Green Chilis
In Costa Mesa, solid Indian entrees available a la carte – but little Bangladeshi cuisine
What initially drew us to Costa Mesa’s Green Chilis was a curious online menu showing some Bangladeshi dishes and influences – including beef, normally absent from Indian menus – but when we arrived at this restaurant, there wasn’t much from Bangladesh (or any beef) to be found. Even so, Green Chilis is serving very good Indian food with a few locally uncommon options.
We enjoyed multiple shrimp dishes, including Bengali curry and coconut curry, Kashmiri pulao rice, a green chili naan, sweet raisin and coconut Peshawari naan, and a Bengali-style fire red chili chicken that may have been the star of the show. Only one item remains on the menu with Bengladeshi heritage, a garlic pepper shrimp dish we missed on our visit.
Virtually all of the menu choices turn out to be commonly available elsewhere, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad: for instance, lamb rogan josh was solid, as was a small and inexpensive gulab jamun dessert, here called gulab zamun.
Although the space is a little tricky to find in the plaza (hint: it’s on the side facing the street), the warm hospitality and quality cooking make it worth hunting down. Just be prepared for a somewhat different menu than the ones on their website and Yelp.
Stats
Price: $$
Service: Table
Open Since: 2021
Addresses
1500 Adams Ave. Suite 100A
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714.444.4407
Instagram: @greenchilisofficial