Gate Of India

12/06/09

good but not worth the price

by chichi3000 at Citysearch

had gotten take out from this place like in 07- always remembered how good it was so i went back for my bday yesterday. service was not too good, waiters and staff not friendly at all. some lady was yelling in the kitchen the whole time. no seat covers in the bathrooms. food was good but i went with 2 other people and we got 2 orders of samosas, saffron rice and 3 dishes, plus nan. at any other restaurant this would seem like enough but these might as well have been infant portions at 10.00 an order. samosas were tiny as well and 5 bucks an order. 5 dollars per nan haha. taste was good but totally not worth the price at all. i understand we might be paying for location but ive been to phenomenal indian restaurants which were decently priced, with friendly service and generous portions plus they had toilet seat covers. so skip on this one yall!

• Pros: good food
• Cons: overpriced; tiny portions

10/18/09

Appalled!

by NPS at Citysearch

I have tried several Indian restaurants in LA now. I am ashamed that they are serving this muck and calling it Indian. Its absolutely disgusting food. As an Indian, I expect a lot more but sadly this restaurant is taking its customers for a ride. I have never tatsed such garbage - no spices, no colour - guess thats why its so dimly lit in there so you cant see the food. The staff are rude, do not have any idea of how to serve.

Stay away from this place - it is not authentic indian food by a long shot!

This place would be shut down in days if it was in London!!

AWFUL.

• Pros: None
• Cons: This is no -where near Indian Food

12/09/08

Best Indian in LA

by CPDean at Citysearch

My husband and I used to live in Santa Monica and eat at Gates of India all the time. We have not been able to find another Indian restaurant anywhere near as good and so we continue to drive back to eat here. It doesn't rate high for ambiance and the servers are FOB Indian (and sometimes Mexican) but the Malay Curry, Tikka Masa, and Sag Paneer are the best around.

• Pros: Great Food
• Cons: Not a place to take a first date - tacky ambience and mediocre service

10/20/08

a restaurant of deceit

by faboomba at Citysearch

Today i went with my girl friend for dinner inside gate of india, and the scenery was authentic enough, we were given our waters right away and off to a pretty good start. We even decided pretty quickly what we wanted off of the menu, it bothered me a little that everything was a la carte, meaning the rice being an essential part of the dish was something you have to buy as an extra, so I ordered the coconut malay vegetables, $9.99 and my girl friend ordered a lamb #12 in creme sauce for 14.99, two samosas for 5.00, and one plate of rice for 3.00. It wasnt 10 minutes until they brought out the samosas, they were pretty decent sized and with good sauces, this gave us good hopes for the main entrees. They brought out these burners under metals bowls to keep our meals hot, with a tea light candle under our very sparing portions that were way under the portion that we expected. We shared our lamb creme sauce and coconut veggies mixing them together, right away i noticed the lamb tasted really tough and resembled beef, in fact it was most likely beef for that unmistakable flavor that beef has, and it had a lot of gristles and very much over cooked. The waitress tells us that if we needed more rice that politely she would give us more, so the one plate of 3.00 rice wasnt enough so the waiter brought out another, and we finished off most of our portion since it was about the size of a small skimpy bowl that of an appetizer. The waiter with the weird teeth kept on shuffling back and forth behind our table and crowded our table, and we then became baffled not knowing if what we were eating was lamb or beef. So we decide to get our check, and the total comes out to be 38.19. We were more than infuriated, the waitress had deceitfully charged us for another rice, not to mention when we asked her if we ordered beef she responded by saying that if you ordered lamb then we gave you lamb, though it couldn't have been. They were pushy with the receipt, so i didn't leave a tip.

• Pros: pretty good food, colorful curtains, cool trinkets
• Cons: lying waitress that misinformed about extra charges, weird vibe to the place, way too expensive for the average to poor quality of food you get.

08/28/08

$10 for soda pop?!?!?!

by dunwright at Citysearch

Had the terribly overcooked buffet lunch. Honestly, you could get a better meal in jail. I ordered a coke and asked for two refills during my meal with no comment from the staff. The bill arrived showing I'd been charged $3 for the first coke and $6.49 for the two refills. I'm not much of a math major but I believe that comes to $9.49 for soda pop ladies and gentlemen! And my meal (if you could call it that) was only $10.99! Not only did the supervisor not credit me for failure to mention they charged for "refills" but he had no explanation for the rising price of said cokes. My recommendation to you for a better meal and customer service would be to rummage through the dumpsters of Ye Ol Kings Head across the street.

• Pros: Easily accessible exits and the foreign tourists don't realize they're being ripped off.
• Cons: Bad Food, Overpriced, Horrible Customer Service.

08/05/08

Do Not Eat Here!!

by JayDiner at Citysearch

Do Not Eat Here!! If you desire indian food make the short drive to Pradeep's at Montana and 14th (Pradeep's is great, don't skip the carrot and coriander soup)!! Otherwise if you're in a jam for time, leave the "gate of india" immediately!! and walk directly across the street to "King's Head pub and restaurant" for fine fare and enjoyable experience!! Do not make the mistake of sitting down in "gate of india" or you will be sorry!! Feel free to walk in and take a look, but do not sit down!! As no good people should be subjected to such disgrace. This would be the worst possible choice you could make for eating food/dining in santa monica. Details of how extremely poor experience was are too long to list. Prices are not the issue although what you get for minimum $50 is: extremely poor service, mediocre food, and a Nasty Owner who took our order and barked at us that everything is a la carte. No good, do not support this establishment, they have no regard for their customers and Rely on Vulnerable Tourist Traffic To Do Their Business. I live 6 blocks away and would not eat there again if the food was free!!

• Pros: None
• Cons: Good Advice....Just Eat Somewhere Else, Get It?

04/24/08

BEST Saag Paneer in town!

by Buzzkitty at Citysearch

I am a local who goes to this restaurant when I really want to treat myself...as they do not spare the calories!

I never do the buffet...and you shouldn't either. Spend the extra dollars and order off the dinner menu. The Saag Paneer is the BEST I've tasted in town. And the Chicken Tikka (masala or simple tandori)...YUM...exceptional!! The Chana Masala is terrific also.

The service can tend to be a little slow and distracted, but if you are content to relax and talk over drinks while you wait, then you will enjoy the experience (order Indian beer, as the wine is pricey and tastes like it came from a box). The staff may seem quiet...but start a dialog...they actually are quite friendly with a good sense of humor.

• Pros: Tasty dishes, nice decor
• Cons: unattentive staff, slow service

04/20/08

Worst Indian restaurant

by dkraj at Citysearch

We went there on a Friday for lunch. Overpriced buffet with no flavor. Rude staff. The food also made me sick. Avoid at all costs.

• Pros: none
• Cons: food, service, overpriced

03/24/08

Gate of India, Santa Monica

by yetanothergourmand at Citysearch

We visited Gate of India on saturday night. On hindsight, I am surprised the place even had customers. The waiters seemed rather disinterested and had a strange attitude. On being asked about the status of the food which was ordered some 20 mins back, we were counter questioned if we wanted good food or bad food! Further, the guy asked us if we wanted fully cooked food or half cooked food!! The basic point he was driving at was 'we d have to wait'. But there is definitely a politer way of handling customer queries. No one goes to a restaurant to eat bad half cooked food, for heavens sake!

We ordered the Green Chilly Bhoona. For those who actually end up eating there even after reading 17 bad reviews on this site about Gate of India, DO NOT ORDER THIS! Bhoona means roasted/ fried which tends to reduce the 'sting' in the chilly. Needless to add, the chillies were not and the end product was rather avoidable! Further, the Paneer Tikka Masala is far from what it is supposed to taste!

So all in all, bad service plus bad food plus overpriced menu is a recipe for disaster. The restaurant is just thriving on its location. Dont think the owner has actually bothered to read, let alone do anything about customer feedback!

• Pros: None
• Cons: Bad service, overpriced, low quality of food

02/10/08

They do not deserve your business

by Hannah5 at Citysearch

Four of us went on a Saturday night. The place was busy but not swamped; however, we stood at the front of the restaurant for about 5 minutes before anyone acknowledged us. When we were finally seated, it was another 15-20 minutes before anyone came to take our order (there was no "welcome" or drink order from anyone). Finally a terse, annoyed man showed up, insulted us when we asked for jasmine rice with our order (he told us to go to the Chinese restaurant next door if we wanted jasmine rice - he actually said that!), and then we never saw him again. The food was fine although nothing extraordinary, and no one even came by our table to ask how it was... it definitely wasn't worth the rude treatment we received. On our way out, nobody thanked us for coming or even said goodbye. Do not waste your time here!

• Pros: Decent food
• Cons: Horrible, very rude service