Shalimar Restaurant

Best restaurant in the Bay Area! The service is okay but the food is out of this world! This place is dangerous because after your first bite, it’s over! Very addictive and great atmosphere!

Pakistani Food. Taste is very good. Service is okay. Ambience is casual self serve. Portions is on the smaller side. For 6 adults, we ordered 7 items with 6 Nan bread total bill was over $ 75. This is a very popular place a bit pricey, but it is still one of our favorite places. I do recommend people trying it.

A very sad update: Finally the downfall of this once «immortal» restaurant has been scripted, every good beginning has a sad end in food industry. Just about everything that made this place the best in Bay Area has been reverse engineered & taken to the extreme negative co-​ordinate of the spectrum. Service, food quality, quantity everything has died a painful death, eventually resulting in the demise of its superstar status. RIP Shalimar, u will be missed.

Driving through Fremont with my parents, we were all hangry and upset, stopped here for lunch as it had the highest Unilocal recommendation. Not only were we not disappointed, it blew us away! Food was delicious, freshly prepared and authentic, a real cut above most established indian restaurants in the Bay Area. Atmosphere is busy and chaotic but it’s almost a part of the charm, and it’s no wonder with how good the food is. This spot is a hidden gem.

Agree that their food is not bad. But their service is worst then ever, especially the one in Walnut — Fremont.
Their nan is so bad that by the time you start to eat your food, it will turn as hard as a biscuit. Try taking the nan for to go and by the time you get home, you can’t eat that anymore. It will turn into a toast. I feel this place is just running on hype from the Indian/​Pakistani community. There are tons of good Pakistani places which are worth going to. Their service is extremely, other than two guys all the servers extremely rude.
Avoid going to this place.

Da boss on da register don’t take no sh*t…give him yo
Order and sit the «F» down he ain’t interested in what you think you want… be thankful he ain’t punk yo in front of everyone… Took me a while to get the routine down but it’s all good cuz the food is worth it… you heard me, order, sit, eat… this places is awesome… mahaloz be back soon

What the F…**k! Bull shit response by the person who attended the phone cal.
I made a cal to restaurant for a pickup the person who attended my cal spoke to me in a rude manner & kept me on hold for more than 10 minutes & I asked him to suggest me a curry he’s just shouting on me instead of suggesting me the food .! & I sThis is not fair i don’t even give single * for this restaurant

On Monday night, my fiancé and I door dashed Indian from Chutney. I’m not usually one to eat Indian, but it was so good that I wanted to do Indian a second time this week. My coworker suggested Shalimar saying it was Fremont’s best Indian. WRONG! So wrong.
Upon opening our food, we encountered the following problems:
A) 2 of our 4 pieces of naan (at $ 2.50 each) were burned.
B) The palak paneer had a layer of oil and a soup like consistency. Ew. Not to mention it had zero flavor.
C) The chicken tikka masala had an even larger layer of oil and soupier (straight up water) consistency. It also lacked any flavor and had a hint of spice as an after taste.
D) The mango lassi and basmati rice were equally underwhelming.
If I had been served this in the restaurant, I would have sent my food back and left without paying. This is absolutely horrid. So on top of a $ 50 bill (because of the $ 6 door dash fee and tip for the driver), my fiancé now has to go and buy us food from somewhere else.
Basically, if I had to sum this up: This is the food I would expect if one of my friends from Indian descent decided to try and make Indian food for the first time while seriously intoxicated in the dark. DISGUSTING! Will never return and will suggest my friends steer clear as well.

We have been coming to this restaurant for more than 10 years. The food consistency that we can really count on. We usually order saag gosht, chicken kofta, and the mixed veggies. Food is consistently high quality. The fresh baked Naan here is so
good that it has totally spoiled us into being disappointed when we get Naan anyplace else. You have to queue up to place your order, remember to tell the order taker your table number, and the server will bring food to your table.

Probably the best Indian/​Pakistani food that I’ve had in a long time, hits pretty close to homemade goodness. And they treat you like family, dishes are fairly portioned and meant to be eaten family style, the tea is complimentary and super delicious! Tip: it’s pretty packed and busy during lunch time so it might be hard to find a clean table. So order first and then sit down after. It helps keep the flow of the restaurant going. Things could be a bit tidier but I came for the food, not the ambiance! Would definitely love to come back next time I’m in town.
I ordered the chicken jalfrezi (my favorite!), the okra, chicken sikh kebab, and chicken tikka masala. It was ALL wonderful.

First off, I’m white so I’m in no way a great judge of curries. However, my husband was born and raised in southern India and he mentions this place up every time we are near Fremont. He is funny because he goes on about their beef curry even though he won’t eat it for cultural reasons. As such, I haven’t tried the beef curry yet because I am in the habit of sharing dishes with him.
We ordered the palak paneer and lamb curry with the house rice and plain naan. I could taste the difference spices right off the bat. It was a welcome change from the Andhra recipes I’m used to. The mutton was tender and melted in my mouth and the palak was noticeably fresh.
With free refills on Chai and awesome curries, I will definitely be back with my husband.

Everyone is always mentioning that their food has lot of oil. We have always loved their food but felt the same about the oil. Last ramzan we really were craving some Pakistani food and decided to give Shalimar a try again.
It has changes tremendously. The service is more like a self serve and I can’t talk on other aspects like cleanliness but a good place for a Togo or if you don’t care for anything but taste.

The order process is a bit slow, but otherwise a great food experience.
I had to line up to order and the line moved a bit slowly. Maybe they should handle their orders using WiFi tablets, and add a few more order stations during peak times.
We got the Nihari, beef Kabab, and chicken Haleem. Everything was delicious and obviously freshly made. I’ll repeat this experience for sure.
A very good mix of vegetarian and non-​vegetarian options.
Please identify your table before you sit down, as they’ll ask your seat location when you order.
Parking is pretty convenient, there’s a huge shopping plaza right next door.

This is a casual dining place, do not expect it to be classy or date worthy. My friend’s usually get a take out from here. This was my first time trying it and it wasn’t bad.
My friend did most of the ordering, we got few plates of chicken and goat curries (I forget the exact name) along with naan and tandoori chicken.
The food might seem a bit on the oily side but can be ignored if you don’t eat here everyday. They do have some special items on their menu like Nihari and brain masala which are not available in the other Indian restaurants around.

A couple of corrections to note:
1) the online menu linked to Shalimar is incorrect. The menu at the restaurant has higher prices for the chicken and beef kabobs and various other dishes.
2) they do accept card
This restaurant came recommended by a friend and at first look at the menu the food sounded delicious. We ordered take out which included chicken and beef kabobs, okra, daal, rice and naan. The kabobs were quite thin and small. The vegetable dishes were spicy (which I should have expected) however my tastebuds were not quite prepared for the heat and it was loaded with a lot of oil. The naan and rice were fine.
The service was so so. The guy who took my order was not friendly, all business. I felt like he had no patience to answer questions. His only task was getting the line moving.
It was quite crowded and it felt too chaotic from looking inside to the kitchen staff to the dining area.
I wouldn’t return only because the environment was too crazy, the quantity and quality of the food just did not equal the price, and there are no kid friendly food dishes.

Shalimar was across the street from my previous job and we would eat here at least once or twice a month (if not more). I love Indian food and Shalimar is no exception. I love getting the Daal Masala which is simple and quite filling. My coworkers were quite fond of various dishes including Chicken Tikka Masala, Palak Aloo Methi, Okra, Murgh Boti Tandoori, and Okra. I’ve tried a few of their other dishes and find that a lot of the dishes are good but quite oily — especially if you’re ordering to go. I’m talking about 1 cm layer of oil sitting on top of your food. My coworkers would usually take a spoon and styrofoam cup to remove it from their food and it was good to go. Make sure you order rice and naan as it is not included in your meal, especially the garlic naan! If you’re looking for something sweet to go along with your meal, do get a mango lassi too!
If you’re walking or driving in this area just roll down your window and you’re sure to smell delicious food in the air. Sadly I no longer work in Fremont and won’t be able to eat here as often as I’d like, but I do see that there is a Shalimar close to where I live so I know I’ll be able to get my fix when I want it!

I want to start this off by saying please forgive me for not being able to name anything I’ve eaten here, as when I visited this restaurant, it was with 2 Indian coworkers who took the liberty of ordering for the table. So while the only thing i know the name of that we got was Tandori chicken, i can at least describe what the rest was. However theres really no point to doing so as it was all fantastic.
The highlight of the meal was a goats foot/​ankle soup that my coworker insisted I try. It was fantastic, and I will definitely come back here again next time I am in the bay for work.

After trying Pakwan and not being too satisfied about the Indian food there, I found myself at Shalimar through many recommendations from my friends.
Pros:
+ The food is delicious. We ordered the saag gosht and nihari, and both were yummy!
+ Plenty of seating
+ They give you water pitchers! Big plus for restaurants that do this (I like to be hydrated)
+ Garlic naan: VERY garlicky, and I read some other reviewers complain about this but I actually liked it!
+ What I recommend: saag gosht, nihari, and garlic naan (only if you really really really love garlic)
Cons:
— Price: I find the food to be pretty expensive, especially relative to the portions given. However, I don’t come across cheap Indian food often…
Overall: I will definitely be coming to Shalimar more often to satisfy my Indian food cravings!

Foodgasm over the Lamb Curry but it’s not something I feel comfortable eating on the reg cause as you can see from the pictures, the curry sits in a pool of oil and grease. (Minus one) The naan disappointed me. But the tandoori chicken was tender, not dry like a lot of places. The spices were perfect.
Here’s how Shalimar works, grab a table, remember the number of where you set your stuff down and get in line. Make sure you grabbed a paper menu from the front of the line to preview. (Yep that line goes all the way to the door) then the guy at the register will bark at you in a heavy accent. (Minus one)
There’s free chai (tea)…don’t drink it. It’s gross.
The Mango Lassi is good though. :)
Come here once in a while to make your mouth moan but don’t become a regular! Your doctor will find out!!!

My husband and I ate here today for our first time. He was craving middle eastern food and so I selected this restaurant solely based on the excellent Unilocal reviews.
We walked in, went to the counter, got a menu and sat down. Hubby went to order our food. I tried the chicken masala and he got a lamb dish and we had rice and naan to go with it. The people working there were very friendly! They brought our food to us along with plates and silverware.
The food was delicious!!! You also must try the sauce in the green bottle in the fridge. It has cilantro and other stuff in it but it was awesome! Overall, excellent food and service! Will for sure be going back!