Phulkari Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Castro Valley

For those that are familiar with Aroma and are wondering about Phulkari, here's a brief summary of our experience.

First things first: the food tastes good. Naans are less crispy/dry and a bit more chewy, which we liked a lot. Butterchicken is more creamy, which we liked too. They also got some more comfortable chairs in there, which we appreciate as well.

However, to point out some key differences: the prices seem to have increased by about 30-40% (let's say about $4-$5) per meal/dish, while the portion sizes seem to have decreased an equal amount of 30%-40%. refills of your Chai (tea) are no longer free, and you'll be charged about $4 for each cup. the old staff has all been replaced with new staff member (which is just a factual observation and no judgment whether that's good or bad). The chef is already gone and the main server and host, that everyone knows from the Aroma era, will no longer be there after next week.

Now, as mentioned at the beginning of this review, there is nothing wrong with the new ownership or the new chef, as everything still tastes fine. We will still go back here, although it won't be as often due to the combined price increases and portion size decreases. Just wanted to share some key observations for those that are considering to try out Phulkari; definitely check them out, but bring more cash and/or be prepared for a higher check (for...

We have not been back here for almost 2 years. Not that we didn't enjoy our first time out, but we travel all over and relish new restaurants and cuisines. Well, things have changed since our last visit. We came in on a weeknight for dinner. There were no other patrons, just a big guy sitting at a table, where he didn't even acknowledge us when we came in, except to gesture with his head to a table along the wall, and then pointed... never got up. Another server we recognized from before came over after a bit, and handed us our menus. We made our selections, and he went away. We were seated along the wall which was spotted with food at the table level that had never been cleaned up.... not appealing. Food came out and we clearly noticed the quality and flavors have changed pretty dramatically from before (which was right after they had opened with the new owners). Not nearly as good, and quite honestly not even worth reviewing each dish. Flat, boring, and just didn't taste right. Extremely disappointing as we had remembered such great service and food before. At the end of our meal, the owner came over to our table and all he talked about was being soooo busy with his new business, which is NOT this restaurant. Eye off the ball and...

Insanely expensive and very small servings. Almost $20 for a single serving of a vegetarian dish. Absurd. How are the meat dishes almost the same price as the vegetarian dishes? This isn’t typical at all.

They also add fees. $6 for misc? There’s your tip, I guess.

Our conversation kept getting interrupted by multiple people that work there. This is how it would go:

Server: “Excuse me?” (Waiting for us to stop speaking)

Us: “yes?”

server: “I’m sorry.”

Us: “…okay?”

server: “is everything alright? It’s good?”

Us: “yes, thank you.”

Server: “are you sure?”

Us: “…yes”

Server: “do you want to order more?”

Us: “no.”

Server: “sorry. Okay. I’m sorry”

Very unsettling.

Aroma was so good, sad to see them leave. This was our first and last time here. Again, very, VERY expensive for very small portions, sneaky additions to the check, and unsettling, continually disruptive service.

Edit: as a response to the person who contradicted me, all the items we ordered were on the bill, including a beer. A “system error,” sure. Why wasn’t that explained in the moment, then? Very dishonest, and takes my experience down to a...