Tibet Nepal House

The $ 10 all you can eat buffet is the best lunch deal in all of pasadena. I recommend coming in before 1:30pm otherwise they restock the buffet slowly. They are vegetarian/​vegan friendly too.
One thing worth ordering off the ala carte menu are the momo dumplings.

My wife and I had a very good experience here between the food and staff. We started with the Veg Pokauda, which was really tasty dipped in their Tamarind, and mint side sauces. Next was the Palak Paneer, similiar to Sag Paneer, really delicious and creamy. The Himalayan spices knock all these dishes out of the park! We finished with the Mix Platter. A mix of their signature lamb, chicken, and shrimp. With a side of garlic naan this was a great way to finish the meal. The meat was all cooked in a clay oven, and cooked too perfection. Highly recommended.

Your brain screams «Indian food» at you, but your tongue says, «No no, this is something else!» I felt really sheepish because my coworker wanted to come here and I poo-​pooed it, thinking it’d be like any other Indian buffet I’ve ever tried. It’s not! I’m no expert on Nepalese food, but imagine Indian food with gentler spices. All the curries were a little lighter, less oily, less pungent. Other than that, it’s all dishes that’ll be familiar to you. I was really pleased to be proven wrong.

Not the cheapest, but on of the yummiest.

I came here excited to try Tibetan/​Nepalese food. We came on a Saturday afternoon and was seated promptly. The waiter asked if we wanted to do the lunch buffet, I asked if they had a non-​buffet option and he said no. I think there might have been miscommunication in the process. We ended up eating the buffet but after I asked another person if they only had buffet for lunch was informed that the a la carte option is available for lunch and dinner.
The buffet was okay and was really bummed because I was looking forward to trying the momos. I guess I just need to come back and try this place again and be clear about wanting the ala cart menu (during lunch).
Definitely intend on coming back so I can try the various things I want to try.

This time I ordered the appetizer sized yak Momos, the mullagawtany soup, and the spicy yak chilli. I also ordered some naan. The naan is fresh and made on site (every so often you can taste charcoal). The soup and Momos were great. The next time I order the yak chilli, I am ordering it with rice. The Himalayan spice is no joke, and builds up slowly to nuclear meltdown proportions– but that is what spice is supposed to do.

Pretty good. Not great. Delivery was on time. Food arrived hot.
Chicken momos were very good. I’m used to Nepal dumplings being served with a spicy sauce and the sauce these came with was not at all spicy. I’d order these again.
The chicken tikka masala left something to be desired. The chicken itself was tough and chewy — I didn’t eat the chicken. The sauce was buttery and sweet — good enough for me to dip my naan in but not much different than a creamy tomato soup. Where’s the flavor?!
I’d order the momos for sure and perhaps ask for spicy sauce. I wouldn’t get the tikka masala again.
Overall, I’d go back if in the area and wanted something different but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

Loved everything about this place.
The ambiance is lovely! The food is delicious and the service is outstanding.
Good people!
We had the thali set and are really enjoying every bite!
…
Came back for more and we loved the appetizer sampler platter which was so good!
The chai tea is yummy and does not come sweetened, which I prefer.
The rice pudding by the way, is so good, I wish I could by it by the bucket!!!

Great food and service! We’ve gotten to know the owner after going here for about two years.
The food is the best around! Spices are so amazing. They have tons of vegan options for me but also delicious options for my meat eating family. (they rave about the chicken tikka masala).
Just ate dinner here today and it was absolutely amazing. Samosas, Vegan naan, Chana Masala, and Mixed Veggies were so delicious. The non vegan family loves all the dishes. You can’t go wrong no matter what you order.
They also have great desserts (no vegan ones) but the rice pudding, ice cream crepes, and bread pudding are some of the highlights.
Excellent, Fast, and friendly service! It should be a regular spot for everyone. :)

I love Himalayan food and was excited to have found this place recently.
I finally tried it a few Sundays ago… And it was so disappointing.
I tried Yak momo, chicken vindaloo, shrimp tandoori and garlic nan.
Momo must have been old because it had freeze burn on the skin. Shrimp tandoori was over cooked, dry and salty. And how can you screw up Basmati rice?! It was missing both aroma and flavor… I’m not sure if it was even basmati rice. If it was, I can cook it better at home.
The curry and the nan were the only thing I thought was ok.
I love the décor and the location of this restaurant but they need a different chef.

We live in Pasadena and seriously it is hard to get good Indian food that is not pureed, and over sauced and spiced for the benefit of non-​South Asians. Also as a South Asian taking a chance of not be taken for granted as a client (You guys know what I’m talking about).
So, hello, where have you guys at Tibet Nepal House been in the last 11 years while I’ve living out here??? I’m not going to go into more that… hey South Asians, this place is legit. It might be the word Nepal versus Indian which threw me off. Obviously ignorance on my part.
Non-​South Asians, just order a Tali (a selection plate) with the Saag Paneer and Aloo Gobi. If you like it, the way you’re treated and get the ambiance, come back and experiment with the other some other items. Enjoy!

We come here every chance we get. The food is excellent and a bit different from your regular fare (similar to Indian food but the spices are a little different) and the service is lovely and warm and the restaurant itself is very nice. I always have the paneer tikka masala because it is incredible every time (I’m not even a vegetarian!) and my husband always has the chicken saag for the same reason. The yak momos are also delicious every time.
Sometimes we bring our small kids here and they are very welcoming to them, so that’s nice too.

Server: Tanku 10
Atmosphere: 8
Drink: Mustang Lager: 8
Appetizer: Yak Momo
9.5
Over all thus place is exceptionally enjoyable. In the the mood for something different? Leaning on the healthier side of things with a predominantly vegetarian menu, Tibet Nepal House is right on the money. The food was outstanding! The Yak in anything is very tasty, don’t be fooled by the name. Sherpas stew is NY recommendation. Relatively cheap, excellent service and very clean. Be sure to check this place out.

Tibet… Nepal… The names evoke images of windy, snow-​covered Himalayan peaks, yetis, mysterious Asian people who hide in caves or something, and Brad Pitt head bonks.
Tibet Nepal House doesn’t come close to living up to its exotic-​sounding name. Super dry lamb, hilarious tiny portions, chicken naan with no chicken, soggy cardboard (I guess they call it dhopzi, but I know soggy cardboard when I taste it), absolutely dull flavors… This was a really, really sad excuse for a delivery. It left me wanting to head bonk/​butt somebody in a Brad-Pitt-on-a-‘roid-rage-episode fury.
That said, the online ordering was easy to use, the order arrived exactly on-​time, and the food was at an acceptable temperature. 1.5 stars. Rounded up because 1 star is reserved for the absolute worst of the worst.

Came here for a fun dinner with my honey and I was a bit disappointed. I’m a huge fan of South Asian foods, especially when it’s deliciously spicy, but I got the vegetarian thali dish and most of the curry flavors tasted too heavy and creamy. I even asked for the spiciest level they can offer, but the dish wasn’t even mildly spicy.
While the food was just okay, the service was disappointing. We waited several minutes to have our waiter take the order, and even once we did, he had forgotten a portion of my date’s order. It felt like a long waste of time for food that wasn’t even that spectacular, so the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. That said, I would like to try out their lunch buffet, and parking is always easy.

I so wanted to give this a higher rating and would have, but… we had a coupon for $ 25 which required a $ 50 food purchase. We were upsold and upsold until we got to $ 50. We should have paid more attention. We were actually upsold to $ 60, with things we wouldn’t normally eat but were just trying to make the quota. The food was pretty good; not sure the ingredients they started with were A1, but the spices were nice. Vegetables appeared to be from a can or frozen. The place was orderly and spacious, though not crowded at the time we were there.

I went there with a Meetup group and they had a buffet. We had the whole restaurant for our group and had champagne brunch.
I really liked the soup I had. Food was yummy. The noodle dish I had was a bit salty but all the other dishes was perfect :)
I didn’t try any of their meat dishes but this place is definitely vegetarian friendly.

This place is awesome! The servers are nice and gives you a warm hospitality and food is great; weather it is a buffet or from the menu.

This place is so amazing and my new favorite place hands down (our server was Kumar, very very nice) Amazing food and great service. The food is awesome I will defiantly be recommending this place to all my friends.

I ordered the Himalayan Thukpa and it was delicious. Everything tastes so fresh and the spices are spot on. The service was great and staff is very friendly. It has a nice and quiet atmosphere. I would recommend it to my friends and we will be back!

dinner:
–veggie momo: very different! taste like chinese dumplings but with indian spices
–yak stew: very bland, (is it really yak?), has peppercorns and maybe sichuan pepper essence? Definitely not my thing
–chana masala: curried chickpeas-​soooo good, maybe the best i’ve ever had!
lunch buffet:
–more nepalese selections rather than indian (ie. more bland)
-$ 10
–vegetarian friendly
Overall I feel that it was good but not that good, especially for the dinner prices. I’d give it another try-​perhaps I need to order different things?

It started so innocently, parking across the street, walking east on Holly and looking for the restaurant. It was Farmer’s Market Day, so a little distracting admittedly, but we actually had a hard time finding this place. A phone call away, I ended up calling the restaurant, and got redirected west on Holly. Once inside, we were immediately seated, and there we waited for awhile. There were only two waiters running around, and it seemed rather busy, as everyone was going for the buffet. Maybe we should have also, but we had a Groupon, so had to order from the menu. After ordering, we waited, and waited and waited. After about 30 minutes, we received our first order, Momo dumplings, which are very similar to the Taiwanese Dumplings, except Yak is an option as well. Our other dishes were long life noodles, a combination Tandori platter, and a curry dish. Food was decent, but service was less than desirable. To add, parking on Unilocal indicated the Parsons lot was validated; not true. We ended up paying another $ 7.00 for parking as well! There goes the Groupon savings, and well, my time is worth something too. I would not come back because service is so slow and parking equally expensive. The food was good, but not that good…

I’m definitely not a fan of giving less than a 4 rating to an establishment where I enjoyed the food and atmosphere, but I just had to do it you guys. Keep reading and you’ll understand.
I arrived at the Tibet Nepal House last week for dinner with my better half at my side. We were able to secure a table with ease without a reservation, on New Year’s Eve Eve, without any trouble. The trouble began AFTER we ordered.
The food itself is very tasty, and is most similar to Indian food in its spices, presentation, and overall taste. I ordered the Chicken Chili Curry and my tastebuds thanked me. It was yummy, no doubt about it.
My main issue was with the service (shocking I know). I ordered soup with my meal, and not only did not come out before the meal, it didn’t come out at all! I had to remind our server (who, mind you, was working a few other tables, but the restaurant was definitely not full) that I had ordered the soup and he said they were making it. What? Making it? But the food is already in front of me…
Suffice it to say, I nearly sent the soup back, but he was already on his way out with it. I feel like at other restaurants they may have understood my frustration and not charged me for the soup.
So, I recommend Tibet Nepal House, but with a note of hesitation/​caution.
I would also point out that the restaurant is small and cozy, and good for 6 – 8 in your party, but if you have much more than that I would look elsewhere.

Great ambience inviting place. We visitors to Pasadena looking for good lunch and loved this place we stumbled into. My lamb Norma was so satisfying. Well made food and full of favor.

This was my first foray into Nepali & Tibetan cuisine so I ordered the most popular dishes in this place including chicken momos, a thali, phing noodles, and the traditional tandoori chicken. The momos look like dumplings but are filled with South Asian spices and were delectable. My favorite dish was the lamb masala (part of the thali), a creamy and interestingly sweet curry. The phing noodles were not much of a novelty since they are the typical Chinese stir fried bean noodles but they were still flavorful. The tandoori chicken was moist and smoky. I love that they don’t drench everything with ghee and spices; each and every single dish was incredibly balanced.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable meal. Service was excellent, nice interior decorations (though they could do better with the music selection), and the food was equally impressive. A true gem.

Been wanting to try this place for awhile since I’ve never had either Himalayan or Nepalese food. Even bough a Groupon and all but foolish me, almost let it expire but I was able to gift it to friends at the last minute so they had dinner on me and enjoyed it. Luckily, the vegan one is a fan, so we went there for dinner. I got the chicken momo, which is similar to Chinese dumplings but their dipping sauce is different, it’s a housemade achaar, which kind of reminds me of some curry/​Indian sauces. I enjoyed it.
For my main entrée, I got the non-​vegetable Thali, which is on their Nepal Set Menu, a typical and traditional Nepali dish. since I wanted something I haven’t had before. I agree with the vegan one, their spices are a bit different from Indian restaurants most people have, there are similarities but there is a difference. This dish is quite filling, I barely made a dent, it could easily be shared with another person. Alas, since it had meat, I wasn’t able to share with the vegan one. Also got the garlic naan, which I was able to share with the vegan one. Service was friendly and they were helpful in providing suggestions. Definitely worth a try.

I’m kinda amazed, every single dish we ordered was delicious. When we went around the table picking our favorite dishes, I couldn’t respond because I liked every one equally. How they get the chicken so tender is beyond me. The naan complimented everything nicely. Our Monday night dinner was very quiet, not too many other customers.

I had Tibet Nepal House’s delicious champagne brunch today for $ 9.95 each. I have eaten here 40+ times over the years and just realized I never posted a review. Hence — today’s the day.
The place is cute and has a certain appeal. It appears they picked up all the tourist souvenirs one finds in Kathmandu and used them to decorate the place. The décor is pseudo Himalayan, not what one would find in the region. However, it is pleasant and very comfortable.
The wait staff here are 5 star. They are the kind folk one finds when travelling in Nepal and/​or Tibet. They go out of their way to accommodate every guest. For $ 9.95 each I am surprised how accommodating they are. Clearly this joint is a value and then some.
Most of the dishes experienced at the buffet today were wonderful. I loved the crispy noodle-​like pakora — different, yet delicious. The vegetable soup on the buffet brought back pleasant thoughts of journeys through Nepal. The spices/​flavors were flawless. The tandoori chicken was perfect, moist/​succulent — tasty. The saag (spinach) with tofu was different yet delicious. The fish vindaloo was ok, maybe a tad overcooked and lacking flavor. The daal (lentils) were delicious. The kheer (rice pudding) was closer to American rice pudding vs. the Nepali variation. The baigan (eggplant) was fair.
All in all we had a great lunch for the money. Our complementary glasses of champagne were surprisingly good. Glasses were huge, cold and tasty.
We decided during lunch that we need to come here more often (and will).
Thanks for a lovely dining experience today.

Great food and service! We’ve gotten to know the owner after going here for about a year.
The food is the best around! Spices are so amazing. They have tons of vegan options for me but also delicious options for my meat eating family. (they rave about the tikka masala).
Just ate lunch here today and thought I should write a Unilocal review. The owner brought me vegan naan for free :)
9 dollar lunch buffet that is awesome!
We love this place! Check it out!

Friendly, Tasty, and Different
After reading about Tibetan Nepal House in a magazine, we decided to give it a try on a recent visit to Pasadena. The people are so lovely and the food was really interesting.
Nepalese cuisine is definitely distinct from Indian, and very delicious. The flat breads were great. Ask your server for recommendations. We had vegetable curries, lamb, and salads. Wonderful with a very pleasant atmosphere. The place was packed, make a reservation. It’s obviously popular with the locals.

This is my first time having Nepalese food and it was great! Everything was cooked perfectly and very flavorful. He was the chicken momo, the mixed grill, garlic naan, and the yak chili. The chicken momo (dumplings very similar to steamed potstickers) had a tender steamed wrapper and a juicy curry-​spiced minced chicken inside. The momo were accompanied by a delightful tomato based chutney on the side. The mixed grill came out on a sizzling cast iron plate with multiple proteins (lamb, mint-​garlic chicken, tandoori chicken and shrimp) on a bed of onions. The chicken was especially juicy. The chili yak had great flavor even though the yak was a bit chewy. This just seems to be the nature of the protein.
I have to say, the most disappointing thing that we got was the garlic naan bread. Although the bread had great texture, it was really lacking in any garlic flavor and was a little bit on the dry side.
Service was warm and wonderful. They kept our glasses refilled and came by to check on us appropriately. The restaurant itself was clean and cozy. The bathrooms are shared with other businesses in the building so make sure you grab the appropriate key for the right bathroom.
Overall, a great experience! I will be back.

This place had made a list of the best dumplings in LA, so I wanted to see what all the hype is. I also was curious to try Tibetan food as I have never tried it. I tried the chicken dumplings (momos), they were visually appealing but did not have much taste and were not juicy at all.
Chinese-​inspired exterior, but curry flavored interior – what else could better sum up of the region? They are folded into neat little flower-​like decorations for a unique look for dumplings. Unfortunately, taste means a lot more to me when it comes to food. I couldn’t care less if it looked like Yak poop but tasted like the best shit I’ve ever tasted.
Garlic naan– This was naan sense! Don’t get this item, it was tasteless without a hint of garlic.
The clay pot with mixed meats of shrimp, chicken, and lamb was decent – not phenomenal, but enough good items to get full from. The chicken was well cooked and seasoned while the other meats were kind of bland and dry. Still, $ 9.99 feels like a decent bargain since I had groupon. I would love to try Tibetan food somewhere else as I do not feel this place gave it justice. Free Tibet… From this place…

I’ve never been to Tibet, Nepal, or Mount Everest, so you pretty much could’ve served me anything and I’d’ve nodded in acceptance.
It was lunchtime, and apparently lunchtime means buffet time. That was a relief, because the menu felt so foreign that I was about to call in a sherpa for help. For $ 9.99, you get a presumably rotating (items were written in marker) selection of dishes. The dishes ranged widely, from the simple (sautéed broccoli) to the flavorful (Himalayan chicken tikka), and from Chinese-​influenced (vegetable chow mein) to the Indian (chicken curry, yellow dal).
From the buffet, my favorite dish was the chicken tikka. It was crisp, yet still succulent, and deeply flavored with traditional Himalayan spices, which I’m told include ginger, garlic, cumin, and jimbu. (If you ask me, you can never have too much jimbu!) Also, the fresh sliced orange was amazingly sweet, and a perfectly refreshing conclusion to the meal.
The weak points of the buffet, for me, were the dal and curry, which were a lot less flavorful than what I’m used to, and the soup, which tasted more like butter than anything else. Maybe it’s an acquired taste, but I couldn’t get through a whole bowl. (Wikipedia tells me that the average Tibetan drinks a cup of yak butter tea each day – yum!)
But here’s the thing: they have MOMOS!
Momo means «peach» in Japanese, but in the Himalayas, apparently it means dumpling. GET THE MOMOS (Despite it perhaps being their most important dish, unless I’m missing something here, it’s ironically misspelled «momas» on the table placard.)
This place had made a list of the best dumplings in LA, so even though they weren’t included in the buffet, I wasn’t leaving until I tried them. They have two types: chicken and vegetable; but since I’d been feasting on the aforementioned chicken, I went with vegetable.
Not only were they among the most visually striking dumplings I’d seen, they were also one of the most interesting. Chinese-​inspired exterior, but curry flavored interior – what else could better sum up of the region? They are folded into neat little flower-​like decorations, making for an interesting sensation on the tongue.
The buffet was decent – not phenomenal, but enough good items to get full from, so $ 9.99 feels like a decent 3.5 star bargain. Still, I know what I’ll be focusing on next time – (and it ain’t yak butter tea!)

Lunch on Saturday, 1÷10÷15 (first visit)
My friends and I came to enjoy a lunch buffet. There was no wait and we were seated immediately. The buffet selection is very small and is mostly vegetarian. I’m not familiar with Indian dishes so I won’t even try naming the dishes. The meat selections I noticed are the chicken curry and the chicken that looks like it was grilled/bbq’d. They had a delicious soup with carrots and a green vegetable, salad with 4 different salad dressings, rice, vegetarian noodles, cauliflower, beans, and a white creamy-​looking dessert.
I’m not sure what I had eaten for lunch but I liked everything they served. It was quite flavorful and not spicy. The server was nice and came by to our table often. I believe they do not have a buffet for dinner but rather a menu with more meat selections than lunch. Lunch was roughly $ 10 per person and it included champagne.
It’s difficult to rate Indian restaurants since the places I’ve visited served different types of dishes so I can’t compare them. Also, I didn’t grow up eating Indian food but I’d come back again to try other dishes.