Govinda’s Vegetarian Buffet

Govinda’s is THE BEST!!!
It can be so hard to find delicious vegetarian food that is also healthy when dining out, but Govinda’s is the best I have ever had! Their salad dressings are magical (I love combining the Toasted Sesame and Ginger Miso) and their hot food is always flavorful and fresh. The service is full of genuine love and kindness, and the prices are incredible. Paying by the pound, I can often get a full plate of food for under $ 6. This is my go-​to spot in Eugene!
I literally can’t think of a single negative thing to say about this place!
Make sure to check the hours before you go visit!

Needed lunch in a hurry 1:00pm. They had «to go» boxes and charged by weight. Very reasonable prices! About $ 10.00 for two lunches. Salad bar with interesting dressings (tofu dill and ginger, I think, among others). Veggie dish, rice, spicy chickpeas and chutneys: coconut and tamarind raisin. Very tasty!

went on christmas eve and it was absolutely divine. variety, delicious, and almost 100% vegan

Long Overdue. My buddy Jety Colcott introduced me to this place in 2010 and I loved it.
Everything was robustly spiced, fresh, and super flavorful. What a great idea. Could easily see eating there several times a week if I lived in the area.

This is what despair tastes like. After driving 500 miles, I brought my family in there on a Friday afternoon, just twenty minutes after they opened for dinner, and half the food looked like it had been sitting there all day, lonely, sad, and congealed. The staff seemed completely out of it, and the Hare Krishna music they were playing made me want to gouge out my ears.

Best food I had in a while, and I’m not even an Indian food fan. Delicious! Would go out of my way to eat here, I wish they had a chain of Govinda’s restaurants

Love this place. The food is beautifully spiced without being hot. Wonderful soups and the freshest salad bar in Eugene. The homemade salad dressings are superb — as is the Chai.

This place is great, my kids love it. The food is really fresh and always tasty. I am not a vegetarian, but have never been disappointed by the offerings. I highly recommend this place, the guy who runs it is really nice and the variety of dishes they offer is diverse. Always spiced terrifically and uniquely.

Visiting from Seattle we needed some good vegan food ! Loved this place ! The people were so friendly and helpful … The food was great … We will visit again.

Just OK. From Portland but would not drive 110miles to go back. Little on the expensive side as well.

Great small Vegetarian lunch buffet. Salad, Soup and Entrees. The flavors in all the dishes were fantastic. Great salad dressing choices.
Great healthy lunch option.

Delicious love it, eastern Indian influence. Great people, bohemian decorations… I’d come back for sure… Love there’s a vegetarian restaurant in Eugene close to home

I am not a vegetarian, however, I do like the food here. I think that it’s a little pricey for the food that is offered. They do put out smaller portions so food is fresher than other types of buffets that heap mounds of food out at a time. The breads are very good.

This is a yummy place to get a healthy meal. I always get the buffet and am happily satiated after eating there. They are good about labeling if there is dairy in the dishes which is great for vegans. Love the halva. Never know what the flavor will be so it is always a nice surprise.

The whole family loves the little buffet here. It’s quiet and the food is always delicious. We can even take our baby with us. It’s hard to find good affordable food for the kids. Great place to get your veggies!

Consistent with my overall goal to eat healthy, my wife and I decided to give Govinda’s a shot.
The restaurant is small, as it is in an old Taco Time location.
The lunch buffet is $ 8.95, and you pay first when you walk in.
They have a small salad bar, and the produce in it looked very fresh. Upon entering, I had asked the man behind the counter about what items have nuts in them, as I am mildly allergic. He was able to answer most of my questions, but was unsure on a couple items, so I had to steer clear of some entrees.
We showed up about 1:30, and they close lunch at 2, so maybe that may have contributed to the lackluster selection.
I had basmati rice, chick peas, some vegetable mixture (it said mixed vegetables), vegetable soup and gluten-​free cornbread.
The food was not bad by any means, but it also was not particularly inspiring. I was expecting more in the way of some unique Indian or ethnic dishes, I guess. The food also was not all that warm, consistent with sitting in the warmers for a while.
I’m willing to give it a shot again, either for dinner or earlier in the lunch hour, but overall, I wasn’t overly impressed, but it wasn’t terrible either. I might have given 3.5 stars if I could, which appears to be in line with the average rating on Unilocal for Govinda’s.

You can always count on the Hare Krishna’s for getting it right. Whether at a Rainbow Gathering in Northern California or New Delhi in India or in London or right here in Eugene I have always been satisfied with Hare Krishna’s food.
Govinda’s Vegetarian Buffet in Eugene does it right. You can either get food by the weight, soup/​bread, salad/​soup, or unlimited hot bar. If you are going to go up more than once (and if you brought your appetite you should) than the all you care to eat is the best value. The salad bar is pretty basic w/​mixed salad, chickpeas, cucs, bell peppers, tomatoes, and usual salad bar standards, but the real winners are made in house salad dressings. Today was Almond, Toasted Sesame, and Tofu Dill. All were spot on.
Hot bar included basmati rice, brown rice, coconut sauce, chard/​potato curry, chutney, and idili (fermented traditional South Indian breakfast). Two soups were on hand including split pea and veggie one.
Several in house homemade breads and even a gluten free buckwheat carob brownie for desert. This buffet rocks! Everything was vegan except one desert had dairy. The other time I went the bar was same, same, but different w/​a couple different hot bar items.
The value is great, affordable, healthy, and food tasty. I have spent a lot of time abroad in India and felt the spiciness level was a bit toned down, but they did have a cayenne sauce to heat things up and even Bragg! You can’t get Bragg in India, so that was a Eugene twist on things.
Highly recommend checking this place out if you haven’t already!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this place! The staff and owner are so friendly! The food is wonderful! Everything is so fresh and tasty especially the split pea soup. I have 4 young children and this is thier favorite restaurant they will eat everying on thier plate with no complete!

Govinda’s is unique, does its own thing very well, without trying to be something it’s not. So what is that thing that it does? It’s healthy (relatively speaking), delicious, affordable buffet food with an Indian flair.
Rather than overwhelm you with 47 choices, there is a nice salad bar with fresh ingredients and homemade dressings, two soups, a couple of entrees, and some freshly baked breads. Most everything is vegan, and everything I tasted was absolutely delicious.
I can’t wait to come back here. The only reason I gave it four instead of five stars is because the atmosphere is kind of poor. It feels old, drab, maybe a little dirty, and it was a little cold inside. Still, I’d rather it be this way than for them to move someplace nicer and raise prices.
Govinda’s is a great value with great flavors for folks who enjoy heavily spiced Indian-​style foods. Go there!

Ok vegetarian food. Not impressed with their service. I would have given it 3 stars but for the rudeness I encountered.
They need smaller bowls for the various sauces and curries. I was trying to put the coconut sauce in the large soup bowl, since I don’t like all the liquids running together and the owner came by and said «that is not a soup. you are taking too much sauce» and proceeded to put it back in the tray. WTF? Who does that? I told him that he needs smaller bowls for the sauces. He just snickered.
The food is not very flavorful since onions and garlic are not used in the cooking for religious reasons. Go is you have to have a vegetarian buffet but I felt like my $ 8.95 would be better spent at Evergreen or Taste of India where I can shoose to eat all the vegetarian items on their buffet. They have a ton of vegetarian choices and use onion and garlic in their cooking.