Shalimar Catering

For some reason I find it to be better than Shalimar. Have tried a few chicken and lamb dishes and all are good. The curry is awesome.

This is the worst place ever! The place is crowded and the staff are lacking professionalism. There isn’t any set of direction when you walk in the restaurant. There is some serious need of organization and customer service skills. The food is not all that either. I would not be going back!

Called to inquire for a corporate catering equivalent just 30 seconds ago.
Guy answered with tons of background noise, going, «ya?»
“Oh hi, I was wondering if you cater to Pleasanton for a corporate event?”
«No.»
Hung up.
Holy crap, okay.
You won’t be feeding our 250 people. There goes I’d estimate. almost 5k of catering revenue.

This place was packed, so assuming the food must have been good. But didn’t get to eat here because there was no table available and they only take cash. I’m surprised there are places such Shalimar with a high volume of people who still don’t take cards. Considering how long they have been around for.
Oh well over all, this place needs some TLC, the workers should learn to speak a little more professionally & they should start excepting cards for form of payments.

Ok this place is really a hole in the wall and not very appealing however the food is on point! You must have cash and pay before or after eating, your choice… It’s $ 5 – 8 per plate, some cheaper but fulfilling.
You seat yourself in this family owned and run operation and help yourself to utensils and drinks. The only service is taking your order and bringing it to you.
I do love Indian food and this is not a vegi restaurant, I Believe it’s a combo of Pakistani and Indian… The parking is not so great but you’ll find parking.
The place needs some tlc… Otherwise I would give it 5 stars.

whats with all the great reviews about this place? does everyone here love GREASY OILY terribly prepared indian food? lol
and yuck! the paneer tikka masala had like 3 layers of oil on top. how do you even manage to do that?
not very appetizing!
#nevergoingback

They’re food is pretty good, but it can be verrrryyyyy oily. Being that I prefer healthier food, it’s not very appetizing when I see the dish of food has a layer of oil on the top. It’s definitely give you the typical Indian restaurant feel from India. Like I mentioned, the food does taste good and fresh, but you have to overlook the unhealthy aspect.

Get the chicken biriyani, chicken tikka masala and tandoori chicken leg grilled. Always oily, unhealthy and completely worth that heart attack risk. Cash only.

We were referred to this place by one of our employees for catering. We cater lunch weekly to all of our staff and typically serve lunch between 12:00 — 12:15. Shalimar did not show up until 1:00pm. Our lunch period was over, many employees had 1:00 meetings and were unable to eat lunch. Very disappointed, I called Saeed Khan the owner/​manager to see about getting a discount or at the least an apology. His first response was «What do you want me to do, she’s there!» Very unprofessional, he then goes on to explain that there was traffic and that he was not discounting anything because he only made a $ 50 profit from this catering job. Extremely disappointing. His tone was very nonchalant and quite surprising considering how late they were. I’m not sure how or why you would cater a job you only make a $ 50 profit on and why if you mess up you would not make good on your mistake. We will NEVER use this company again and will NOT be referring them to anyone else for that matter. Maybe they’re good for dining in, but if you cater, tell them to come an hour before you need them, maybe they’ll show up on time then.

Great food, hands down. The service is a bit shaky… well, really there is no service. You order at a counter, get a number, find a table in a crowded restaurant and wait for your food to come. However, the food is on point. The naan is well made. Biryani is great, chicken massala is sooo good. It’s one of my favorite Paki spots.

recommended kababs and tikka
Things to avoid brain masala and bhuna gosht

I agree with some of the tips. The service is not always the friendliest. Other than that the food here is amazing!!!
If you like lamb you will love the lamb chops. The lamb chops are out of this world! The chicken breast is amazing. The chicken korma is unbelievable. The garlic non is to die for. the kheer at this place is insane. I never had kheer this good at any other place.
If you like Indian Pakistani food this place is simply the best you won’t find better food than this restaurant.

This place is absolutely delicious! As authentic and real as good Pakistani Food gets. Food never lets down and staff are very helpful. Would definitely recommend it to everyone. Must try if you are in Fremont!

Just thought of writing my review on Shalimar Catering.
We’ve been fans of Shalimar Restaurant, Fremont for almost 10+ years. We dine or take out food from Fremont location. So we know for sure the food is great and affordable.
We decided to throw an on site birthday party on Sunday (07/​01/​2012) to 50+ close friends and guests at one of the local park @Foster City.
We decided to go with Shalimar Catering and dealt with Saeed Khan. He is really friendly and explained all the options. So we’ve decided the menu, signed the contract paper work and paid money before the event.
One the day of the event Shalimar Catering staff came on time and set up already cooked food in good stainless steel chauffeuring dishes on nicely decorated tables.
The set up was really professional and looked very good in the park.
We and our guests were really impressed with the set up as well.
Our guests and we really enjoyed the food and we’re not wrong in choosing Shalimar Catering for my daughter’s birth day on site party.
Our guests also liked fresh food and especially Tandoor/​BBQ/​Garlic Naan/​Naan items were a BIG hit. It costed us more $$$ to have a Tandoor/​BBQ set up on site but we thought it was worth the $$$ as we personally believe in enjoying Tandoor items when they are hot, freshly made and served ;-)
Apart from tasty food the quantity of food was also good/​large portions.
Friendly staff gave us the unfinished/​remaining food and we gave that food as TO GO to most of our guests, who were delighted to take food with them :-)
Once again thanks a ton to Saeed for taking time to visit the park and making sure that everything is taken care.
Hope we will do business again with you for our future parties…
I recommend Shalimar Catering from our personal experience :-)

It is not an unknown fact that the food at Shalimar is one of the best in the Bay Area, however since they have started catering, they have taken their business to new heights. As an event planner, I have referred Shalimar for catering to many of my clients and each of them had come back to me after booking them for their event.
Jamal who is the owner is very professional and knowledgable when it comes to catering events and his one and one consultation really makes you feel like he’s catering one of his own events. Looking forward to referring many more clients to them!

We catered dinner thro’ Shalimar restaurant catering for our engagement Event at the SFDC – Galleria in San Francisco. We had over 350 guests. The food was awesome and all our guests enjoyed the delicious appetizers, various tandoori dishes and the vegetarian food items. Saeed did a great job of the set up and display of the food in elegant royal looking copper serving containers. He provided the Black and white linens, china, utensils and that made it very convenient for us, as we did not have to deal with multiple vendors. Saeed and his team were very professional, prompt in their service and met the scheduled timing as we had instructed. The desserts were superb. We got a ton of compliments for the best food and a fantastic engagement event. The pricing was reasonable and Saeed was extremely helpful. We will use Shalimar Catering again for our future events.

Easy, professional and convenient catering of delicious Pakistani food! What more do you need to know?

My review for Shalimar Restaurant says:
«Um this place is a legend and the food lives up to it. That is all. Oh, and I am Pakistani.»
Well, that definitely translates over to the catering business. Jamal and his team are very organized and professional, they have tons of options, and their prices are VERY reasonable.
I recommend all my friends use Shalimar Catering for their big events. We used them for my wedding and everyone was very satisfied.

We hired Shalimar Catering for our wedding and we were extremely pleased with the results; every single one of our guests raved how it was some of the best Indian food they’ve ever had. I highly recommend you consider Shalimar for your event.
We had a multicultural wedding, my wife is Korean and I’m Indian, therefore we actually had two caterers: Shalimar for the Indian food and another caterer for the Korean food. The staff at Shalimar were happy and willing to work in such an arrangement and we really appreciated it. We only contracted Shalimar to provide food as our venue provided dishware and wait staff as part of the package.
Working with Saeed and the other Shalimar staff to plan the event was great. From the initial phone call, to the tasting, to the contract signing, to the actual event, Shalimar staff were extremely professional, courteous, and customer service focused.
Shalimar hosted us at their Fremont restaurant to do a tasting and consultation prior to contract signing. It really helped the decision to hire them and to try the actual food. Saeed’s honest recommendations on the food were appreciated. We were interested in a certain vegetarian dish and he commented that while it’s perfect if it’s fresh in the restaurant in a small portion, it does not do well in a buffet (as we had planned).
We ended up going with their silver catering package which provides ample food (See bottom of review for our actual selections). The pricing was very reasonable and I think the quality of food we got for the price was an exceptional value.
Shalimar was flexible in menu changes and headcount changes up until a week or so before the event. We actually requested a substitute of one of the default dishes in the silver package and Shalimar allowed us to make that change which we appreciated.
Our food selections were:
Appetizers during cocktail hour:
Murgh Boti — the chicken was juicy and extremely flavorful
Samosa — this was the most popular among our guests, it went so fast I wish we ordered more!
Buffet Dinner:
Palak Paneer
Bengen Bhujia
Murgh Korma Shahi — bone-​in chicken which I feel is more flavorful than a boneless chicken dish
Raita, Chawal, Naan — their raita is some of the best that I’ve had
Kheer — infused with rose flavor for a special touch, our guests loved this and it was completely gone by the end of the night!

This place has closest to the authentic Tandoori Dhaba style food. the lamb is delicious. My fav is the brain masala… yummy…
They ACCEPT only CASH! (AVG$: number of ppl X10)
if you are a health watcher… this place isnt for you… very cheap place with self seating and self serving… sometimes yo may have to stand before a table and wait for them to leave before you can be seated :)… but I wouldnt mind all that for the quality of food they give.