India Buffet Fremont
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Address: India Buffet 5168 Mowry Ave (bet Farrel Dr & Blacow Rd) Fremont, CA 94538 Closed Other Bay Area Indian Restaurants |
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India Buffet Fremont Review: Not Too Pleased
On a recent rainy night, we were driving down Mowry Ave in Fremont and felt the urge to eat something hot and spicy.Hey, what can be better than our Indian food.
Our choice for the evening was India Buffet in Fremont.
Buffet Restaurant
As its name suggests, India Buffet primarily serves lunch and dinner buffet.Dinner Buffet is $8.99 for adult and $4.99 for children.
India Buffet Ambiance
The restaurant was relatively empty when we walked in.It was clean and the entrance was presentable and nice.
India Buffet Dining Hall
Pay Before You Gobble
Unlike at most Indian restaurants, at India Buffet you have to pay up before you eat, right at the entrance.India Buffet accepts Visa and Mastercard but not American Express.
Dinner Buffet
Dinner Buffet on the day of our visit included two vegetarian stalls and one stall each for non-vegetarian items, Chutneys and salads, and Raita and desserts.Vegetarian stalls featured Pakoras, Gujarati Kichidi, Idli, Plain Rice, Vegetable Biryani, Dal Makhani, Paneer Makhanwala and Aloo Gobi.
Andhra Chicken, Chicken Kabobs and Chicken Biryani were part of the non-vegetarian stall.
Chutney and salad bar included three chutneys and Carrot, Lettuce, Onion and Tomato salad items.
Boondi Raita and Kheer were found at the desserts stall.
Chaat, Dosa and Naan Corners
Besides the buffet meal stalls, there was a Chaat station, Dosa corner and Naan bread counter.Each had a person to prepare the choice of your items fresh.
Chaat station included Pani Puri, Sev Puri, Bhel Puri, Hara Bhara Bhel, Dahi Papdi Chaat and so on.
You could order 8-9 items from a list of available chaats.
Similarly you could order any of the 5-6 Dosas available or a couple of Uttapams from the Dosa Corner.
Plain, Masala, Onion and Rava Sada Dosa and Plain, Onion, Veg and Tomato with Peas Uttapams were available on the day of our visit.
Naan counter included plain Naan bread and there was a person preparing and handing it out fresh from the oven.
All of the buffet items and Chaat, Dosa and Naan were included in the price of the dinner buffet which is $8.99 per person.
India Buffet Vegetarian Food
Here's my take on the various items I tasted, starting with appetizers:- Pakoras - Came in the form of Onion and Spinach varieties. They were crisp and hot. Very nice specially on a rainy day.
- Gujarati Khichdi - Just warm but still good.
- Idli- Soft as it should be but the vessel was not refilled quickly.
- Paneer Makhani - Nice, the Paneer size was decent for one bite. But the sauce/ gravy was not too spicy or creamy. It was just right. Alas, Paneer Makhani was just warm and definitely could have been hotter (temperature-wise).
- Dal Makhani - Hot and tasty.
- Vegetable Biryani - Included Onions, Carrot, Gobi. But it was too mild.
- Sambar - Thick but lukewarm. It included Onion and Zucchini. Sambar should have been hot.
- All three Chutneys - Green, Coconut and Chana chutneys were cold. We did not relish it much because of their temperature.
- We chose Plain Dosa - Plain Dosa was of medium to large size. It was crisp with brown top and white inside as it should be.
- Our choice of Tomato with Peas Uttapam was of medium size with brown color at the bottom and and white with veggies on top. It was soft and hot.
Dosas and Uttapams had regular tastes and there was nothing exceptional about them.
- Naan Bread was alright. Only one type of bread - plain naan was available. It was fresh out of oven.
- From the Chaat Corner, we tried Pani Puri and Sev Puri Chaat.
Pani Puri included four puris, cut boiled potates and some black boiled chanas. The pani puri water was nicely made and cold as it should be.
Sev Puri was just OK and nothing much to write home about.
However, I found Chaat Bhavan's Pani Puri and Sev Puri to be way better. I would not go to India Buffet for their Chaat alone.
- Boondi raita was good and I had no complaints about it. Salad was normal with Lettuce, Carrot, Tomato and Onion.
India Buffet Chicken
- Chicken Kabobs were too tender. They should have been a little harder and more hot temperature wise. It was just lukewarm.
- Andhra Chicken was spicy but not hot temperature wise. The chicken was cooked just right. It was not too soft and not too hard. It should have been really hot to make the spice stand out though.
- Chicken Biryani was low on flavor, mildly spiced and tasted as if Chicken pieces were added to the cooked rice rather than cooking Biryani Spices, Chicken and rice together.
Desserts
- Cold Kheer was the only dessert available. It was not very sweet and perfect for me but people with sweet tooth may not relish it.
It was marginally sweet but I still liked it since I can't have too much sweet stuff anyway.
Service
Plates near the buffet stalls were clean.Our used plates were removed promptly. I also liked the fact that you don't need to carry your original plate and could take a new clean plate for follow-on visits to the buffet stalls.
While there was sufficient food in most buffet vessels, Andhra Chicken and Idlis were not refilled fast enough. Andhra Chicken got over quickly and twice I felt it should have been refilled faster.
India Buffet Rating
I would give a rating of 2.5 out of 5 for this restaurant.While I enjoyed the hot and crisp Pakoras, overall the food items in two vegetarian and one non-vegetarian buffet stalls were warm to lukewarm in temperature.
Andhra Chicken, Sambar, Chicken Kabobs, Paneer Makhani, Gujarati Khichdi were all just warm or lukewarm.
Also, Andhra Chicken and Idlis were not refilled fast enough.
Vegetable and Chicken Biryani lacked the spicy, aromatic flavor of a biryani rice item and the Chaats were no great shakes.
Yet another irritating aspect was non-acceptance of American Express for payments.
On the whole, I was not too thrilled with my meal at India Buffet. - © BayMasala.com