Batika India Bistro — Restaurant in Novato

By far one of Novato's best restaurants. Yeah I said that.

if you haven't been there yet you need to fix that problem. Their food and service is on point and the best part of it all is that they are still offering the same great food and error-free service during the pandemic.

If you do go there there are a couple things to try.

The Samosa's. Amazing. Eat them fresh and hot. the Chicken Tikka Masala is out of this world. the sauce they make is good just by itself. The Tandoori Chicken and Lamb Vindaloo are also great main dishes. For the sides, the Palak Paneer, Aloo Gobi and Dhingri Mattar are all amazing. The latter probably being one of my favorites. The Naan is AMAZING too. I believe they make it fresh there.

Did I mention that the Samosa's are amazing?

If you like spicy foods, this is your place too. I love Spicy but no need for me to go past medium. That's good enough for me haha.

To wrap it all up, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this...

The food is simply below average. I got the kebab platter, lamb dish, and chicken biryani. Kebab Platter - Chicken was dry. Lamb was so chewy, I didnt bother. Lamb Dish- No coherent flavor profile. Just a bunch of spices dumped with onions and ginger garlic. Chicken Biryani - Probably the best of the three. Chicken actually wasn't tough and the flavor was good. Rice was overcooked and not how they should be in a biryani.

Salty and Greasy seems to be the theme. Seriously, thats not what Indian food should be like. If you're looking for Good indian food and dont mind a drive try out: Prabh Kitchen in Mill Valley Clay Oven and Grill in Vacaville Masala Dosa in San Francisco. In my experience there's not a single half-decent Indian restaurant in Novato or San Rafael. I have nothing to gain, I'm just a very...

Update: Visited again last week - Butter chicken still the best I've ever had! The Fish pakora on the buffet this time was incredible - my lunch partner and I scarfed it down. One more visit like this one, and I may have to give 5 stars!

Previous review: Mixed experience with the lunch buffet. First, the chicken tikka masala or butter chicken (can't remember which it was labeled) was the best I've had. The naan was also very good. However, the fish curry and the vegetable curry were both not very good. The fish curry was fishy, as if it wasn't made with fresh fish (and really, why bother if fish isn't fresh?). The saag paneer was very good. Also, a very small buffet without very many choices, so I'm afraid not having a good vegetarian selection wasn't made up for by the phenomenal butter...