Lotus Cuisine of India

So many gems within this restaurant. Conveniently near the freeway (let’s be real, San Rafael traffic isn’t getting any easier!!). My wife loves their buffet, let alone going there with me for dinner. She is 100% Fijian Indian, and is incredibly particular about her Indian food. Aside from Lotus, the only Indian food she will willingly eat is her Nani’s (grandma). The staff is a broad brushstroke of caring gentlemen who have worked there for years, which says a lot about the restaurant and the owner, IMHO. The food is amazing. We are regulars for their veggie samosas, chicken tikka masala, rice and garlic naan. So amazing. When we visit there, we feel like family. And the amazing food is a plus. We feel fortunate to have such great Indian food so close to us, especially when we are missing my wife’s family.

Delish lunch buffet with plenty of vegan options. Not to mention they made special order vegan naan since the buffets contained dairy. They also offered to allow me to order from the menu if I could not find enough options on the buffet. Five stars for food quality and customer service. Wine was great and def try the house made pickled veggies.

Not too happy with this place. My company orders a company wide lunch with this restaurant once a week. You would think they would do a good job and provide good quality food with all the money we are giving them. But this restaurant doesn’t care about quality. They sent over two pieces of tandoori chicken and gobs of rice which we end up throwing away all for $ 10 a plate. The business model is one in which they can fool people but its pretty easy to catch on to what they are doing. The first couple times they sent over butter chicken and rice and that was good, but they have gotten complacent. It is shameful and I will be imploring my company to look for a better option immediately.

This place is amazing! After living in India for a year Lotus is the best food I’ve had here in the Bay Area. It’s atmosphere and food are far superior to Taj Marin or Prabh in Mill Valley which serves less flavorful and more expensive dishes.
If you are looking for a great meal in a beautiful setting try Lotus. Be prepared there can be a wait as they are always busy!

Excellent quality and service. The employees are friendly and personable. If you’re looking for authentic, delicious, savory indian food, then Lotus is the place to go!!!

Can you beat a $ 10 Indian buffet lunch deal? No you probably cannot…
Favorite memories from my two trips already (in the new year) include the vegetarian samosas, chicken curry and paneer sag!
Not the best breads here but they are forgiven for the large range of food flavors in the buffet.

Went for the 2^nd time, and was thrilled when they opened up the ceiling to the sky, who would have known? The food was fantastic again (the organic chicken is a plus), the one thing I would recommend is that they tone down the burning of the incense. It’s a little overpowering, but when we asked them to put it out, they did so without getting annoyed. The service is fantastic, every-​time, my water glass was almost out they were right there with more water. Love the charm. Will continue to be my go to for Indian in the hood.

It’s all about that $ 4.25 garlic naan man (and the lamb tikka masala, the mango lassi, the saag paneer, the great service and convertible roof). Amazing.

This is hands down my favorite Indian restaurant in Marin. They are always super friendly and the food is fantastic. They even remember my family and I, and are always very happy to see us. They take great care in serving food that is cooked organically, and offer gluten-​free and vegan options that are just as tasty as the original options. I would definitely recommend Lotus to any and all Indian food lovers! ⁵⁄₅ stars!

This is easily one of my favorite places to eat. I’m here once a week with friends, co-​workers and guests from out of town. I feel welcome here by the staff, particularly Jerry and Michael.
The naan bread with curries and vibrantly flavored vegetables once turned me vegetarian. I actually tried it for a whole year. I’m back though and enjoy the chicken tikka masala every time I’m here.

I have been dining at this Place for almost six years now and never once have they let me down be it food or service always accommodating and the best Indian I have ever had.
.
It makes me sad when I see fellow reviewers being biased and comparing Lotus to other restaurants in the bay area .
.
Besides lotus has always maintained High quality standards and have a lot of gluten free and vegan options which is very rare to find .
I hope people recognize this game that competitors play thru customers and judge for them self. .
I am writing this review because I am frustrated by people being biased just to suit their selfish
minds and who try to bring down a Great Restaurant who has been serving us Marinites for so many years.

We love this restaurant. Do NOT order through Unilocal /​Eat24 though. The prices have $ 2 sometimes $ 3 tacked on to the price of EACH dish. An $ 80 dinner would have cost $ 140 using the Unilocal ordering app. We would order more if delivery was an option so that was a total bummer. The food and service is always awesome though!

Very disappointing quality/​price ratio at this restaurant. The service and atmosphere was pleasant, however.
First, my husband and I shared an order of plain Naan to start and were shocked at the tiny portion size. Second, we each had Tandoori Chicken that we found to be very, very bland without the classic flavor of Tandoori chicken that we have had many times.
The chicken had the appearance of being simply sautéed in a pan, not baked in the traditional oven. We also found it surprising that rice wasn’t included, an additional $ 4.00.
We base our dining experience on having eaten at many Indian restaurants in Seattle, having lived there 15 years.

My Babe and I have been to Lotus several times. We just went there last night. Its our go to restaurant for great Indian food in Marin. The Samosas, Lamb, Saag Paneer, Vindaloo Curry and Naan are awesome. In addition to the awesome food, I also love the authentic Indian décor and ambience.

My most favorite Indian spot anywhere in the Bay Area for buffet lunch or dinner.
It would seem suspicious that my most favorite Indian restaurant is within walking distance of my home, but this place is really that good and have been awards to back up my claim. It’s a very small place with a nice staff, great food quality and has a unique convertible roof which opens in the warm summer evenings. Some of my friends complain that the buffet selection is small compared to others, but I like to point out that the buffet’s rotating menu is of the same high quality as their dinner menu. It’s really a deal to walk out full on a saturday buffet lunch at less then half the cost of the same items for dinner! One of the best things they have on the menu is a full course meal for two which brings you a little bit of everything for a reasonable price. Its well worth ordering it at least once to find out what they are capable of.
I also want to add that the staff is just wonderful and have been so kind to me over the years. Just recently the owner himself went out to buy ingredients to make a special desert which they have sadly recently removed from their menu.
If you love indian food make sure you stop by this spot next time you’re in Marin.

Since we were in Marin decided to try Indian food and their review was pretty good. Decision was worth it. The food was so good and it was worth it. You guys just need to work on Palak Paneer. Beside that everything is good.
Will definitely come again.

Today I dined at Lotus for the first time with a vegan girlfriend. The menu states that all dishes on one of the pages can be made vegan, however when we began to order, our server told us that only two dishes were vegan. He was not particularly friendly and we had a little trouble understanding him.
We ended up eating one of the vegan flatbreads similar to naan with garlic, a spicy mixed potato and cauliflower, and a vegan daal along with rice. The meal was filling for two although the portion sizes definitely run on the smaller side. I enjoyed the flavors and spices of the vegetable dish. It was not the best Indian I’ve ever had but it was very good and felt clean for my body.
The setting is very nice and I really appreciate the cute tableware and abundance of vibrant and colorful decorations, from the mural to the wall art.
Pro tip: look out for 20% off dinner coupons on the mail :)

Just don’t do it. It’s easy to confuse this location with the Lotus Chaat (further west on Fourth Street), but just a heads-​up: GO TO CHAAT INSTEAD.
Mediocre, overpriced, bland food in a super uncomfortable environment. We had to send back our papadums… who messes up papadum? I can put them in a toaster oven at home and they would have turned out better. The server never brought us more papadum when we complained our order was stale/​soggy.
I ordered malai kofta, a wonderful vegetarian dish usually. My «malai kofta» was almost like mashed potatoes in a tikka masala sauce. Inedible. I ended up eating the table’s naan, and then driving down to Lotus Chaat for take-​out.
Also, when the server came with the bill, she asked how everything was… my aunt was straight up and told her «well, the curry was like mushroom soup,» papadum never arrived, etc. and the server just went ‘mmmhmmm’ and left! Hahahahah! It was downright comical.
Don’t waste your money here. Go to Lotus Chaat instead, where I’m now off to give a five-​star review.

Had I been writing reviews when I first visited Lotus several months ago, I would have given it a flawless five stars. However, my second experience only deserves two. Apparently the style and quality of the food largely depends on who’s cooking that night.
On my first visit, I ordered the vegan versions of saag aloo and navrattan korma, jasmine rice, appetizer plate, and naan.
Words cannot express the perfection of that meal! Pakoras and samosas were large, golden and piping hot. Both entrees were swimming in delightful, delicately spiced sauces made of coconut milk, and both had just the right amount of heat. The saag, in particular, was downright ambrosial. I stuffed myself to full capacity and was left in a sort of daze, a stupor of gastronomic bliss. There was not a single aspect of that meal I would have changed; not only was it the best Indian food I’d ever tried, it was also quite simply the best *food.* As soon as I’d finished my leftovers, I began to fantasize about going back for more. «Yes,» I said to myself, «I’ve found my new favorite restaurant.»
So naturally when me and my mom’s joint birthday rolled around, I talked her and her boyfriend into making the trek down to San Rafael with me to try what I insisted was «the best Indian food in the world.»
I decided to splurge and order the vegetarian thali dinner. I saw that it came with that terrific saag and navrattan korma, plus dal, salad, naan, rice, kheer, appetizers, etc. They said they could make it vegan, and indeed they did, but nothing– literally NOTHING– but the rice was the same as it had been the first time.
I only got two pakoras and they were small and not very fresh. The samosa was tasty but again, a miniature version of the previous one.
They brought chapati instead of naan, saying that the naan wasn’t vegan (I’ve never heard of there being dairy in naan except for the ghee on top!) and it was alright but I’d been wanting naan so I was bummed. I’m actually allergic to dairy, so I couldn’t just «cheat» and order some anyway.
The curries and rice were TINY, served in these little tin cups– the sort you’d use for dips– and there was not a drop of coconut cream amongst them! In fact there was barely any sauce at all. The navrattan korma was just a few undercooked veggies lightly coated in spiced tomato sauce. The saag was just blended spiced spinach.
The salad was comprised of 4 or 5 pieces of lettuce rind and the stump of a tomato (no dressing) and there was nothing to replace the raita. At that price they might have been kind enough to give me some extra chutney at least.
I just sat there and stared at it a moment, my heart sinking.
I asked the waiter why there was no coconut milk in the saag this time and he took it away and had the chef add a little… but it was still dry compared to how it had been. I did eat almost everything and I’m not saying any of it was truly bad food because it was not, it was average Indian fare. It just wasn’t what I’d been expecting and I felt ripped off by the size of the dinner in relation to its price. I didn’t even get the dessert because none of it was dairy-​free and they still charged me the full $ 23.
My mom and her bf both seemed to enjoy the food; theirs actually had coconut milk!
I am not exaggerating, though, when I say that my disappointment with last night’s meal was bitter indeed. I didn’t even make other birthday plans; dinner at Lotus was all I’d wanted and it fell far short.
For all I know, my first experience was a fluke. I’m now feeling very foolish for having spoken so highly of this place for so long. Since I have no way of predicting which chef is in the house on any given night, I won’t be returning.

Open Sesame! Oops! That’s Arabic but opening the door of Lotus Cuisine of India was nonetheless just as exotic! I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by the ambiance as it appealed to my senses of smell, sound and sight. Instantaneously, my nostrils were assailed by the aromatic and pungent scents of Indian food and spices. My sense of smell immediately sent hunger pangs to my brain. As the host sat us, I can faintly hear the mournful and soulful refrains of a pungi (a traditional Indian wind instrument often played by a snake charmer) although I would rather hear the more exuberant and rhythmic beats of Bollywood drums! The dining room was dimly lit with just enough lighting for me to see the beautiful classical Indian paintings adorning the walls. The manager forbade me to take pics apparently for copyright reasons (?)
Now, have I set the stage for some solid Indian grubs?
I have been eating Indian food for a while but have always gravitated to a few familiar dishes. This time, I thought I’d do something different and tried Chicken Thali ($ 24.95). This was a traditional Indian dinner where I can get a combination of several small dishes. It was like going to a mini buffet. The various dishes were placed in small bowls on a round tray (thali). It was a great deal as the dinner included pappadum, salad, naan, rice, raita and a rice pudding dessert. The small bowls that made up the main meal were:
(1) 4 pieces of Chicken Pakora… this is an Indian fried appetizer like fritters. LC’s pakora was just so-​so. It could have tasted much better if the pakora was fresh from the fryer and crispier. (²⁄₅).
(2) Mulligatawny Soup… if you asked me, this was basically chicken broth with some green peas and a hint of curry powder. You can’t go wrong with chicken broth but it wasn’t something to write home about either! (³⁄₅)
(3) Raita… is a cold yogurt condiment with cucumber cubes. It was very refreshing and also cooling to your palate in case you need to reduce the heat from the hot Indian spices. (⁴⁄₅)
(4) 2 pieces of Tandoori Chicken… this is well known and ubiquitous in Indian cuisine. LC did a fine job with the tandoor (a traditional clay oven). The chicken (sans skin) had a slightly charred crispy surface while the meat was moist and succulent. If you are wondering why the chicken was red… food coloring. (⁴⁄₅)
(5) Saag Paneer… a classic Indian dish of cooked spinach with cubes of paneer cheese. It didn’t look too appetizing but tasted better than it looked. (⁴⁄₅)
(6) Chicken Vindaloo … this is my unequivocal favorite among all the Indian curries. The thali dinner came with Masala and the server was glad to substitute that for Vindaloo. Sweat is one of the benchmarks I use to judge my enjoyment of vindaloo curry. If I were to break out with a mild sweat, it was a sure sign that I was enjoying the meal. Over sweating meant the heat level killed me! I did sweat mildly and so a well deserved ⁵⁄₅!

It seemed odd that we did not get a designated server. Service in general was perfunctory and lacked any genuine interest or enthusiasm. Menu prices were reasonable and the thali dinner was for sure a good bang for your buck.