Guru Curry House (Oakland) — Restaurant in Oakland

As someone who is intimately familiar with Indian cuisine (I lived there for a bit and travel often), I can tell good Indian food from bad Indian food.

This place is legit. It reminds you of a monastery in North-East India. The manager is from Sikkim, however the chef is intimately familiar with Pakistani/Punjabi style cooking (think curries, paneer, chicken, lamb, fish).

When you ask for spice, they bring it on. You have options for mild, medium, spicy or very spicy. I would advise you not to test very spicy, unless you can handle 2 days of heat and smoke coming out of your ears.

We tried the samosa (which was recommended by a lot of folks), and it was freshly made (none of that frozen stuff). You drip the crisp, cumin potato laced samosa in two deliciously light sauces (mint and sweet tamarind) and experience how Samosa should be. We also got the papadum, which goes well with the sauce and is a good appetizer.

I wasn't too stoked about the fish pakora (fritters). Tilapia is not my favorite resident of the sea, but the lentil batter was great. Ask for the hot red-chili pepper sauce, they make a great home-made momo/dumpling sauce.

Our first entree was paneer kadai (cottage cheese stir fried with veggies) and this has got to be the best paneer in the bay area. It was fresh, soft, succulent and absorbed the wonderful spices and tomato sauce.

The black dal (lentil) lacked the depth I expect from North Indian cuisine and was passable. The flavor had not developed. I have tried 24 hour slow-cooked dal, but this one was made closer to an hour (I asked). Tip: Ask for lemon or lime, this opens up the flavor of any dal.

Prawn vindaloo was insane. There weren't many prawns, but the flavors in the curry were well developed. Also this comes with some potato. Order Prawn Karahi if you want a different treatment without potatoes.

We used garlic naan and clay oven roti to soak up the curries, and a side of mixed mango and veggie pickle.

There's free chai, so help yourself to some. I would advise you to have chai at the end of the meal, so as not to change your palette for the masterful meal that you will enjoy.

There's more tables than people, and parking wasn't too bad. You do not need a reservation (yet). However I expect this restaurant to build a following.

Whatever you order, you cannot go wrong. They are not dumbing down the food. Just watch out for the spice level.

P.S: Tell Tashi that Sam told you about the place and ask him to bring the...

I have been to Guru Curry house only once, physically (because of Covid concerns); it has excellent ambience and service. I have picked-up food at this excellent restaurant more than 6 times. Here is my take on specific dishes I have tried. They have several levels of heat. If you like "HOT", I recommend that you select "SUPER SPICY", because they typically under spice the dishes.

Mushroom Tikka Masala: fantastic dish: rating: 5 Chana Masala: fantastic dish. rating: 5 Choley Saag: fantastic dish. rating: 5 Saag Daal: Very Good. rating: 4.5 Mushroom Masala: Very Good. rating: 4.5 Sada Bhindi: Good. rating: 4 Lamb Tikka Masala: Good. rating: 4

This is the BEST Indian restaurant in Oakland. I will keep coming back. I...

I’m shocked that this place has more than 4 stars. The food is not prepared well and the quality control is super questionable. We ordered on DoorDash, it arrived quickly but I found a long piece of PLASTIC in my Chana Masala, the beans were undercooked, and the oil for the samosas was old. Also the flavors leave sooo much to be desired. We found it all to be quite bland. My husband ordered the chicken curry and along with my dish everything tasted like canned Indian food. We usually order from Kavya- which we really enjoy, especially that they use whole fresh spices and their samosas are always tasty and lightly fried. If you like Kavya and they’re closed so you’re looking for a back up- this probably isn’t...