Himalayan Kitchen

When I was told we were going to have himalayan food for lunch I was excited but I had no idea what to expect. I had a vision of sherpas and mules carrying a box of dehydrated backpackers meals to the table. When we walked in I saw 90% Indian folks and what I was afraid was going to be just another Indian Buffet. Well the good news is there were no mules or sherpas but the bad news was that this was just another indian buffet…
The only thing I saw as unique about this place was that they actually had a decent beer selection. They had a few Indian standards in small and large bottles and they even had some IPA’s to choose from. I’m not sure why I was surprised as the India Pale Ale got its name from the addition of extra hops as a preservative in the beer used to keep sailors happy during long trade voyages to India.
The food was very much the same as you would expect from any Indian buffet, Chicken Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken, Biryani, Naan… They had one section that was all vegetarian as you would expect and another full of curried up meats like chicken and goat.
There was one dish that stood out to me as unique. They were little donut shaped corn fritters that I have never eaten and they were quite good. Being deep fried I could only have a couple but they did leave a lasting impression.
Admittedly I am not the biggest fan of Indian food, especially buffets, but the place was packed with mostly Indians so they are probably a better judge than I am. A long line grew outside the door as we ate our meal and we could feel the pressure to free up the table from the staff. The huge crowd they draw is likely due to the fair prices and abundance of food.
I will probably visit Tibet before I actually eat here again but you should give them a try for yourself.

First, this is not a Nepalese restaurant even though name, menu, website says so. It is an indian restaurant with okay-​ish food.

Great fresh indian tastes. Bright, bold, and order unusual parts of the menu — like Pepper Chicken from the Chettinad side. Don’t expect your northern indian american menu (although they have some of those dishes).
Very reasonable prices, and a great blend of explosive taste with reasonable price. Compare it to some of the more expensive places — it’s just as good, more authentic. You won’t be treated like a Raj, but you’ll get great tastes. Great take-​out experience too, and a location right near the 101 – 85 intersection means you can order by phone and quickly pickup.

I was pretty hesitant to try this place since he and I have such different tastes in Indian food apparently … but after some convincing I decided to pick up some to go from Himalayan Kitchen.
The first thing you will notice when eating here is that you will be hard pressed to find someone who isn’t Indian or middle eastern. This made me pretty confident since Panda Express is seldom filled with a bunch of Asian folks …
Perhaps I’m deviating here, but the point is, this place is authentic. The flavors are spot on and the food was fairly delicious and very affordable. The lamb curry was bomb, and spicy almost KO’d him. I liked the chicken tikki marsala but this is clearly not what they’re known for. I’d stick with the goat and lamb and other types of less dairy based curries since they seem to do that extremely well here.
Naan to go is almost never a good idea, so I can’t speak to the quailty of the naan but the whole thing was still pretty good. I’d come back!

great dosas and amazing service. I will go back :)

I had their buffet lunch and OMG some of the dishes are seriously spicy. Everything is tasty here, especially the naan. They take their spices seriously.

Oh man they gotten worse i spent 55 dollars today for taste less and uncooked
I ordered
Veg.
Bhindi masala. no good ⁰⁄₅
Baigain bhartha ⁰⁄₅
Fish tikka nothing speacial best in town is kabob and curry so 3 outta 5
Chicken 65 ⁴⁄₅
Riata for one dollar 50 cent ⁰⁄₅ tiny portion
Carriot halwa way too much sugar ²⁄₅

Awesome paneer vijayawada biryani. Nice taste and lot of paneer! Tomato Soup was not creamy and thick at all. Punugulu was ok. Would go back for the biryani! Lot of menu options to chose from.

This place had 4 stars 2 years ago and there is a reason why it has gotten worse.
We literally walked out of the restaurant without even placing an order after waitin for 20 min. The guy at the desk was despicably rude.
We waited there for a while and it was well past 2 and most of the dishes at the buffet were empty. I politely asked if there will be refills (just so we wanted to be sure it was worth waiting longer)
The guy at the desk rudely blurts «go and check everything is there did u check now go check» i said i checked few of the dishes were empty. He yells back «go check now» excuse me? we were still in the line and is this how they address their customers. And definitely thats not the kind of rudity u would want to deal on a weekend. We were all excited n prepped for a sunday lunch definitely will never return to this spoil sport.
Secondly they are neither nepalian nor himalayan. Which himalayan cuisine serves rasam and chicken 65. It takes some nerves to lie about the cusine they are serving.
There is no dearth of indian place to put up with their slights and tantrums. If the management do not teach their staffs on manners n hospitality no amount of good food will be enough to run their business. Esp with places like ulavacharu and appa kadai serving more authentic south indian cusine with way better service!

Ok, I came here for lunch with my brother, niece, and father. For some reason my father has been raving about this place and claims it’s one of his favorites, and my brother said it was pretty good. I haven’t been here before as I now only occasionally visit the bay area… so ok, lets give this lunchtime buffet a try.
A very typical small and minimally decorated casual restaurant… one of those places you supposedly go to for the food and not the ambiance. By 12pm the places has already filled up, but we managed to get seated at one of the two tables still available. Before we even sit down at the table we’re already in line at the buffet to start piling up our plates. They have the usual spread of dry and curried items, and salad/​fruits/​desserts. My eyes scanned the whole buffet table looking for my favorite Saag Paneer, but there was none to be found… bummer! I knew enough to be very careful what to pick as you fill up very fast on this food… and the free naan breads which are brought to your table later.
Ok, I’m not sure what the hooha is about this place, but I thought the food was only slightly above average compared to the many I’ve tried in the bay area over the years. The chicken kebab was the most disappointing being really dry… where I had to dip it in the daal (lentil curry) just to get it moist. The Tandoori Chicken wasn’t too bad… at least it was moist and tender. The bread was good and fresh out of the oven.
But man… shortly after we had say down to start eating, the buffet line grew so long inside the restaurant… by people who had just walked in and not even seated at a table yet! What’s even more surprising was the crowd waiting outside the doors waiting to get in. What!!! Really?! When I mentioned how surprised I was with the crowd here given the average quality of the food, my brother did admit that today wasn’t up to their usual standard and he too was a bit disappointed today.
My father paid for our lunch today and I heard the buffet cost $ 11.99 per person… woooow, I thought! I still remember the days when I lived in the bay area and a good Indian buffet was going for $ 5.99 per person… seems like it was just yesterday!

This place should be on your Indian Food shortlist for the South Bay. I used to live across the street from Himalayan Kitchen and have had it several times. They also catered a wedding I attended. On a recent cold night I came here famished. We ordered three dishes which was way too much food; it was all delish! We got Vijayawada Biryani (chicken; no bones), lamb vindaloo, and butter chicken. I was most impressed with the Biryani – the meat was spiced nicely and it was a generous portion. The vindaloo was also tasty (we ordered it with extra spice level) but the portion was a little small. The atmosphere of the place is bustling, with people coming and out to pick up their takeout orders (always a good sign). They have two TVs and plenty of seating to accommodate the droves of regulars. Service was attentive and quick. I haven’t tried their buffet yet but I’m curious to find out how it compares to my usual favorite buffet at Shiva.

Generally the place is good. Have gone at least a dozen of times. But today’s trip was sad and hurt.
If asked till before today’s experience, I would have recommended this place to be the best or second best Indian place in all of Bay Area.
But today I ordered egg kothu patantha (usually best in Bay Area after aachi appa kadai) was painfully oily, hard and not tasty.
I ordered paneer bhurji dosa (ordered first time here) and it felt like they didn’t know how to prepare paneer bhurji and dosa.
I ordered chana masala and chapati to go. And they packed tandoori roti. Chole are okayish.
Very disappointed…

I’ve never had Himalayan food before and was excited to come here with co-​workers.
We went during lunch to try their lunch buffet.
I was expecting a sampling of Himalayan food but the buffet offerings seemed to be like other Indian buffets. I really wanted to try Momos! Will have to come again separately to order this on it’s own.
Compared to other Indian buffets I’ve frequented: Peacock, Sakoon, Kabob’s and Curry, I prefer those due to more variety of food (even though they are pricier)

Wonderful little hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant that is affordable, friendly, and authentically delicious!
Pros:
— Start off with FREE chai … That’s right, complimentary beverages for all!
— But you might want a $ 2 mango lassi, which is exceptional.
— If you’ve never been here before, the thali (a combo platter of about 10 things) is a great way to sample the variety here.
— Great for vegetarians!
— Did I mention they make Tibetan momos? They are little dumplings filled with curry flavored fillings accompanied with a creamy spicy dipping sauce.
Cons:
None so far!

Came here for an lunch around 11:30. The restaurant was packed 15 minutes later, so I’m definitely glad I dodged that.
Most people opted for the lunch buffet (which smelled and looked delicious), but my party opted to order our own dishes instead.
Our table shared 3 plates of Momos. They reminded me of steamed Chinese dumplings but spicier. The meat filling was smooth and flavorful. In terms of spice levels, it has a nice kick but not spicy enough for me to immediately reach for my water glass. I didn’t dip them into the sauce because the waiter said it was a «spicy» sauce and I knew I definitely could not handle it. But I highly recommend ordering this dish!
I also got the chicken tikka kebabs with a side of plain basmati. I did not expect it to come out on a sizzling plate, so needless to say, it was HOT both temperature wise and in terms of spice level. I drank, like, 3 glasses of water within half an hour cuz I’m a weak sauce. Chicken was pretty juicy but other than that, the dish was pretty standard. I found myself reaching back to get more momos in between bites of chicken.
Kind of a common sense tip, but just like if you were going to a Korean bbq place, don’t wear any nice clothes that you wouldn’t want smelling like food after (woops).
Overall, the restaurant is clean and looks relatively newly remodeled. There are big screenTVs playing (Indian?) soap operas and a cricket game. I’d be inclined to stop by again for lunch if i was in the area and in the mood for Himalayan.

This review is for the lunch buffet only.
Quite the mashup of regional food here at HK. The menu offers a selection of South Indian, North Indian, Nepalese and Himalayan (whatever that means). But what I found here at midday was a Indian lunch buffet, and at an extremely good price. ($ 10). Compared to other bay area Indian buffets, this is an absolute steal. Could the quality still measure up?
The answer was YES… mostly. It’s not the absolute best Indian buffet I’ve been to, but the overall quality was above average. I’ve had some very tasty dishes here, but I’ve also found a few dishes I thought were a bit boring; but none that I truly disliked.
Offerings included a few chaat items, sambar, rice, 6 – 7 veggie dishes, 4 – 5 meat items, salad and 2 desserts. Pretty typical, but the price also included chai tea, which was a nice perk.
Best items so far: chili chicken, saag paneer, curry chicken. I also like the fact that they threw in some unique items like goat curry and «bottle-​gourd fry». (say what?)
On the ‘meh’ side — The butter chicken seems to be a constant buffet feature but is a bit disappointing; with a thin, boring sauce. Shame. I wish they would pick up their game on this dish.
Like most buffets of good repute, HK delivers fresh naan to the table, not hour-​old naan drying out on a buffet tray. But unfortunately they are quite pokey with the delivery. (With so many patrons flowing through here, you’d think they would have an assembly line system). On my last visit, they forgot the naan completely and I had to give them a gentle reminder after my first plate was done. Points off for that. (The naan, however, was excellent, with just the right combo of crispy and chewy)
Not spectacular; and with the occasional service kinks, but a good place to scratch the Indian lunch buffet itch without blowing the bank. I’m a fan; and it goes on my regular rotation.

Himalayan Kitchen is easily one of the best places to offer amazing briyani (chicken with bones & boneless). I have tried only briyani and some appetizers and all of them were great. The quantity is also good for the amount that you pay. I suggest that you get 2 briyani’s for dinner and it will be sufficient for next day lunch too.
I Love it at any time!

Himalayan Kitchen was certainly a pleasant experience with delicious food. I went with the Lamb Tikka Masala which was excellent. The subtle differences between Himalayan/​Nepalese/​Indian food is beyond my taste buds, so sorry I can’t provide a better description. To me, it tasted similar to other Indian tikka masala I’ve had: rich, creamy sauce with no spicyness. In fact, I could have used more spice, haha.
We tried several types of roti including the garlic and the butter. The garlic is super garlic-​y, so I’d recommend it to garlic lovers exclusively. The butter, was of course delicious. What food with butter is not delicious?!
To end the meal we had to go with Mango & Sticky rice. The sticky rice was as good as I was hoping and the mangos were perfectly ripe.
Very happy with my meal here, I’ll keep this place on the radar :)

The food here was solid… didn’t blow my mind necessarily, but it was good enough. I don’t know what constitutes Himalayan food — the menu here seems mostly like Indian food. In any case, who cares what it is as long as it tastes good, right?
Goat biriyani was flavorful and a huge portion. Onion dosa was also quite large and tasty. Momos tasted fine but skin is a little thick for my liking though it may be that is traditional.
Service was very friendly and helpful. Prices were very reasonable.

Wow what a huge renovation!
Excellent and tasty menu with classic dining :)
The staff welcome you immediately and remember your face
.