A cute little cafe. I really liked the vibes, if this place was close to me I would go more often to get some work done.We went for dinner and ordered some shareable plates. I think the apps and snacks are definitely better than the entrees. Our favorite was the Aloo Chaat. Keema Pav was good too but really small portion size. We also ordered the chili paneer and Bengali Roast. I am not sure what they were aiming for in terms of the roast but it not Bengali for sure (I am bengali). It tasted pretty good but a little bit on the saltier side. The chili paneer was good! I would recommend getting that appetizers here over the entrees.I have heard great things about the pastries so will make a trip back to try them.
Eddie Lechuga
It's a different restaurant model. We went there for wife's birthday. It was fun and the food was good. Was easy to order at which you do online with your phone. Worked pretty nice, the food came quickly. The lady was very friendly. Wife loved it.
Eric J
I use to get their chocolate chip cookies at the Y cafe before Cheeni opened and they were some of the best cookies I’ve had. I decided to drive 30 minutes to get some today and they were so stale they were inedible. We were also going to try some of the Indian food but there wasn’t any descriptions and we weren’t able to get information about what was in some of the dishes we were interested in. Very cute place and nicely decorated though.
Morgan Willer
My husband and I love the food here. My husband is from Chennai and we struggle to find good food and flavor in this North Raleigh area. We are sad to hear that this won’t be continuing here anymore. I wish value was seen in providing for this community as well as Durham.
Robert Deyton
Great place. My wife loves the lamb Vindaloo. I love it too. Last night I got the chilli chicken it was pure
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cal Murphy
Great place for top tier Indian food at a cheap price, the samosa Chaat is to die for!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Dosa Waffle with Sambhar, Chaat, Samosa
Liv Jorgenson
Some of my favorite meals recently have been had here. The food is incredible and the staff is so kind and knowledgeable. I highly recommend. :-) I took my mom for the first time last week and upon finishing lunch she ordered take out to bring home for dinner. It's THAT good.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jeff Hammond
Wow! Have lived all across the US and this is the best Indian food we have had! Easy to understand why they have won awards. A must try!
Food: 5
Naresh Goundar
Used to be good when it first openedThey tend to be out of the keema mostly which is the one dish you should tryAnd the Chole - hate to say this but it’s a very very watered down gravy that kinda tastes like you are eating pani puri with a “batura”Masala chai is still good, but I’d expect a larger size for the price.Finally they don’t play that 70’s Bollywood music anymore
I do not understand all the hype. This was the worst Indian restaurant we have ever been to. The samosa dough was raw on the inside, the chai was extremely salty, the raita was horrible, the “kebab” was the most dry and flavorless chicken we have ever eaten. If we could give no stars, we would. Beyond the food being awful, the service was sub-par. We wasted half of our day for expensive, flavorless, horrible food. As someone who is from India, this restaurant stands for all things opposite of what Indian food should be. The chef and owner should be embarrassed.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
purnima gupta
Cheeni are doing business in a country where customers are always right and cannot be refused service. They have lied to me about any conversation about my book they accepted to display on consignment and gave me half of what was agreed upon. I accepted. The lady told me not to serve in future. I did not feel like eating there with her attitude. She refused to take the food back that I had already ordered and return my payment. She talked of my unsubstantiated complaints. She was pissed off by my rating.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Arienna Lee
It's a very cute restaurant with a charming aesthetic. The menu is limited and you have to order at the counter and get your own water and silverware from a stand set up in the corner but they bring the food to you... except it was very slow. I went with a friend and my food came out a full 10 minutes before hers and then the naan came out a couple minutes after that. So either I had cold food or we couldn't eat together. The food was tasty and the portion was a good dinner size but it felt pretty expensive for the lack of service. Basically $20 each with no drinks - and we didn't order the expensive things on the menu. Additionally you have to clear your own plates and there was a sign on the table telling us to do so "to avoid a scolding" which, after paying over $40 for a cold dinner was pretty irritating. The trash had no cart to drop dishes in, only a hole to scrape your dishes into and it was such a small hole that it was nearly impossible to scrape dishes without making a mess.On the other hand it was a really great and unusual garlic naan. I swear they used a whole stick of butter and the bread was crispy, almost like a pizza crust. I wouldn't go back to seat a meal but I'd consider trying a dessert or ordering a basket of naan if my friend really wanted to.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
HK R
Been to Cheeni a few times when they first opened and service and food was wonderful … fast forward to now …. Went there for lunch today , restaurant was half packed , ordered at 12.10 … drinks served within a few minutes … one of the dishes came 30 mins later and then nothing … -after waiting 50 mins I approached the server who didn’t even know that we had were missing 3 entrees …. We saw another couple leaving after not being served. Server asked if I wanted a refund or my food … of course I wanted to my food after waiting almost an hour … food came nothing to rave about .. I had waffle dosa … sambar was cold and thick …. Come on Cheeni get it together !
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Mai Dak
Great atmosphere, but disappointed in the food and service. 1) Take out order was messed up, we ordered chole bhature and got potato curry and waffles. 2) Chicken rolls were good but too much bread, 3) Asked for extra onions, they agreed to, but was missing. 4) Mentioned 20 min wait on the phone, ended up closer to 40 min. On the + side, Paneer scramble was made really well. Overall serving sizes were small for the money spent. Will not be going again.
Great supplies, spices.
A cute little cafe. I really liked the vibes, if this place was close to me I would go more often to get some work done.We went for dinner and ordered some shareable plates. I think the apps and snacks are definitely better than the entrees. Our favorite was the Aloo Chaat. Keema Pav was good too but really small portion size. We also ordered the chili paneer and Bengali Roast. I am not sure what they were aiming for in terms of the roast but it not Bengali for sure (I am bengali). It tasted pretty good but a little bit on the saltier side. The chili paneer was good! I would recommend getting that appetizers here over the entrees.I have heard great things about the pastries so will make a trip back to try them.
It's a different restaurant model. We went there for wife's birthday. It was fun and the food was good. Was easy to order at which you do online with your phone. Worked pretty nice, the food came quickly. The lady was very friendly. Wife loved it.
I use to get their chocolate chip cookies at the Y cafe before Cheeni opened and they were some of the best cookies I’ve had. I decided to drive 30 minutes to get some today and they were so stale they were inedible. We were also going to try some of the Indian food but there wasn’t any descriptions and we weren’t able to get information about what was in some of the dishes we were interested in. Very cute place and nicely decorated though.
My husband and I love the food here. My husband is from Chennai and we struggle to find good food and flavor in this North Raleigh area. We are sad to hear that this won’t be continuing here anymore. I wish value was seen in providing for this community as well as Durham.
Great place. My wife loves the lamb Vindaloo. I love it too. Last night I got the chilli chicken it was pure
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great place for top tier Indian food at a cheap price, the samosa Chaat is to die for!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Dosa Waffle with Sambhar, Chaat, Samosa
Some of my favorite meals recently have been had here. The food is incredible and the staff is so kind and knowledgeable. I highly recommend. :-) I took my mom for the first time last week and upon finishing lunch she ordered take out to bring home for dinner. It's THAT good.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wow! Have lived all across the US and this is the best Indian food we have had! Easy to understand why they have won awards. A must try!
Food: 5
Used to be good when it first openedThey tend to be out of the keema mostly which is the one dish you should tryAnd the Chole - hate to say this but it’s a very very watered down gravy that kinda tastes like you are eating pani puri with a “batura”Masala chai is still good, but I’d expect a larger size for the price.Finally they don’t play that 70’s Bollywood music anymore
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Restaurantji Recommends
I do not understand all the hype. This was the worst Indian restaurant we have ever been to. The samosa dough was raw on the inside, the chai was extremely salty, the raita was horrible, the “kebab” was the most dry and flavorless chicken we have ever eaten. If we could give no stars, we would. Beyond the food being awful, the service was sub-par. We wasted half of our day for expensive, flavorless, horrible food. As someone who is from India, this restaurant stands for all things opposite of what Indian food should be. The chef and owner should be embarrassed.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Cheeni are doing business in a country where customers are always right and cannot be refused service. They have lied to me about any conversation about my book they accepted to display on consignment and gave me half of what was agreed upon. I accepted. The lady told me not to serve in future. I did not feel like eating there with her attitude. She refused to take the food back that I had already ordered and return my payment. She talked of my unsubstantiated complaints. She was pissed off by my rating.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
It's a very cute restaurant with a charming aesthetic. The menu is limited and you have to order at the counter and get your own water and silverware from a stand set up in the corner but they bring the food to you... except it was very slow. I went with a friend and my food came out a full 10 minutes before hers and then the naan came out a couple minutes after that. So either I had cold food or we couldn't eat together. The food was tasty and the portion was a good dinner size but it felt pretty expensive for the lack of service. Basically $20 each with no drinks - and we didn't order the expensive things on the menu. Additionally you have to clear your own plates and there was a sign on the table telling us to do so "to avoid a scolding" which, after paying over $40 for a cold dinner was pretty irritating. The trash had no cart to drop dishes in, only a hole to scrape your dishes into and it was such a small hole that it was nearly impossible to scrape dishes without making a mess.On the other hand it was a really great and unusual garlic naan. I swear they used a whole stick of butter and the bread was crispy, almost like a pizza crust. I wouldn't go back to seat a meal but I'd consider trying a dessert or ordering a basket of naan if my friend really wanted to.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
Been to Cheeni a few times when they first opened and service and food was wonderful … fast forward to now …. Went there for lunch today , restaurant was half packed , ordered at 12.10 … drinks served within a few minutes … one of the dishes came 30 mins later and then nothing … -after waiting 50 mins I approached the server who didn’t even know that we had were missing 3 entrees …. We saw another couple leaving after not being served. Server asked if I wanted a refund or my food … of course I wanted to my food after waiting almost an hour … food came nothing to rave about .. I had waffle dosa … sambar was cold and thick …. Come on Cheeni get it together !
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Great atmosphere, but disappointed in the food and service. 1) Take out order was messed up, we ordered chole bhature and got potato curry and waffles. 2) Chicken rolls were good but too much bread, 3) Asked for extra onions, they agreed to, but was missing. 4) Mentioned 20 min wait on the phone, ended up closer to 40 min. On the + side, Paneer scramble was made really well. Overall serving sizes were small for the money spent. Will not be going again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 2