Elephant Lounge

Just came to have a drink and I have to say everyone is really nice. the food is delicious as well.

Been coming here every week for the past few months. The service is good as the food the staff are very well mannered, the new management is doing great with the restaurant very classy and elegant place to eat highly recommended!

So last night was a bust, the service was very inconsistent, you can tell by the wait staff, they were lost, confused, we had horrible service. I don’t know how many staff members came by and brought us the wrong item, we had to get up and ask our multiple servers, for service. I think the fact we were seated out on the extended dining area made it difficult for new servers, bus boys, who know what they were. Poor training, poor attitudes, and lack of communication. The female manager looked stressed out. Maybe I do have high standards, maybe it’s because I work in the hospitality industry at the Ritz Carlton, maybe because I majored in it, maybe it’s because my family owned and operated 3 restaurant very well over 30 years, but when I ask someone did you just open? He didn’t understand me, yeah we open at 11, no I mean how long have you been around? 10 years? What? Well, maybe you should train your staff, they all look lost, anyway, I understand it busy but you’re losing guest satisfaction and that ultimately can ruin your business in the long run. It’s a little a weird that when I walked it, I see two security guards. Wow! Really?
My rating:
Guest services: poor, needed management team to be organize, efficient, and pay attention to detail.
Need to hire a consultant.
Food: decent, but don’t serve burgers, and pasta!!! It should be Indian only.
Ambiance: Excellent
Price: average, if you’re going to charge more, be sure the service is top notch.
I hope this place gets better management and servers with friendly personality and professionalism.

Do not be fooled people of Fresno!
I had high hopes to try something different than our usual spot. The Naan was excellent. The vegetarian samosa was equally good. However. I ordered chicken tikka Masala and I don’t know who they think they are fooling but that was not chicken tikka in my masala. It was just plain chicken breast cubed and warmed up in a sweet Masala sauce. Chicken tikka masala should start with chicken tikka which is marinated in a yogurt spice and inevitably turns the chicken orange or red. This again was just plain chicken cubed up.
I’m not real sure why the masala sauce was sweet either.
What is going on with the Indian food in Fresno?
Sigh.

Bar non, the best tandoori chicken I’ve ever had. I’ve eaten a lot of Indian food in many cities, but this is among the best. Treated my parents to dinner, they loved it too. The restaurant looks great inside, very clean and the service was great. We will be back!

I haven’t had everything yet, but I’m working on it. The Tandoori items come with a choice of sauces that were very different and tasty. They have redecorated in the dining room and the bar, looks very nice. The
cuisine is Punjab, and the new owner was very friendly and helpful and (yeahhh) a woman. She seems very dedicated to her customers and the quality of the food served. Looking forward to our next dinner.

Prices are definitely on the high side here, you have been warned. I am, however still very much a fan and don’t mind splurging once in awhile.
I have been on a quest to try the different Indian places in town, and came across this place. I am in love with Butter Chicken, since it is a safe dish for me in terms of flavor and isn’t usually spicy.
This place has a lovely ambiance. They have a large dining room with crystal chandeliers and a large elephant head (that is not morbid) that greets you when you walk through the door. They also have a very large and rather fancy banquet room to the left of the dining room, complete with a projector screen perfect for your next event.
I was immediately greeted by a man that I assume was the Manager/​Owner. He was a one man show, probably because I arrived just as they had opened back up again for their evening meal service. He was very kind and accommodating to my table, although he was slowed up by a table of guests that had a language barrier.
I put in an order for the Samosa app, as well as a Mango Lassi. The app came out in a decent amount of time, and was delicious. The only thing I would’ve liked to have seen different, is perhaps maybe add a sauce and/​or chickpeas under the Samosa’s like Standard Sweets and Spices does. I was not a fan of their mint jelly/​chutney and just ate the Samosa’s sans dip.
My Mango Lassi was good in terms of flavor but it was a little warm, not cold like I was hoping.
For the main entrees I ordered Butter Chicken, Beef Tikka, Chicken Tikka skewers and for a picky palate in my group, the ever original cheeseburger. I am glad that places like this still offer a safe option, it is great for everyone in your party to be able to eat together and enjoy it.
The Butter Chicken was pretty good, not my favorite actually out of all the butter chicken dishes that I have tried. The chicken was tender, so that is a big plus. I just wasn’t feeling the sauce, and even though I asked for mild… this was the spiciest butter chicken that I have ever ordered.
Beef Tikka was good, the meat was also tender and I ended up enjoying this rich sauce over the butter chicken. I liked that they had plenty of sauce/​gravy over the meat so that you could pour it over your rice. The rice I should note, is also an additional charge.
My favorite part of the meal, and which I completely devoured was the Chicken Tikka Skewers. I had about 8pcs of chunky white meat chicken, perfectly seasoned and cooked. There were a few charred bits on the chicken which, for me, just added to the flavor. The skewers were served on a bed of grilled onions, on a fajita skillet still sizzling. There was also rice served with this dish. I pretty much ignored the other items I ordered and enjoyed this. I will DEF go back here just to order this.
I also ordered the garlic naan, which was nice and fluffy although it was a little skimpy on flavor. I didn’t really taste any garlic, but it was not a deal breaker.
I did not take a bite of the burger so I cannot comment on that, but the fries were pretty tasty and I am not that big of a fry fan anymore. They were crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy inside with a perfect seasoning on top.
The restaurant was very clean, tables, plates, floors, restrooms… everything was clean. Service was friendly, food was DELICIOUS. I am only deducting 1 star for the prices being higher than most in the area, because even with the special offer that I have it still ended up costing a pretty penny. I still recommend this place.

Finally!!!’ We have good/​consistent Indian food in Clovis. John runs a great bar and the owners are always close by to make sure things are running well.
They’re even bringing in local/​live music. A great way to spend Sunday afternoon.

I can’t tell you what to order… IT’S ALL GOOD! Great service too in a very friendly manner. The first server (must have been in training) was a little sheepish and not sure of himself but he was honest and let us know this. He apologized and soon help came in to take over.
We ordered Butter Chicken, Lamb in cream Basil Sauce, Basmati Rice, Roasted Eggplant with Ginger, Spinach with Cheese, 2 orders of Garlic Naan, Crabcakes with Chipotle Dip and Fried oysters with Red and Green Dips. Did I mention this was for my Son’s 11the Birthday (Ides of March!) at his behest? Plates were wiped clean with the last of the Naan. Also Mangolasses and a really good and crisp Gin (10) and Tonic. Waiter was a prince and speaking of; he brought out an Indian «Prince» hat for my Son as it was his birthday and everyone should be a prince/​princess on theirs. He was impressed that he, my Daughter, My X and I (especially The Kids) were such «adventurous» eaters, he brought out Indian Primce Hats for all of us. He took our pic and immediately Posted to Facebook.
Going back soon!

This place is amazing, and the bartender John is awesome! You have to start off with the Samosas as an appetizer we get them every time and they are never disappointing. My wife and I always share our entrees so we get a chicken malai dish and a chicken, beef or lamb masala dish. You need a masala dish (sauce) to dip your garlic naan and tikka in. You have to get a side of the basmati rice, drizzle a little masala over it :)We always have a couple drinks while there and they have a good beer selection on draft.
App
–Samosa’s
Entrees
–Chx malai, chx tikka hara
–Chx, beef, or lamb tikka masala
Sides
–Garlic naan
–Basmati rice
Don’t be afraid to switch up the entrees, but stick to the samosas, garlic naan and basmati rice; you will always leave full and happy!!!

So good! This place would get a 5 star review but the rice was a little crunchy, they only brought one glass of water for two of us and my boyfriends «prawn» we’re smaller sized shrimp. We came here for our valentines dinner cause the bf works tomorrow and he knows I love Indian. Unilocal says this place is open 10:30am to midnight. It’s not; it’s closed 3 — 4:30pm so be aware. We walked around the tiny mall for a bit.
The place is impressive from the outside. Stand alone (no mini mall!), blood red building with elephants. I love it already. The inside is just as nice with these huge amazing chandeliers and red and black everywhere. We were immediately seated in a cozy booth and drink orders taken. I got the usual Chardonnay and my other half got a giant Indian beer which I forget the name of but he liked.
The menu is interesting with just as many American selections as Indian ones. We chose to go the route we came for and ordered a Bismati rice and jalapeño naan to split along with chicken tikka masala for me and butter prawn for him. Here’s the only thing I will say before gushing about this food; the «prawn» need to be more prawn like. The rest of the food was so good. Flavorful, just the rice spice, texture spot on. The jalapeño naan was especially delicious with the spicy, savory filling. We nearly finished everything. I wanted to. Really.
We have this agreement where we will not go to a restaurant more than once while we are in Fresno for a year; but, this place may break us. It was so good. Everything about it from the décor to the great service to the food was positive. I think we may be back. Get here now!

Well, after much consideration I decided to post about my experience at this «restaurant». Myself and four of my family members decided to stop by this place for a drink. It’s Sunday night about 7:30. As we have all worked or work in the restaurant industry we were considerate to make sure they weren’t closing at 8. Before seating ourselves in the bar we flagged down a member of the wait staff and confirmed they did not close till 10pm.
After sitting down another member of the staff dropped off 5 menus and we advise him we would only be ordering drinks. Well, that was the last we saw of any staff! We made bathroom trips and waited about 15 minutes and no one greeted us acknowledged we were there. To top it off a party of three came in after us and was greeted, then the server walked right by us without even a look.
Stay away from this place. Unfortunately I think if we would have been of the same ethnic background as the staff, things may have been different.

Really like the lunch buffet here… service is good, guys are always asking if we need help, take plates away or refills on the beverages, etc. Really like the naan bread that comes with lunch. Bar area looks cool as well. Overall, great deal, looking forward to coming again.

I tried their lunch buffet option which is at $ 10.95. I have tried just about all the other indian lunch offerings in town since I love indian food. To me they have some hits with some real bad misses. To start the service was excellent even though there was just 1 server for the entire place during lunch. He was constantly on the go.
Pros: vegetarian briyani with actual basmati rice (excellent), saag paneer, lentil dal and goat curry was just ok
Cons:everything else such as over creamed chicken tikka, tandoori chicken was terrible, it tasted more steamed than cooked in a clay oven
The overall theme seems to be that they do vegetarian dishes much better than their meat however this was just from the lunch buffet selection

This place was ok. I had never had Indian food before this. The atmosphere was good. I liked how the place was decorated, and it seemed clean. I don’t remember what we got, but the food wasn’t that great. It wasn’t so much the food as it was the grease. But the lamb didnt have that real «gamey» taste, so that was a plus.
It was a new experience for me, and Im glad i went, but unless my wife wants to go back, I probably wont go back.

Not a bad place, but could use some help. The menu is not completely descriptive with the way the food is prepared, and our server wasn’t very aware of the items on the list. The bar seems very active though, maybe that’s the place to be.

Since north India was shut down and the elephant lounge opened up shop it doesn’t seem like they changed anything as far as interior goes. It still looks nice inside but nothing new about it. The hostess was our waitress and she was nice. When I looked at the menu it wasn’t very appealing. It looked photocopied. They offer American and Italian cuisine for those who are weary of trying something new. For the Indian entrees, they listed the sauces and the different types of meat which takes away the authenticity of the experience. I know i. might sound funny if I say the actual name of the dish but that’s part of the experience! To be curious and excited looking forward to trying something new. So we started with a mango lassi which was mediocre and luke warm. To eat we ordered the butter chicken, basmati rice and garlic naan. The portion sizes are VERY small for what you pay and the naan looks like it was reheated. I won’t be returning and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Im a hardcore indian food lover, and for me it didn’t satisfy my cravings and was not great tasting in my opinion, it was pricey for the portion in comparison to other places in town, yes the service was good and the ambience was lovely, but here’s the thing I was confused when I came in for dinner, the menu had western, Italian and Indian selection, yes that’s good, but I think you can’t mix east and west in a restaurant, its hard to be good in everything especially in the food business, it just doesn’t work that way, specializing in something would make you be remembered for something, and just like clockwork this place fails to identify what it wanted to be known for. I would have preferred it to be known as a good indian restaurant, because Clovis or east side of Fresno lacks that good Indian food segment, I always find myself traveling to west Fresno for really good ones.
So anyways, I was craving chicken skewers tikka which was $ 12 here, and plus I ordered garlic Naan $ 3, plain naan $ 2, in addition I was adventurous so I ordered Aloo Gobhi $ 9 and Saag Paneer $ 9. The highlight of my meal was the naan, it was perfectly baked, the texture of the bread was soft and had good flavors, especially the garlic naan, it was delightful to eat this freshly warm bread. The Aloo Gobhi, in my opinion had a very watery sauce, I prefer a thicker a richer and more aromatic sauce, it had too much potatoes vs the cauliflower and tasted very blend in my opinion. The Saag paneer was good, but wasn’t the best, was lacking flavor and was too stingy with the paneer. The spinach however was very smooth, but as for most punjab food I have a problem with their vegetable dishes, it has a strong ginger flavor and didn’t have as much richness. The worst was the chicken skewers tikka, it was really stingy for $ 12, its should fill up the griddle. But instead it was half rice and half chicken on the griddle, the chicken itself was not moist and was severely burnt to 4^th degree, I couldn’t get past the over burnt chicken taste and that ruined my appetite, the marinade was nice, however I can barely taste it because of the burnt chicken, wish they wouldn’t have over charred it, that’s not how it should be. I had a very good experience of chicken tikka in San Diego a few weeks back at a nepalese restaurant and it was very generous in portion for the same price, tasted great not burnt, moist and I thought this place could help me relive that same exact experince, but I left really disappointed and still craved that dish.
Don’t get me wrong the Indian food was fair to good here, the service was excellent and ambience was inviting and on the classy side for an indian sit down restaurant, its surely a good place for you to try punjab indian style of food, which is not my favorite out of the indian food family by the way, but thats just my personal preference (just a note: most people would think indian food is the same, but just like tacos, Texas tacos are different from California tacos, and that goes the same from indian food, punjabi indian food is slightly different in taste and flavors from the northern indian style that I know and love, punjabi food is slightly more bland and not as rich and flavorful as their counterpart.) Would I come back? maybe for the lunch buffet or for the amazing naan, but definitely won’t be coming back for the burnt chicken tikka.

The food here is exceptional, ambiance nice, and prices reasonable. In fact, we enjoyed everything we tried but let me tell you about the customer service.
We love trying new foods and tend to ask a lot of questions when trying a new restaurant. Tonight was no exception. Our server (I forgot to ask her name) endured our questions with a smile, explained the dishes, made recommendations, checked in on us often, and seemed genuinely happy we enjoyed our food.
We recommend this place for several reasons but one of the biggest is their customer service… which seems to be quite the lost art these days.

Prices here are way too high.
While I understand the owner of this place recently came from the Bay Area and operated similar restaurants up there, I don’t think he got the memo that the majority of the demographic here just does not have the same type of disposable income.
$ 11 for chicken curry?
$ 3 for a side of rice?
$ 3 for garlic naan? (way too thick and fluffy to my liking. I prefer the thin and crispy type of naan, like at Lahori)
I don’t see how this place would be able to last long here with those prices, especially when there are several more around town that serve just as good, if not better, Indian dishes at a much cheaper cost, and with the same size of portions that you normally would get anywhere else around town. Yeah, they serve several different type of sauces (The mango curry I ordered, was actually very tasty), but If you’re gonna charge $ 11 for something like chicken curry, at least pack that bitch up like Chinese food that it’s enough for two people, or at the least just include rice or naan with it. The portions sizes served here just do not justify the prices.
I’ll most likely give this place another try since I do like Indian food, but I really hope they can do something about their prices.