The Menu

This place is CLOSED. I notice someone else posted that it was closed four months ago.

Seemed promising. Bought groupon.
Called for reservation. Left message — no call back.
Used Unilocal to make online reservation.
Went for dinner AT 6 pm. Doors are LOCKED.
RESTAURANT IS CLOSED. :-(

EVICTED as of January 6 2015.
I went for lunch today and instead found the restaurant locked with an eviction notice nailed to the door.
A sad end to a nice restaurant.

Lunch for six. One of us is on a special heart-​healthy diet, hence the selection of The Menu.
Here’s the situation:
I’ve been here before, and it was an acceptable lunch, but NO, not this time. It doesn’t appear that my review from this visit is still up… this is odd.
I have to think something had been, or was, very wrong yesterday. No one informed us of a recent egregious problem. Such notification would have been greatly appreciated, because we could have gone down the street to another restaurant, and we would have.
The food came out sparsely and was only partially there, with no labels by 11:50 a.m. (the window sign says that they open at 11:30). When the rush hit at Noon, more was out. I never did see labels for the served dishes (something I’m used to at an Indian-​style restaurant).
Odd, too, was that most of the food was, at best, tepid in temperature. Nothing served was what I consider to be *hot* food (temperature). Taste wise, and variety, by 12:15 was okay, but by then all six of us were feeling underserved.
So, we ate, conversed, and waited for our bill – and waited. The bill was still not there 25 minutes after the last bite was consumed. I had to stand at the front to wait seven minutes for an acknowledgement. After another eight minutes, we got the amount written on a scrap of paper. Credit card machines did not appear working based upon the behavior of other customers, so we paid cash, and we left it on the table.
To serve the beverage needs of all customers, there was only a single person. There was someone siting in the office, but we never saw she/​he come out to assist the overworked waiter and the underserved customers.
One of our party asked for salt. He continued to ask for it five more times, then we finally received it in a small bowl. Really?
Of other note, water is served in aluminum-​cast copper-​colored cups. The water tasted metallic and oddly brackish (lightly salted). Some of us ordered tea, just to have something else to drink. This, solely, we received in acceptable time.
None have reported back to me as being ill from the lunch (very important), so for this we are very grateful. We will wait a year and give it another try then. Hopefully, it will be back to being what we remember from past visits.
Enjoy! ($ 14 for lunch is hard to beat in the Bay Area, however, caveat emptor)

When we chose our wedding venue, the wedding coordinator mentioned that «The Menu» had catered a previous wedding. We visited the restaurant a few times, and each time, we were more and more impressed with the food. We ultimately chose them to cater a portion of our wedding reception, and we were extremely satisfied. Raj at «The Menu» was friendly and let us try a variety of dishes, and even let us try new concoctions that weren’t on his menu!
We had a Bhel Puri station at the wedding, and the guests were extremely excited. One person said that it was ‘ridiculously good.’ For an appetizer, we had Gobi Manchurian. We had eaten it at the restaurant and loved how spicy and sweet it was at the same time. For main dishes, we had Mango Dal, Navrattan Korma (a favorite of mine, and it didn’t disappoint!), Pongal (a wedding specialty, though not on his restaurant menu), and Chicken Tikka Masala (when my wife had it in the restaurant, she remarked on how moist and tasty the chicken was). Finally, for dessert, we had Khesari, another wedding specialty (not on his restaurant menu) – it was also a winner.
The restaurant has a lot of other tasty dishes, and we do love the fact that it emphasizes organic food and fresh ingredients. As a caterer, they were reliable and priced quite competitively. We were extremely pleased and should the need arise, we’d be happy to have them cater events in the future.

I come for dinner my starter was mix veg pakoda was absolutely delicious with the deaping sauce was a bomb ;*) the paneer was very good I got kheer for dessert and I have to take an order to-​go was very very delicious I try the buffet as well the lamb Rogan josh and tandoori chicken are excellent with the home made butter naan ;*) I ll come back next time with my coworkers. …

The servers are not attentive of the guests. We called our order in way in advance and despite the 30 minutes, it took another 20 minutes after that.
We have been here three times previously and noticed that our portions were much smaller this time. We only got 2 samosas this time versus the usual three and they didn’t give us sauce either… Our gobi manhurin was a lot smaller this time as well. Oh and they charge more if you place the order via Unilocal.
Just a really unpleasant experience and the food wasn’t that great. Not coming back again.

I am looking for an option to give «No Stars». Ridiculous food!!!
Please… for heaven’s sake… noone should go there.
food is cold, undercooked. distasteful. i don’t know how someone can mess up food to this extent… r u kidding me!@# what a waste of ~18 $…

The worst place in Bay Area.
Hard breads:
We ordered Naan and Chapatti. They were literally «pieces of rocks.» I have never had such hard bread… Very disappointing.
Price:
We had 6 naan and 8 Roti order came to a little over $ 60. That is pretty pricy for Indian breads. As a comparison, generally the price would be half of what the Menu charged. I wouldn’t mind paying this much if the food is great, but the breads were seriously hard, the price cannot be justified!
The good side was the restaurant looked pretty nice. Knowing there are lot better options in Bay Area for Indian Restaurants, I would recommend avoiding this place if you want to have an authentic, genuine Indian cuisine experience.

From the Naan & Appetizers to the Tandori & Masala Chicken, this Buffet was delicious! I’d suggest to improve on the dessert area, but i know my wife and I will come back!
Please, remember to refill your entries since the last time, 30 mins later, there still out of 2 out of 4 options
Thanks!

I’ve been here 3 times.
The food is the closest you can get to authentic in the Bay Area.
The service is on point and very friendly polite people.
However, after the 3^rd visit I was about to give them 5 stars and thought they were the most underrated restaurant in town.
But right as we were about to leave a big fat rat scurried right across the restaurant. My date thought I was imagining things. When I called the waiter he was nice enough to acknowledge it and say ‘yes I’m sorry’. He saw it too. He could have ignored me or deflected and said there were no rats here, but he didn’t, which I respect and appreciate.
The food is great guys and yes I’m going back again (today in fact). But really nothing kills your appetite like a rat running 4 feet from your table.

I ordered dinner through a third party service «grub hub» tonight. My order was set to arrive at 945. Didn’t arrive until 1030. The reason was my place is a bit hard to see the house number of at night. But my phone number was provided to them, so I really should of just been called.
I ordered a root beer, chicken tiki masala, some rice, host curry, chicken coconut curry, and 3 garlic Nans. It came out to just over 72 bucks. Which is fine, but when I was handed a very small bag of food by the delivery man, I was shocked to see how little you get for the high price and long wait.
What’s more, is that the chicken tiki masala had about 7 small pieces of chicken submerged in a small tub of sauce. I won’t be ordering again.

Been here a few times. Will give you some positive things I have for this place:
1) nice waiting staff, courteous, will accommodate your requests etc. it was hot one time we were there and the staff bought a portable AC to our table which was nice of them.
2) nice ambience, relatively quiet where you can have a decent conversation.
3) indian rest. With beer!
4) they have no problem in accepting coupons,
certificates etc. we had a Groupon 50% off with us.
Don’t really have any glaring negatives for now.

Went for dinner on a saturday evening — the two banquet rooms were full but the main dining area was mostly empty. That is never a good sign. The food was average but the cost was high. The service was almost non-​existent — it took about 15 minutes and us flagging someone down before they actually came to the table to ask us for the order. The food generally took too long to come. There was one waiter Sean who seemed to be the only pleasant guy with some etiquette. One of the other waiters actually handed a hot serving dish to my daughter to hold and put it on the table instead of setting it down on the table himself!
Overall — very average experience and average food but the we paid $ 200 for four of us!

Indian buffets are dangerous for me, the good ones always stuff me to the brim of discomfort.
I’ve been here twice and both times have been fantastic. There’s quite a good variety of vegetarian options and unique items as well — like squash, mushrooms, and fried kale!
I can’t recall the names of the items, however all I tried were excellently prepared.
I also like that they include chai tea and naan for no extra cost.
Check in on Unilocal for a discount, or search them out on groupon for dinner deals.
The buffet is awesome!

30 minute late delivery!
Review for Delivery–
We usually order from Amber Indian Restaurant in Mountain View but they changed their policy with DoorDash and they no longer deliver, sad day, then we thought… still aching for indian cuisine, lets try something new!
So they were 30 minutes late, forgot utensils and plates… lovely.
I ordered a business lunch from here for about 20 people totaling $ 169.00 with tip. we ordered Vegetable Samosas, palak Paneer, Aloo Gobi, Butter Chicken, Butter Naan, Steamed Basmati Rice, and Mixed vegetable Pakoda.
The food was a bit drab, the amount of food for the price was dismal, and the bag even leaked. Overall I would never order here again. I don’t believe I would visit either, the only thing I could recommend if you choose to order delivery from here… pay tip in cash, it may give them incentive to deliver your order on time :/

Pros– organic food
Taste close to home cooked food
Location
Cons — slow service
Basic pot biryani was not cooked well so there is no biryani on Sunday
South indian food mentioned to be served with coconut chuttney is served with tamarind north indian chuttney. On request for coconut chuttney… they said its not ready and they cannot prepare as well.
I m not coming back here!

I recently tried lunch buffet here and I wasn’t too impressed. All their vegetable dishes were very good and they were well prepared. The meat dishes were all disappointing. They had chicken biryani, lamb curry and tandoori chicken dishes. They did not taste good. Looks like they were not freshly made.
They were not busy at all. The service was very good.

Updated 5÷1÷15.
The Menu seems to be closed for a long, indeterminate period. There is a crude sign saying «Closed for remodeling» but I’ve stopped by a few times over several months and have seen no apparent change… at all. The web site is also of no use in giving status. Star downgrade until they get their act together.
— — -
With a name like «The menu» it took me a while to figure out this former Indian restaurant (with at least two different ownership/​name changes) is still an Indian restaurant. Once I made the made that connection, I stopped in immediately. Could it be they have a lunch buffet?

Why yes. And good-​sized one too, with 7 vegetarian entrees and 4 meat entrees on my first visit (plus rice and some chaat items). Delicious, freshly-​baked naan was served at the table. Food was good to excellent overall. And with the addition of three desserts, AND hot chai tea, it was a steal for $ 11.
But a a month or so later, I made a second visit, and selections had shrunk a bit. Specifically, the number of vegetarian items had dropped from 7 to 5. Not a tragedy, with the quality still high. I just hope this trend does not continue.
Standouts on my first visit were lamb rogangosh (nice and lean), saag paneer (excellent cheese), eggplant peas and spinach (a nice kick and a little different). On my second visit, it was the chicken curry; the saag paneer continued to be excellent. Kudos for changing up the selection of items each day.
The only issues: the temp of one or two dishes was a tad too cold. And much of the music was overly loud, strange and annoying (asian-​electronica/​opera?).
Delicious, high quality Indian buffet with all the extras, for $ 11? — Sold.
I’ll definitely be paying more visits here, though perhaps with some earplugs next time.

I cannot give this place a 4 since it’s just a buffet and although the food was probably the BEST in flavor among all the Indian Buffet I’ve been too, the meat options were a bit of a let-​down, I must say. They had a lot of vegetarian options, maybe at least 10 – 12 vegetarian dishes but there were only 4 meat (chicken tikka masala, chicken tikka, chicken biryani rice, and lamb curry) when I went there. The chicken biryani was a bit bland. The lamb curry was a tad salty. Lunch Buffet was $ 11.
They do have quiet a few dessert items and I had the almond rice pudding and strawberry yogurt tapioca desserts. Both were pretty good and not too sweet (usually in other Indian buffet, the two are extremely sweet).
The restaurant is spacious and nicely decorated, there are a couple of areas that could be made private if you want to do a party or large group private dining. The service was nice, they refill your water and take the dirty plates from your table without having you to wave at them! And they gave you fresh warm naan, all you can eat dudes!!!
They did say to me that their buffet selection changes daily, so if you are lucky you can probably have more meat items.