Annapurna Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Oakland

My coworker and I came for lunch on a whim after seeing a great rating on Yelp. We arrived and were told from afar to take any seat. After sitting down we were quickly greeted and received water and menus. Another lady brought by a little bowl of Dal soup for each of us, it was very mildly flavored but a nice start to the meal. They had specials but since both of us have eaten plenty of Indian food previously we already had dishes we wanted to order. We both ordered Samosas but a single order would be plenty to split between two people, they're pretty large in size. The flavor of the samosas were good, the tamarind chutney was excellent, nice and tangy. Our food came out, garlic naan, nice and fluffy with plenty of garlic flavor. The Lamb Tikka Masala was a real nice savory flavor with plenty of spice (medium) and a good portion. The Lamb Korma was also super savory and creamy, excellent flavors for both. We both felt these were some of the best Indian dishes we've ever had! The rice was perfectly cooked with a little butter or oil. All the food was fresh and came to the table nice and hot. The food took a little time to come out as they were handling a large catering order at the time but everyone was very nice to us and service was good. The location was easy to find and clean inside, rustic but fun...

A very regal space that seems to have always been, Annapurna is a delightful little spot for Nepalese and Indian food. The ambiance is hauntingly spacious and it was empty when we went there. The waiter assured us that they were slammed and soon we saw a line of Uber drivers picking up orders.

We didn't get papads gratis and the ones we ordered weren't garnished with onions and tomatoes and chills. The dal soup, however, was mildly spiced and very flavorful.

The pakodas were ajwain seeds forward as were lacking in flavor, but did well in terms of crunch and size. The malai koftas were delectable and probably the biggest and most spherical I have ever seen! The sauce was not spicy and very flavorful. Went well with the rotis.

The vegetable biriyani was spicy on the tongue and quite good, but this is no Hyderabadi style dum biriyani and more of a functional all spices and vegetables type.

Overall it's a nice place for comfort food, but it could definitely use some sprucing up with regards to the...

Great location in Downtown Oakland with great Indian food.

SERVICE:

Most of my experience was limited to the phone because I placed a to-go order. The lady I spoke with was friendly, helpful, and repeated my order, which is always comforting when placing an order via phone.

RESTAURANT:

The restaurant was fairly empty, but clean.

FOOD:

I didn't take any pics (I feel Indian curries aren't so photogenic). But, we ordered the garlic naan, chicken tiki masala, vegetable korma, and butter chicken. Everything was great. The naan had a lot of garlic, but was not overpowering. The chicken was to curry ratio was perfect. The vegetables were cut into fairly small pieces, which I prefer with curry. We ordered everything mild because our family is not big on spicy. Fortunately, the curries were not spicy at all, but still had a lot of flavor.

OVERALL:

My cousin, who lives out of town, noted, he would go here all the time if he...