Gate of India

Best Buffet in Santa Monica. Yes I've tried the other ones. They don't have the Flavor that Gate of India has. Do you want a Treat. Order the Mango Lasse for a Drink. Out of this World. I do know they had some Bad Reviews but they were Old 2008/2009 and I know the problems were Fixed ! Try it. You'll like it. I Did. more

BEST LUNCH B UFFET IN SANTA MONICA. This is a Great place to enjoy a lunch buffet while enjoying a beautiful view of the Ocean. How can you beat that. You can also order off the menu. This is ""NOT"" fast food where everything is sitting in a pan getting old. When you order it they make it. To many people are used to Mc Donalds. If you want quick try the lunch Buffet. If you want a Great meal that is an experience then Order off the Menu. more

The atmosphere is pretty bad during daylight and the whole place is very empty until about 8. The lentil soup is mediocre and I personally believe that some of the dishes were too ""cheddery"". Everything is very much overpriced and you have to pay individually for everything. Also,they have no wheat naan which is a negative for me. The place isnt bad. Pros: No wait during the daytime Cons: Highly overpriced, a little cheap looking, no wheat naan, not great food and terrible bathroom. more

Took forever to get service. Didn't leave tip so they charged my debit card $8 on my behalf as tip. Have copy of receipt. Going to complain and file a report with merchant. more

My husband discovered this place when he and a friend were in Santa Monica on Oscar night and The Lobster restaurant on the Pier was closed. We returned here together with another friend to celebrate a graduation. They are both South Indian, from Kerela, so we know about Indian food. Surprised about the other reviews, we were more than satisfied with our food. Pros: Really good garlic naan Cons: Rice a bit clumpy more

My husband discovered this place when he and a friend were in Santa Monica on Oscar night and The Lobster restaurant on the Pier was closed. We returned here together with another friend to celebrate a graduation. They are both South Indian, from Kerela, so we know about Indian food. Surprised about the other reviews, we were more than satisfied with our food. We found the food to be very good. The place was packed for a Saturday night at 9:00 pm. The service was prompt and the food good. We ordered okra, eggplant, Goan-style shrimp, garlic naan and rice. We also asked for raita as a condiment. The main entrees were well seasoned (we asked for them spicy) and the naan soft, fluffy and perfectly browned. The only disappointment was the rice, which was sticky (seemed to be cooked in a hurry) and the raita, which was not seasoned, but sweet. We will be returning. Pros: Really good garlic naan Cons: Rice a bit clumpy more

had gotten take out from this place like in 07- always remembered how good it was so i went back for my bday yesterday. service was not too good, waiters and staff not friendly at all. some lady was yelling in the kitchen the whole time. no seat covers in the bathrooms. food was good but i went with 2 other people and we got 2 orders of samosas, saffron rice and 3 dishes, plus nan. at any other restaurant this would seem like enough but these might as well have been infant portions at 10.00 an order. samosas were tiny as well and 5 bucks an order. 5 dollars per nan haha. taste was good but totally not worth the price at all. i understand we might be paying for location but ive been to phenomenal indian restaurants which were decently priced, with friendly service and generous portions plus they had toilet seat covers. so skip on this one yall! Pros: good food Cons: overpriced; tiny portions more

had gotten take out from this place like in 07- always remembered how good it was so i went back for my bday yesterday. service was not too good, waiters and staff not friendly at all. some lady was yelling in the kitchen the whole time. no seat covers in the bathrooms. food was good but i went with 2 other people and we got 2 orders of samosas, saffron rice and 3 dishes, plus nan. at any other restaurant this would seem like enough but these might as well have been infant portions at 10.00 an order. samosas were tiny as well and 5 bucks an order. 5 dollars per nan haha. taste was good but totally not worth the price at all. i understand we might be paying for location but ive been to phenomenal indian restaurants which were decently priced, with friendly service and generous portions plus they had toilet seat covers. so skip on this one yall! Pros: good food Cons: overpriced; tiny portions more

I have tried several Indian restaurants in LA now. I am ashamed that they are serving this muck and calling it Indian. Its absolutely disgusting food. As an Indian, I expect a lot more but sadly this restaurant is taking its customers for a ride. I have never tatsed such garbage - no spices, no colour - guess thats why its so dimly lit in there so you cant see the food. The staff are rude, do not have any idea of how to serve. Stay away from this place - it is not authentic indian food by a long shot! This place would be shut down in days if it was in London!! AWFUL. Cons: This is no -where near Indian Food more

I have tried several Indian restaurants in LA now. I am ashamed that they are serving this muck and calling it Indian. Its absolutely disgusting food. As an Indian, I expect a lot more but sadly this restaurant is taking its customers for a ride. I have never tatsed such garbage - no spices, no colour - guess thats why its so dimly lit in there so you cant see the food. The staff are rude, do not have any idea of how to serve. Stay away from this place - it is not authentic indian food by a long shot! This place would be shut down in days if it was in London!! AWFUL. Pros: None Cons: This is no -where near Indian Food more

My husband and I used to live in Santa Monica and eat at Gates of India all the time. We have not been able to find another Indian restaurant anywhere near as good and so we continue to drive back to eat here. It doesn't rate high for ambiance and the servers are FOB Indian (and sometimes Mexican) but the Malay Curry, Tikka Masa, and Sag Paneer are the best around. Pros: Great Food Cons: Not a place to take a first date - tacky ambience and mediocre service more

My husband and I used to live in Santa Monica and eat at Gates of India all the time. We have not been able to find another Indian restaurant anywhere near as good and so we continue to drive back to eat here. It doesn't rate high for ambiance and the servers are FOB Indian (and sometimes Mexican) but the Malay Curry, Tikka Masa, and Sag Paneer are the best around. Pros: Great Food Cons: Not a place to take a first date - tacky ambience and mediocre service more

My husband and I were craving some Indian food. He told me about this place, Gate of India in Santa Monica and that we should try it. It was arou... more

Today i went with my girl friend for dinner inside gate of india, and the scenery was authentic enough, we were given our waters right away and off to a pretty good start. We even decided pretty quickly what we wanted off of the menu, it bothered me a little that everything was a la carte, meaning the rice being an essential part of the dish was something you have to buy as an extra, so I ordered the coconut malay vegetables, $9.99 and my girl friend ordered a lamb #12 in creme sauce for 14.99, two samosas for 5.00, and one plate of rice for 3.00. It wasnt 10 minutes until they brought out the samosas, they were pretty decent sized and with good sauces, this gave us good hopes for the main entrees. They brought out these burners under metals bowls to keep our meals hot, with a tea light candle under our very sparing portions that were way under the portion that we expected. We shared our lamb creme sauce and coconut veggies mixing them together, right away i noticed the lamb tasted really tough and resembled beef, in fact it was most likely beef for that unmistakable flavor that beef has, and it had a lot of gristles and very much over cooked. The waitress tells us that if we needed more rice that politely she would give us more, so the one plate of 3.00 rice wasnt enough so the waiter brought out another, and we finished off most of our portion since it was about the size of a small skimpy bowl that of an appetizer. The waiter with the weird teeth kept on shuffling back and forth behind our table and crowded our table, and we then became baffled not knowing if what we were eating was lamb or beef. So we decide to get our check, and the total comes out to be 38.19. We were more than infuriated, the waitress had deceitfully charged us for another rice, not to mention when we asked her if we ordered beef she responded by saying that if you ordered lamb then we gave you lamb, though it couldn't have been. They were pushy with the receipt, so i didn't leave a tip. Pros: pretty good food, colorful curtains, cool trinkets Cons: lying waitress that misinformed about extra charges, weird vibe to the place, way too expensive for the average to poor quality of food you get. more

Today i went with my girl friend for dinner inside gate of india, and the scenery was authentic enough, we were given our waters right away and off to a pretty good start. We even decided pretty quickly what we wanted off of the menu, it bothered me a little that everything was a la carte, meaning the rice being an essential part of the dish was something you have to buy as an extra, so I ordered the coconut malay vegetables, $9.99 and my girl friend ordered a lamb #12 in creme sauce for 14.99, two samosas for 5.00, and one plate of rice for 3.00. It wasnt 10 minutes until they brought out the samosas, they were pretty decent sized and with good sauces, this gave us good hopes for the main entrees. They brought out these burners under metals bowls to keep our meals hot, with a tea light candle under our very sparing portions that were way under the portion that we expected. We shared our lamb creme sauce and coconut veggies mixing them together, right away i noticed the lamb tasted really tough and resembled beef, in fact it was most likely beef for that unmistakable flavor that beef has, and it had a lot of gristles and very much over cooked. The waitress tells us that if we needed more rice that politely she would give us more, so the one plate of 3.00 rice wasnt enough so the waiter brought out another, and we finished off most of our portion since it was about the size of a small skimpy bowl that of an appetizer. The waiter with the weird teeth kept on shuffling back and forth behind our table and crowded our table, and we then became baffled not knowing if what we were eating was lamb or beef. So we decide to get our check, and the total comes out to be 38.19. We were more than infuriated, the waitress had deceitfully charged us for another rice, not to mention when we asked her if we ordered beef she responded by saying that if you ordered lamb then we gave you lamb, though it couldn't have been. They were pushy with the receipt, so i didn't leave a tip. Pros: pretty good food, colorful curtains, cool trinkets Cons: lying waitress that misinformed about extra charges, weird vibe to the place, way too expensive for the average to poor quality of food you get. more

Had the terribly overcooked buffet lunch. Honestly, you could get a better meal in jail. I ordered a coke and asked for two refills during my meal with no comment from the staff. The bill arrived showing I'd been charged $3 for the first coke and $6.49 for the two refills. I'm not much of a math major but I believe that comes to $9.49 for soda pop ladies and gentlemen! And my meal (if you could call it that) was only $10.99! Not only did the supervisor not credit me for failure to mention they charged for ""refills"" but he had no explanation for the rising price of said cokes. My recommendation to you for a better meal and customer service would be to rummage through the dumpsters of Ye Ol Kings Head across the street. Pros: Easily accessible exits and the foreign tourists don't realize they're being ripped off. Cons: Bad Food, Overpriced, Horrible Customer Service. more

Had the terribly overcooked buffet lunch. Honestly, you could get a better meal in jail. I ordered a coke and asked for two refills during my meal with no comment from the staff. The bill arrived showing I'd been charged $3 for the first coke and $6.49 for the two refills. I'm not much of a math major but I believe that comes to $9.49 for soda pop ladies and gentlemen! And my meal (if you could call it that) was only $10.99! Not only did the supervisor not credit me for failure to mention they charged for "refills" but he had no explanation for the rising price of said cokes. My recommendation to you for a better meal and customer service would be to rummage through the dumpsters of Ye Ol Kings Head across the street. Pros: Easily accessible exits and the foreign tourists don't realize they're being ripped off. Cons: Bad Food, Overpriced, Horrible Customer Service. more

Do Not Eat Here!! If you desire indian food make the short drive to Pradeep's at Montana and 14th (Pradeep's is great, don't skip the carrot and coriander soup)!! Otherwise if you're in a jam for time, leave the ""gate of india"" immediately!! and walk directly across the street to ""King's Head pub and restaurant"" for fine fare and enjoyable experience!! Do not make the mistake of sitting down in ""gate of india"" or you will be sorry!! Feel free to walk in and take a look, but do not sit down!! As no good people should be subjected to such disgrace. This would be the worst possible choice you could make for eating food/dining in santa monica. Details of how extremely poor experience was are too long to list. Prices are not the issue although what you get for minimum $50 is: extremely poor service, mediocre food, and a Nasty Owner who took our order and barked at us that everything is a la carte. No good, do not support this establishment, they have no regard for their customers and Rely on Vulnerable Tourist Traffic To Do Their Business. I live 6 blocks away and would not eat there again if the food was free!! Cons: Good Advice....Just Eat Somewhere Else, Get It? more

Do Not Eat Here!! If you desire indian food make the short drive to Pradeep's at Montana and 14th (Pradeep's is great, don't skip the carrot and coriander soup)!! Otherwise if you're in a jam for time, leave the "gate of india" immediately!! and walk directly across the street to "King's Head pub and restaurant" for fine fare and enjoyable experience!! Do not make the mistake of sitting down in "gate of india" or you will be sorry!! Feel free to walk in and take a look, but do not sit down!! As no good people should be subjected to such disgrace. This would be the worst possible choice you could make for eating food/dining in santa monica. Details of how extremely poor experience was are too long to list. Prices are not the issue although what you get for minimum $50 is: extremely poor service, mediocre food, and a Nasty Owner who took our order and barked at us that everything is a la carte. No good, do not support this establishment, they have no regard for their customers and Rely on Vulnerable Tourist Traffic To Do Their Business. I live 6 blocks away and would not eat there again if the food was free!! Pros: None Cons: Good Advice....Just Eat Somewhere Else, Get It? more

I am a local who goes to this restaurant when I really want to treat myself...as they do not spare the calories! Pros: Tasty dishes, nice decor Cons: unattentive staff, slow service more