Pooja Indian Grill — Restaurant in West Sacramento

UPDATE: To address the customer service concerns. I've been eating there for 8 years now and I have a thing to say about their customer service: It's not that great in the traditional sense. I've come to be friends with the owner who is very shy and reserved, and know several of the regular waitress/server gals who work there. I think there might be a cultural/language barrier that gets in the way sometimes, but I've always gotten what I've asked for and they've always brought my food in a timely manner. Sure, they haven't bent over backwards , but my food arrives on time and the order is correct, but I can admit that service with a smile is NOT their motto and they've NEVER been rude. I personally can EASILY over look this small misgiving for the fact that their food is fresh, hot, and delicious.

I've been to most of the indian places in the area, and sure there are some good places, but I always find myself coming back to Pooja Indian Grill. My recommendation is to go during dinner rather than lunch buffet, although the buffet is great, I think you'd be missing the real amazing food during dinner.

What I like most is that everything is very fresh tasting and hot (temp). The naan comes out so soft and piping hot you can't even hold it until it cools down after a minute. The curries are delicious and the cream dishes are out of this world. They'll end up giving me a coronary heart attack because they are so creamy and rich, but it will probably be worth it.

Pricing is decent too for what you get. I wouldn't say it's cheap, but you can do dinner for around 30 dollars for two. I also always leave very satisfied. I also recommend the mango lassi which is a mango/yogurt drink that cuts the fire on spicy foods!

Go try it for...

Before going into the details, the food was superb, looooved it.

Food - 😃 - papad was great ❤️ - Shahi paneer was great ❤️ - dal makhani was very tasty. In other Indian places in the US, dal makhani just takes like a normally cooked black dal but here it was actually the creamy dal makhani that you get in India ❤️ - baigan bharta was superb, more like Shahi baigan bharta, must try. 🙂 - garlic naan and roti was like what you get everywhere in US, so just okayish and doable but far from the awesome naan we get in India 😃 - tea or masala chai was great, it was more watery than how I like my tea but at least it wasn't bland like what you get in most Indian restaurants in US. It was a strong tea and note that they put cloves in the tea as well. So if you don't like cloves in your tea then probably it's not your cup of tea 😛 🙂 - one friend in the group ordered vegetarian thali and he was very happy with it. I tasted the saag paneer from the thali but I didn't like it. Chana masala in the thali was good. And one great thing to note is that you get as many naan as you want with the thali which probably also means that you can't share thali ( ask them about it if you plan to share)

We ordered everything mild spicy and it was good for me, I think any more spiciness would have been more for me.

Ambience - The interior is beautiful and has a vintage feel.

Cleanliness - One downside was the cleanliness of the dishes, if you are very concerned about sanitation then looking at dishes won't make you feel great, maybe it's probably just because the dishes are old and they need to...

One of the more authentic Indian places for lunch buffet i been too. . Now onto the food right? . Tendori chicken -pretty awesome if you ask me. The chicken is tender and still have a nice texture. The char grilled whatever you call it is nice. I love to debone the drumstick and mix it in with the house salad and drizzled some butter chicken sauce and call it a Indian alex t creation chicken salad! . Rice - they have 2 types of rice. One is basmati rice and usually a veggie bryani fried rice. . Butter chicken is what stands out to me. I only like the sauce and used the deboned tendori chicken to dip it in and call it a day. The chicken meat in side the butter sauce is tender and not dried and hard but amazing great texture too. Not like most places i been too and actually stands out to me. . Salad bar - great simple lettuce ice berg of course. Tomatoes. Cucumber. Red onion. And some of that home made mint chutney sauce is refreshing! . Nan - of course that is like the tortilla and rice which just compliments everything. Delicious too. . Chai tea - complimentary on the buffet line. Love it and always make my tummy warm and round lol. . Mango ice cream - yes they have this if you have a sweet tooth. . Overall they refill your water so that's a plus. They have lots of napkin on the counter which i like because of all the sauces which gets a bit messy. Anyways great ambiance in here for some bomb food. As well great lunch prices too. I recommend the lunch buffet because there is a good crowd too. Thanks for reading and have a yelptastic day!...