Adya – Fresh Indian Flavors

We’re not huge fans of televised cooking competitions, so the fact that the Indian-Mexican fusion restaurant Adya was created by a chef who won season 43 of Chopped! wasn’t a huge draw for us – either before that happened in September 2019, or afterwards. On most of our early-in-day visits to the Anaheim Packing House, where Adya occupies a corner space on the top floor, the restaurant wasn’t open yet or didn’t have anything on its short menu that struck us as more enticing than its neighbors, so it took until July 2026 for the stars to align for our first (weekend noon) visit. While we liked most of what we tried, we wouldn’t feel the need to rush back.

Adya’s menu occupies the front side of a single piece of paper in front of the register, enlarged to wall sign size immediately across from the register, and focuses primarily on three categories plus drinks. “Small Bites & Starters” includes three street food items ($8 to $8.50) and five types of naan ($4 to $8); “Mashups & Twists” offers four Indi-Mex burritos with Indian proteins ($13 to $14) and five “naan-wiches” ($11 to $14); and “Kababs & Curries” has four kebab-ish options ($15 to $19), six curries ($17 to $20), and three biryani rice dishes ($16 to $20). Anything with lamb tends to be the most expensive item in its category, with vegetarian the least expensive, and chicken typically in the middle. One item per category is generally recommended as a “must-try” or “top pick,” with a few distinctive items such as goat cheese naan ($8) and a Rajasthani fried chicken naan-wich ($12) notably standing out from the rest as concepts; you won’t find them at anyone else’s restaurants in this area.

The good news is that Adya’s traditional Indian dishes – despite being served in aluminum pans and sometimes plated haphazardly or forgettably – are more than competent by OC Indian restaurant standards. Amritsari chicken ($18) included a handful of moderately fiery red pepper- and lime-soaked chicken thighs alongside a small cup of mint chutney and a nice portion of good basmati rice, regrettably with too much forgettable cabbage salad filling the metal container. Two samosa chaat ($8.50) and six pani puri ($8) street food appetizers looked somewhat anemic in portion size in those aluminum dishes, but popped with the same strong, tangy flavors we’d expect from any good full-service Indian place; we’d order any of these again.