Shahi Darbar Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Hayward

We ordered kadai paneer, jeera rice, butter paneer, mint chaas, and the curry chawal meal. Like most of the reviews, we actually loved our food. My boyfriend got the kadai paneer, super spicy, and it was the perfect amount of kick, sweetness, and spice-- there was also a generous amount of paneer. The butter naan was amazing, buttery crispy outside and soft inside, and the curry chawal was creamy, smooth, and delicious. The mint chaas was also really refreshing and felt good to have after eating all of our food.

The 2 stars comes from the service we experienced. The server was very impatient and rude when talking to us, particularly my boyfriend. When my boyfriend asked a few questions about the menu options (because I was confusd and he also was curious about something else) the server seemed pretty upset and expected my boyfriend to understand what the food was supposed to be like because my boyfriend is Indian. The server literally told my boyfriend, "Bro, no, you know it's like this in India." When quite frankly, if someone is asking a question, they probably don't know everything about the restaurant, food, or maybe India as a whole. This interaction left my boyfriend feeling pretty bad because the server was also much nicer and understanding to the people seated behind us.

Before we left, we also asked for a to go box and the server came out multiple times then just went toward the back and didn't tell us anything. Since we already felt bad, we just left. However, it's a shame because we loved our food. Yet, the service was just not it. I wouldn't come back here unless the service changed. Not sure if it was because this was in the evening since we came for dinner but the kind of treatment and ignorance we experienced was...

This is one of my favorite Indian restaurants in California! The food and service are both amazing.

My family and I always get the Tandoori Paneer Tikka to start - charred perfectly in the tandoor and very tasty, served as a sizzler with yummy chutneys on the side. The Amritsari Saag and Makki di Roti or Makki Mouli Methi (corn flour with radish and fenugreek) Roti are absolutely delicious and will put a smile on your face. Unlike many other restaurants, they use actual sarso (mustard leaves) with a mix of spinach to make the Saag and it adds a unique spicy/savory flavor, which is rare to find and shows their care for detail. The Malai Kofta has a rich and robust sauce - the koftas themselves were a touch oversalted, but the sauce and rotis balanced that out, and I think it just added to the home-style nature of their cooking. If you have any room left after all that, the Tadka Dal and Jeera Rice are yummy as well. Don't forget to grab a Lassi (the plain sweet one is my personal favorite) even if it's to-go at the end of your meal. They offer a large variety of desserts which do not disappoint if you are looking to end on a sweet note.

I totally forgot to ask for the young man's name, but our server was very lively and seemed really happy to be serving. He always makes us feel super at-home and is very friendly.

Shahi Darbar will be a great experience for those very familiar with North Indian flavors, and I highly recommend it for those looking for the best Indian food...

I do love me some chicken, and lamb curry with rice. Many Indian restaurants kind of have either the same flavor or not much flavor or some unusual flavor that doesn’t taste good. However, this place exceeded my expectations. The food was delicious. I give it a 10 out of 10 the lamb curry was very flavorful. The lamb was nice and tender and juicy. There wasn’t too much of any seasoning. It was all well balanced, and same with the chicken curry it was well balanced, and it tasted so good. I’m a home cook, so I do cook many types of food in different ways so being able to taste different varieties of ways people cook is something enjoy doing. And this place sure got me by surprise. I hope that they do not change anything off their menu or ingredients the server staff ,I don’t know his name but he was very informative, kind and polite. He explained to us after we asked how the cook prepares the ingredients, and he gave us a good rundown and which it was nice to hear and it sure shows that they are different from other Indian restaurants, the flavor is delicious. Every time I eat at a new Indian restaurant it keeps giving me more and more of a push to start my own little restaurant business and serve food for people to enjoy and taste the different types of Indian cooking methods that everyone has. Again, I highly recommend this place. The food is delicious. I know this is a long...