Indian Zayeka - Indien Restaurant — Restaurant in Chavannes-près-Renens

This is an EXCELLENT restaurant, especially for vegetarians.

The weekday lunch buffet is very tasty, but what's really amazing is the a la carte menu on weekends and evenings. The ingredients are fresh, and expertly prepared. They are amazingly delicious. The owner is friendly and often chats with customers. She can be seen at almost every meal.

While all Indian restaurants are vegetarian-friendly, what makes this one stand out is that at the weekday buffet, if you tell them you're veg, they will prepare a fresh dish for you to make up for the fact that only 2 of the many dishes are veg. Don't fill up on dahl and mixed veggie! The fresh dish, which is different every time, is always amazing.

The service is a bit slow, with the buffet appetizers being set out around noon, the main dishes slightly after, and the dessert around quarter till one. They only have one waitress. So if you're looking for a leisurely meal, this is it, but if you're in a hurry and were hoping for a fast bite this is not it.

Also, I wish they would serve samosa at the buffet! Their samosa are excellent! But their pakoras are...

Tried the lunch buffet at Indian Zayeka (29 CHF on Saturday, 25 CHF weekdays).

I had a mix of salads including coleslaw, corn, chole chaat, cucumber-tomato, carrot, and paneer. The starter was veg pakoda. For mains, there was veg pulao, naan, chole masala, and palak paneer, served with raita. Finished off with fruit salad and aamras for dessert.

Buffet spread: 3 starters (1 veg, 2 non-veg), 3 rice options, 2 veg curries, 4 non-veg curries, naan and papad, plus desserts. Vegetarian choices are limited, but it’s great value for non-veg lovers. Garlic naan costs extra, so wait for them to change the basket with fresh breads and serve to eat—it’s worth it hot. Beverages also cost extra; some reviews mention staff forcing you to order, but in my case no one insisted. They also didn’t restrict me from bringing my own water, which helped avoid bottled water costs. Service is polite, and you can sit inside or on the terrace. À la carte also available. Reservation...

The restaurant is awful from the outside (looks like a metal can, like an old factory thing), there is no other menu than in French, we had to draw waiters attention to give us the menus after 15 minutes.

Then when it comes to the menu, its one of the ugliest and most uncomfortable I've held in my hand ! Difficult to turn pages or to leave it open if you don't hold it with your hand.

It's shame that rice or pasta isn't included in the meals and has to be ordered separately for not too little money. Then you receive your half of meal, let's say the chicken tandori, and you see that this little food costs 25 francs... That hurts. However The whole meal together stays in the normal price range.

There is an enormous choice of wines but only two kinds of desserts.

The interior is nice, food is delicious and the service is pleasant. Unfortunately those little things let this restaurant down in my opinion. I...