Great Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Santa Clara

YESSS finally!! I have been on a hunt for indian dinner buffet for so long. My favorite place off Hostetter closed down during COVID and I was so sad. A lot of indian buffets are usually during lunch time weekday, and I can never go because of work. I love indian buffets because I get to try a variety of things that I would never personally order otherwise.

It was my first time coming here and was meeting a friend here. I was so confused when driving here, it looks like SOMEONES HOUSE! but I pulled in and saw marked parking spots on the side. There were probably 5 parking spots but there are definitely more by the sidewalk if there isn't any more room.

Anyways I walk up to the door that looks like a house door, and into a restaurant. it's a smaller restaurant, but has abundant seating. There were only one or two other tables besides me and my friend. They gave us water and utensils right away. We went up to the buffet line. it says you use one tray or two plates for buffet. not sure if that means you are only allowed that many plates, no more if you finish over that amount. Did not get a chance to ask or wonder about it since I got really full from one tray

There were an assortment of curries to choose from, some fried snacks, chicken, rice, and yogurt. The goat curry was spicy and so delicious -- probably one of my favorites there! it has that nice gamey kick. The chicken tikka masala + butter chicken were creamy and flavorful, and the chicken was tender. tandoori chicken was a bit dry and had one left when I got there (645pm on a weeknight). Im sure they restocked. I also enjoyed their malai kofta and palak paneer! Their mini samosa and pakora were crispy too. I passed on the rice and did not have room for yogurt.

At the beginning of dinner, the server asked us if we wanted garlic naan, which we said yes to and he brought it out steaming hot! It was so fluffy and good, perfect amount for my friend and me.

Pricing was good too, under $20 per person for the buffet. would...

I have order in from doordash and eaten on site at this restaurant about 4 times now. This place has potential if they just invest a bit more quality of certain ingredients and preparation of certain dishes. The vegetarian meals are good. The class aloo ghobi, bhindi masala with tawa roti. I love fact they make freshly cooked tawa roti. The vegetables items have an indian punjabi home touch. Their samosa is good too. I have tried the daal makhani and daal tadkha also, both good, but they can amp it up by giving a more ghee and butter option like in punjab :). The veg items has the authentic punjabi flavor and freshly made from scratch. The non-veg starters like chicken tandoori is average. Infact it was very dry and the marination almost seems like ready made packet marination. The non-veg main course again very average. I have lived in north India and I have tried various punjabi places across NYC, Jersey, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and other places. Punjabis are known for non-veg. I had a much higher expectation when it comes to non-veg items. I personally lived in Delhi and been to Punjab 4 times and ate my heart out. The chef needs to really get their non-veg items back to their roots. Do not be shy, people will love the true authentic punjabi style non-veg dishes. Yes it has ghee, spice and rogan. Bring it on and give America the true flavor of hardcore non-veg punjabi food. Parathas are one of the better ones in the bay area in this place but eat it onsite hot and fresh. The indo-chinese should be removed from menu. I tried it once and I will never do it again. I have to rate this place 3/5. This place has some basics right but needs to be a bit more consistent in executing dishes...

It was one of my favorite places pre pandemic.

Update - July 2021. Buffet price increased to $15 now (from 13 pre pandemic), includes 4 vegetarian and 4 meat dishes with rice/breads, samosa, chai, sweet dish. It is pretty much the regular north Indian food but I feel like they are trying too hard to keep restaurant style food appearance/taste - use of artificial coloring and too much cream added to most curries etc. You can feel naan bread quality is not great, too puffy and refined flour used instead of being crispy as it should be. Chicken tikka masala was Ok, didn't even try the Butter Chicken (was too red and heavy gravy), Goat Curry was Ok but personally I didn't like the smell - prefer how Jamaican or Nepalese cook it. Daal and palak paneer were good, chickpeas curry was Ok, a bit diluted. Kofta was again loaded with heavy cream. From my last time I remember the simple chicken curry which no longer on the menu. The rice drying out because it is lying on the hot stove is not a good sign, it means the buffet dishes are not attended to like they should and I get a feeling the same dishes are reheated again and again for many days.

I would love it if they could bring a scaled down buffet - 2 items for $10 or something like that and give an option to have light vs creamy curries. I like choosing this restaurant for lunch but regret it later due to...