Laxmi Sweets & Spices

Did someone say samosas? Ok for those of you that have never had a Indian snack called a Samosa, I encourage you to please come to this place, order several which are very reasonable in price and enjoy.
I came here for lunch today and a pick up of 30 samosas for the office. So today was a day both me and the office were happy. The store, market, deli is well stocked with every imaginable spice and Indian food ingredient sure to make any Indian chef happy as can be. Looking at all the stocked shelves you’ll soon find yourself hungry as a beast. Luckily the market has a buffet lunch with some incredible food priced very reasonable as well. Around 10.00 and you’ve got a feast.
Make sure that when you come here you take your time as the shelves are stocked to every inch of shelf space with more than you ever imagined. Good for the shopper as you’ll most likely find what you need.
Shop for the grocery but stay for the food and enjoy the freshly made samosas.

Leisure dining. We came for groceries, but were drawn in by exciting snacks options: p. Had some sev puri and bhel puri. super tasty

I live in LA but work in Irvine twice a week so decided to stop by here to pick up some groceries. I haven’t been thrilled with the desi grocery stores in LA. This place was such a pleasant surprise. The entire store was very clean and organized which isn’t the case with most Indian/​Pakistani stores. They had a huge assortment of Indian groceries with everything that you could think of and also have a buffet and small restaurant that I need to try soon. Service was friendly and prompt. This place just became my go to desi grocery store!

Delicious food, excellent service. The mango lasso is a must have! The lunch buffet is not bad. I brought my team there today and we had a blast. Amazing experience and we can’t wait to go back… tomorrow

Came in to check it out and told the guy working there we might come back later for dinner and he said he would give us some samples of the food. Before we knew it we walked out with enough food for both my mom and I and two yummy mango lassi drinks for «samples.» He was very sweet. A few hours later, satisfied with the food he had given us we came back to order our dinner for the whole family. There was a girl working there this time and she was super sweet too. The food was ready quick and amazing. Once you step into this place it smells amazing. Full of spices and it makes u super hungry. The food is great and i really recommend this place.

Good food at reasonable price. The combos are amazing and surprisingly filing.
Will go back anytym.

Funny place setting-​wise. But great foods. Awesome flavored. Have not try. Doing my tax or videos conversion yet

This is an alright place. My friend told me that he wanted to go try this place like 2 weeks ago and we finally made it there. When we came in, the lady was busy talking with her co-​worker then looked at us and didn’t say hi. Her co-​worker did said hello and patted my friend on the back after he stopped talking with the lady. When we got to the buffet, we ordered the Combo #1 with Chicken Tikka Masala. I was disgusted that the sauce at the top of the entrée was dark red as it dries and gets old. Then the lady mixes it in front of us to make it look more orangey (much better, I guess). After we ordered, the lady said, «take a seat, please». I don’t know if that was an attitude or not according to her tone. She did acted a little more nicer after that. The food is alright but not the best, my friend liked it a lot. I am not only disgusted of the old food at the buffet but the place looked quite dirty. The tables and chairs are old and cheap (school cafeteria style) and I saw a dirty and almost-​broken baby high chair standing at the corner.

I work in Tustin and today was my first experience having lunch at Laxmi Sweets & Spices. I pass by here often and have been dying to go in and give their lunch buffet a whirl.
The store and dining area are incredibly clean. The food smells amazing upon entry, obvious you are entering a home where someone clearly knows how to cook. The buffet was reasonable and included unlimited mango lassis. I love a good lassi and I never see them included. Sweet deal for the lassi addicted!
Most dishes were fantastic; however, a few had some challenges. Hence I have to give them 4 stars. Saag paneer? 5 stars. Samosa? 4 star. Gulab jamon? 2 stars (kinda hard/​cold). Naan? 4 stars. Dal? 4 stars. Lime pickle? 5 stars. Bottom line: Food quality is erratic and averages 4 stars.
Staff here are super nice. Value is amazing. However, Tustin has a few 5 star establishments if u look at my prior reviews. Tough to settle for 4 stars when 3 five star joints are so close by.

Charging for extra sambar with dosa. Sucks!!!

I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. Nice to know it’s only improved.
My coworkers come here for on a regular basis to get our Indian food fix. Their buffet is the BEST in the entire OC area. Why? You get bang for your buck AND who can say no to unlimited dosa? :P
And… you can get your shopping done here tooo!
The owner is super nice.

Great prices for great food!
I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get quality indian food on the go.
Try the mango lassi and samosas for $ 1 each, also included in the lunch buffet!

For all of you fancy pants foodies that are not into whole in the walls, I recommend you get your food to go. This is a whole in the wall located in Tustin, but they have some really good food. I came here for the first time with my mother-​in-​law today and we had the lunch buffet. It’s a small Indian spice shop with a few tables and small buffet set up towards the back. You don’t have to do the buffet, but I wanted to try a little of everything so we went that route. Naan was excellent, and all the other food that they served at the buffet was excellent too. Mango lassi (hope I spelled that right) was insanely delicious. My mother-​in-​law raved about it. The food was all prepared fresh, granted we were the first ones to get there and all the food was just coming out of the kitchen smoking hot.
Not the most fancy ambiance, but whole in the walls don’t bother me, so like I said, if you must have a fancy sit down then get your food to go. The service was good, the guys bringing out the food and working the kitchen were very friendly and cleared plates efficiently. The owner (I think he was the owner) was very helpful and explained the different dishes to my mother-​in-​law. Overall, it was a good experience that we enjoyed… it was as if someone invited us into their home and made us a terrific home cooked Indian meal. I’m glad that I found this place, and will definitely be coming back for more.

Very good food at a great price. Got 3 different types of curry, rice, salad, naan, samosas, coconut water and mango lassi for $ 12. Have all you can eat buffet every morn8ng for $ 8.99. We will definitely be back.

Rude owner, 80% of the items on the menu not available, confusing ordering process. Combo-​this combo-​that non-​sense and everything I ask for is not available. Guy at the counter had huge attitude, as if he is doing us a favor by letting us eat there. He shows us the buffet and 2 mins later when we decide to take it says it is not available anymore. There were no customers besides us, but the owner was feeling as if we had hassled him.
The TV was playing some super weird channel. I am indian but have never seen such gory channel, women being abused, children getting killed etc. The owner seemed eager to watch that stuff and I had to make an effort to ignore the sight/​sound.
Overall, huge thumbs down based on my experience. Never going back again.

This is for the grocery store part. Muruku? 4 stars. Service w/​no smile? 0 stars.
Being someone who has celiac and having to read package labels everywhere and educating business owners/​chefs/​people about no gluten is really tiring for celiacs and not just done to make you (business owners) annoyed.
We may come across as pain-​in-​the-​xxx, but we do it because we have to, not because we have nothing better to do! I don’t want to be sick again for weeks.
There’s nothing worse than paying hard-​earned money for the food, eat it, having runs to get rid of all the food, and be in a worse state compared to before eating, having rashes so you scratch to bleeding so the excess gluten can leave your body through the blood. When this happens, basically I’ve just wasted my money, time, and injured my body for no reason.
I had the gluten free muruku from Mother’s Market salad bar, and loved it. I thought that buying it from an Indian grocery might be cheaper. However, I’m looking thru ingredients on the pre-​packaged ones, and most say they have wheat flour or the asafetida is wheat based. I asked the younger man about the packaged snacks. He basically said, «read the labels and see.» Umm… I’m already doing that.
So I asked the younger gentleman, in their display case, about the muruku they have. He tells me they make it themselves everyday. Great! So I asked if theirs have wheat flour or asafetida? He says that he doesn’t know and walks away, extremely dis-​interested. Umm… I’m still waiting for you to help me. He acts bored and unhappy being there… and it’s starting to rub off on me. How much? He replied it’s $ 7.99/lb (and acted like take it or leave it). Obviously I“m interested, why else am I standing here for the last 30 minutes reading every package label ?!?
Long story short, I bought some. As I left, I got the feeling they didn’t appreciate my business. Maybe I’m overly sensitive today, maybe he’s having a bad day… I’ll just stay away for awhile.
ps. The muruku was fresh tasting and crispy, and it tasted mostly of garbanzo beans.

I went into Laxmi for the first time last week because I’d just recently taken an Indian cooking class and needed to find some curry leaves and some of the unique spices used in the recipes.
I swung by after work around 6pm and was surprised at how much foot traffic such a small little shop has — lots of people ordering food to go and sitting down at the tables. There were also quite a few people shopping like me. Even so, the young man working was very friendly and able to help me find the curry leaves I needed. As someone else mentioned they have FRESH curry leaves which is nice. I also needed dried but he told me to just take some out and leave them out overnight and they will dry out in a couple days. Needless to say, he was very helpful to this Indian cooking novice. :)
I didn’t order any of the dishes but I did get some garlic naan to eat later w my homemade dish. The naan was delicious, and if this is any indication of the rest of their food I might be back soon to order some of their dishes.

I walked over to Laxmi because Rasoi Curry Point was closed after 8pm. Laxmi is set up as a half convenience store-​half cafeteria. The grocery section is half the size of Indian cash-​and-​carry stores in Artesia. None of the products in the grocery store were expired, a sign of good maintenance.
When I stepped up to the food section, a server asked if I wanted to purchase the express specials. He was referring to the 1 to 3 item combinations from the steam table that included 3 vegetarian and 3 non-​vegetarian choices. Although the combo also includes rice, naan, and mango lassi, which make a filling dinner for only $ 6 to $ 8, the curries presented on the table looked old and must have been cooked hours ago. Despite the server insisting that these items were fresh and attempting to lure me into ordering chicken tikka masala and a congealed chicken curry, I decided to order a thali because it would be a fresh kitchen order rather than lunch buffet leftovers.
For the vegetarian thali, you can choose any two north-​Indian sabzi from the menu. I ordered two Punjabi curries, shahi rajma and bhindi masala, since Laxmi appears to be a Delhi-​style eatery based on offerings on the menu. These north-​Indian subzi were served with naan, pappadum, rice, dal, salad, raita, and daily dessert. A perfect complete meal.
10 minutes later, the vegetable dishes was brought out scorching hot. I noticed that each dish was filled in thali bowls all the way to the rim. After a few bites of each item. I realized that the subzi quality surpassed my expectations. Each vegetable dish was spiced and packed a burst of flavor that I craved all week. The rajma was boiled to be semi-​soft and cooked with onions in a creamy and spicy sauce that pairs well with rice and naan. Bhindi was cut into very small pieces, was slightly overcooked which I did not like (too tender and soggy, does not hold shape when you bite), and was a bit more oily than I preferred, but the rich, spicy, and slightly sweet masala mixed with onions made it a flavorful complement to wash down with rice and naan. The dal was prepared with an assortment of wholesome beans cooked in a thick gravy that was savory yet tasted light. It did not appear to be overloaded on heavy cream or butter.
Everything else was not so memorable. The salad was not crisp and probably leftover filler from the lunch buffet. Naan was standard, fresh baked and brushed with ghee, but it felt very thin. The gulab jamun was probably the worst I ever had, with no strong rose flavors after being soaked in a syrup and its interior texture was shockingly hard instead of being fluffy soft. It was probably stale. I had to leave these items on the table.
Despite these issues, I would consider Laxmi as a backup when Rasoi is closed because some of the Punjabi subzi were surprisingly decent. However, I hesitate to rate Laxmi any higher than 3 stars because of the shabby value: $ 10.99 for 3 vegetable dishes and lackluster fillers, while the equivalent (quality and quantity) would only be half the cost in Artesia.

Where else can you buy groceries, get something notarized, and convert movies to DVDs all in one stop? Why, Laxmi Sweets & Spices of course! On top of all that, you can also enjoy their cute little lunch buffet.
At just around $ 8, Laxmi is probably the cheapest lunch buffet in the area. While the environment isn’t as inviting and the selection is a bit scarce, they’ve really honed in on the options they serve to make themselves a true hidden gem.
Garlic Naan — 2 whole naans topped with fresh garlic and celery. A lot of places don’t use enough garlic but Laxmi hits it right on the nose. I always use most of my naan as a dipping tool but I ate most of it by itself here. No extra flavoring needed!
Tandoori Chicken — Decent chicken but lacking in flavor. It tasted like a simple smoked chicken to me. It definitely needs to be paired with a sauce or curry.
Chana Masala — Indian food has definitely opened my eyes (and heart) to garbanzo beans. Perhaps it is because they cook it with spicy curry but darn, this masala was friggin’ awesome. The curry really was spicy and the beans were cooked to a semi-​soft texture.
Chicken Makhani — Better known as butter chicken. It is probably my 2^nd favorite dish, chicken tikka masala being the 1^st. Supposedly, chicken makhani is traditionally served bone-​in back in India as opposed to boneless here in the states. The sauce has a pretty nice kick to it, and is similar to a tikka masala in terms of consistency. It’s super rich so you’re going to have to balance it out with some basmati rice or naan. The pieces of chicken were tender and so easy to eat. I found myself going back many many times to get more.
Laxmi seems to be a family business, a father/​son pairing. I found the father to be faintly aloof but not downright rude. It seemed as though he was having a family emergency during our time there but waited until we finished our meal to close up shop.

I absolutely love Indian food. Strong spices, flavored rice, and delicious curries. It just makes my tummy ever so happy. I’m lucky to have a friend that loves Indian food as much as I do because without her, I probably never would have ventured into Laxmi. This place more like a store with a restaurant in it more than anything. The grocery side is pretty big while the buffet selection is relatively small, but don’t let that scare you away!
The selection is smaller than I’m used to but everything is pretty delicious and flavorful. They have all the basic Indian food essentials such as curry chicken and garlic naan. They also have some other vegetarian options that were just okay to me. The samosas were some of the best I’ve had and my friend and I went back for seconds like crazy. On top of the delicious food, mango lassi was absolutely free! Just go and ask the owner for some lassi and he will give you as much as you want. We didn’t get to try the dosa because we were so full but that comes with your meal too so give it a try when you’re there.
$ 8.99 + tax for a buffet. Can it get any better than that? ⁴⁄₅