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Start a Top 5 for IndianEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in Madison Magazine and Isthmus. Updated August 2026.
Swagat - West Madison · West Side
Northern and Southern Indian cooking with a full lunch buffet and a complete dinner menu, per its Isthmus location listing. It took gold in the 2025 Best of Madison readers' poll's South Asian category, a longstanding west side destination for a broad range of regional Indian dishes under one roof.
Swad · Monona
A Monona Drive Indian kitchen that took silver in the 2025 Best of Madison readers' poll's South Asian category, printed among the poll's named winners for Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese cooking. It gives the Monona side of the metro a dedicated Indian restaurant outside the Madison core.
Dhaba Indian Bistro · Middleton
An Indian bistro that took bronze in the 2025 Best of Madison readers' poll's South Asian category, open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, per its Isthmus location listing. The restaurant operates as a small local mini-chain with locations in Madison, Middleton and Fitchburg; this listing covers the Middleton location.
Ashirwad Indian Restaurant · Downtown
State Street's only dedicated Indian restaurant, opened in 2025 by the co-owners of The Globe, per Isthmus's year-end dining roundup. Madison Magazine and the Badger Herald have both covered the restaurant's arrival downtown, filling a gap in a stretch of State Street that previously had no dedicated Indian kitchen.
Kutty Leaf South Indian Kitchen · East Side
A South Indian kitchen on the east side working through dosas, idli and curries, per Isthmus's year-end dining roundup naming it a 2025 opening. It is one of the newer additions to the metro's Indian food scene, adding a South Indian-focused menu to the east side.