Desi Dhaba — Restaurant in Sunnyvale

This is one of my absolute favorite Indian places in the entire Bay Area. It is consistently delicious, offers huge generous portions for unbeatable prices on the Peninsula, and their service (esp from owner Vijay) is beyond excellent. He is the epitome of genuinely kind customer service!

Growing up on the east bay, I enjoyed lots of Indian food in the Fremont/Union City area within 5-10 min from my home. But once I discovered Little India Cafe, I would happily drive 30 min just to satisfy my Indian food cravings. It is SO worth it!

I remember their lunch buffet (before SIP) was always packed - reasonably so because it was such a great deal! During SIP, I introduced my husband & his family to this place through takeout, and they all agreed it is their new favorite Indian place.

Their butter chicken & chicken tikka masala are similar - the butter chicken is with dark meat & tikka masala is with white meat. We always get those dishes, plus saag paneer, bangain bhartha (SO GOOD - it tastes like caramelized onions!), daal makhani (i don't even usually like daal, but theirs has sooo much fresh flavor), chana bhatura, tandooris, and samosas! An even better perk is all their main entrees comes with rice! But I always order multiple naan (plain, garlic, & aloo paratha) since I can't have Indian curries without naan also. They also offer complimentary chai tea - even still during SIP, which is so sweet of them, given how they, like all businesses, are just trying to stay afloat right now.

And regarding people who gave low reviews due to orders from an online ordering app... come on, how can you decide whether to blame the restaurant vs the delivery service? Every time I've called in an order, my order was complete & accurate, ready within the timeframe specified.

I literally love this place & wish it was closer to home! I also sincerely hope they will get through SIP, as I'd love to continue enjoying & introducing others to their food for as long as...

Pour one out for Little India Cafe. We arrived to pick up our takeout to find fresh signs about to be put up with a different restaurant name, and someone spraying insecticide along the baseboards inside (see the below review about someone finding a cockroach in their food today!). We should have known better than to accept the food, but sometimes hunger overrides common sense.

The menu may be the same, but the food certainly isn't. Definitely lower quality ingredients - a different cheese in the palak paneer, hyderabadi curry with a different shade of red, a now oversized mango lassi that has lost its foam and creamy flavor, and a slightly undercooked naan that is no longer delicious. After reading the review below we shudder to think about the crunchy bits we ran into in the palak paneer 🤢

We're disappointed that we ordered and paid for our food without knowing that this is now a different restaurant. A call after the fact confirmed the change of ownership and new restaurant name.

It was a great 11 year run since Little India Cafe first came into our lives. The previous owner was the nicest, always remembering us and even holding onto a $10 bill my partner dropped for weeks until we came in again. We'll miss you ☕🥲

Edit: The plot thickens. The review posted one hour after mine (claiming a first time visit at 100/100) is from someone listed on Sulekha as a chef-for-hire in the Santa Clara area. Make of that what you will.

[Once our hunger fog cleared, we tossed the rest of our food. Between the cockroaches and the insecticide, better safe...

I won't be exaggerating if I say that 'Little Indian Cafe' is the best place for Indian food in San Francisco. I tried Indian food at so many places during my visit to San Francisco, but nothing was as closer to Indian food as the 'Little Indian Cafe'. Again Thanks to Abhishek - my dear friend in California, who made sure that I eat at the best places in California before heading back to India.

I am kind of speechless to share the gourmet experience I had at Little Indian Cafe, when I saw so many Indian dishes at one place - each looking extremely nice and imparting an appetizing aroma to the entire place. The buffet on offer had Kadi, Rajma, Turnip, Daal, Boiled Rice, Rice Biryani, Raita, Salad, Kheer, Gajar ka Halwa & Tea and trust me, each and every item was perfection objectified. The sitting area is also very warm and cozy and you will be surprised to see that the place is not only visited by Indian, but by people from all over the world - which speaks volumes of the quality of food that is served here.

The owner of the place (who hails from Gurdaspur in India) is such a great host, he makes sure that he gives a personal touch to and every customer who visits the restaurant, by talking to them and makes sure everyone is comfortable.

A must visit place in California state and you can't visit the place...