Chargha House Culver City

New Pakistani Indian place on Sepulveda near the Westfield mall. In the strip mall where the Big Lots is and the old Wings bar place.

I popped in and grabbed the whole roasted Chargha chicken, loved the spicing on it. It comes chopped up in pieces, not just 8 whole pieces. $14.99.

Also grabbed a Bhindi Masala for $7.99

Bare bones place, FWIW, when I walked in all the customers looked like they were of Pakistani/Indian descent. Yelp reviews seem to indicate some inconsistencies in service, possibly due to newness.

I liked the chicken enough I want to go back and try the rest of the menu. Every table had a biryani plate, I should have grabbed one to try also. The okra was ok, Al Noor’s version is still my fave.

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I tried the briyani (chicken) a couple weeks ago - needed more spicing/seasoning for my taste. Was actually planning on trying the whole chicken this week. Glad to hear you liked it.

Thanks for the info! I was in that strip mall this morning, but didn’t notice it. I look forward to giving them a try!

Yeah I’ve been here twice now. Love the signature chicken. Didn’t like the biryani as much as Zam Zam’s. The karahi was solid too but I wanna try the chicken one instead of the lamb/beef.

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went there for lunch today at 2:20.
it was closed with a sign on the door saying that they would be opening at 5:00.

next time, i’m definitely going to call before driving.
this sort of thing is pretty common among “mom 'n pop” places, most of which don’t have a very deep bench.
to be expected from time to time.

that’s annoying. both times I went during lunch and they were open. bummer

the bindhi i had for lunch today was better than i expected.

will be back to try the dasi saag.

Thanks for the heads up on this place. Stopped by today for lunch and had a great meal. The owner was really nice and asked if the food was too spicy cause he’d heard that it might be. I told him “NAH BRO YOU DO YOU.” The interior is definitely bare bones, as was mentioned, but I’m a fan. Overall, had a great experience.

Charga Whole Chicken
“Whole chicken marinated with our special spices and BBQ special Dasi style in Tandoori oven.”

Qeema Parata
“Flat leavened bread stuffed with ground beef and fried in vegetable oil.”

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I think that’s the best new chicken in town right now, and the price is amazing.

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Have to agree. The flavor is more supercharged for a roast chicken. The spicing and Chile heat is nice. Our bird was cut into pieces - a little wet but flavorful.

I also picked up an order of the beef with lentils. Didn’t see the beef for the most part, but the flavor was great. The menu does indicate which dishes are spicy with a chile icon - I didn’t see a chile symbol but it was packing some heat. My wife commented, “Well it is Indian food - maybe they don’t consider this to be spicy.”

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Your chicken looks better than what we had and we liked what we had!. But yours looks to have that extra bit of crisp and char. Glad you had a great meal.

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I love this place. Today we tried the Chicken Biryani and Bindhi Masala (okra), and both were fantastic.

You can’t see it in the picture below because I’m a dingus photographer, but under the rice are chunks of bone-in, spiced chicken. The whole dish has a lot of heat and wonderful flavor and is a crazy amount of food for $7.99. Okra was great as well.

Oh, and the Mango Lassi! I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was. A real treat, especially with the spice of the Biryani. Please excuse the mess of rice in the background of this picture. I’m still in my dining etiquette courses.

Really rooting for this place. It was empty when we went, but the nice owner mentioned something about getting ready for a catering gig, so hopefully they’re getting some good business.

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My first experience with Chargha was okay. My second was really good. The owner is very friendly. He comped me the mango lassi, which like you, was far better than I expected. He did so because my to-go order took a while.

I think he is in that catch-22, where if he hires more kitchen help, it kills his profit margin. If he doesn’t, the stem time suffers and might discourage business.

I hope he succeeds too. Based on my last visit, I need to go again soon. I just hope others in the area feel the same.

I would kill for a good mango passing. :grin:

F’in’ culturally void autocorrect! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Fixed - I think.

You meant ‘lassi’, right?

Yes - this new Google keyboard does a lot of auto-correcting, so, “lassi” was interpreted as me fat-fingering, “passing.” I know this is LA, but mango passing? Speeding mangos have their own passing lane? :smiley:

RIP, mango. You were full of life, bursting with flavor. You got a bit ripe there towards the end, but nevertheless sweet… Farewell, my tropical friend.

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Nice article on Chargha House by @JThur01 in LA Weekly:

Reminds me I need to visit posthaste!

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