When walking up to Tandur, you are immediately thrown off from what you would normally expect coming from a traditional Indian restaurant. Tandur has a completely different look as it’s much more modern and has an inviting feel to it. The interior is bright, trendy and the complete antithesis from what we have seen in the past when it comes to Indian Restaurants. What we really loved when we walked in was the huge touch screen they had before you approached the register. This screen had a tab to educate customers on what all the traditional Indian terms meant, and learn about all of the different spices. We learned that Tandur grinds all of their spices in-house and stays true to traditional cooking; from the flavors to all of the processes involved. In the kitchen they even have beautiful tandoor ovens where naan bread is baked fresh to order. As seen above, you can look at wall of spices and read descriptions of each. I know one of the biggest fears that most people have when it comes to eating Indian, is the spice and not knowing what you’re about to dive into, Tandur takes all of the guessing out of that game. directly behind the register you can even see through a window and look at all of their fresh spices that the kitchen uses daily 
Once we actually made it to the register we were again educated by a well-informed staff member to further describe each of the items and assure us that we wouldn’t be burning away our insides with forbidden Indian spices. In typical Foodie OC fashion, we ordered most of the menu so we could taste a little bit of everything. We have to admit, we might have gone overboard this time, but we continue to be “Team No-Ragrets“. Let me give you a little preview of what our table looked like, so you can see it in all of its glory before we dove in like a pair of wild animals.
As I mentioned, we kind of went overboard but who cares, we enjoyed it. I will start by saying this was the best Indian food we have ever tried, and it was also top 7 best fast casual restaurants we have ever eaten at. I am blown away that there are only 2 of these restaurants right now, one in Knoxville and the other in North Carolina. I truly feel that Tandur would kill the game if they opened up in Southern California. They already nailed the SoCal vibes with their interior/exterior, and the food was next level. The GM was chatting with us and told me that the wings were his favorite, and that he personally hasn’t had better wings–challenge accepted, and dare I say he was right. These weren’t traditional buffalo wings, but they had the right spiciness and were twice cooked to absolute perfection! But, the real winner of the day was the Naan-chos. Sweet. Baby. Jesus . These nachos were game changers to say the least. Made with naan chips (as the name implies) and loaded with all of the most delicious chicken and fixin’s you could imagine. Now get this….. they are only $5.50! I felt like I robbed them after tasting the nacho gold that just slapped my pallet. Let me show you what I’m talking about.
These naanchos (instagram view in link) were reason enough to go back time and time again. I can’t stress enough that everything was spectacular, beautiful and completely satisfying.
Our thoughts?
Absolutely amazing and we are hoping and praying that Tandur decides to venture out to the West Coast so we can make this place one of our regular lunch spots. If you are ever in Knoxville, please go ahead and devour some food there–you can thank us later.
Keep it classy,
-Buddy
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