Steps Of India

I was shocked to hear that this restaurant had closed. The lady that ran the business obviously worked so very hard and created a business that was a regular haunt for my wife and I. The buffet was always excellent, with varied offerings all the time. Naan breads, Kormas, Masalas, Chicken Tikka, Aloo Ghobi, etc. etc. Really good food all washed down with some excellent beers like Flying Horse or Kingfisher…
Having spent a significant amount of time in India for work, this was my favorite Indian restaurant in the Bay Area — so unpretentious.
Thank you for your efforts while you were there…

The lady who owned the place was really nice, and very talented. And worked long hours. Too bad so many mean Unilocalers took a toll on her with their complaining and one star reviews. Pretty soon all that will be left will be Taco Bell, McDonalds, and Panda Express. Mean Unilocalers are unforgiving In their whiny approach to sticking a knife into small business. Mean Unilocalers should try running a business and see what’s it’s like to deal with rising food costs, landlords, the IRS, sales tax auditors, and asshole customers. It is true that some businesses deserve to die if they constantly fail. But it is also true, that Unilocal has many many evil sniveling mean reviewers.

Was there last week and it was closed and being replaced by another restaurant.
Looks like this place changed ownership at some point in time because when it first opened up, it was AOK.

I wouldn’t go to this place again. The taste of the food is far below what could be considered the standard for Indian buffet dishes in the Bay Area; and there are only six to select from. The handwritten signs and the poor service add to the overall ambience and earn it a solid one star.

I wish I could give 0 star.
Food was lousy in the buffet, and they did not replenish the food & dessert.
Service was very poor, too. He would not bring naan or water unless specifically asked.
I would not recommend this to anyone.

I have to downgrade this place a notch.
The service kinda sucks.
I ordered a chicken curry and the chicken breast was so dry and overcooked. The saag-​panner is still the bomb which is why they are A-​OK and not Yay I’m a Fan. Naan is pretty good too. I hope it’s not trending down because there’s plenty of other places to get Indian food and it just means I will have to start searching for a good spot.

I have seen in Unilocal that people had the same (bad) experience at a particular place even when they re-​visit that place after a long time. But I cant believe I had 3 bad things happened in my first visit at steps of india. Let me share those in here:
1) in the glass of water that they brought for my wife, there were small hairs floating. Immediately my wife caught that and well they changed that, though without any apology.
2) we were eating the lunch buffet and while we were eating our dessert, this time again my wife found an admirable, jaw dropping healthy long hair. Well fortunately we deserved the apology this time since we received it. Although the servant ruined the apology by saying that «it happens» :|
3) Usually there is an unwritten rule, that if there is a problem with ones food, either there should be an exchange/​refund for that person. My wife didnt get that and we were fare welled with a check which even if the food didnt contain contamination! wont deserve that amount.
This restaurant might be good at some time, but recently, i highly doubt it.

Extremely bad experience !!!
We came today, it was buffet and table was dirty, place was smelly.
We continued picking up food and found that even food was crappy & cold.
in dessert they had Gulab Jamun and its flavor was terrible with too much of cinnamon in it, so much that you will start hating cinnamon after eating it.
I do not write bad review very often.

Dont even think of trying this place. Worst food around san jose. Even onions were not fresh.

Fantastic food — the lunch is specially great value… 1 bucks for a full course Indian meal including dessert and appetizers is an outstanding deal.
Minus one star for no changing table in the restroom

small buffet but REALLY REALLY GOOD FOOD!!! I was quite pleased w the new flavors of each dish, which I had never tasted in all the Indian food that I’ve had. I’ve been to many indian restaurants & the quality of the food & cleansiness of the environment was impressive for how small & homi this place is. Highly recommended!
After lunch/​dinner check out the International Market just next door which also makes this place a new frequent stopping ground for me! I’m stoke to find this place & hope you do too!!!

I went for lunch buffet. As for buffet, the selection is too less.
Presentation: average
Taste: average
Price:too expenseive for the lmited buffet selection.
Service: good
I didn’t find anything special in this restaurant.

Was craving Indian food last night and decided to try someplace new. I opted for this place based upon all of the rave Unilocal reviews about the Chicken Tikka Masala, which is my usual «go to» dish. I ordered take out as it was a PJ and movie kinda night and didn’t want to deal with the whole sit down thing.
The location is easy to find, but I couldn’t help but notice that the place was literally empty. Not one single table was taken, so either it was a movie night for everyone else too or maybe there’s more to this place than the stellar Unilocal reviews might lead on.
I ordered garlic naan and chicken tikka masala for two. The garlic naan smelled delish getting in the car so we decided to snack on some on the ride home and sadly it was the WORST garlic naan ever. I didn’t even think it was possible to mess up naan, but they did. The issue was that it was LOADED with RAW garlic. Garlic takes a little longer to cook than naan does, so when I make it at home I usually roast the garlic a bit before putting it on the naan, they clearly did not do that. So that was a wrap neither myself nor my friend wanted to eat the naan anymore. Waste of $ 5 ($ 2.50 per order).
The Chicken Tikka Masala was runny, and had only like 6 pieces of DRY chicken so it was pretty chintsey and on top of that the flavor was all bad. Way too much cinnamon and the overall flavor was pretty sweet. Needless to say that is NOT how Chicken Tikka is supposed to taste. The only good thing about the $ 40 dinner was that it came with free rice. I would never go here again and will be sticking to my usual spot from now on. Check out my other reviews to find my other spot if you’re interested.
I would venture to guess that the people who like this place, probably don’t know what good Indian food is. I may be a white girl, but this white girl knows Indian! :)

Steps is my favorite Indian restaurant in the bay area. The food has a Goan influence to it, that’s what makes it unique. The food is very flavorful. The tikka masala is my favorite. So tangy and delicious. The fish curry is also really good. I also like any of the Vindaloos.
I’ve also been here for the lunch buffet. It’s good, but I prefer to order ala carte.

I find it difficult to understand why a restaurant will turn down customers! We called for takeout last weekend in the afternoon and the person on the phone said they only have buffet. Really? Another time we called at night an hour before closing time and were told that the kitchen is closed. I mean wow! Tonight when I called and asked them to put some chopped onion with my order, I was told they do not have onion. An indian restaurant kitchen does not have onion! How is that even possible?
Unfortunately, there are NO good indian restaurants in the Cambrian park area and the only good dish steps of india has to offer is tandoori chicken everything else they have on the menu is not at all authentic. So I only get tandoori chicken from them and the 1 star is for that!
The staff does not even know who owns the restaurant. This only shows how much the management cares for their business! I am not sure how long they will be able to carry on this way! Sad!

Really great service and delicious food. We were greeted by a handshake upon entering, and our water glasses were constantly refilled. Stuff like that shows how attentive the staff is to you and your table.
My bf and I ordered the paneer tikka masala, saag paneer, mango lassi, and garlic naan. All delicious and as with all Indian food, really filling. We had enough leftovers for one of us to have a second meal.
At the end, they gave small tasters of dessert for free, and when I presented my coupon for 10% off, they applied it graciously (idk about anyone else but some places take your coupons with utmost unhappiness and it’s like well why are you offering it then?). Anyway, despite the décor being cheesy and nothing special, I had a nice dinner, super tasty and pleasant. Will definitely come by again.

I am a little confused by this place. I read that it has gone downhill, and it certainly has the indicators. The lunch buffet was without flavor, but abundant and cheap. Almost every dish had the same beige color. I did arrive near the end of buffet service, so the food had been sitting out a while in the warming dishes.
Sadly, the credit card machine didn’t work after many tries and was either broke or the employee was confused about how to operate it, so most of the customers left the restaurant without paying.

I was craving a really spicy curry dish as I started to get sick (hoping to just get rid of all the bad stuff in my system). I ordered Chicken Tikka Masala (medium spicy) and Garlic Naan. The Naan was really good; soft, VERY garlicky (literally, could have been a whole garlic head on two pieces of naan). The tikka masala had good flavor, but I was really disappointed that it wasn’t spicy (I didn’t break a sweat or anything). That didn’t stop me from devouring it either way. So it’s a good local place to go to satisfy a craving, but I’ve had better.

I am a bit torn about this place. The wait staff was quite curt, leaving much to be desired in the service. There were good things about the food, and bad things about the food. We had the lobster samosas, lamb tikka masala, the mattar paneer, regular naan, garlic naan, and basmati rice.
Lobster Samosas: I’d say skip the samosas — it was so heavily spiced that we couldn’t really taste the lobster.
Lamb Tikka Masala: This dish was amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love chicken tikka masala, and it’s even better with lamb. It was nice to have the usual delicious creamy sauce, but with large tender juicy chunks of lamb instead!
Mattar Paneer: Softest paneer I’ve ever had. It was great! Usually it is firm and a bit chalky (but still great); yet here, the paneer is very soft and tender. However, the curry was FULL of ginger chunks. This ruined the dish, and a few other reviewers have mentioned the ginger in their dishes too.
Regular naan: This is my complaint with Steps of India: even though the naan was hot, it was thin and hard instead of fluffy and fresh tasting. We suspected it was just reheated naan.
Garlic naan: Same as the regular naan. But I’ll give them credit that there is TONS of garlic on it, so if you’re a garlic lover, this is truly strong garlic naan.
Basmati rice: Comes with your curry orders. Much better than the naan.
As you can see, there were pros and cons about this place! I’d come back for the lamb tikka masala alone, skip the naan (so sad!), and start requesting no ginger in all my dishes.
TLDR: Come for the lamb tikka masala! Naan seems reheated, and be careful of the ginger!

Lunch buffet only review:
Not really authentic, and not surprising since it is my impression it is a Latin-​owned and staffed restaurant. My suspicions were confirmed when an Indian customer pointed out to the waitress that the music playing wasn’t really Indian.
The food isn’t bad at all, but just don’t expect authentic. With our American palates it is passable to most. I like that there isn’t much fat on the meats, and I enjoy the simple creamy taste of the chicken tikka masala. Naan was just OK, wish it was soft and chewier and lacked the flavor I’m used to at some other Indian restaurants.
I would give $ 4 stars, but the sneaky false advertisements this establishment puts up leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. The sign on the corner of Union and Curtner show $ 8 but it is really $ 8.99/$ 9. A month ago I saw that they corrected this and put the .99 at the end, only to revert back to $ 8 again. WTF?! Their lunch buffet sign above the restaurant shows a big ass $ 8 in a red circle, and a tiny .99 that looks like a red line «-» at the end. I know marketing, and this is totally unethical and trickery IMHO. The $ 8.99 buffet price isn’t keeping me away, it’s the incorrectly displayed price that turns me off. I wonder if some people even realize they got ripped off. Unilocaler Ms. H even posted a picture with the description «$ 8 lunch buffet»… ORLY?
I’d like to support the small neighborhood restaurants, and the waitress is nice, so I’ll save my 1-​star review for a rainy day and have Unilocal mercy.
Steps of India, change the signs and I’ll change my review. Gracias.