Ali Baba quickly made it to the top of my list of Indian Restaurants in Salt Lake City after just one visit.  We don’t have a lot of great Indian food to choose from here but before I discovered Ali Baba we had almost no choices. Josh and I love Indian food, we love the hot flavors and all of the unusual spices.  I like trying new dishes every time while Josh sticks to his tried-and-true favorite: Chicken Tikka Masala.  If you’ve never tried Indian food, I implore you to have a little adventure and check out Ali Baba.
We first heard about this little gem, from a friend who is a trusted resource for any type of ethic food in town. She’s traveled all over the world and has worked in the food industry for several years in Park City. She’s even spent a year working on a ship that was looking for hidden treasure in the sea, but that’s a whole other story. Thankful to have such a trustworthy recommendation for Indian Food, we quickly found a date night to explore this new found restaurant.

Ali Baba embodies everything I want in an Indian Food restaurant: quirky and random, friendly and over the top delicious. The restaurant is located in what used to be a gas station, so you can imagine that the  ambiance is very simple. But the owner greeted us with a friendly smile and a large paper menu full of our favorite Indian food selections and we were quickly comfortable in the setting.

The food is made fresh so expect to wait a while to get your food.  Take it as a good sign because it means they are preparing each dish just for you (or that’s what we tried to think as we anxiously awaiting our food).   We came with plenty of conversation and catching up to do, plus there is a TV showing some sort of Indian broadcast in case we really got bored. When our food finally came out we were starving but every bite was well worth the wait.  It was the kind of meal that didn’t even involve much talking because every taste was being savored.

We tried the Pakora appetizer (fried potatoes served with this magical green sauce), Tikka Massala (roasted chicken and spices in a rich tomato sauce), Lamb Korma (lamb in a yogurt sauce with a mixture of coriander, cumin and other spices), and an order of Garlic Butter Naann (leavened, oven-baked flatbread).  Every dish we tried we loved.  Our favorite was the Tikka Masala and the Naan was the best we’ve ever had.  We left with very full stomachs and a bag of leftovers.

In addition to the tasty food, Ali Baba’s prices are perfectly fair.  They even have some combo meals for less than $5!  The basic decor and simple plastic wear provided will quickly be overlooked once you taste a bite of the spicy fresh fare they offer at Ali Baba.

Ali Baba
2646 South 700 East
Open Mon-Sat for lunch and Mon-Sun for dinner