Last Thurs., my girlfriend and I went to the Gaylord Indian Restaurant in the Stanford Shopping Center. I had never been there before, but I had heard mixed comments about the place. Some people had told me it was excellent, others that it was mediocre; everyone agreed that it was very expensive. Anyway, we went there primarily because we had received one of those two-entrees-for-the-price-of-one coupons for Gaylord in one of those various coupon mailings. We thought this might bring the price of a meal down to a level that we could actually afford. All in all, the food and the service at Gaylord was fantastic. It was, perhaps, one of the best Indian restaurants I have been to in the U.S. The poppadums they served when we sat down were fresh and crisp, and not at all greasy. The green chutney and tamarind chutney that came with them were very tasty. We didn't really order any appetizers, although we did order one of the more intriguing stuffed nans as an appetizer. It was stuffed with pistaschios, raisins, and cherries and tasted more like a desert than a meal accompaniment. It was, I say quite happily, thoroghly delicious and nowhere near as greasy as its strong buttery flavor would suggest. As entrees, we split one order of the seekh kebab and one of the the tamarind chicken. They were both wonderful. The kabab was wonderfully spiced, both in terms of aroma and in terms of hotness. When you first put a piece into your mouth, you received a wonderful burst of lamb and various Indian spices, but there was a little bit of a fiery kick in the aftertaste. I was pleasantly surprised by this-- I'm usually found that Indian restaurants as posh as Gaylord usually tone down the spiciness too much. The tamarind chicken was very tender and the sauce was good and tart. The rice pilau that we received was aromatic and perfectly cooked. The service was impeccably speedy and polite. In short, it was a completely wonderful meal in every respect. One _really_ pays for such a great dining experience though. Gaylord is exceedingly expensive as Indian restaurants go. Entrees with meat run from $14-18, those w/ seafood from $17-$21, and veg. entrees hover at around $10. An order of plain nan costs $2.75, and stuffed nans are a dollar more. One order of rice pilaf costs $4.75. I didn't really price the deserts or the drinks, but I think our mango lassis were about $2.50 each Anyway, with our two entrees (one of which was free w/ the coupon), our bread, an order of rice and two mango lassis, the total came out to about $35 before tip. It would easily have been over $50 if we had not had the coupon. While this isn't _that_ bad of a price when compared with other top restaurants in Palo Alto, it's certainly a _lot_ more than any other Indian restaurants in the area. Still, the food was delicious and I can't say that I feel the place is "overpriced," although I certainly couldn't afford to go there on a semi-regular basis, even with half-price coupons. I heartily reccomend the food and the service at Gaylord, but with the warning that you will pay a pretty penny for it. -- Jim C. ========================================================================== | James A. Chokey [email removed] | | | | Alas! Coquettes are but too rare. | | -- Disraeli | ==========================================================================
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Visit to Gaylord In Palo Alto
Wow--have prices really gone up that much since last year? I have a dinner menu here from Nov 93, which lists _most_ of the meat dishes in the $11-13 range and _all_ the vegetable dishes from $7.50-9. And I thought inflation was supposed to be low last year.... While it is true that there are less expensive Indian restaurants than Gaylord's, I have yet to find one that is nearly as good. And I'm not sure why one should expect to pay less for an excellent Indian meal than for say, an amazing Italian dinner. My advice for the budget-conscious: go during lunch, when they have an all-you-can-eat buffet (usually two meat, one lentil, two vegetable, rice, salad, raita, and fresh nan) for $8.95 (every day except Sunday, which is more for some reason). JMD
Janet wrote: > >While it is true that there are less expensive Indian restaurants than >Gaylord's, I have yet to find one that is nearly as good. And I'm not >sure why one should expect to pay less for an excellent Indian meal >than for say, an amazing Italian dinner. One shouldn't. The problem I have with Gaylord's is that they don't give you an excellent Indian dinner. I've been there a couple of times and have found the tandoori good, but the curries mediocre at best. You can do a lot better for less money at Le Tandoor (San Antonio near El Camino in Los Altos) or at Empress of India (El Camino near Lawrence in Santa Clara). No doubt there are other Indian restaurants in the area that are better than Gaylord's.
Janet W. wrote: >Dave E. wrote: >>Jeff S. wrote: >>> >>>The "best Indian" debate seems to be starting again. FWIW, I used >>>to work near Le Tandoor and ate there several times without having >>>very good food. The vegetarian stuff seems better than the meat. >> >>Their lunch buffet is only so so. They don't restock the >>entrees often enoough so if you go late, the selection >>isn't very good. But I've been very impressed the times >>I've been there for dinner. >> >>>I recently started going to, and much prefer, Sarovar on Lawrence >>>in Sunnyvale. The bad part about eating lunch there is everyone >>>seems to like it and it can be a long wait. >> >>I've only been there once, but I found the atmosphere pretty >>unpleasant and I don't usually notice such things. The staff >>was at best cold, maybe a little unfriendly. The buffet items >>were not restocked promptly. And the food didn't impress me --- >>it seemed to be on the order of the Castro St. places. It's >>gotten good reviews here, so I suppose I should try it again, >>but I didn't have a good experience the time I was there. >> >>-- >>Dave Eisen Sequoia Peripherals: (415) 967-5644 >>[email removed] FAX: (415) 967-5648 >> There's something in my library to offend everybody. >> --- Washington Coalition Against Censorship > > >Granted I was only there once, but I really enjoyed Nataraja's lunch >buffet (University Ave., Palo Alto). I believe the price was about >$8 per, which is more than I like to spend on a daily basis, but >once in a while is certainly not extravagant. Nataraja is very good, but expensive. If I were going to spend the extra $, God knows I'd go there before Gaylord. Speaking of Indian buffets, I had a wonderful lunch at Taj Mahal, on Castro. Don
>> Left it out of my last posting - there is an excellent dosa restaurant >> at the corner of Lawrence and El Camino is Sunnyvale (same shopping >> center as the Osh or Home Depot store) with a good variety of vegetarian >> dosa. >Sounds great--does anyone know the name of this restaurant? >JMD Pasand It is next to OSH and Lucky. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Lalit Shahani e-mail: [email removed] Informix Software Inc. voice-mail: 415.926.6845 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet wrote: >Jeff S. wrote: > >> Left it out of my last posting - there is an excellent dosa restaurant >> at the corner of Lawrence and El Camino is Sunnyvale (same shopping >> center as the Osh or Home Depot store) with a good variety of vegetarian >> dosa. > > >Sounds great--does anyone know the name of this restaurant? > >JMD I think he's talking about Pasand. That's totally a bad place. Totally greasy and smelly. For semi-good dosas try Shilpa on Lawerence and El Camino in St. Clara. For best Idlis, try pick n move Atul
Atul K. wrote: [...] >For semi-good dosas try Shilpa on Lawerence and El Camino in St. Clara. >For best Idlis, try pick n move >Atul Semi-good is about right for Shilpa's dosas, I found them greasy. Actually, Sujatha's dosas are pretty decent to my (admittedly, non-Indian) taste. ======================================================================== <Usual Disclaimer> "The best is the enemy of the good" - Voltaire Leon Traister ([email removed]) c/o Amdahl Corporation (408)737-5449 1250 E. Arques Ave. M/S 338 P.O. Box 3470 Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3470