Sitar

Hate to give a negative review, but I’m just being real… this place is not that good. It’s an Indian restaurant with little competition that caters mainly to broke, non-​Indian college students (it’s on the lonely CSU Channel Islands campus), so I guess the standard is not that high. It could and should be better, though.
The management was soft in that when I visited this place, there was lackluster, unmotivated service. The music was loud and uninviting, reflecting more the personal preference of the employees than any desire to create a welcoming or comforting environment for the customer. The vegetable dish I had was probably the worst Indian food I have ever had (although I usually have good Indian food, so the bar is not that low), made with creamer instead of ghee!
Oh well, what can I do. This place will probably go out of business or survive based on lack of competition. But hopefully it will get its act together and improve its food and service. Maybe it should raise its prices a little to do this – they were lower than I expected, even for a place on campus.

I love this place. The price is not bad compared to other Indian restaurants that charge you for each item. But there is this new girl that is working there and she is super rude and has no customer service skills. They should fire her.

This is my favorite place on campus, everyone that works there is super nice and I love everything on the menu that I have tried so far!

Decent food if you get the vegetarian option.

I’ve been here twice both for takeout. I love it. Menu is limited which leaves them the opportunity to do the items they have well. The location is modern and open. Keep saying I’m going to get a beer there as it looks fun. Only complaint is one of my two times the service was clueless… Start with a greeting, clearly not the owner or mgmt but still a representative of the business.

Great spot the CSUCI campus; good food, great beer selection, and always a friendly vibe from the staff. The Chana Masala, veggie korma, and the lamb burger are all great.

This was my second time ever having Indian food, first time was the night before. Started with Classic Samosa, nice crispy pastry filled with potatoes, peas, spices and herbs. Very delicious! To drink we had Mango Lassi, yummy! Next we tried the Mango Chicken curry and Mixed Veggie Sabzi. Sabzi was very good, excellent flavor with a nice little kick. Really enjoyed the Mango Chicken. Next time will ask for a little more spice, I also wish it had more chicken. Naan was very good, nice and light and moist. Not bad for a casual evening dinner.

Started with Classic Samosa which were filled with potatoes & peas, spices just right and the turnover pasty nice a light, it’s a good starter… Mango Chicken and Mix Veg Sabzi with naan bread are the next course… the mango chicken curry was just right for me, creamy and there were about 6 – 8 cubes of chicken in the curry… the mix veg sabzi was tasty and plentiful… this order at the counter restaurant is on the CSUCI campus and has a simple basic menu… On this Saturday evening it’s very uncrowded which is a plus and sitting outside surrounded by trees and hills with a cool canyon breeze added to the meal in a positive way for me!

It’s the best Indian restaurant on campus. I’m also my mum’s favorite son.
If you have had any decent Indian food before, this is … not Indian. The complexity of spices, tastes and sublime heat… well… is head scratchingly not there.
Instead, bland curry, seasoning by Lizzie Borden and dear God. Take the Phall curry of the menu. It’s so greasy and salty, I’d rather eat my shoe. (It’s really not that hot) Ghost Chiles supposedly in there, was masked by the cheap Vietnamese sambal and salt.
Increasingly smaller and smaller samosas (I stopped ordering them as they have shrunk) and I swear the tikka sauce, mango sauce and their general go-​to curry sauce is all the same.
Rice is cooked by Vlad the Impaler. It was crunchy one day and a soggy clump another.
Portioning is completely and utterly random — Shrodinger’s cat is more predictable than the appearance of chicken. Someday one piece, someday two.
Salt — please someone for the love of god, taste the food. Above mentioned cat would use the saag as a salt lick.
Instead: order the lamb burger, fries and a beer. Did I mention beer? Seriously. Come here for the cheap beer. It’s $ 3 for a cold 22oz.

My favorite place for Indian food and beer
Quality is always great. good beer selection as well
Keep it up guys

Amazing beer selection and great food awesome customer service. Wings are off the chain and amazing curry. Get here noowwwwwwwwwwww

Hidden gem inside CSUCI. Small menu, only about 10 main dishes to pick from.
We had the samosas, very tasty, and curry fries. Curry fries were a mixture of cheesy goodness and curry deliciousness. Plus they’re shareable.
My daughter had the mango chicken, commenting on how you don’t taste the mango till the very end. It was creamy and mildly spiced. She really enjoyed the sauce. My husband the Tikka masala, he said chicken was alil overcooked, but the curry was nicely spiced.
I of course got the chala masala (which my order came really late, suspecting the waiter forgot to put it in, hence the 4 stars) Not the best I’ve had but pretty tasty.
Big servings can be shared

Sitar is a new establishment located in Uglen Corporation Apartments. The restaurant is not like a normal Indian food establishment. The owners created a casual feel to accommodate the CSUCI students.
Parking: parking tends to not be an issue. They have a bunch of 90 minute parking stations. The parking lot is ¾ student parking so be aware of that otherwise you might get a ticket.
Set Up: like I stated before, Sitar was designed as a casual Indian restaurant. The waiters are dressed casual as well.
Service: the best hospitality I had from a restaurant in a long time. They are excited for you to be there and try their menu items. They are quick and very attentive. I think the best part of the service is the environment they create. They make you feel like part of the family. I always have at least one conversation with the employees. They enjoy having you there and you can sense that.
Food: the food is about 3.75−4 star quality for the type of restaurant they are going for. It is decent, but I really enjoy tikka masala with rice and naan bread. I had the tandoori chicken and did not enjoy it. I have heard great things about lamb burger & wrap.
Drinks: I truly believe they price the beers so low because they want you to enjoy yourself and get drunk lol. Beer is at constant happy hour prices & they have a great selection to choose from. They also have various bottle choices as well.
Overall: it is the entire experience that makes me and all of my classmates come back. They earn the 5 out of 5 despite the 4 star quality meal. You will not regret coming here. Enjoy the fun and hope my review helped: D

It’s inside the college campus. I see most of the people were getting drinks and no food. Plus it’s really loud.
We still order the below dishes and all three entrée came with rice.
Samosa– the outside covering was too thick. The potato and pea filling was well flabbier and cooked.
Choley — This dish was on the sweeter side. I didn’t really like it.
Saag Paneer — usually in Saag Paneer, spinach is all pureed but not this one, which I didn’t like. The Paneer was soft and nice.
Mix veg — I really liked the flavor of this dish

This restaurant has really good potential. They go for a very minimalist menu and show a true desire to master their craft of indian cuisine. There’s a true care for quality control, and this is easily identifiable by the presentation of the dishes and by the clean flavors experienced.
I tried the chicken tikka marsala and the phall curry for giggles. The chicken tikka marsala is a great way of comparing qualities of indian restaurants… the same way I test a thai restaurant by its pad thai and pad-​se-​ew. I wish they had a larger menu, I was hoping to see some aloo gobi on there, but I do appreciate their attention to quality in their simple minimalist menu.
The appetizers were very good and so were the curries.
Only concern I have for them to better themselves is in their waiting services and staff training. When ordering, I had some questions regarding the ingredients and specific vegetables for some of their dishes and none of these questions were sufficiently answered. The staffer did not know what vegetables went into the Phall curry. She also didn’t know what kind of beer was being served and the different popular items. I think every waiter/​host should know the popular items on the menu and what each dish consists of.
That being said, I’ll be back again. I’m looking forward to trying other items on the menu.

If you want good quality and fair priced food, this is the place you want to go. It is sit in, but the service is great. Something different then getting Pizza Pie and Tortillas all the time. Lamb Burger is a must!

I’ve been looking forward to this place opening for a while now. I adore chicken tikka masala and couldn’t wait to see how theirs was.
It wasn’t terribly busy when I went, the service and atmosphere was great, the waiters made sure we were good multiple times. I ordered the chicken tikka masala with a side of naan bread.
At first when I received my plate, my first impression was that the presentation was well done. The tikka masala is served in a decorative metal bowl. I had thought the dish looked like more sauce than anything, but I was pleasantly surprised to find large chunks of chicken in there and a lot of them. Needless to say I took most of it home for dinner later that day. The tikka masala was perfectly seasoned and definitely exceeded my expectations. The naan bread also complimented the dish and was very good to dip into the sauce.
I will definitely be going back to explore what else their menu has to offer.

The food was better than expected! I do think it’s slightly a little pricer than Pizza Pie and Tortilla’s at the town center.
The amount of food given per plate is very generous. I had to take some home for leftovers. The food was very fresh.
Even if you don’t like Indian food, give it a try!

It’s really good and something new to campus. I’m no expert on this type of food but it was really flavorful and the portions are generous.

A solid 4.5 stars, rounded up. I’m going to be entirely honest, I’m not the most versed on Indian food — sad to say. But after eating some takeout from here the day after their opening night (1÷31÷15), I can see that I’m going to be a regular customer. Who knew CSUCI would take a gamble on an Indian restaurant?
Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅
– It’s not the biggest place, but has several tables.
– There’s no place to wait for takeout, but there is a table right outside the entrance.
– There’s also outside seating!
Service: 4.75÷5
– The servers are really nice, and seeing as this just opened up, they really want to help.
– Honestly, my server messed up a couple times. But each time he tried his best to make up for his mistake. You could tell he really cared about enjoying my experience.
– He was incredibly apologetic, and offered to comp something in my next visit. Incredibly stand up and that gesture was over the top, as I was okay with waiting. Awesome customer service!
Food: 4.8÷5
– I don’t know much about Indian food, but their food was pretty damn delicious. Their menu is pretty limited (keep in mind they just opened up), but it said it was a seasonal menu. so I’m hopeful for more. We ordered:
– the tandoori chicken (roasted chicken with a small salad with a DELICIOUS fig vinaigrette, with their awesome chutney). The chicken was mostly thigh, and was very juicy. Delicious. $ 10
– the nirvana chicken curry (amazing curry with bell peppers, tomatoes, and coconut milk). That was definitely my favorite. $ 11
– the samosas (2 vegetable samosas with potatoes, peas, cumin, etc). they were very good, but a little pricey at $ 4
Price: 4.5÷5
– For a place like CSUCI, you figured it would be affordable — it is.
– Dishes are around $ 10, and the portions are very generous for the price.
It’s a little weird to me that this is on campus, but it’s very welcome because it’s more of a sit down restaurant. And, it’s delicious. I hope this place stays open!