Star of India Restaurant

by Julian S.

Felt like I was eating bad, bland Mexican food. I'm never coming to San Diego again.

by Adam C.

I have eaten here quite a few times, and in the beginning, I thought the food was pretty good.  But it got progressively worse, and it has some of the worst service I've ever had.  But the last and final time I went, I went with a coworker on our break.  We sat down, and were one of two parties that were in the restaurant.  So one would think that it would be plenty of time to eat and get back to work within an hour.  But no.  There were 2 waitresses, and they kept walking past us, ignoring us.  Which was odd, since there was only one other table there.  We finally were able to order, and when my food arrived, it was completely different then what I ordered(I had ordered Chicken Saag, and they brought me what looked like vindaloo).  I informed the waitress(who by the way, wasn't the one who took our orders) that this was not what I ordered, and she snapped back at me and argued that it was indeed what I ordered and I can't just change my mind after it's been ordered.  I was absolutely amazed at this service, and then the waitress who took our order came over and appologized, and said it was a new cook who "screwed up".  So, after another 15 minutes, I got my saag, but there was no chicken.  I brought this to the attention of my waitress, and she said that she could have it corrected for me.  But, at this point, I was already late for work.  So I just asked for my wrong dish to go and the check.  She appologized and said that she would take my meal off of the bill for me.  But when she brought it to me, it wasn't(and I noticed that she had rung me up for vindaloo, so it wasn't this "new" cook's fault).  I pointed this out to her, and she then brought me the corrected bill with my meal taken off.  I handed her my credit card, and when she brought me back the sales slip, she had charged me the original bill with my meal on it.  I again pointed out her mistake, and she told me that she couldn't refund my money because only the manager could do it, who wasn't there.  She then called the manager, who told her to leave my credit card and he'll refund my money the next morning.  LEAVE MY CREDIT CARD!  Are you kidding me?  Obviously I said no, and demanded to be refunded immediately.  The other waitress was being really bitchy and saying there's nothing else I could do.  I again demanded that it get refunded now, and my waitress decided to call the owner.  The owner walked her though how to do a refund, and she refunded both meals.  Then, as I started to leave, the other waitress started screaming at me saying I still need to pay for my friend's meal, and if I walk out she'll call the police.  I couldn't believe she thought I should still pay for that.  Anyways, I left.  I'm still waiting for the police to come arrest me.  Oh, and because of all that, I was a half hour late getting back to work, and I got written up for it.

by szeying t.

Hm. Lots of poopy reviews for the Star of India. It's not *that* bad.Well, I took my team out to lunch here a few days ago and we also had take out from here before, and it's always been pretty good. Maybe it's cos I don't eat the meat stuff and I've thought that all the vegetarian entrees were delish. We ordered curried cauliflower, curried spinach and cheese, two types of chicken curry and delicious papadums.Only thing that bugs me is the prices are a little overpriced, there are no lunch specials (what? no lunch specials in the gaslamp? not cool.) and they served the communal rice on a plate, with a teaspoon.  Yeah. Service was attentive. The curries are rather delicious. Bring me my rice in a real rice container next time and I'll be happier.

by Michael P.

Stumbled upon this place and for what we ordered it was amazing.Simply amazing!!! But first after coming home and reading a couple of negative reviews. 1 - The staff was attentive 2 - They were courious3 - Yes, the physical place is not all that... bathrooms and such Chicken Pakora - Fantastic!Naan - Right out of the ovenPoori - PerfectLamb Korma - Robust and full of flavorNarvattan Korma - Superb ... and lets face it, if you love one Narvattan dish you,ll love them all! Take the chance, the food is really worth it.

by Cat M.

Went here for a birthday, and the servers were accommodating to our larger group. We got some drinks around the corner to kill some wait time because we didn't have a reservation-- place was busy that night. Our server was nice for the most part.I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala and it was tasty. Garlic nan was good, they kind of skimp on it though. Extra star for some great mangolassi. If you're not used to Indian food though, be careful how you order. I had a friend sensitive to spicy food and the mild wasn't exactly mild. The cost of the meal was a little much to me, but I was there for a birthday so I didn't care at the time. I'd probably try something else if I was in the area because while the food is just fine, the price turns me off.

by Ric B.

I had the Chicken Tikka Marsala, basmati rice, garlic nan, onion Bhaji, and large King Fisher beer last night.  All this food was great.  It ended up being kind of expensive, but I think they have lunch specials here, so you should give it a try at lunch sometime.  The service was pretty good.  One slip up was that the waitress said that my meal came with rice, but then didn't bring any, so I had to ask for it.  No big deal, but it is nice to get everything and dig in.  That basmati rice was good.  They cooked it with some type of spice, cumin maybe?  It flavored the rice really delicately, making the marsala even more tasty.  The Bhaji onion was good too.  Similar to onion rings, but with some interesting spices mixed in with the chickpea.  It was kind of warm in this restaurant.  I was kind of burning up.  Had to take my sweater off (it was a cool evening outside).  This is a great restaurant and I will definitely return to try some more of their dishes.

by Brian G.

If you want poor service (ask 3 times before you get your glass of wine, no one asks whether your meal tastes good, no one says goodbye etc), small portions (go fishing for the couple of scraps of chicken in the sauce, i paltry thin piece of naan bread for $5, the smallest samosas we have seen) of mediocre food and bugs crawling in the ladies room (and dust and cobwebs in the dining area) - then THIS is the place for you!  Highlight (the only one) was the friendly hostess outside.  Stopped at Albertsons on the way home to get some food!!  Go to Royal India just around the corner!

by Connie N.

The hostess asked us to stand outside while she checked on reservations even thought the restaurant was practically empty.  Food was okay...nothing special....

by Tavis L.

We've eaten here two summers in a row when we're in town for Comic-Con.  The first year we "discovered" it walking around starving, and it was great!Second year, just as good.  I did notice the service was a little slow, but the food was great.We'll definitely return this summer, and hopefully it hasn't gotten as bad as everyone else here is saying...

by Christina r.

This was one of the first places I ate at in San Diego, long before I knew about Yelp.  We decided to go here b/c it was POURING out and it was right there just as the downpour began.  I am sure the only reason this place makes money is b/c it is right in the middle of Gaslamp and it looks pretty nice.  Too bad the food is complete crap.   First off there was only one other group eating when we got there, but that didn't stop the hostess from giving us the crappiest seat there.  It was in a corner, by the front window, so maybe she thought it was a good table, but the window was filthy.  There were bugs flying around and it looked like no one had ever cleaned it.  ew.  We should have left then.  After waiting about 15 minutes, we were about to leave when someone finally came to our table.  This was pretty much how the service was all night.  Not a huge deal, but the food was not good.  I think the microwave Indian food you buy at Trader Joe's is better than this.  It was all pretty bland.  By the end of the meal we were pretty disappointed at the whole experience.  To top it all off, this place is not cheap.  In hindsight we should have just got rained on.  AVOID THIS PLACE! I wish I could give it no stars