Restaurant of the Week: Curry Express

Curry Express, 9668 Milliken (at Fourth), Rancho Cucamonga

Note: By April, the restaurant had changed hands and was now Royale Indian Cuisine.

Curry Express opened in 2011 cater-corner from Ontario Mills in what I believe was previously a Hawaiian fast-food spot. I dropped in for dinner on a recent Tuesday.

Despite the "express" name, this is a sitdown restaurant now, not fast food, although they do deliver. The interior has been redone with glass-topped tables, cloth napkins and high-backed booths. Yet it's brightly lighted and not stuffy.

(I looked around the room and noticed some diners who seemed to be from India and several young couples. A fair number of couples, in fact. Then it occurred to me that this was Valentine's Day, and rather than get an "express" meal, I was dining alone in a sitdown restaurant. Sigh.)

Making the best of things, I had the chicken curry ($12), rice pellow ($6.50) and garlic naan ($3), and a glass of water. Like most Indian places, dinner made for a not-inexpensive meal (with tax and tip, $27), although I took home half. I guess that's why so many people like Indian lunch buffets; Curry Express' is $8.

The curry was tasty, the naan thick and chewy. Six bucks is a lot to pay for a dish of rice, even if it does have onions, peas and nuts. Service was indifferent to friendly, depending on which of the two servers was near.

The menu has tandoori specialties, chicken, lamb, goat and seafood dishes, and a fairly long list of vegetarian entrees, 19 in all.

I preferred my subcontinent meals at Haandi and Koyla, both featured on this blog previously, but Curry Express is certainly acceptable, and vegetarians in particular might want to investigate it.