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Empress of India (Closed) (Indian cuisine)  $$

 7.75
JaT Rating

3426 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, 95051  (Directions)


408-296-0717


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Hole in the Wall Indian food buffet with spicy offerings.


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 5/4/2005
Rating: 8
My photo gallery 		Empress of India is one of the weirdest lunches we've had in the last month or so. If you try and look for it, its the blue E S I I sign. I didnt look closely at the sign but maybe the letters fell off?

We walk in there and theres no one in the restaurant. Walk a little further down and lady says hi to us, then another woman comes out and ask us if we are vegetarian, or asking us if we want chicken, or take a seat, or veggie buffet is in the back; I was completely confused at that point but she finally steered us into the direction of the buffet tables.

There were about 6 trays in all in a very dark lit room. You could barely see what you were shoveling on your plate. I dont know exactly what I ate but it was all very good. Veggies had a lot of flavor to it but the absolute best part of the lunch was the spice! Talk about catching me off guard. My mouth was ON FIRE!! Out of the hundreds of places Ive been to, Empress of India would make it on my top 3 behind Krung Thai (Thai Spicey) and Cluck U (Global Thermo Nuclears).

Empress of India is definitely the spiciest India food Ive had and like the fact they have the courage to serve food this hot without any warning signs. If you want a lunch, want to wakeup, skip the coffee and go for the lunch buffet at Empress of India. The lunch buffet is expensive but its not everyday that you experience food with this much of a kick.
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 5/4/2005
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		Another wishlist request, Empress of India came to us highly regarded. Finding it can be a bit tough as its tucked back in a parking lot and 80% of the letters in the sign are missing so you can't tell what the name is called. Good thing we had the restaurants street # with us to verify. We walk in and its empty and DARK. Great, I think, another misguided wishlist request.

I had no idea that it was a buffet, so after some confusing moments, the lady kindly informed us. BTW, its an Indian place run by some friendly white folks. Nice change, they have accents, so probably from India or Britain?

I grabbed an item from each of the 6 fresh heaping plates. Fresh baked naan was brought out to the table too (a large basket baked fresh when we walked in the door).

All of the items were HIGHLY flavorful. This is among the best Indian food I have tasted. The naan wasn't the best I've had, but it was fresh and quite tasty covered in butter. The surprise dish was the falafel (yeah, falafel) stew type thing. (sorry). It was among the hottest food I have ever had. In fact most of the food served here was very spicy. But this one was probably on the level of thermonuclear on the University chicken scale. Imagine if some uninitiated person came here and started ordering and eating this stuff. oh my! Good thing its so hard to find. haha

All of the dishes today were vegetarian tho he asked if we ate meat as they had fresh chicken as well they were offering for the day. I get the feeling that the dishes change from day to day, so best to call ahead to see whats cooking the day you go over.

We are done and go to pay. The friendly man writes down the price for the 2 of us on the receipt. I do a double take. Then a triple take. Is that $24? wow. I should have come more hungry. Don't get me wrong, the food was fabulous, but a bit on the steep side for my tastes.

Would I return? Absolutely, this is good food and a fun time getting here. Super nice people too. I just need to save up some $$ first.
 
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