Sakoon Restaurant

The food is decent but very overpriced. Moreover, if the restaurant is even half full it takes full 20 mins for the serving of breads to arrive. For us, the second serving took more than 30 mins. The waiters do not arrive in time to take the order and overall, my apetite was killed because of the so long wait. Will not recommed to anyone if you want to impress someone.

Why do people think that when they open a restaurant in Fremont, they have to «dumb down» the ambiance? Having been to the Mountain View location with a nice ambiance, I was all set to repeat the experience closer to home! But, alas, this was a very meh room with a hotel ballroom like atmosphere. Probably OK for corporate events and such, but not for an evening out for a couple looking for good Indian food. Especially, for the price (The «$$» designation on Unilocal seems misleading).
On the positive side — The food seemed to be just as good as the one in Mountain View (although, like the Mountain View one, it is rather butter-​heavy, but delicious probably because of it!). The Avocado appetizer was unusual and delicious, and the Lotus Seed curry was also unusual and tasty. The Seafood Molee was good (not outstanding). The drinks were good too, tried the Spicy Passionfruit cocktail (yum), and the wines by the glass were decent. Only bottled beer, no craft brews on tap. The wait-​staff were courteous and soft spoken, and quite attentive, so good marks to them.
I just so wish they had not dumbed down the ambiance. I don’t think I will be in a rush to go back there and spend that kind of money for that look and feel.

We went around 7 30 pm to this place and had a hard time finding it. Why ?
The signage for the restaurant was off !
We walked in to be greeted by a smiling host and were escorted to the table. After we settled down, I had a look at the interiors of this restaurant and for the name this place has (considering this is 2^nd location in the bay area) the over shiny chandeliers and bland taste in painted walls made no justice. The setup is very dull!
Furthermore, the menu has some expensive pricing. all the meat appetizers were between 18 and 26.
My wife ordered a Lasooni Gobi for appetizer and I ordered a mix meat platter.
The mix meat platter was decent and filling for 1 person, just that the shrimps were tough. Lamb and chicken were well cooked.
On the other hand, the Lasooni Gobi was real tangy! On conveying this to a server, he immediately got one of the hosts to come to talk to us.
The lady walks to us and asks «So I was told you had a complaint about the appetizer» .
Complaint ?? Really? Is that the verbiage expected from a supposedly «upscale» restaurant ?(atleast from Menu prices)
She explains to us the reason for tanginess to be the ketchup it was smeared in. We were surprised to hear they use ketchup-​like shortcuts for their appetizers.
We also ordered subz dum biryani (veg biryani) which was alrite. The only saving grace here is the customer service by the servers. They were very soft spoken and filled up our water glasses without even asking once and made sure we had everything we needed.
Needless to say, no SAKOON at all !

We came here tonight after making a reservation on Open Table and were excited to eat after a previously great experience. The food this time was good, as expected, but we were extremely disappointed with the service. Despite 75% of the main room having available seating, we were seated in the tiny secluded back room for no reason other than that «the main room tables were reserved». I’m not sure how reservations work, but we should have been seated at the any one of the available reserved spots in my main room! We were looking forward to that ambiance and the back room felt like it was meant for an overflow and was EMPTY besides our group — not the way we envisioned a Saturday night out!
The cherry on top was the booming music coming from Sakoon’s party hall next to us. It was so loud the light fixture and the wall next to me was vibrating. We could even hear someone singing on the microphone! It was definitely management’s responsibility to tell them to turn it down for those of us in the placed in the «overflow room».
Tl;Dr: good food, horrible ambiance.
You can do better, Sakoon.

Absolutely floored by the Sunday lunch buffet. The best Indian buffet I had in the US! Very rarely have I come across a place every dish was delicious. The starters, the main course and the desserts. Floored! They have found a regular customer in me!

I’m a big fan of the Sakoon in Mountain View, so I was excited when I found out that they opened a new location in Fremont, since that is where I am from.
The two are very, very different. One of the best parts about the Mountain View location is that the décor is beautiful, and it makes for a great ambience. Downtown Mountain View is also a very vibrant place, so it’s a fun place to eat dinner and then walk around after. This location of the Fremont restaurant is in a quiet complex, next to an Olive Garden and an Applebee’s. It’s a little surprising to see an upscale Indian restaurant in this complex, it just doesn’t really fit.
It seems as if the banquet hall is the main attraction for this place, and that might take up a large part of the man power. It took almost an hour for us to get our food for 3 people. Quantity wise, they seem to give more than their Mountain View location, but it is not nearly as tasty. Goes to show that the same recipe made by different chefs can taste very different.
For the price of this place, I wouldn’t come back to the Fremont location. The food is not as good, the ambience not as nice, and the wait staff is sub par.

Aside from the huge antique-​y door and pretty logo, there’s really not much to like about this restaurant/​hall space. I came here for a sangeet and even with the décor there wasn’t a lot to love about this hall.
Food was displayed beautifully and looked delicious. But everything had so much spice to it. I love eating paneer & rice; most basic dish but I could not handle the heat. It looked like they poured a whole entire bottle of pepper into the dish.
I figured you can’t go wrong with dessert… wrong. The rasmalai, cheese balls in sweetened milk/​cream, was horrible. The cream tasted bad. Gulab jamun were okay tasting; sweet but nothing special.

Buffet Review: Issue with Buffet cost.
This is my second time at Sakoon… Food was good and tasty. First time when I went it was $ 13.95 + Tax and second time when I went on 25^th Dec it was $ 19.99 + Tax. I dont know what special dishes they made on that day, I went and asked the billing clerk and she showed me small wall poster which was pasted behind the billing clerk. All the dishes were the same first and second visit. Before visiting I gone through the website and which shows below:
Nothing was really special on that day…
Monday — Friday $ 13.95 11:30am — 2:30 pm
Saturday & Sunday $ 14.95 12:00pm — 3:00 pm.
However I have paid my billing and I don’t want to argue with them. Next time I wont visit Sakoon ever…
Shaker
786−405−4800

We went here for dinner on a Saturday night since there was a long wait at the more popular places in Castro Street. We weren’t disappointed by the food but the service could have been better. The service was quite slow and the waiter brought us the check without even asking if we wanted dessert (which we did). But the food made up for it. All 3 courses that my table of 5 had were great. We especially liked the vegetable biryani and the chenna malai.

Buffet review:
Food selection is good and always changes.
I should mention tandoori chicken and butter chicken are pretty meh. Usually have good selection of dessert. Overall, everytime i have been here the food has been good.
But…There is always a but…
I had to take a ½ star just for my service experience. The seating desk is crowded… but super disorganized. We get offered to be seated in a back room… so we don’t have to wait. Which is supposedly a bit
wife was super hungry. and we chose to go to the backroom. The hostess failed to mention to us about one important backroom detail. It is basically filled with families with babies. Believe me the main dining room is super quiet. while you have this backroom whihc is loud as a club!
Go for the food… make sure you be seated in the main dining area, unless you have the backroom all for yourself.

Wow! This restaurant thinks its in Manhattan overlooking the New York skyline !! It’s in Fremont but the prices reflect a hifi rooftop bar in Hong Kong. News flash !! It’s in the middle of Fremont (LOL). Food is okay and decorum is dull as shit but yet somehow we need to pay 20 $+ for a entrée!!!
No thank you !! Was the first and will be the last !

Having been to the Mountain View restaurant — I expected much more.
Slightly pricey for me as my 5 ys old had a piece of nan and I was charged the price for kids (which is ½ the adult price) I was ok with that — as that is the documented price.
However, I don’t recall anything that stood out in the food. All the food was about average in taste. I expected excellent desserts — but did not. I did see ‘barfi’ in the desert — but it tasted just ok. As I went on the weekend buffet I expected some chaat — but the only thing that came close was the chaat salad (containing garbanzo beans) which was a bit soggy.
I think they have spent a lot on décor — but the restaurant looks plain. Maybe it is the wall colors — or it is too brightly lit and makes it look ordinary.

I am vegetarian. I like the food here, its really good! Around Fremont, I will say one of the best Indian food.
I mostly eat these dishes:
1)Appetizers SOUFIYA PANEER :5 stars; Nice and big paneer pieces.
2)Vegetarian Entrée: DUM ALOO GOBI:5 stars; Note that this is spicy, but very tasty and aromatic.
3)Vegetarian Entrée:PANEER PESHAWAR:5 stars (increasing 1 star on request of my Son Aryansh since he really likes this dish :-))
4)Biryani:SUBZ DUM BIRYANI (VEGETABLE):10 stars (Best Dum Biryani in BayArea unless chef is changed when you are eating :-)) Nice, spicy, and very aromatic.
5)Tandoori Roti:4 stars
6)GARLIC NAAN:5 stars; Note I don’t eat Garlic Naan. This rating is exclusively coming from my son Aryansh, he is a fan of their Garlic Naan, he says Naan is nice and Fluffy.
If I were to write a top ten list of restaurants in the bay area, the restaurants Amber and Sakoon would definitely be in that list.

A favorite added to my list!
Beautiful, gourmet and exquisite décor (for an Indian restaurant.)
Great attention to detail towards everything from plates to restroom mirror to chairs to flooring! They have a nice looking bar too.
Lot of parking available too since its in a complex.
Amazing buffet spread. We went on a Saturday afternoon, right when they opened at 11:30. It was empty but in 15.20mins the place was fully packed!
Interesting to see So many doing team lunches here.
This place is not just for non vegetarians; surprisingly interesting and very tasty vegetarian dishes like tomato rice, baingan bath, beetroot tikki, brocolli pakoda, oh the Daal makhani!, and a lot more like jeera rice, veg jalfrezi, etc
For non veggies there were a lot of chicken dishes and lamb curry.
The desserts were out of the world especially the toor Daal halwa and gulab jamun. There were also Rasmalai and pista burfi something!

The best Indian food in Fremont, and that’s saying a lot.
The food is outstanding, the ambiance is inviting and very peaceful with gorgeous chandeliers and candles.
I went safe and had the chicken tikka masala with garlic naan. It was by far the best I’ve had anywhere.
A complimentary mango salad was brought to me and it also was very fresh, beautiful and tasted amazing.
The staff is incredibly attentive.
Definitely check this place out, it’s very good and beautiful inside.

Honestly, I have never been to the original Sakoon in Mountain View but I’ve heard lots of good thing about it! So when it came to Fremont, I was ecstatic to finally have the chance to try it. My first time here was a buffet on a weekend. I was quite disappointed by the sub-​par food. I thought, the MV location definitely had to be better than this! The food was not just okay… it was like food I would not go back for.
The second time I came here was for a Sangeet. I thought maybe food will be better this time because… well they’ve been here longer and probably had enough feedback to improve upon. NOPE! There was a variety of food, and I have to give the proper credit for the paneer dishes. They were all good. The gobi manchurian was too sweet. The vegetarian manchurian… oh my god… what do I say about this? They were like rubber balls. One literally flew out of my friend’s plate. I ate them but being used to good Indo-​chinese food, I was quite disgusted with their quality. Another friend put it in her mouth, chewed it, and spit it out into a napkin (sorry if this is TMI). Their kulfi with samiya (sp?) the kulfi tasted good, when it was unfrozen. But most of the kulfi was so frozen that we had to shave it off. I was playing with mine for a while before a friend noticed and offered me his melted one.
Bottom line: choose your dishes carefully if you order from this place!
I have had a better experience with Sakoon dishes from Mountain View (for the reception.) This place would do well if they kept that consistency!

Honestly super annoyed with the service we got last night. We were a big group so they gave us a mini hall. It was cute and perfect for the amount of people we had. Loved the ambiance. I read how there is a mountain view location but I’ve never been so I can’t compare .
Basically we weren’t sure how much food to order for everyone and they being people who work at a restaurant should have given us their recommendation or opinions. That didn’t happen.
The end of the table was left waiting for naan for over 15 mins even tho the main dishes were out for about 15 mins … And then when the Naans did come out they started at the beginning again. As a waiter you should know where you left off. (I’m more annoyed bc I as part of the group who was left waiting)
Finally When we did get the naan they main dishes were cold but I was so hungry so I chowed it down.
I’m not sure if they got overwhelmed that we were s large group (about 30 or so) or if they’re always like that. But regardless I was super unhappy last night.
One extra star bc I loved the cold butter chicken. Wish it was warm though.

«Sakoon» is a typhoon of plate options. Chicken Jahlfrezi, Chicken Murgh, Gosht Vindaloo, Seabass Tikka, Chili Whitefish, Paneer Masala, Dal Sakoonwala, Saag Pasand, and more, more, more distinguished exotic dishes but let’s not deny, even while common for Indian restaurants, they make the best BUTTER CHICKEN [MAKHANI] here. And really, really, really… this is up there with the Best Indian Buffet of the Bay Area (everyday lunch); other Indian joints have their shortcuts but «Sakoon» delivers in waves of fresh chafing dishes. With so many customers (and lots of interior dining space), they’re killin’ it! #sincerity

My family and I ate here rather early in the evening, so I can’t comment on the rush or crowded aspect. Tables and chairs are close together so I can see the potential for a less than romantic dining experience.
The ambience is really nice and the hostess was friendly. I can’t rate this place 5 stars because the aren’t as attentive as a 5-​star restaurant should be. I had to ask for water to be filled the first time around.
The Panch Poran Paneer Tikka was absolutely perfect. The presentation on all of the dishes were really good. The food was of high quality, but many dishes lacked the depth of spices and flavor that I prefer. The Tandoori Triple Play appetizer was well made and presented nicely on the dish, but that’s about it. The Murgh Reshmi Kabab was tender, but lacked distinguishable flavor.
The Butter Naan was perfect as well. In my opinion, despite all the Indian restaurants, it’s rare to get really good naan in the Bay Area. The Yellow Dal Tarka was surprisingly delicious with a host of different flavors. The Sham Savera Kofta was a good dish. The curry was a bit basic, but the kofta was really good (note if you share dishes like me: you only get 1 really big kofta cut in half).
The bill was fairly high for 3 people, but we expected that for a fine dining experience. All in all, my family will be back, but only during off-​hours. Since we have a small kid, I don’t think we could handle the mad rush during peak hours. Can’t wait to try the shrimp balls and salmon tikka.

I will say: the goat curry sadly was mainly bones.
But the rest of my meal was great! From the butter chicken to (crazy) the fish curry, the dishes were on point. Fish curry you ask? I did too. But after my first taste of that goodness, I was hooked.
The waiters served complimentary naan. Our fave was the garlic naan and there was a dessert bar as well.
I ended up with fish curry for my dessert. Really, I did…