Just opened this week in Re:Vive Development’s new add-on strip center at 721 W. 19th St., just west of Shepherd Dr.: the first Houston outpost of Austin’s Tarka Indian Kitchen chain, a Chipotle-style “fast casual” restaurant serving curries, kabobs, and — yes — naaninis. Next door to diners in the 4,295-sq.-ft. steel-frame building, the new Benjamin Moore Paints store (seen here under construction last year) is also open, a reader reports.
In lieu of a parking-space-and-a-half on the side of the building facing past more parking onto the more sugary part of the center closer to Shepherd (home to Fat Cat Creamery, Hugs and Donuts, Smoothie King, and KA Sushi) is this dusty square, designated for a future patio:
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A second Houston-area Tarka location, on Spring Steubner Rd. a couple of miles south of the Exxon Campus in Spring, is scheduled to open in September.
Photos: Swamplot inbox
Nobody wants fast Indian. They’ll close within a year.
As with any topic, don’t conflate “I don’t want” & “no one wants”. It looks like Tarka has been in Austin since at least 2009.
@Danni – pondicherri does very well. As does vic’s pub. I’m sure they will get business, and if executed well, stay open. Indian has been the spicy Mexican food of England for years now. It is quite good.
I live close by and I cannot wait to try this! Love Indian food and plan on eating here or taking out at least once a week. We Heights residents are cosmopolitan and worldly enough that this will do very well.
I’m sure there will be many patrons. Heights residents on NextDoor have been begging for Indian in the area for years.
I’ve been there numerous times. It’s pretty good. Tarka is owed by the Clay Pit, one of the older/nicer Indian restaurants in Austin. The menu is your basic Indian dishes by category (kabobs, curries, nann) and ordered at a counter. It’s quick, it’s affordable, and everything I’ve had tastes good – there’s no reason it wouldn’t succeed in Houston too.
I’m looking forward to trying it. If it’s good, it’ll definitely stay open. I can’t even find a really good Chinese restaurant in the area.