Rupee Room

I just found out that they’re out of business. Good riddance. Filthy chairs, horrible service. Sent the owner both an email and a snail mail about conditions a few years ago — no answer. Hope they lost a ton of $ and don’t ever open a pace again. Worst restaurant in OC.

CLOSED! This WAS my fav place… Just went there last week and the place was empty, The crew there said it’s closed and not going to reopen.
By Rupee Room… We miss u. :(

First I should mention my background: I’m an American of British ancestry who first fell in love with Indian food on holidays in Britain. Yes I know how good the Indian food is in the UK: I’ve eaten in Indian restaurants from Plymouth to Inverness and many places in between.
I am on an Eternal Quest to find food like that here in SoCal! I eat Indian food once or twice a week and I’ve scoured around Orange County and Little India. My favourite haunts have been The India Restaurant and Ashoka The Great in Little India, Kamal Palace in Long Beach, and Haveli in Tustin.
I heard about Rupee Room recently from an Indian woman, and last Saturday my son and I went for the Lunch Buffet. We were very impressed with the food! Everything was excellently spiced and just the right degree of hotness for an Anglo like me. (On a scale of 1 – 10, 10 being very hot, I usually prefer around an 8.)
I’m amazed at the bad reviews here. All I can say is that every Indian restaurant which I’ve visited regularly exhibits fluctuations in their food, in the level of hotness especially. That’s something I love about Indian lunch buffets: you can get the same dish on ten different visits and it will be made a bit differently every time.
Anyhow I gave Rupee Room five stars, because on my one visit the food was as good as I’ve had in this country.

The food is excellent here! I’ve been to the lunch buffet several times and found the food to be fresh and flavored very well. I don’t handle spicy food well, so I was surprised taste food with just the right amount of kick to it. The server comes around to refill your water glass and take away empty plates very often. I’ve also gone here for a wedding and dinner. I particularly enjoyed the samosas because they were so crisp. Whether it be a wedding, dinner, or buffet lunch, I can’t wait for my next trip here!

The food was ok. I ordered butter chicken with rice and naan. The naan could have been better as it almost seemed like it had been reheated. the chicken and the rice were fresh and good but not excellent for the price paid. I do have to say that as much as I almost fell of my chair when I got my single person lunch check for almost 20 dollars the amount of food was very generous. Perhaps a word of advise for the owners to reduce the portions and reduce the prices. Ordering the rice separate from the entrée was a little odd for a restaurant that does not meet 5 star reviews.
Don’t let me review stop you from going to the Rupee Room, the food is not bad… just a bit overpriced for the product.

It’s one of the better lunch buffet Indian joints. They use fancy dinnerware, play Indian MTV, and the food is decent. The server comes around pretty often and makes sure the water is never low. This place is kinda hard to find and sadly both times I’ve been here for their lunch buffet, there hasn’t been more than 1 other customer.
They offer 2 kinds of naans (garlic and regular, so get the half & half), 2 kinds of rice, and have the usual spinach thingy, masalas, curries, samosas, etc. They seem to have a lot of chicken dishes, and I kinda wish they had more meat variety. They’re probably saving the other stuff for the dinner menu? Also, they don’t always seem to have the same items. The first time I came, I saw this one cauliflower dish and it wasn’t there the next time.
All in all, I would probably give this place 3 or 3.5 stars but… they have KHEER! I love kheer and I love that I can have as much as I want at this place. I start off the meal with a bowl, and then have 2 more bowls for dessert… yummm… OK, 4 stars it is!

I have rented out the banquet hall here before for my brother’s graduation party. The owner is up front and friendly enough– him and his staff did a wonderful job having the place ready on time and my guests had no complaints. The food is excellent! I am picky when it comes to indian food but it is very tasty here– I had a full on buffet and my guests were pleased. The banquet hall is clean and roomy. i like the décor and the set up. Has a dance floor– ceiling twinkle lights and bar area.
I am throwing another party here very soon! Already booked it.

I am a huge fan of the lunch buffet here. It’s close to home, offers a lot of great dishes that are cooked fresh daily, and some great healthy dessert choices including fresh fruit :)
While I am a Chicken Tikka Masala, Tandoori Chicken, and Samosas & Chutney kinda guy, I found their Paneer Chalow as well as other specialty items I had not had the opportunity to try before (because of my boring ways) to be flavorful and great.
Some items for the buffet are actually off-​the-​menu or have been removed altogether, forcing you have to ask for them, but the guys at Rupee Room have always been accommodating when I’ve inquired.
The waters are refilled fast and the garlic naan is up to industry standards, so for $ 10 or $ 11 dollars, what the hell do I have to complain about? Surely not the décor or funky chairs, right? Get over it. I feel like some of the Unilocalers that rated the buffet poorly were thinking they paid $ 20+ to eat here. You got to eat a ton of different dishes and have different courses + eat as much as you want for $ 11 bucks. I paid that much for a gross Five Guys Burgers meal the other day. Seriously, what planet are you on? You often pay twice that amount at those ready-​made Panda-​Expressy Natraj Indian fast food joints in Irvine… and just for a couple dishes (not even AYCE).
While Annapoorna in Irvine was always my first choice for lunch (as I worked in Irvine before), that place is tiny and always packed with a 30min wait (lunch is over by the time you sit down) + the price is nowhere near as reasonable as Rupee Room. Overall I’ve been really happy with the service, the pricing, and the offerings at this little city of Orange gem…
One request: maybe clean the men’s bathrooms more often? I was in here when an old Indian man was here for lunch (owner?) and he was pounding some serious Indian beers, watching the Bollywood on one of the hanging flat screens getting his grub on (ahhh the life of a Punjab boss *sigh*). I think he must’ve went to the bathroom 2 or 3 times during my lunch to unload his beer whistle, and pissed all over the toilet seat. I went in to wash up and felt gross coming out because I didn’t want them to think it was me lol.

Just got home from this place. It was sooo good! I am in food coma now.
The location is sketchy and weird! Hidden among office buildings! The interior was very eclectic and funky. I enjoyed it. It was dead and we were the only customers for dinner, but that is understandable on a Tuesday night. Bollywood music video playing in the background was entertaining to watch!
We were starving so we ate the crackers with the chutney they gave us. I really liked the mint sauce which was really spicy! I mixed it with the tamarind sauce to balance out the spiciness. The garlic naan was excellent! We ordered the lamb curry and the chicken tikka. The lamb curry was spicy but delicious! Lots of spices, heat, and chunks of fresh lamb. It wasn’t gamey at all! The chicken tikka was chunks of chicken breast in a sweet and sour sauce. We got a generous portion! The plates they gave us were really sparkly and gorgeous! I want them! For dessert, we ordered the pistachio and the mango kulfi ice cream. The pistachio was creamy and had nuts in it which were nice. The mango tasted like mango lassi. I enjoyed both ice creams since they tasted really light, not heavy.
We had a
certificate so it was $ 10 off $ 20 which helped with the bill. Bill was $ 37 for 2 people with tip and tax. I will definitely have to return to try their lunch buffet! Service was excellent, but probably because it was slow! Only 2 customers came as we were eating dessert, making the total count to 4 customers in the entire restaurant!

Details.
. Lunch buffet for 2 on a Tuesday.
prOs.
. The food was tasty.
cOns.
. It was empty. There was 1 other table finishing up when we arrived. That was it.
. The buffet consisted only of chicken.
. It was awkward to have the servers check in on us every few minutes because they didn’t have any other tables to wait on.

I found this Gumbi decorated restaurant to fall overall at 3 stars. Some of the dishes stood out, others not so much.
The service was pretty good. For the price I would have expected better quality — I’ve had as good or better for less but it’s a safe bet…

Rupee Room is a great restaurant with a weird location: hidden in one of the many strip malls at Tustin Av — Orange.
Once you find the place, don’t get scare! BE BRAVE!
open the door and you will feel an exotic interior with cool Bollywood music that enhance your experience enjoying their Indian (Punjabi) food
The first time I went there was for a friend’s birthday. They rent the back room and cater their delicious food. That day it was fun!
The second time I went to have diner, their Menu is really authentic and beautiful
Love the way the set the tables:
What we ordered:
— Chicken Tandoori
Even though I ask the server that my food couldn’t be hot (I’m allergic) this dish was a bit too spicy for my taste. The waiter notice my teary eyes, asked me if it was ok, and replace it for a non-​hot version.
— Moti — E Zameen:
— Chicken Tikka Masala
The complimentary naan is delicious!
and the prices are quite reasonable and the service is Excellent
Highly recommended, I’m definitely coming back! :)

i was a bit overwhelmed by the strong smell of what i think is incense or maybe spice upon entering the restaurant. that almost ruined my appetite to start out with.
i went with a group of 12 during lunch to celebrate a coworker’s farewell and we were the first party to arrive at 12:00 pm. the staffs were eating their lunch at the table, sitting down, and blasting indian shows on tv.
the décor just seems to be all over the place and the food (other than the garlic naan) were definitely not good. the food from the buffet seemed to have been reheated and the fried items all became soggy. some items even had lids on that we had to remove ourselves to get to. and lets not mention that the kheer (rice pudding) was just disappointing.
never again :(

First off, im not a fan of indian food. I was starving so I ended up eating some of it. I came for an event that was thrown here. They have a large room where you can rent out which was nice. I thought it had a weird smell when I walked in. The event had a buffet style for food so I ended up getting everything to try. I had no idea what I was putting on my plate. The food was okay. The first time I had indian food, it was so spicy. This time it wasn’t as spicy but still a small kick. I did like the bread they served. Overall it was an okay experience.

If you can get past the funky chairs and Bollywood music videos playing on the tv’s on the walls then this place is a solid find and a normal haunt of mine when I get that itch for some Indian food.
I have not been to this place for dinner, but I think that the real foundation of the Rupee Room is their lunch buffet. For about $ 8.50 you get access to the all you can eat buffet that has probably close to 20 items to choose from. Some of the food is fairly plain, like the homemade cheese curds or even the deep fried potato slices. However, they also always have at least 1 or 2 curries and the chicken tika masala seems to be a staple there as well. Along with the buffet you also get all you can eat naan bread (I highly recommend the garlic naan).
The location is a bit strange, but they have a huge sign out front and plenty of parking in the back of the building. The waiters are always friendly and attentive and the place is clean even if the décor may be a bit strange. If you like Indian food, or are not sure if you do, this place is a worth taking a look at. For under $ 10 you can sample a wide variety of things and I am confident that there is something here for everybody.

Definitely worth the Lunch Buffet!
Your money goes a long way here. They have 4 or 5 choices for curry (chicken, lamb, etc) and an array of extra little nick naks. I personally enjoyed the deep friend onions dipped in curry. They had alot of texture and was bursting with flavor.
I normally judge Indian restaurants based on their naan and boy oh boy did this place have some awesome garlic naan! They bring it to your table personally so you know it’s fresh (it was piping hot!). My sister and I shared 4 servings of that until calling it quits.
Only reason I give it 4 stars is bc of how dead and hard it is to find. I had to pass by a couple bums and around a building to figure out how to get inside. The ambiance into the restaurant ain’t pretty but the food sure is!
Grade: B+

Bizarre location for this restaurant… bizarre interior décor… bizarrely wonderful bollywood musical playing on widescreen TV after Laker game ended… wonderful food. A friend recommended this and said: «When you guy, ask for the authentic preparation». We did, asked for spicy as well, and had wonderful appetizers and entrée dishes galore. Cheese, vegetables, chicken, lamb… all of it uniformly good in nice sized portions. The basmati rice was lacking but the lemon rice made up for it.
Service was outstanding as I needed glass after glass of water. They do charge a $ 10.00 corkage but I offset that with a
gift certificate.
The food was not as precious as a place like The Clay Oven but for whatever reason felt more real, more substantial. Enjoyed the dinner immensely :)

A nice find. I had some
money from United Airlines so I went on a search. The Unilocal reviews looked solid and the coupon was $ 25 off of $ 40. Works for me. Not generally a fan of buffets so we went for dinner. Although at $ 8.95 I may check the buffet sometime soon.
For dinner, the prices were on the high side but the portions were very generous. We ordered 4 entrees, 1 rice and 2 garlic naans, for 6 people. We still took a decent amount of food home.
The waiter asked for heat levels on each dish and they did a great job of delivering. Stand outs for me were the Palak Paneer and Chicken Vindaloo. Excellent flavors and textures. And no weird pieces of chicken that are hard to chew. I found the Chicken Tika a bit dried out although my wife loved it. The flavors were there. We also had what I think was called the Rupee Room special which is a vegetable dish and very good.
If it wasn’t for Unilocal,I would have been fairly worried when we walked in. We were the only ones in the restaurant when we arrived at 6:45 and no one else entered the rest of the evening.
The service was great!
Of special note, are the craziest chairs I have ever seen. I’ll add a picture.
Also, remember this is a bit hard to find. You have to go into the plaza and go to the back. The restaurant is not visible from Tustin.

three words: CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA!!! yummmm: p
This place is greattttt. Been here MANYYY OCCASSIONS. Had my wedding reception, celebrated birthdays, and just hung out with friends here… food is fresh, food is delicious, and the staff is very friendly.
The DECOR ehhhhh yeahhh is a whole different story.hahha.chairs loook like they are cigaretts are something. butt they are comfortable.
I came here a while back as I heard from a friend how good this place was and I wanted to check it out because I wanted to have my wedding reception in their banquet hall. The owner was sooo nice and let me sample some foood… I also asked him if he could make some changes for me and he gladly agreed to my DEMANDS. :) I ended up having my wedding reception here and it turned out AMAZINGGG!!!
I’ve celebrated my birthday and even had told my friends how greattt his place is… they totally take care of you and give you this cute lil gulab jaman desert. i lovee it.
The Chicken Tikka Masala is my all time favorite… it’s sooo delicious. melts in your mouth… I lovee the Chicken tikka platter comes out all nice and sizzzling. Not a big fan of the chicken manchurian. Samosas, daal, everything is greattttt. Not a big fan of buffet. I do al la carte. that’s the way to go when you eat indian. :)
I will definitely come back and recommend this place!!!

I love UYEs, especially if I don’t have to organize them. Getting together with a bunch of Unilocalers is always a lot of fun even if the food doesn’t always hit the spot.
The Rupee Room has interesting décor as Lucas says. The red velvet-​like room is totally 70s kitsch and if they had some boppy Indian music playing, it would’ve seemed like we were on a set of a bad Bollywood movie.
This was the largest number at a UYE I’ve ever encountered. Ordering was quite a feat since we were seating length-​wise making it hard to share. But we managed by passing food down, scooping onto plate and keeping the line moving smoothly.
Now, the food was really mediocre to say the least. We ordered quite a huge selection so it wasn’t as if we didn’t have enough dishes to try out. Some Unilocalers got the mango lassi which tasted gross — mango had that artificial taste, not fresh by any means. I opted for the plain sweet lassi which was really good.
Palek paneer: very smooth pureed spinach without any of the usual fibrous spinach usually seen in a palek paneer. Interestingly, there was no paneer in it either. VERY salty.
Okra: Nicely fried, but again EXTREMELY salty.
Eggplant: This was the best dish of all. Perfectly flavored and nicely spiced.
Lamb vindaloo: typically vindaloo is supposed to be a very spicy dish, but here, they probably toned it down for our party. It had this almost fluorescent red glow to it which was very surreal. It definitely had the sourness of a vindaloo, but just not the heat.
Chicken tikka masala: wasn’t bad, a little TOO creamy than usual. Chicken was slightly overcooked.
Chili shrimp: not too bad, again, rather salty.
Potato and peas: I didn’t try
Chicken biryani: was just okay. The rice was cooked to the right consistency but the entire dish just didn’t meld together flavor-​wise. Definitely have had better biryani.
Garlic naan: was okay — not garlicky enough.
My summary of the meal was that the chef went a bit overboard with the salt. Most of the dishes were overly salted and not spiced enough. The dishes were rather bland when not over salted and the ones which were too salty just made my tongue go BLEHHHHH.
But, I had a wonderful time regardless. Luckily I didn’t see the cockroach in front of Mike, otherwise I would’ve given it one star.