BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

This is an excellent Hindu mandir. It is a great place to visit around Hindu festivals, especially Diwali, when they have several exhibits and videos about Hinduism and a festive atmosphere with good food for purchase and children’s fun activities. They have regular programs for children, young professionals, older men & older women. Many times in the year, the santos (saints — those who have taken vows to be in the BAPS order) visit. The murtis (icons) inside the mandir represent various divinities holy to Hindus. They have people who can explain Hinduism to you. They also have a store to purchase material about Hinduism, to practice Hinduism, & vegetarian food items & general groceries. This temple is part of the BAPS Hindu sampradaya (sect). There is a small store inside here for snacks, groceries & Hindu religious items.

This temple is one of the best in the Bay area. We are totally amazed how they were able to raise the funds to build and maintain such a beautiful temple. Hats off to the volunteers.

Very great Mandir. It has lots of cultural events and best place for Diwali. People are so welcoming and nice when you are new to the Mandir.

Nice temple, really good religious functions. Bunch of good activities for kids.
Glad to have this around.

We have visited other BAPS Swaminarayan Temples in the US, and visited this location with high expectations. However, I doubt we will be going again. The temple/​prayer area itself is fine, although it was a little dingy and could be cleaner too. However, my issues were in the other areas of the temple.
The biggest concern I had was the complete segregation of men and women — to pray, eat, or even leave shoes! This is not a tenet of Hinduism, neither have I ever seen it being practiced in other Hindu temples. In spite of that, not only was it not just recommended, but forced upon visitors here. A friend and her husband were approached by a strict and almost rude older woman and summarily told to walk far apart, and then sit in different areas if they wanted to get any food. Knowing that food (prasad) is part of God’s blessings on his disciples, anyone wanting to eat here should be allowed to do so in the manner preferred, as long as they are being respectful of others around them.
A smaller issue is that BAPS temples frequently have a full eating/​dining area, with items to buy besides. This temple has no food, except for prepackaged items. It is part of the experience to eat in the House of God, and they shouldn’t have an option of «Kitchen» on their phone line if that is not what is offered here.
All in all, I have seen much better maintained temples that gladdened the heart to visit. I did love God’s presence, but the way his «gatekeepers» arbitrarily practice Hinduism according to made up rules here, put me off.

This is a huge, clean place and I was delighted to find out that they have a store that sells authentic, yummy packaged foods (sweets, snacks, ayurvedic medicines) that are not only reasonably priced but trump the stuff that grocery stores in the area as far as quality. Please be sure to visit the temple and store when you are in the area. I have tried the Aadu aamla, kachori, chakli, ice halwa so far. They have aarti at 6 pm every Sunday followed by prasad.

This is strictly a food review, for Indian style wedding food ⁴⁄₅. (old school jay bharat would be ⁵⁄₅)
went here for a wedding, they have a huge kitchen cooking up indian food in the standard jumbo Indian pots.
good number of items, nice seating area, and place is really clean, they don’t use onion or garlic but otherwise its ok and does the job of filling 500 desi’s at one time.