Swagat Palace

Swagat palace had a great lunch buffet, awesome service, and bomb butter chicken while they were here! I’m gonna miss them.

Rotten chutney and uncooked uttapam. Horrible food. Please avoid it. They took 30 Minutes to serve an uttapam that had raw batter in the center and it was dripping with yellow perhaps reused oil. When I complained they changed it to plain dosa. But refused to change the chutney which had rotten coconut. Very poor quality of food and bad behavior. Taste was way below expectations. I had asked for bland food before placing order and they agreed. When the food was served they gave me spicy food saying it was premixed. They did this while being extremely callous and unapologetic. Must avoid this place!

We were lured into here today by signs advertising 15% off for all dine in orders, posted in three locations on the front window. Food was great, four stars, and experience good, though music is played on a 10 min loop and becomes old fast. At the end of the meal I noticed the 15% had not been credited to the bill. I brought this to the attention of the server, who told me it was too late, because the card had already been charged. He said that he was unable to give me the 15% discount as advertised and posted in three locations on the front window of the store. He said, «I’ll give it to you next time,» just like that. Well, I have to say, there won’t be a next time. There are plenty of better Indian food restaurants very nearby that do customer service much better. This place won’t last long with continued service such as this.

Fairer pricing than most Indian places on the Ave. But fairer quality, too. It’s fine. Not great, not bad.
Their Chai tastes kind of like liquid cherry jello. I’m equally ambivalent about that.

The food is good, and Indian food is usually a little pricey, but the portions here seemed small for the price. I guess the good thing about it is that you won’t overdo it and leave extra stuffed like I usually feel after eating at an Indian restaurant. I ordered the Manchurian Specialty with Chicken, and I really liked it. It reminded me of Chinese general tsao chicken. The waiter was friendly and attentive; service was great.

$ 9 for a solid lunch buffet. I want to give 5 stars, but they need more fruit, veggies, and desserts in my opinion. But what they have is good.

Second time here. Way worse than the first one. They refused to turn on the ac. I mean come on. They also did not restock the buffet food when we asked which was sad. That being said it is cheap so for that the food was decent. Definitely better places in UW tho. Would recommend giving this one a miss.

Worst food had in my life. The uthappam was too oily. Literally full oil. They gave a sambar vada which was not even worth a penny! would never come back

Had lunch buffet here. Pretty good services, around 11 hot dishes to choose from and also a small salad bar. Each table gets a naan for free. For $ 8 ish I am very happy with my lunch!
Some dishes are a bit too spicy for me lol

Ordered Aloo Gobi
The pieces were not cut properly. It was difficult to break the huge and hard gobi pieces.

Swagat is one of the newer Indian places on the ave that has been taken over by new ownership. It has the potential to be excellent, but it’s just not quite there yet.
The place is very clean inside and does offer maximum seating for the allotted space. We were welcomed in and seated right away. Swagat offers a lunch buffet until 3 pm, and then the typical dinner afterwards. The dinner menu is extensive. They offer both North and South Indian dishes and a wide range of appetizers, drinks, salads/​soups, and dessert. You are sure to find something really good here. And because their menu is so extensive, your order is more than likely going to be made fresh and to order. All the North/​South Indian dishes come with rice and the spice rating is on a 1 – 5 star scale.
Hot chai — I love chai tea and this one was a bit more on the subtle side. Sometimes have chai that’s not too overpowering and strong is a good thing, but this one definitely need a little more oomph to it. I could taste the spices but only ever so slightly. It wasn’t overly sweet and overall tasted fine, but could have used extra steeping or more spices.
Butter masala with chicken — This isn’t going to taste like tikka masala or butter chicken. It’s actually an unique kind of taste. It’s definitely a lot sweeter than the two but still has a savory and spicy component to it. There was a good amount of chicken and the chicken itself was cooked well.
Aloo gobi — The potatoes in this dish were cooked spot on. Nice big chunks and they were perfectly soft but still kept it’s shape. The cauliflower pieces were also cooked well. The only thing I could comment on is that it doesn’t come with enough «sauce.» I understand that this dish isn’t a curry or anything, but I felt like my rice couldn’t soak up any sauce. I’ve had aloo gobi at other places where the potatoes are cooked in a sauce that you can use to smother your rice. Overall, delicious dish!
Basmati rice — I actually like how they bring out the rice. For our two main entrees we got one big bowl of rice. It came out in a nice metal bowl and had some fresh cilantro in the middle. Rice was perfectly fluffed. We actually had to order one more side of rice because the amount they gave us wasn’t enough (we do consume a lot of rice though).
Garlic naan — This was my least favorite part of the meal, unfortunately. Naan is a must when you go to eat Indian cuisine but the naan here was not the greatest. It’s piping hot and made fresh, which is a plus. The size is not as big as Cedars or Taste of India, but the naan is very thick. It’s honestly the thickest naan I have tasted. The thickness actually made the naan taste very doughy and heavy. Ours was a garlic naan but the garlic flavor was absolutely nonexistent. There wasn’t even a subtle hint of it. So for us, the garlic naan was a no no.
Service — Very good. Our server was friendly and attentive (although there were only two other people dining at the time). He came to refill our waters and made sure everything was tasting fine.
One thing to note was the wait. It took quite a long time for our dishes to actually come out. However, they do give you these complementary «chip» like things. They are a bit oily and have a strong «seed» like taste to it. It was nice that they gave us something for the wait though. Furthermore, our naan actually came out after the main entrees. We were almost ¾ of the way done with our entrees by the time our naan came out. I prefer my naan to come out either before or at the same time as the main entrees. Overall, Swagat has a lot of Unilocal deals and even offers 10% off for UW students. The survivor guide also has coupons in there as well. We used the buy one dinner, get one dinner off on our bill. It originally was about $ 35 but it was discounted to $ 23 (without tip) after the coupon. Not a bad place, just could be better.

Me and my husband are Indian food fanatics, and we decided to go up and down the Ave (U District) and try every single Indian lunch buffet, every day move down to the next one, and so on until we’ve tried all of the Indian food on the Ave. Swagat Palace was one of the better buffets we’ve tried, and I say that for the following reasons:
1. They include the dessert Gulab Jamun in their buffet, which not a lot of places do (you have to order it separately) and I LOVE gulab jamun, so I like that I can just grab some at my leisure.
2. They have a LOT of items to choose from in the buffet, many classics that everyone loves (such as tikka masala and veggie korma, etc) and also a few new things that are fun to try. They have many great salads and appetizers to choose in the buffet as well.
3. The service is very friendly and efficient.
4. Price is only $ 7.95 per person.
5. They bring each table a fresh baked naan.
After we had finished visiting all of the Indian places, this is one of the lunch buffets that we have gone back to again. My absolute favorite Indian restaurant is Cedars on Brooklyn, and the only reason that this restaurant wouldn’t compare to Cedars, in my opinion, is because Cedars sauces are so rich and I’ve yet to find a restaurant that has mastered the sauces as well as Cedars… most restaurants the sauces are a little thinner and more watery. That’s the only reason I would give this restaurant a 4 rather than a 5. But it’s definitely somewhere that I would go again, and enjoy my lunch very much!

I should probably preface this by saying my experience is not what everyone else seems to be having, and I came slightly prior to the buffet closing, so do take it with a slight grain of salt.
But honestly, I do really feel like I’ve been to better places. Me and my roommate had wanted to go to «Swagout» for a while, and we finally managed to do so this week. The lunch buffet was kind of small, and looked like it hadn’t been replenished (and wasn’t going to be). Again, I don’t know if this is what it was like all the time, or if it was because the place had begun to draw down. The tandoori was mildly decent, the coconut curry was fair, and the chicken makhani was, uh… more of a drink-​like substance than anything you’d eat naan with. And speaking of naan, it was quite rare, even with multiple requests.
Alas, my hunt for the perfect Indian buffet in Seattle has not yet come to an end. With that said, the pictures and my fellow Unilocalers seem to contradict me, so maybe give it a shot? I probably won’t be returning to Swagat, though.

The food was extremely plain and portions were rather small as well. This is sad considering both of the dishes we got were $ 13. Also, while we ordered to go we waited at a table which was filthy. There were bits of rice and sauce all over the table. Maybe they just clean it before people dining in sit down?
In any case, I see no reason to eat here considering there are many other better Indian places nearby.

Oh my goodness this buffet, though. Yes, they have meat. Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Biryani (mixed rice), Meatball Curry, Tandoori Chicken, and a hotplate that rotates every once in a while (it’s been chili chicken and chili fish the last two times I went). That, and a whole slew of veggie curries and dishes. Free basket of naan, free delicious chai tea, and all for $ 8, about $ 9.75 after tax and tip. I don’t know why this place isn’t packed. You may have to dig a bit in the curry to get to the bits of meat, it may not be as good as Cedars, but my goodness it is one of the best buffets I’ve been to, period.
Tip: You may have to ask the waiter to bring out your free chai tea, so don’t be shy. Also, they don’t restock the dishes that run out very often, especially if they’re the chicken dishes, so keep that in mind when you see the last piece of delicious tandoori chicken sitting there!

This is my new favorite Indian restaurant in Seattle. They have a very large menu of items that includes north and south indian dishes. I didn’t try any of the south indian dishes this visit.
I had veg pakoras to start and they were perfectly fried and just the right balance of tender and crispy. Then I had paneer tikka masala. I love paneer and that it was served on a sizzling plate made it perfect! It also came with vegetables that were sizzling on the plate that were kinda like fajita vegetables (potato, onion, carrot, squash). They were a pleasant surprise. I didn’t think I’d like them enough to be bothered to eat them but they were also delicious and perfect with the paneer.
Our service was attentive and our waiter was pleasant. He seemed to be the only one taking care of the entire restaurant and really hustled. We also didn’t feel pushed to leave once our bill arrived and our water glasses were always full.
I look forward to going back and will have to force myself to try new items and not get the paneer tikka masala again. They also have a buffet that looks like it could be interesting.

A Good lunch buffet! Around 8 $ something after tax so not bad at all. Food was pretty good too. They had a salad bar and like 5 or more curries as well as 3 – 4 different meats. Ate till I was full for the entire day haha. I would recommend going here, because the food definitely fills you up. The place is clean, the waiters are nice and always refill your water. No complaints. Only 4 stars BC the food was good but not amazing.

Unfortunately, I never got to try the restaurant that existed in the same spot right before Swagat Palace was opened. But I’m glad I tried this new restaurant out! The U District was practically dead due to the holidays, and I noticed a bunch of restaurants had temporary closed for that reason. We were worried we’d have trouble finding a nice sit-​down restaurant but we came across Swagat Palace and decided to give it a try.
It was about 7 PM but the restaurant seemed busier than the other (open) ones we passed. The interior is pretty small and the tables are pushed tightly together, but it is a very cozy restaurant. Inviting, not cramped.
The menu is HUGE. All of your standard North Indian dishes along with a full page of South Indian entrees. Sometimes I see that as a red flag, since there’s no way that one kitchen could master all of those dishes or prepare them freshly. However, our food was tasty and delicious. We ordered samosas to start and they were decent. For our entrees we had mango chicken and chana masala. The mango chicken was delicious and its something I plan on ordering again. The chana masala was okay, but that’s not my favorite dish to begin with.
The portion sizes were a little smaller than what I’m used to seeing at other Indian restaurants in the area, and the prices are slightly higher (maybe a dollar or so higher for identical dishes). Still, I felt the prices were reasonable and we did have leftovers to take home so no one went hungry!
So far, it is up to snuff with my other favorite Indian spots in the U District. I am looking forward to trying their lunch buffet sometime.

Lacking taste/​flavor. I won’t visit again. I was initially excited by their buffet selection but let down by an absolute lack of flavor. This was probably the worst Indian food I’ve had. I give them 2 stars only because the inside was nice and chai or coffee comes with the buffet. I only found that out because I overheard a waiter telling another table this after my husband and I both ordered sodas. The chai is good. The naan is also pretty good. I was shocked that the few reviews that exist give 5 stars. I wonder if these reviewers are employees since they consider it to be the best buffet ever and only have a couple other reviews. Go up the street to garam masala for much better food.

Wow! I have been to many Indian buffets and have yet to find a bad one, but Swagat Palace is the best I have eaten. Everything was fresh, tasty, and distinctive. The lunch buffet even includes naan and chai in the $ 7.95 cost. All meats were very tender. There were five meat and four vegetarian entrees, five salads, and about a dozen types of chutney. Nearly all were the best I ever had. The only possible downside is the dal was not as thick as I prefer, but the flavor was still excellent. Try this place!