Royal India — Restaurant in Eugene

I have been wanting some Indian food, and saw on Royal India's website they offer lunch specials that were pretty reasonable. So I went to Royal India.

I was seated quickly, and brought water... I also ordered a Masala Chai.

Once there, I found out they no longer have Lunch Specials, but opened a buffet ($17.95) instead. Apparently the website has been incorrect for over a year, but the owner has not fixed it.

I did not really want buffet, although it looked decent. So I ordered the Chicken Korma ($19.95). Then I found out that unlike the lunch specials I was hoping for, they do not serve Naan with their dishes, so also ordered some Garlic Naan.

The food was delivered to my table in a reasonable amount of time... and looked good, although I thought the portion of Korma was pretty small for the price.

Korma description in the menu states it has cashews and raisins in it. I think I could taste some cashew, although there were no whole cashews like I have had at other restaurants with this dish... and no raisins either. It did taste strongly of curry leaves which overpowered the cashew flavor I love. But every cook does this dish differently. Large portion of rice was ok.

Garlic naan was very thin, and lacked the chewy softness I expect from naan. This was just flat, no rise at all.

Masala chai was lacking in flavor, but it was a large portion, which was nice.

Service was very good... Ingrid checked on me repeatedly, and was very nice.

For the price ($36+) with the tip, I felt like this was a very expensive lunch, and while I did take some home... it was not even a meal (unless you count just the rice). Usually if I spend that, I get at least one other meal from the takeout.

I guess I will have to just stick to making Korma at home when I want some.

Not sure if I...

Our waitress was very nice and friendly, she neatly dressed, clean, she had a good attitude and was good at her job. The tables, chairs, plates, napkins and utensils appeared to be very clean. The atmosphere was nice, a little sterile for my liking but I'm picky when it comes to that kind of stuff, so I might be wrong on that account.

However, the food they brought us was very clearly quite old. The three main staples to our meal was chicken, rice and greens. The chicken was obviously frozen at some point, cooked, cooked again and then kept under a lamp, or something. It was very dry, fibrous and really lacked any kind of flavor. The rice was stale, this is typical when it's been left out for long periods of time. The greens were soggy, the salads that we had were made much earlier that day, if not the day before. Disappointing for the price they were asking per plate.

I don't want to be one of those who complains without offering a solution, just my thoughts as someone who has managed before...

I wouldn't fault the cook, they were likely trying to do the best they could with what they had to work with. Honestly, I imagine it to be pretty good when it was freshly made, just not hours or days later. So If I had any suggestion for improvement, I would assert reevaluating the times when your sales peak, and then adjust by measuring how long it takes to prepare those three staples in smaller portions a few times a day to supplement those peaks instead of doing it all at once and trying to make it last...

Great experience and service. The food is good. Love it here. I used to order takeout from here quite a bit in 2021. Reminds me of Natraj back home in Belmont Shore. My only gripe is that for the price of their lunch buffet (about $17) there should be more options at the buffet. They must rotate items, I’m sure, but for a buffet there really should be more. I’ve been to many buffets and for a lesser price (especially for lunch!) and there have been many, many more options at comparable places with better deals and great food. There wasn’t even saag or korma.

That said, the food was still good. Maybe I’ll order normally without the buffet next time and get more bang for my buck - I’m a sucker for butter chicken (which wasn’t in the buffet, but maybe on the menu). I’ve only had one buffet here and maybe I’m being a little harsh, but only because I’ve been to so many amazing North (and South) Indian restaurants in my lifetime (I even spent a lot of time in India) and just used to a different buffet experience… but it’s not bad at all and I would go again.

With all that in mind, this place is still great! I highly recommend going no matter what you order. That said, it’s still much better than any other Indian spot in the area that I know of. Definitely much better than the Indian food available in Cottage Grove (which was not good at all). A LOT better here. The food and service and atmosphere is all very good. Stop by (whether buffet or not) and it will...