First Friday Dinner Group Gets Their Indian On At Swagat

I've written a post about a Mardi Gras soiree hosted by the Schuttes and last night we were invited to join them for their first Friday dinner outings. A group of 15-20 get together the first Friday of every month to try out a restaurant that is generally new to the group. Last night, they chose Swagat, an Indian restaurant at Zona Rosa.

Upon arriving, We only knew Jim, Carolyn and Kiko among the group and were quickly introduced to the rest. Keith then announced that he was quite excited as he'd never had Thai food before....at which point, we all reassured him that he wouldn't be having it then either as we were in an Indian restaurant. Poor fella gets a tad twisted every now and again. Yes, its also true the K-Man has never had Thai; despite my best efforts. He has eaten Indian fare before, though, in Atlanta and here in KC, and I had to remind him of that. Bless his pea-pickin' heart.

We kicked off with an appetizer of paneer pakoras: housemade cheese deep-fried in a tasty and spicy chickpea batter. Keith enjoyed his Chicken Tikka; marinated chicken breast grilled in a clay oven. My entree was a supremely spicy Chicken Vindaloo; chicken and potatoes cooked in a hot, tangy sauce. I sipped on a hoppy Indian lager named Taj Mahal with my meal. We had lots of laughs and talked about food and restaurants we enjoyed.

I have to reiterate that I am no critic; I merely like to talk up food havens that I dog. I enjoyed Swagat's food immensely but I'd be remiss not to point up that service was quite challenged last night. To be fair, the place was packed and we were a table of 15, so that certainly plays into it. I was a server for years and am an almost ridiculously forgiving diner as I've personally experienced many a restaurant nightmare from an employee's perspective. One issue that truly unseats me as a diner, though, is when an ordered item is forgotten....and unapologetically never served after being told its repeatedly coming. We ordered paneer nan, that wonderful, fresh-baked Indian bread with cheese but never received it and had to have it removed from the bill. Thankfully, several of our fellow diners generously shared their garlic nan with us.

Ah,well....the food we did get was uniformly yummy and a good time was had by all. I would certainly return to Swagat though maybe not with a large group on a Friday night. Looking quite forward to rejoining the group at the next destination, though!