Royal India Express — Restaurant in San Diego

Food: 3.5/5 Service and Setting: 2.5/5 Value: 2.5/5

From what I remember, Royal India has been a staple in UTC’s food court since forever, gracing its main entrance. They are always offering samples of rice and one of their chicken curries, so you can definitely grab a taste before you commit. The service here was eh, I came when they just opened and when I asked for prices or how many samosas came with the listed price, the lady helping me gave me major stink eye. Even for mall rent prices, I felt that having a two item plate for $12.99 without bread was astronomical. Even though it looks like they pack in the food, in reality, the styrofoam containers they use are thinner than other restaurants. If you are craving Indian/South Asian food while shopping, this is a good option. Samosas be going brrr though, read about it below!

Korma Chicken: 3.5/5 I feel like Korma Chicken is a dish that has fallen out of favor with the American Indian food community. I see a lot of vegetable korma but not so much chicken. The Korma Chicken at Royal India is very sweet, much sweeter than I expected. They may do this to sort of differentiate it from their other chicken curries. It has a respectable amount of savoriness in a ubiquitous style tomato-based curry gravy. The chicken in the dish was not dry at all and the ratio of curry to protein was good. For me, it was a little basic and too sweet, but I’m sure that there is no one who will outright dislike this dish.

Aloo Mutter: 3.5/5 I liked the Aloo Mutter slightly more than the Korma Chicken, but not enough to give it a higher score. They do not skimp out of on the potatoes and peas. Since I went during their opening time, the potatoes I received were cooked perfectly and even had a slight bite to them. The sauce is a bit plainer than the korma chicken and tastes simply like tomato. Unlike the korma chicken, there is a more savory flavor rather than sweet. The spices used are very mild and because of that there is a lack of depth overall.

Meat Samosa: 4.5/5 It is really rare to see meat samosas being offered at Indian restaurants and when they are, they are usually chicken. I believe this one was beef, making it very rare. Let’s start off with the bad. I found the samosa to be very expensive at $2.99 for one with a less than ample amount of filling. The pastry was very oily as well. The flavor though is very interesting and reminds me more of an African style sambusa. The flavors are very different from anything I’ve ever had and are both memorable and delicious. Give one a try even if you chose not to have your...

The food was mediocre and very bland (I know good Indian food) what made the horrible experience was the young man working tonight made feel rushed not be able to ask him whether items were spicy or not which is a dietary issue for me. I was the only one in the line but felt as if I was bothering him with his smugness and eye roll when I asked literally about two items. After paying for my food he wadded my receipt and thew it in the trash and didn’t bother to ask if I wanted it. I asked for the receipt he acted shrewd again tapping on the screen to retrieve a new one when he realized it was too far at the bottom of the trash apparently. He didn’t apologize at all which really bothered me. My exact thoughts were…. this food better be good!!! Nonetheless the food was not worth the price for the attitude at all. I had the chicken Masala ( I got two chunks of chicken and a lot of watery sauce!!!!!!) and the vegetable curry item, and a vegetable soma (this was good with the sauce) which were exactly just ok. The naan was burnt and as soon as I unrolled the foil and it was exposed to air it was hard. All in all this review is of the customer service and food itself. I could have taken my business else where spending 20 dollars (overpriced and obviously why there is no customers) and wish I would have just to have gotten a friendlier service and...

This restaurant is inside the interior food court where the skating rink is located. It's the first restaurant you see. The smell was inviting and so on my way out, I picked up several items to go. I got the vegetable korma, the spinach, aloo muttur, and 2 potato samosas. I ate the spinach first. I had to pick out hard pieces of the spinach. Not pleasant. Then I ate the vegetable korma. I liked the fact that they used fresh vegetables. There were large slices of carrots, squash, a large floret of broccoli, and another of cauliflower. Unfortunately, the flavor was in the sauce, the vegetables had none. Then I ate the aloo mutter. The potatoes had no taste. The sauce was meh. Lastly, I ate the potato samosas. One look at them and I knew they'd been over-fried. They were greasy to the touch and had a bit of a rancid smell. The vegetables inside were cut up very tiny and were hard bits. A truly unpleasant experience. I had 3 small containers and the 2 samosas plus a mango lassi (not bad) = $31.00. Definitely NOT...