Shabnum

My bro and I were cruising down El Camino hoping to satisfy a late night craving for some naan and tandoori whatever thinking, hey any place along El Camino SHOULD be good, there’s so much competition out there that the not-​so-​great restaurants ought to be filtered out! Unfortunately that was not the case at Shabnum.
We arrived for their dinner buffet attractively priced below $ 10… unfortunately as the other reviews have mentioned, you kind of get what you pay for. The first thing I noticed wasn’t the nice odor of freshly made food… instead I noted the ever so familiar smell of trash wafting through the entire restaurant… Sure ok, the place smells a bit funky but hey, I’ve smelled worse and the food has been fine elsewhere. Hopefully this place would be the same! Unfortunately as we approached the buffet bar I couldn’t help but notice how long some of this stuff may have been sitting out there. Each curry based dish seemed to have glazed over… most likely sitting untouched for HOURS before we even got there. Judging by the look of things, I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys made these buffet trays the night before and decided to reserve them to cut down on costs. Taste wise, everything felt really bland and while I wouldn’t say stale… there was something about it (beyond appearances) that made it taste like it’d been sitting around for a while. The one saving grace was the Tandoori chicken… that dish combined with the low price helped earn Shabnum another star.
Pros: Cheap
Cons: Funky smell, mediocre quality food
Verdict: Skip it unless you’re on a tight budget. Better to be had on the Real

The chicken biryani was extremely hot (fire!) and unpalatable after 4 mouthfuls. They should ask people as to how hot they want it. Gave me heartburn and nightmares. They could have done a better job there. Chana masala, naan/​roti was pretty good though.

You get what you pay for– while relatively cheap, the quality of the food is just as low. $ 7.99 for the lunch buffet and $ 8.99 for the dinner buffet, respectively, which include basmati rice, naan, three or four meat dishes (i.e., tandoori chicken, lamb, etc.), three or four vegetarian dishes (i.e., eggplant, spinach w/​paneer, etc.), samosas and other fried appetizers, some fruit and sweets, and milk tea.
It’s very possible that some (if not all) of the dishes from the dinner buffet were lunch time leftovers, since quite a few– particularly the potatoes and eggplant– were stale and cold. Even if the food had been hot and fresh, the flavor wasn’t particularly good compared to other Indian restaurants along El Camino Real. The price is cheap, but again, you get what you pay for.

The service was the highlight of our experience. It was warm and attentive. I had the 4 year old with me and she had a grand time making lettuce wraps with rice & butter chicken & the wait staff had a great sense of humor about the little messes she left. Very personable staff.
Of the food, the butter chicken was the best, though Café Raj in Albany has far better butter chicken. I did have seconds of the butter chicken.
The food in general did not have the best flavor, though it was particularly fresh. The «curry» chicken was pretty bad and kept me from trying the other «curry» dishes. They had Goat Curry, which I suppose is good if you like goat and buffets, but I do not like goat so did not try it. The samosa were crumbly– they fell apart and were not particularly good. Veggie pakora and palak paneer were decent, passable.
I would give the food 2 stars, which is «I will eat it again, but probably not pay my own money for it. I will not seek it out.» I bumped them to 3 stars because the price is amazingly cheap, $ 12 total for 2 buffet lunches and a soda (with coupon) and because they people were so nice and gave good service. I would agree to go here if my dining partner wanted to, but wouldn’t seek it out.

First off, let it be said that the lunch we went to was $ 6.99 buffet, with dinner only a dollar more. So anyone reading (or writing) here should take that into account and if they are looking for something more should drive on down the road to Amber or Shiva’s. Both my girlfriend and I thought our meal was a great value, with particular love going to the butter chicken. She also liked that tea came with the meal and was not charged separately. I give the service 5 stars, for being friendly and attentive throughout our meal. I don’t claim to be a good judge of «authentic» Indian food, but I have eaten it quite a bit and I was smiling when I walked out the door. Which is all you can ask for, especially when lunch is only $ 6.99. There are many Indian food places to eat along the El Camino, make this one of your stops when your wallet feels a little light.

Very tasty okra dish! Went here for lunch and had the buffet. The naan is made to order instead of being served at the buffet table. Very nice atmosphere — and great service. I will be back!

I didn’t die from eating here (yet). I can’t say much more that’s positive. The food was not good.
When we entered this cold, seemingly air-​conditioned (or at least unheated) restaurant, we were offered only the buffet, featuring an assortment of generic «North Indian» dishes. I was hesitant to eat at an evening buffet, and tend to avoid buffets in general, but my friend seemed eager to try it. The yellow dal was just bad. Chicken dishes (qorma and butter chicken) were nothing out of the ordinary. The quality was what you would expect in an area where most of the population knows nothing about Indian food, and standards are correspondingly low. It’s a level that will be completely inadequate in this area, which is full of native eaters.
They advertise themselves as a chaat venue. I suppose it’s possible they could survive on that business if they manage to do it with any finesse, but I have my doubts. In any case, when we asked about chaat they had only two items they could offer us, and we passed on them. (They were both items on the buffet that they would simply have covered with chhole and chutney.)
This location has seen a rapid succession of failed restaurants: Flavors, Swati Tiffins, and Passions. Shabnum does not seem destined to break this pattern.