I am going to an Indian Restaraunt, next Saturday.....?

Curry is basically a stew made with aromatic spices.
Curry is not limited to India, it also prepared in Pakistan Bengladesh SriLanka Nepal Bhutan Malaysia Indonesia China Japan Thailand.
The best curries world wide are found in UK takeaways.

http://www.indiacurry.com/faqhints/restaurantorder.htm
What to order at Indian Restaurant?
Lassi Naan Saffron-Basmati-Rice Tandoori-Chicken Chicken-Tikka-Masala Vegetable-Korma Makhni-Palak-Paneer Dal Gajar-Halwa Garam-Masala-Chai

Americans are at a loss when visiting an Indian Restaurant. The food is different than American foods and Americanized ethnic foods (Italian, Mexican, Chinese)
Lassi
This should be the first item to order. Get it before any of your food arrives. Lassi is a sweetened whipped thick yogurt beverage. This will be your oral fire-extinguisher. If you eat something that is too spicy hot for your palate, take a sip of Lassi, swirl it around your mouth and swallow. Repeat two more times and the fire will be extinguished.
Breads
Limit yourself to Naan. Naan is a round or tear-shaped flat-bread baked in Tandoor
Avoid Paratha (layered flat bread griddle-fried), and Poori (Deep fried wholly puffed up
Rice
Order Saffron Basmati Rice with Green peas, or plain rice. The Biryani is a 'layered Rice and meat' dish but may have 'weird floral smell'.
Entrées
Use keywords in the name of the dish to order foods: Tandoori, Tikka, Korma, Makhani (Buttery). These foods are mild with aromatic spices for aroma.
- Tandoori foods are baked in Tandoor (clay oven). Examples include: Tandoori Chicken, Tandoori Prawn, Tandoori leg of lamb roast
Tandoori chicken was served to Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy at State Dinner in New Delhi
- Tikka foods are similar to Tandoori foods. These are oven baked, and served with Masala (Dip) on the side. Examples are: Chicken Tikka Masala, Paneer (Indian Cheese) Tikka Masala, Mushroom Tikka Masala. Tikka Masala originated at Indian Restaurant in UK to suit the English palate
- Korma foods are prepared in a mild pale yellow color nutty creamy sauce consisting of: yogurt ground almonds cream and saffron. Examples are: Chicken Korma, Lamb Korma, Mutton Korma, Vegetable Korma, and Navrattan (Nine Vegetable) Korma.
Vegetable Korma was favorite dish of Indira Gandhi
- Makhani (Buttery) foods are prepared in a mild orange colored creamy sauce consisting of: tomatoes, yogurt, butter and cream. Examples are: Chicken Makhani, Lamb Makhani, Mutton Makhani, Dal Makhani (Thick Pulse soup), Makhani Paalak Paneer (Spinach and Indian cheese)
Makhani chicken was served to Richard M Nixon and John F Kennedy at State Dinner in New Delhi
Desserts
Indian desserts are sugary. To Americans, they have 'weird floral smell', it is like eating flowers and sugar. The floral smell is a result of: Roses, Screwpine, Vetiver, and Sandalwood.
First time visitor has five choices: Gajar Halwa (a rich carrot cake), Kheer (Rice pudding), and Badam Pista Burfee ( A milk fudge with almonds and pistachios), Kulfi (a still ice cream made with reduced milk Pistachios and flavored with Cardamom seeds)
Mango Ice cream is a favorite of William J Clinton available at most of the Indian Restaurants.
Beverages
- Garam Masala Chai (Hot spiced tea latte) is flavored with cinnamon cardamom and cloves. It may be sweetened with honey
- Mango Lassi (Sweetened whipped yogurt and mango pulp)

Miscellaneous Food Items worth trying
- Raita, Cold thick soup made with whipped yogurt and cucumber served as a side dish
- Dal, Hot thick soup made with decorticated split Moong beans
- Roasted Paaperdum, a thin round flat snack made of beans and roasted over open fire. Do not order deep-fried Paaperdum
- Aloo Gobhi, a mild vegetable curry made of potatoes, cauliflower, spices and yogurt

Dishes you must try, but with caution
- Samosa, A deep fried pastry stuffed with spiced potatoes and peas. This is the most popular snack all over India. It is served with Green Chutney (Made of fresh Cilantro and Peppermint), and Brown Chutney ( Sweet and sour spice chutney made with Tamarind). This can be spicy hot
- Rogan Josh, Most popular Mutton curry. Problem is too much fat floating on top of dish, it can be spooned off

Dare Dishes
- Phall Curry, This is the hottest curry associated with Indian foods, though it originated in Indian Restaurants in UK. It is made with Habanera or Naga Chili peppers, and fresh ginger. You can have Chicken Phall or Lamb Phall
- Tindaloo, Second hottest curry associated with Indian foods, though it originated in Indian Restaurant in UK. This is made with Habanera, and lots of Garlic. It is just a hotter Vindaloo. You can have Chicken, lamb, or Vegetable Tindaloo
- Vindaloo, This is a hot Indian curry originated in Goa based on a Portuguese preserve. The ingredients include lots of hot cayenne peppers, garlic , south west pickling spices and vinegar.
- Chicken 65, This is hot finger food similar to 'Buffalo wings' goes well as an appetizer at bar.
- Madras Chicken Curry, Spicy hot developed by Anglo-Indians during British Raj combines the heat of fresh green hot chilies and dried red chili powder.
- Kozi Kari. Hot sp

Indian cuisine is nice and spicy, yet balaced with fresh yogurt and cucumber sauces. I love Curry...it has an earthy/sweet/spicy taste, similar to Cumino in Mexican cuisine. It's more similar to Mexican/Thai cuisine...fried potato/pea samosas are similar to empanadas...Chicken Curry & Rice is similar to Pollo con Arroz, although it has just a slightly sweeter taste. I love the Indian mango dessert, just like the Mexican version.

I love Palak Paneer...Creamy spinach with chunks of cheese.

- Raita, Cold thick soup made with whipped yogurt and cucumber served as a side dish
- Dal, Hot thick soup made with decorticated split Moong beans
- Roasted Paaperdum, a thin round flat snack made of beans and roasted over open fire. Do not order deep-fried Paaperdum
- Aloo Gobhi, a mild vegetable curry made of potatoes, cauliflower, spices and yogurt

Dishes you must try, but with caution

Indian food is awesome. It's very different from Chinese and Japanese food, where Indian food uses a lot more different spices. If you're new to it and not sure what you'd like, try the milder stuff, like tandoori chicken, butter chicken, curry (ask for the not-so-spicy version) and samosas. Another thing is to advise the waiter/waitress that it's your first time and ask them what they would recommend.

There are many, many, many different versions of curry so it is impossible to give you an answer on that without knowing what kind of curry powder they use i.e west indian, central indian, ect... It is one of those dishes that you either love or hate.

However when it comes to indian food I know a good deal about it, since my husbands from pakistan so I know how to cook most of the dishes and I worked in an indian restaurant for over a year.

The most popular dishes by far are Chicken tikka Marsala (its cooked in a mild cream sauce with onions) and Palak pannear (spinich and cheese)

A lot of people who have never had indian food tend to have the misconception that it's spicy, some dishes such as vandaloo are however most are mild and can be ordered spicy if you would like it that way.

Also if you're a pickle lover dont think that mango pickle (which will be on the menu) is anything like the green kinds you find in the store, this is very different and unique and hard to describe.

Hope this helps you and enjoy!

oh yeah, nothing like chinese or japanese

Indian food is not like any other food I have ever had. It has a taste that is WAY different than anything else.
To me some things are very spicy, but most things are Very bland.

Not sure exactly what curry is, I like it, but only so much, to me they put too much of it on too many dishes.
They have a lot of soft food, chicken and rice.
I think its something you will either really like or really not like.
Hope you do enjoy it

Try a Talis. This is a combination dish with rice, lentils, salad and your choose of two vegetarian entries. Since there is no meat, have your date order the Tandoori chicken. Split both the entrees and you will indeed be introduced to the best of indian stuff. Curries are rice and cream and spices and tofu or meat/shrimp. Some mildly hot others may send you to the water pitcher.

Indian food-there is a lot of it that is creamy, made with milk and yogurt sauces. I would order the chicken (they don't have beef-cow so don't ask) but make sure it is boneless as with the bones is too messy to eat. They have a kabob that is good and the soups are good. A lot of cooked veggies. Go to a buffet if possible so you can test it out. I hope you go with others who have been there or the wait staff speaks and understand English. Hubby asked for boneless chicken and she said yes and he got chicken with bones and I talked to the owner and he was rude and said we should have known what we were ordering. They are no longer in business LOL. The nan bread is very good and buttery. Hubby liked their rice pudding-it was too milky for me. I hope you enjoy it as it is nice to try different things.

Maybe you could get a carry out menu and look up the foods online or maybe they have a web site. Sorry I don't know the names of the foods.

Curry is a spice-ask for the mild as it can get pretty spicy like Mexican peppers.

I would say it's nothing like Chinese.

Indian food is wonderful, and very diverse as it comes from a whole continent. Curry is a sauce with spices, not necessarily hot. Korma is mild with coconut, Madras is hotter, etc. There is always information on the menu as to the ingredients and heat. You will have all the info you need when you get there.

Curry is just a blend of spices. In the west, "curry" is packaged as a powdered melange of spices but in Indian cooking, those spices are ground and cooked fresh. I can't tell you what Indian food is like as a whole because it varies from the south (vegetarian, lots of spice and mustard seed) to the north (lamb, goat, cream). Other areas of India have a Muslim influence in their cooking and some dishes are similar in the ones from Pakistan.

It's really good! And unique, hard to compare it to anything. Curry is just a spice, most people love it or hate it so if you haven't had it you might want to get something else in case you don't like it. They use a lot of spices in their cooking. Tandoori chicken is really good and they use basmati rice which is my favorite. It's all very fragrant. Naan bread is great too with raita sauce