Taste Of The Himalayas

The best buffet I have ever been to for Indian favorites. Excellent butter chicken, saag paneer with corn, tender tandoori chicken, moist lamb, eggplant pakora, vegetable navarin. Great food. You will not be disappointed!

First of all the ambience of this place is really nice and it has plenty of seating area. Coming to the food, we started with Chai : Pretty average tasting, comes with a biscuit which I liked Mix pakora: very home like made so they were good. Although I felt that the quantity was less Margarita: Pretty average too. For main course Daal Makhani: This was really good, would recommend. Salt was less in it. Saag paneer: This was outstanding. Would highly recommend. Again salt was less Garlic naan: Pretty average Gobi parantha: pretty average again. Did not have salt at all. The presentation of all the dishes was great and service was good too. If they could add apt salt and increase the portion sizes that would be a great plus. For dessert we ordered gulab jamun with rabri: The gulab jamun was good in taste but rabri could have been thick and a bit more cold.

Took our daughter and grandson there for a casual dinner following a music recital in San Raphael. We were seated near an open window in the front of the restaurant on a beautiful Saturday evening. The food and service were excellent, equal to some of our favorite restaurants during our seven years living in India. But the real treat was the Indian grocery store connected to the restaurant; strolling the aisles brought back nostalgic memories of shops and markets we knew in Delhi.

Lotus is one of my top 3 San Rafael restaurants and everybody’s favorite. One of the best restaurants in Marin county. Please note the free PARKING LOT (at 805 5th Ave) at the back entrance through the Indian grocery store. We dined here for lunch buffet (all you can eat) and the selection were excellent. Chicken Tikka Masala, Aloo Gobi, 3 kinds of Pakoras, 2 kinds of curry dishes, Tandoori Chicken and even fresh Papadum were offered. Many dishes were gluten free. The lunch buffet ends at 2 pm. We got late around 1:40 pm, but we had a plenty of food to try and the host even brought us a basket of fresh baked naan for our table towards the end. The amount of the selection and choices we had for the lunch buffet, I felt it was such a great deal. I’m always so impressed on the level of all the staffs’ attentiveness whenever we are there. There were 3-4 waiters always checking tables to fill the water glasses (as we may drink more water enjoying the spiced dishes) and clearing any finished plates promptly. 20-car parking lot is located in the back and I believe Lotus is the one and ONLY restaurant in San Rafael downtown with their own parking spaces. A few months ago, we sat on the new curb side dining area. And it was quite comfortable being served there by 4th Street without feeling in anybody’s way. Large patio umbrellas also kept us cool. The owner, Pal, has been a wonderful to the guests whenever he’s there and always remember the familiar faces and stopped to say hello to every table.

What a lucky find! We were heading home from the airport, and happened upon The Lotus. Great food! Beautiful decor! Impeccable service. A little spendy on the pricing, but enjoyable none the less.