Marigold Indian Eats — Restaurant in Oakland

Finally! Incredible local Indian food with amazing veg. / vegan options! We were really hoping Marigold would be the real deal with it being so close, and it did not disappoint.

Service: Very friendly and helpful. Indian restaurant menus are often very unexplanatory, but Marigold’s menu does a good job of calling out ingredients. The owner / manager was also very hospitable - offering to bring us water as we waited for our orders and was very accommodating with our friend’s dietary restrictions.

Packaging: Unfortunately they’re not open for indoor seating yet, but on the bright side they used a lot of compostable packaging and the rest was recyclable. Would love to see it all come in compostable containers eventually, but it was great to see most of it was to begin with!

We got a smattering of items with some friends including the pakora and spicy onion rings for starters which tasted amazing. We also got the Baingan Bharta, Bhindi Masala, Tikka Masala, and Saag. All of which were very satisfying, but don’t miss the Baingan Bharta or Bhindi Masala in particular. Of course the Naan was great as well.

Overall, a great experience. Looking forward to coming back and trying more...

Unsure why this is so highly rated. A 3.5 at best.

Chicken tandoori: 4/5 Was a bit too tomatoey. Fresh but not what I expected.

Garlic naan and keema paratha: 3/5 Too thick and rustic. Felt more like rural central Asian bread than a Mughlai one. I love my Caucasus cooking but that’s not what I ordered.

Chicken tikka masala: 3.5/5 Decent but felt not really Indian. Hard to explain why. Can order again for a re-analysis.

Chai: 3.5/5 There was a grassy after-taste to it but not really in a bad way. It was warm so we made the most of it.

Chai took about 20min to appear and food another 15min after. Kinda slow service.

Not many places to sit inside. Table wobbles. Door left open to let the cold inside.

Kinda feel bad giving a not-so-high rating but hoping the management sees this and improves. Has potential. Will try again later to revisit...

We dined in, although this place is really geared more for takeout. There are just 3 little tables, and no waiters. We sat at our table for a while before we worked out you order at the counter and pay in advance.

We sat enjoying the indian pop music, more chill than the traditional Bollywood hits. The food, when it came, was good. We liked the naan, lamb vindaloo (which authentically had some vinegar taste to it), and bengan bartha. The tandoori chicken was served with a chinese-style sweet sauce on it (Indian Chinese crossover food is a whole thing) which was unexpected but it was tasty. Our kid liked her mango lassi and samosas.

I recommend this place for takeout or delivery. When picking up your own food you'll be glad that it has convenient strip-mall parking. It's next to Mountain Mikes on Telegraph in the heart...