Indian cuisine varies from restaurant to restaurant dramatically. Particularly when it comes to chaat, no two papdi chaats are the same. Even a dish as standardized as the masala dosa, with its accompanying sambar and coconut and tomato chutneys, leaves so much room for variation.
The beauty of cuisine though, is that human appreciation for food shows that nearly everyone appreciates the same qualities within flavors, textures, and presentation to make for platonic forms of food - idealized versions of what a dish should be, and strong general consensus as to what that is, and whether or not a given meal approaches it.

Vik’s Chaat prepares the ideal version of each element of each dish that they serve, without gilding any lillies. You won’t find the sumputuous dahi puri that they serve at Rooh, but each of the dishes they do serve, all of which will be familiar to Indian food enthusiasts, are executed to perfection using authentic Indian recipes and techniques and quality Californian ingredients.
I strong recommend getting the doa, not because their dosa itself is the best dosa in the world or better than the other things on their menu, but their dosa chutneys really are the best in the world. They also sell them frozen in the adjoining market.
I love all of their chaats, but the bhel chaat particularly slaps. It is like a zesty bowl of cereal that feels like snacking on a bag of chips but leaves you feeling good afterwards. This dish travels particularly well as a to-go order, so if you’re already ordering too much, that is a nice hack to stretch the value of your visit.
The #1 thing that makes Vik’s so special is their unparalleled Cholle Bhatura. You will not find a bhatura this big, this soft, and this tasty anywhere else. And the channa masala and onion accompaniment is exceptional. You might want extra onions.