The Clay Pit: Indian cuisine

  Joe wrote:
> dear Group,
>     my wife and i went to a new Indian restaurant called the Clay Pit,
> around Guadalupe and 17th St. or so.  Food was excellent, very nice ambiance,
> good music, etc.  i highly recommend this place and will be going there again
> tonight!  just wanted to share this as i saw a recent post requesting
> recommendations of Indian restaurants and this one is the best i've been to in
> town.  i haven't enjoyed Taj Palace the last few times i've been there (food
> not so great and very heavy and expensive).  been to Sarovar only once so far
> for lunch buffet and was unimpressed but need to try them again.  wish there
> was inexpensive Indian fast food in Austin like there is in Houston (Raj's i
> believe, great food, in the Hillcroft area)
>
> take care,
> joe
>
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Likewise, we ate at Clay Pot this week.  We were impressed with the care given the preparation of the food.  It is a place we will visit again to further explore the menu.  Highly recommended in the appetizer category are vegetable samosas and the curried crab cakes.  The tomato chutney served with the complimentary pappadum was superb.  The remainder of our meal was vegetarian. The dal and raita were very good, as were the mixed vegetables.  The accompanying rice was well prepared and pleasing to the eye.  The Achar (lime pickle) is prepared on the premises.

One word of caution.  If you are not fully acquainted with the heat of Indian food, I would recommend requesting "American medium" to start with.

I would not categorize this restaurant as inexpensive -- probably in the moderate to expensive range. However, the quality of the food was excellent. I do wish that they had a Thali plate.    Hopefully, as they modify the menu a Thali plate will be added.

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Someone wrote:
>     my wife and i went to a new Indian restaurant called the Clay Pit,
>around Guadalupe and 17th St. or so.

Went to dinner tonight the Clay Pit.  It says it's a "Contemporary Indian Restaurant" by which they mean that it's Indian-style, or Indian-inspired.  It's not traditional Indian cuisine.  That doesn't mean it isn't good food--we enjoyed the dishes we ate--but it isn't the place I'll go when I get a craving for Indian food.

Service was very good; prompt and friendly.  We never had to try and flag down a waiter for anything, since our waitress always kept an attentive eye on us.

rajat