Cuisine: Indian
CLOSED MARCH 2011 – reopened as Paradise Chutnys with new Management
195 East Campus View Blvd (270 and 23 North, Crosswoods, next to Starbucks)
Open Tuesday to Thursday: 11 am – 2:30 pm (lunch buffet $7.95); 5:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Friday to Sunday: 11:30 am – 3:00 pm (lunch buffet $9.95); 5:30 pm -10:00 pm
614.430.0090
Chutnys.com
The Crosswoods complex at SR 23 (North High Street) and I-270 is not far off the beaten path. In fact, many paths beat their way to this suburban, strip mall laced part of the northside. The Crosswoods area is densely packed with apartments, office buildings, condominiums and not so long ago, six steakhouses in a quarter mile area. Somehow this retail center has become beaten down with numerous failed restaurants, unpatched potholes and thousands of cars driving by in search of an Applebee’s. Buried in the rubble of what was once a booming retail strip is a ruby of an Indian restaurant.
Chutny’s has survived where many well known competitors have failed to thrive. This nondescript location, sporting a nylon banner for a sign may have the best value Indian buffet in town (based on variety, number of offerings and price). The restaurant does not seem to get much traffic from the nearby office workers but it does run a brisk lunch time business with what appears to be every Indian IT worker on the north side (based on observation and overheard shop talk). The menu offers a wide range of northern and southern Indian cuisine as well an assortment of tasty milkshakes (Elaichi Kesar and Roohafzaa) and Lassi.
The buffet is impressive in the depth of dishes and the quality of the food. There are fifteen entrees to choose from which include two to three soups, two to three varieties of Biriyani rice and frequently filled arrays of other dishes. A few entrees are perennial including Palak Paneer (stewed spinach and paneer cheese in a curry sauce), Chicken Makani (a creamy, flavorful chicken dish which seems to be a house favorite) and a daily special daal (lentil based stew).
Ginger Chutney - all kinds of awesome!
A second buffet station features a mixed variety of desserts (usually mango custard, frequenty (sweet) curd rice, and almost always (milk and flour balls in sweet syrup) Gulab Jamun). On occasion beetroot halwa makes an appearance but disappears quickly. There are vegetables for salad, three chutneys which usually includes a ginger chutney (which can only be described a nirvana in liquid form) as well a variety of sauces and condiments.
naan
There is a self serve beverage station for those that want coca-cola products. The service is exceptional with staff getting more than a bit nervous if they see your water glass is below the 85% mark. Fresh, hot, crispy, sliced naan (bread) is brought to your table within 5 minutes of arrival.
The dining area is mostly booths with some large tables for groups. There is seating for sixty and a noticeable high volume carry out trade at lunchtime. Light Indian music plays in the background as the servers strive to anticipate your next move so they can meet your needs without interfering with your dining experience.
For those eaters that have never experienced Indian food, this is a very accessible option at an unbeatable price. For those acquainted with the finer details of northern and southern Indian dishes, there is an excellent depth to the main menu that would take months to explore. The entrees vary in price from $5.99 to $13.95.
While Columbus has quickly grown a large number of Indian restaurants in just under a decade, this one is worth putting at the top of your list. It has received high rankings on a local Indian culture website and may be a destination the local Indian community is trying to hide in very plain sight.
alt.eats.columbus 
I’m glad you had a good experience here. My family went here a few weeks back with some friends and had a terrible experience. The service was wretched and the food was sub-par. We waited 30 minutes to PLACE our order (and had to ASK twice to do so).
One of us ordered a paneer dosa and it came with CABBAGE in it. The mango lassi was nothing more than mango pulp with added sugar. Really terrible, terrible experience. Perhaps it’s smarter to go at lunch time when there’s a buffet.
I am sorry you had a bad experience and appreciate you sharing that. With any restaurant, alt eats or not, we suggest letting the manager or owner know about issue so they can resolve it. If they do not make an effort to address your concern then you can feel good about not giving them business. If the do address your concern, then you have helped them out as well as other customers and yourself.
I have dined there for lunch 7-8 times (since there was a management change in the late fall) and have never been disappointed. Even if the service was subpar, I would still go for the Ginger Chutney.
Thanks for posting this, and I thought I’d tried every Indian restaurant in town at least once. Can’t wait to go.
Thanks Amar,
I would suggest the buffet for your first trip. Hope you enjoy it.
On a side note, also interested if anyone has any favorite food vendors at the Indian Festival.
I am one of those close by office workers and I like that not everyone knows about this little gem. I went over a year ago and they seemed to have closed or changed owners and it wasn’t open for a period of time. However, now we like to frequent this little place again. It’s our number one spot for out of office lunch.
I like very much chatneys food ,Really I like chicken Biriyani,
Tried this place a couple years ago when this blog entry was first posted, and recently ate Saturday lunch buffet..even better than it used to be (tops Indian Oven, Taj Mahal, Bollywood Bistro, or Aab). Nice variety of dishes to sample including a few vegetarian. Tasty mango pickles, fish curry, biryani, samosas, and surprisingly, a lamb dish. Getting into the parking lot is a little tricky, but I kind of remembered how to get up to it this time around.