
1. not enough water! I'm an american who needs a lot of water when I eat spicy food!
2. I wish I had a chutney that was a little sweeter. There is a coconut-cilantro chutney that my mom is crazy about, but i wish it was mango flavored. Fine, I wish there was mango chutney.
That's actually it.
So, go! eat! it's vegetarian but you'll still be so full!!
My top favorite indian veggie spot on Devon St. It's pretty urban inside, and always a spot for me and the crew (1 other girl hah). Tastiest dosas and sambar. I melt here every time. #WINNING
- Dal Makhani
- Paper Masala Dosa
- Poppadum
- Rice Khir
- Idli - Steamed rice lentil patties
- Mango Lassi's
Finally did try a new place this past weekend. Â This place has been there for years, but we've been sticking to our favorite places and just never tried it. Â A friend told the dosas here were good, so we thought we'd try it.
The dosa was okay. Â I mean, the friend that told us was mistaken that this place specializes in South Indian food. Â I don't know... especially because the menu didn't even have a popular dosa - the onion rava dosa. Â Too bad.
The paneer roll was the other thing I had. Â I mean, it wasn't bad either. Â I felt like they just put a paneer curry inside a roti. Â I guess it was a paneer roll, because there was definitely paneer rolled up in a roti. Â :-) Â It's just that I was expecting something different, like more of a kati roll. Â The taste wasn't bad for what it was, but again it just wasn't what I thought it would be.
I do have to compliment Uru-Swati on their ambiance. Â The decor is just nicer than most other joints on Devon. Â Their table cleaning method was strange. Â Basically the dude just wiped a lot of the left-over food from the previous party on to the floor. Â Yes, the table was clean, but pushing crap on the the floor is questionable.
I started enjoying Uru-Swati's food via GrubHub at my apartment. Just today I jumped on my bike and decided to get the full experience.
First of all, I know nothing about Indian food. So I've been gradually working my way down their menu and just trying new things. I haven't yet come across something I didn't enjoy there. Healthy, flavorful meals that don't weigh you down! Plus you can't beat the price.
Worth the trip. I'll be back soon!!!
yesterday was my second time eating at Uru. I must say all the dishes are really flavorful. We ordered a feast for four people and everyone was full. We couldn't even order dessert. I highly recommend the veg uttapam and masala dosa and veg makhani.
You can't go wrong with anything on the menu really. Try eliminating meat from your diet once a week- it will make you feel better!
This is one of our favorite spots. Very good food and service ... One of the best restaurant on Devon street  for dosa, pav bhaji,chat  like items ...
The prices are great too.
They have this Pan masala which is kept near the counter which is out of the world... I always buy it from them for 5$
There's nothing like taking your hubby out to lunch, only to sit down with the menu and throw a sideways glancing grin while saying, "Oh by the way honey...it's all vegetarian" :)
We ordered Garlic Naan, Veg Makhani (mixed vegetables in a creamy curry) & Shrikhand Puri with Undhiyu (yams, potatoes, veg with saffron sweet yogurt and sweet puffy bread). Â The Garlic Naan is very aromatic and perfect for wiping up all the sauces. Â Naan is a must order for us. Â My favorite dish was the the Veg Makhani. Â There was a good balance of creaminess and spice in the dish, plus I really like red/orange curries. Â Something I've never had before was the sweet saffron yogurt paired with the sweet puffy bread that came with the Shirkhand Puri. Â It was like dessert; so sweet yet so good.
Despite the hubby's affinity to animal eating, he really liked everything we ordered. Â It's all about flavors and seasoning. Â Score: Gina 1, Meat-man 0.
Between seven of us we shared: 2 orders of samosa chaat, 2 orders of garlic naan, bhindi masala (okra), baigan bhartha (eggplant), paneer makhani, and the paper masala dosa. Everything was delicious! So, so good. I loooved the okra in particular, and the garlic naan as it was SUPER garlic-y. YUM. The only not-so-good part of the meal was the mango lassi, which had way too much yogurt.
Fast and friendly service, fun interior, and good prices. A great vegetarian spot, I'll definitely be back!
We ended up here, because two of the restaurants we wanted to eat at were closed (ironically!). We felt like dosa and thought to try Uru Swati. This is our second dosa restaurant we have tried at Devon.
It was around 8:30pm and the restaurant was packed! We waited for approx 10mins before being seated. 3 other parties came after us, and I thought this place must be good.
We ordered fried paneer as an appetizer (it was ok, I've had better), Masala dosa (also ok, not much flavor or spices seemed a bit bland), Malai kofta with rice (not good, the sauce was good but the malai kofta was hard and seemed like it was frozen food with was reheated). I ordered a lime soda, which was pretty good.
Service was efficient and decent.
We left full but not fully satisfied.
May be back, but will probably try other items on the menu.
This was my first time eating Indian food, and let me say I WILL DEFINITELY BE BACK!
Took my boyfriend here to celebrate his birthday here's what we had
Appetizer:Combination plate of various fritters. I forget was included exactly but they were delish. Even though they were fried, oil wasn't leaking off of them. They come with two dipping sauces, a red which was sweet and had a bbq-ness to it and then a green that tasted like herbs.
Entree: I had the vegetable dumplings in a special curry sauce and the bf had the mixed vegetables in a cury sauce. Each came with rice, a dipping sauce that tasted like sour cream and lemon grass. We shared our food and there are three words I would use to describe it, sweet, spicy, and savory.
Best part was we paid under $35.
Cannot wait to go back.
I enjoyed all the dishes that we had, with the masala dosa and the papdi chaat the two standouts. Unfortunately the server we had was extremely bad at his job. He couldn't seem to communicate and answer very simple questions -- for example, when we asked why he told me I couldn't have a dosa because the oven was broken, but then served 5 minutes later a dosa to another party who arrived after us, he acted belligerent. When confronted with this hypocrisy, he seemed offended and then said they made it for them but not for me and would not make any more. It took forever to get any answers and he seemed to resent the basic questions. Clearly he needs to find another line of work that doesn't involve interacting with human beings.
On the plus side, the manager or owner or someone with more authority came out and apologized and fixed everything for us. She was very nice. I believe this blip in service is an exception, not the rule, and I would definitely return to Uru-Swati the next time I find myself in this area.
This restaurant is vegetarian. As far as Indian food goes (and I'm definitely not an expert) they put a fair amount of time into preparing interesting foods. Some of the food was spicy but I could handle that better than some could, having lived with a Singaporean roommate who liked spicy foods. Uttapam, which was a type of bean pancake, I found more filling than I would have thought. I also had misal, which was a type of bean curry.
The area is Rogers Park. I don't venture out in that area, so I could not compare it to other restaurants in the area.
The interior is decorated with a cute artistic flare that resembles a skyline, with common objects on the wall incorporated into the picture.
YUM!
I went here with some friends that LOVE this place and I can see why. Â Its nothing special to look at, however the food was AMAZING!
Its BYOB, however we decided to do mango drinks...I dont remember what they were called.
The great thing about this place was that a lot of the dishes we got were small and share-able, which is nice because you get to try a ton of stuff.
So I just sat back and let them do the ordering. Â I honestly dont know what we all had but it was all amazing. Â I do remember samosa-chat...YUM! Â We also got potatoes that were wrapped in a chick pea flour, garlic naan, fried naan, all different types of spreads, etc. Â It was all amazing! Â AND CHEAP! Â
Our server was super nice and they were really good about refilling our waters, which is always good when you have Indian spice! Â HA.
There is free parking on the side streets and easy metered spots on Devon. Â Go and check it out...there is a ton to see up in that area.
The samosa chat is INCREDIBLE because it has so many textures and layers of flavor. Also tried the palak paneer, paper masala dosa and garlic naan. I love dipping the dosa and naan in the sambar and palak paneer. The meal was very enjoyable and delicious.
Park your car for an hour or two and walk around Devon when the sun is out. All along the street, the colorful fabrics swinging in the wind help tremendously with digestion ;)
Uru-Swati is so easy to like. Â The menu is very safe for a person with my particular peccadillos, which is to say it's vegetarian, mostly healthy (not as much fried fare and less oil than average) and there is very little heat in the dishes. Â In fact, I feel like I could handle more than what they throw at me, which makes me feel proud in a weird way. Â Â
My go-to Indian dish is channa masala, because the chick pea is my all-time favorite bean. Â Their masala is mellow and thus I can eat a lot more than I could at, say, Hema's Kitchen. Â The dish sings to you in a easy listening kind of way, rather than raging and kicking around on your tongue. Â
I've also had their samosa chat, which is great simply because, again, I've never met a chick pea I didn't like. Â I try not to order appetizers/snacks though, just because I don't want too much food competing for stomach space I've already reserved for channa masala. Â Again, my own peccadillo.
That said, I have tried the paper masala dosa - the huge (huge!) rolled spongy bread wrapped around a filling. Â I forgo the filling and just dip that dosa in the sambar for a tasty munchie. Â The sambar looks kind of nondescript, but it's a nice savory dip made from dal and vegetables. Â
Service is okay, not overly super. Â The atmosphere is very casual but there is a flat screen with Bollywood videos that are fun. Â I've never had to wait but they are always bustling. Â Which is good because I want Uru-Swati to stick around for a long time to tame my chick pea beasty.
You know that queasy feeling one can get when one has been out having a great time, only to return home to an unknown personal disaster, as in "I can't believe I was out doing THAT while THIS was happening!"
My wallet was stolen shortly before my companion took me to Uru-Swati. So as I scarfed down the most perfectly spiced channa masala I've had since my days working for the best Southern Indian chef in the Midwest, as I greedily gnawed on the appropriately weighty and slightly sweet aloo paratha, as I marveled that someone in the Midwest had finally figured out how to make pickled mango relish the way it should be made--just a slight touch of brine covering very crisp, tangy-sweet fruits--and as I eyed my companions chewy-savory garlic naan--some jackass was out tiptoeing like the Grinch with my wallet, gleefully and unbeknownst to me charging $400 to my credit cards.
Even with the ensuing drama that is bound to take place when given a sharp, painful reminder of human nature and the imaginary Tarantino-like scenarios subsequently mentally directed at the thief, I refused to become nauseated, lest I vomit out all that Uru-Swati goodness.
In fact, the next weekend I couldn't wait to return to the scene of the crime, where I partook of more necessary healing, Uru-swati style. With every bite of the nutty-tender dumplings in the Malai Kofta, the savory-tart cheeriness of the raita, and the airy, non-greasy pappadams, all thoughts to finding the thief and pulling a Gogo Yubari on everyone in West Rogers Park who even remotely looked like they would steal took a back seat for a brief moment.
This was particularly the case when dessert came. It was a dish of what I can only describe as something straight from the mouth of the Gods: Uru-swati's exquisitely creamy, mouth-smacking, brassy lemon curd. I'm not a fan of lemon-based desserts but what Uru-swati did with this simple fruit could break a resentful, embittered soul  entertaining thoughts of hermit-ism. My only non-fussy complaint has to do with this confection, in that it comes in a cup much too small by greedy dessert fiends' standards. I would gladly slumber in a tub of it if it were possible and I weren't on the phone tracking down and repairing someone else's gluttony.
So basically, it was overwhelmingly mediocre with once very bright spot. Â Granted we didn't order the entire menu, but most of what we ordered didn't quite come off:
Malai Kofta: This was the big failure. First, the koftas were actually hard! I could not even break some of them with my fingers! Additionally, some of them were a little crunchy! I don't quite know what happened. Maybe they were made from frozen ones, burned, or just old. The koftas are supposed to be tender, not stones... The curry was basically a subpar chicken mukhani gravy. The whole thing was just a disaster
Vegetable Biryani - True, generally vegetable biryanis aren't as good as meat/fish ones, but I've still had some very good ones in my day. This was ok, better than just plain basmati but nothing to remember the next day.
Channa (Chole) Bhature - This was actually excellent and got closest on Devon to what I've actually had in Delhi. The chickpeas had that tangy savoriness complimented by the red onion/cilantro garnish that's supposed to come with it. Also, the bhature, though not big and poofed, was still very good. Most importantly, the whole thing wasn't dripping with oil. I would come back for this.
Ambience - it's probably the "trendiest" place on devone with modern minimal decor with funky colors. Funnily enough, I have the EXACT same plates at home. I could do without the TV blaring "item numbers" constantly.
All in all, I'd stay away for actual meals, but for chaat, this is probably one of the best places on Devon.
This might be the best service I ever had in the Devon area, with the exception of my family restaurant in the early 70s-80s. They are very welcoming and they do a great job explaining and recommending dishes if you never tried indian dishes before. What is even better is that it is all vegetarian and the food is just excellent. Â Samosa are good but the mini meal are perfect and cheap!!! I love chana marsala. And there Dosa are huge and good too. Â I never feel like I ate a heavy indian meal here because it is not greasy like the other places around them.
Oh wait the best part is they delivery too.