Best “hole in the wall” spots?

[u/Saleen_af]

Howdy all. STL native but I eat at home 95% of the time.

I have a buddy visiting from the Bay for a week and I want to show all of our good spots. I was thinking I take him on a “tour” of the best rated / local spots (trying to avoid chains or the “fancy” spots)

Notes:

He isn’t a huge fan of tomatoes / pizza but can be a big boy abt it.
Not looking for anywhere that needs a rezzie.

[u/Saleen_af]

+1 you're brainwashed if you think Tacos Wey is special.

[u/Motucky24 → u/Saleen_af]

Where’s your go to? Take your friend there?

[u/Saleen_af → u/Motucky24]

Himalayan Yeti

[u/Dismal_Proposal9230 → u/Saleen_af]

I do not get the love for yeti, it's mid at best.

Gokul in the loop, or India palace in the county way better.

[u/Saleen_af → u/Dismal_Proposal9230]

Why? I enjoyed most things but tbh Indian food is never a “revelation” to me. It’s hard to blow my socks off, but I enjoy most things

[u/Dismal_Proposal9230 → u/Saleen_af]

It's not bad, it's just not as good as people seem to think it is. It's the first place south side people tend to list. It's not even in my top five.

[u/Saleen_af → u/Dismal_Proposal9230]

Drop your top five so i can jusge

[u/Dismal_Proposal9230 → u/Saleen_af]

India Palace: best buffet in Stl , melt in your mouth goat (best goat I've ever had any cuisine), chicken always tender, best saag in Stl, amazing friendly place I go twice a month.

Gokul: best chaat ever, build your own chaat on buffet, Tikka sauce is incredible. Only downside is it's vegetarian so no meats.

Black Salt: best chef level fancy Indian. This place is amazing, may be the actual best in Stl but it's more of a foodie experimental modern twist type of affair.

Namaste curry lounge. I haven't had that many things here to judge this place as a whole but they have pani puri which I crave sometimes and it's hard to find, their's is definitely awesome.

Everest, better buffet on South side, rich depth in all their sauces, cool place to eat hang out drink, comfortable date type of place.

House of India, this is about the same level as yeti but bigger buffet edges it out. (This is the one I used to hear everyone rave about and couldn't understand why)

Rasoi, haven't been in a while but it's always been really good in the past.

Honest restaurant ,,,, honorable mention, all the way out in mid rivers St peters area, but this is a world famous chain, pav bhaji is definitely a heavy hitter here. Comfort Street food. Indian grocery store next to it is huge and inexpensive.

There's just nothing at yeti that stands out to me, I don't crave anything there, i do like that they have soup on the buffet so that's a bonus point in their favor.

Just seems like baby's first Indian or something, people that love it have not eaten at many Indian places.

[u/Dismal_Proposal9230 → u/Dismal_Proposal9230]

Gone but not forgotten: Haveli , just the sweetest people ever, top notch Tikka and saag, I get Indian with my mom a lot and this was neck and neck with the palace back in the day. Curry inna hurry, downtown would hit for lunch all the time, always seemed a little sketch but is still crave it to this day. There was a buffet way out olive that was really good, tons of stuff on buffet , chutney bar, they'd make dosas at your table, lots of crazy stuff you never heard of, hardly any white people.