Lotus Cuisine of India — Restaurant in San Rafael

Ha! What an enchanting place. We found this gem on our way to Muir woods. Let me give my breakdown. Parking: have about 8 to 10 car parking at rear. Decent size parking, enclosed and safe. Ambiance: Very tastefully decorated, they followed the lotus theme all around the restaurant from the windows to the ceiling. very impressed with the details. We were fortunate to be there early on that day., they just put the food out. We had a buffet style lunch. Here is by breakdown. For Appetizers there was Potato cutlet, Onion Bhujjia for vegetarians and tandoori chicken and Fish Pakoras for non-vegetarians. Cutlet: perfectly cooked. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Onion Bujjia: Usual fried Indian item, nice and crispy. You should try this with some lager beer. Yumm. Fried Fish: Similar batter but light and fluffy. nicely done. Tandoori chicken: Spiced perfectly. Not too spicy and not bland either., they mastered the balancing act. Three types or Rice (Basmati and brown rice) offered along with freshly made butter Naan. Main dishes were many. Chicken tikka Masala: Grilled chicken cooked in tomato based gravy was excellent. perfectly spiced. Goat Vindaloo: I expected this to be too spicy, but surprisingly it wasn't ., so you can actually enjoy the flavors of the Goat along with the spices. Dal Makhani: My favorite... nicely done., nice and creamy and well blended. Baingan Bhurta: Grilled eggplants in spice., loved the dish. Veg Sagoo: Spinach dish., nice, creamy, beautifully blended with spices. Navratan kuruma: Mixed veggies cooked perfectly., They had different types of chutneys and pickles to top it off. for Desserts Gulab Jamun and Kheer was offered. In summary, this place was fabulous, decorations was great., food was phenomenal. Fast Service, Friendly faces, very clean. Restroom was one of the cleanliest among the places I visited. If you are around the area don't miss it. If you are not., make the trip., it is...

I drove 60 miles from San Jose to try this restaurant since I had wanted to try it for a long time and finally got a chance. Most of the staff seemed nice and friendly. However, our server didn't smile at all and was so cold in general while taking our order. This was the biggest disappointment in this place. Second, the chicken bhiriyani had broccoli in it. As an Indian, I can say that this is the biggest fau pax in the culinary world. I know this restaurant is catered towards the white community, but there was really no need to put broccoli in the chicken biriyani when there are a host of other vegetables already in there. The goat curry which is supposedly the restaurants most specialized item had hard and tough pieces. Goat curry is difficult to cook and needs to melt in your mouth when you eat it. This restaurant doesn't know how to do it. I had to leave some pieces because they were too tough to chew. Also, this is the most expensive item on the menu. So, I was literally throwing my money away. Lastly, I was assured by our waiter that we could place our dessert order later even though we were almost past the 1:30pm cutoff time. However, after finishing our main course, when we asked for dessert, another server said we couldn't order dessert any longer. Shame on the restaurant for making a commitment and then going back on it. I only commend the restaurant for trying to use good ingredients, but I question how they differentiate between organic and non organic. If two orders are placed at a table and one order is for non organic chicken and the other is for organic, how does the kitchen and wait staff differentiate? They have no markings on the serving bowls to...

Despite all the good reviews this place gets by customers that they love to play favorites with, my family and I didn't have a pleasant experience since we ended up being the ones that they didn't want to treat well. My family and I were raised to make etiquette, politeness, respect for service workers, and consideration for others an important part of our lives. So we were the ones who NEVER said nor did anything to provoke how the waitor chose to treat us. So he was the one who was weird to us and we assumed he was just having a bad day. I could not help but notice how the same waitor kept on going to the tables of other dining customers to see how they were doing but rarely came to our table to see how we were doing. I find it bizarre that they never let us sit at tables near the windows when those tables were not even reserved and no one was sitting near the windows. But, when more customers soon came in and were asked where they wanted to sit, for some strange reason they were allowed to sit near the windows when they asked the same staff if they could. We never got a couple of items that we ordered but were still charged for it until they hesitantly refunded us. We also couldn't help but wonder why people who came to the restaurant after our arrival got their food first when they ordered just as many things as us, while my family and I kept on waiting and waiting. I came all the way from Fairfield and my aunt and uncle came all the way from San Jose to eat here yet this restaurant repaid us with its odd service. Glad I found a better Indian...