Gate of India

Gate of India. The worst restaurant in Santa Monica! Why are you in business– poor tourists! I hope you close.

First of all, this place used to be great — about 4 or 5 years ago! It’s pretty awful now. $ 70 for two people and some of the worst Indian food ever.
I’m giving it 2 stars because (surprisingly) we didn’t get food poisoning, and that is something to be celebrated!
The samosas were clearly microwaved and soggy. Criminal, really, considering we are normally healthy eaters and this was our fried indulgence for the week. The service is pretty lousy, too. Just AVOID this place at all costs. There’s a reason the place is empty all the time.

The worst Indian food we Have ever had… period! The white rice was soggy and not even basmati rice. The curry had no flavor! How do you have bland curry? Tell me how that is possible??? $ 45 for two people, one Dish each, garlic naan and rice. No drinks! Outrageous!

Have eaten here on occasion here since they opened years ago and the service has always been patchy, so do expect that element if you go.
Whenever I have been in, the food has been good and the menu has some items you can’t find in other Indian restaurants.
When people complain about the authenticity of the food I think it’s unfair. You can rarely get genuine ethnic cuisine outside of the native country. This is usually because most people in other countries wouldn’t be comfortable with the «real deal». I’ve seen the way some food is served in the actual Indian ”family way” and the reaction of foreigners, used to what they perceive of as Indian food, is not always favorable. I think these type of restaurants cater to local tastes and habits and select items that the locals can swallow without fear.
Sometimes it is not possible to create the authentic dish. The seemingly easy British fare (not going to say cuisine, and I am British) they serve across the road in the Kings Head, while good, is not exactly the same as you would see and taste in the UK. Indian food is much more complicated.
Anyway, this place is fine, not the best in town, but if you are in Santa Monica and fancy a curry, no problem.

Horrible experience! Was craving Indian so I stopped by for the lunch buffet. I should have known better once I realized I was the only customer at 12:30. Food was oily and had no flavor.
Food 1
Ambiance 4
Service 2

Indifferent service and mediocre food. Remind me of the joke about the two ladies complaining about their dinner. «The food was horrible!» «And such small portions!» ;D
There are positive reviews prominently posted on the walls. Perhaps once upon a time this place was better, but I would never go again and would warn anyone against eating at the Gate of India.
The plain naan was oily. The chicken tikka masala should have been made with chicken tikka: chunks of chicken breast. marinated and cooked in the tandoor before being put into a rich tomato sauce with aromatic spices. The dish we got seemed like someone had opened a can of tomato soup and cooked gristly chunks of chicken in it. I had to constantly remove pieces of gristle from my mouth while trying to eat this. I asked the waiter if the dish came with rice, and he said if I wanted rice I had to order it separately. I think plain basmati rice has a lovely aroma and flavor. The rice served was not basmati rice at all, and was overcooked. The mixed grill had one fresh item on it, the tandoori chicken wing drummette. The leg-​thigh piece was dry and seemed day-​old. The lamb was not fresh either. The prawn might have been fresh, but it was badly overcooked.
We only saw our waiter when we ordered. The only other person who came to our table did not speak english. We used hand signals to get the check. We left a lot of uneaten food on our dishes. No one seemed concerned whether or not we enjoyed our meal.
This restaurant has a great location. They probably don’t need to rely upon repeat business to be successful. Pity.
Perhaps someone should send in a health inspector. People who care little for their customers may care little for details like food safety.

I already reviewed it and ofcourse would never go there again.
I still ask my friends in local area for update and they all say– This is worst kind of restaurant and surely not indian at all.
This place should be closed or change its name. I am surprised-​people still go there because after eaiting there, being Indian-​i dont want them to have bad impression on Indian food… Indian food needs special masala, preparation and these guys have no clue.
Recommend DO NOT GO THERE.
Find another indian restaurant.

It was ok, I like the food. It was not too tasty for indian! Next time I will try something else.

Great food. Fresh nan. Lamb saag was delicious. It seems all the food is a la carte. Not very table service intensive.

Came here on a Saturday for the lunch buffet during regular hours. Not a good sign that I was one of two customers. Female employee in close proximity to the dining area loudly scolding her child on the line for the length of my meal– calling back again and again. Really!
Buffet was so-​so. Nothing special. The meat was not very good. They gave naan bread which was nice. Yay. -.-

One of my favorite Indian restaurants and I’m Indian. I’m suspect of Unilocal bc they put high rating of restaurants that pay them!

The worst restaurant I ever experienced. No customer service at all. $ 10.99 was not worthed for 8 items. The worst restaurant I ever experienced. No customer service at all. $ 10.99 was not worthed for 8 items.
Worst Indian restaurant I have ever been to. being an Indian I know what Indian food is all about. I have been to many other Indian restaurants in artesia and Pasadena… but this place really sucks. I hate the customer service. I mean «c’mon you guys are servers, you guys are supposed to get dressed properly and serve us kindly»…the food was not good either. there were about 6−8items in a lunch buffet other Indian places have 15−16items.I think the person whoever runs this place should care more about the service the staff gives instead of cutting all the items on the lunch buffet menu… I will never ever go there. even if there food is for FREE!
Worst Indian restaurant I have ever been to. being an Indian I know what Indian food is all about. I have been to many other Indian restaurants in artesia and Pasadena… but this place really sucks. I hate the customer service. I mean «c’mon you guys are servers, you guys are supposed to get dressed properly and serve us kindly»…the food was not good either. there were about 6−8items in a lunch buffet other Indian places have 15−16items.I think the person whoever runs this place should care more about the service the staff gives instead of cutting all the items on the lunch buffet menu… I will never ever go there. even if there food is for FREE!

Gate of India is «the gate» that enters the land of India. This place has dynamic image that you will assume you have traveled to India. The dinning was pure Indian style with authentic Indian cuisine that is available in Santa Monica, California. I liked this place because it presents the image of India, images inside the restaurant looks exact similar to dinning in their country.
I have visited India many times and this place’s image was brought from native land of India. The spice is perfect, I can tell their are importing their spice from India. They are not adding any other spices that are not native to India. Speaking of entrees, the taste is close as it can get to food that are serve in India. But the difference is the quality of water they use to cook meals. But this is not their fault because the restaurant is operated in The United States and not India.
Overall this place does provide authentic Indian Cuisine. I don’t understand some people who would give Gate of India 3 stars instead of 4 or at least 5 stars. If you are interested in eating entrees, come to Gate of India.

I have been to Gate of India since 2005 regularly. My girlfriend and I went back yesterday evening and were extremely disappointed. We ordered two mango lassis, a meat samosa, a garlic naan, one chicken biryani and one lamb biryani. We were not served any water nor papadum. I asked the waiter for both a second time and we were finally served two small pieces of papadum for $ 3 without any sauces. The garlic nun was burnt and the chicken biryani had 4 small pieces of chicken and was very dried. We were never served the lamb dish. I asked to talk to the manager who was not too concerned about the situation. He only offered not to charge us for the nan. This is the last time that we shall go to the Gate of India: overpriced, small quantity, bad service and terrible quality.

Gate of India, I hate you with an absolute passion.
I came here tonight and decided to share my story. My boyfriend even reminded me the moment I walked through the door to pan this place on Unilocal.
First and foremost, the service here could not be worse. Seriously, I am not kidding you, THE WORST service ever.
First, we walked in and were seated promptly. Then it ends about there.
We waited 20 minutes for someone to fill our waters/​take drink orders. 20. Freaking. Minutes. We weren’t in a hurry and after waiting 10 minutes, we decided to just wait and see how long it really took to get a drink order in. Yep, 20 minutes.
My boyfriend ordered a beer (a $ 10 beer, by the way) which he never received until AFTER the food came and AFTER we had asked for it TWICE!
ANOTHER 20 minutes later, our server came to take our orders. ANOTHER 25 minutes later, our food came. Our food came in 1 cup portions. $ 15.99 for a cup of lamb korma. No rice. No bread. No sides. $ 15.99 for ONE CUP of lamb korma. I get that LA people are food conscious and rich, but REALLY? It wasn’t even that good! It was average at best! You can get the packaged shit at Costco for ¹⁄₈^th of the price!
They charge you for EVERYTHING here. You want some tamarind chutney? $ 3.50. You want rice? That’ll be $ 3.50. Naan bread? $ 3.00 for 1 slice.
The best part of the night, which my boyfriend and I started cracking up immediately, was that after WAITING and WAITING and WASTING over an hour just in-​between wait times, the bill came immediately after our plates were picked up. Even better? Our server literally grabbed the card out of my boyfriend’s hand. He came out of NOWHERE like a shark. A sneaky little TANK YEW and shit eating grin and ran off with the card.
Greedy fucking bastards at Gate of India. FUCK YOU!

The service could be better but the food is delicious! Butter chicken and biryani are my favorites. Any friends I’ve taken there have loved it too.
I’ll probably be back there this weekend:)

I have been wanting to try authentic Indian food for a long while now and my boyfriend surprised me last night by taking me to Gate of India for Valentines day. I heard that Serj Tankian from System of a down has eaten there so I was very excited when we walked through the door.
The restaurant was very empty for a holiday but I didn’t let that dismay me. Upon entering the décor was Indian but it seemed as though they held back on the Krishna’s and Kali Mas lol. The lighting was dim and very red and the fabric on the ceiling was colorful. We were greeted at the door by a server and seated immediately. Within 2 minutes we were approached by a waiter who asked us for our drink order. We ordered Taj Mahal Indian Beer and 2 glasses of water. I decided to go and wash my hands in the restroom which was clean, bright, and had 2 large mirrors (ladies).
We ordered chicken wings with sauce and cheese naan bread for appetizer. The chicken was good but a little dry and the cheese nana was delicious and hot. For the main course we ordered Lamb Bhuna and Shrimp Tandoori with a side of reg. naan bread. To my surprise for the price the portions were kind of small. I wish there were maybe 5 more shrimp on the Tandoori to fill my boyfriend up. The Lamb Bhuna was DELICIOUS! The lamb was tender and the flavors of the curry were awesome. The flavor literally melted in my mouth. We completed our meal with Chai Tea, Turkish Coffee, and Kulfi pistachio ice cream. The Turkish coffee is STRONG (just a warning) and the chai tea is just O, K. but the ice cream which was served sliced into little chips was cute and tasty.
They didn’t really put emphasis on valentines day which kind of sucked but the ambiance was casual and nice. I think we will return but not for a while.

Went here on a whim with a group for lunch. I was apprehensive about it upon walking in because the place was completely empty. That changed very quickly, though, after being seated as the place filled up with other lunch diners. Most of the people seemed to come for the lunch buffet. Compared to the overpriced items on the menu, it was a really good deal. But after examining the buffet items, I was quickly deterred from going that route. Aside from not many options to chose from, the food did not look fresh at all. It all looked like it had been sitting in the trays for awhile. Not sure what the other people saw in the buffet, but it was really popular — I just don’t care to try it to find out.
My group went with a handful of dishes that we all shared. The tiki masala chicken was tasty, as was the spinach dish (I don’t remember the name). The lamb was decent too. We could have done without the vegetarian bean dish; not much flavor.
Despite the small-​looking pots the entrees are served in, the helpings are big. There was enough for all five of us to have firsts and even seconds of each item.
We all left the restaurant full, but none of us were excited about the meal. I personally won’t be back.

I went there yesterday (Sept 16, 2012) completely by chance. I was hungry, and walking through the area and taking in the sights when I walked by this restaurant. Normally, I love Indian food (I’m from New Jersey, so I’ve seen a lot) and this place had a buffet lunch on Sunday. so I gave it a go.
I wish that I had kept on walking. I’m serious.
The décor of this place was very nice, and at first it seemed like I had made a wise choice, but once I grabbed a plate and went to the buffet line I knew I had made a grave mistake. The food choices were small in number, and the food itself was just plain awful. The Tandoori chicken for example, was cold and rubbery and only a few pieces were still inside the serving tray. The chicken curry was incredibly bad… most of the pieces were just bones with a tiny bit of chicken hanging on and they were immersed in a bland, non-​spicy and nauseating slop that reminded me of the green vomit last seen in «The Exorcist». The vegetable dish consisted of mushy, soft vegetables that had probably been cooked the day before and reheated several times since.
I can’t say anything about the wait staff, since I didn’t see them. I finally had to get my own water and when it came time to leave, I just stood near the cash register for about ten minutes and finally somebody noticed that I was there. I paid and left, never to return.
There are a lot of great places to eat in Santa Monica, all within walking distance of the pier. Do yourself a favor and pass this one by.

Wow
this place is not reviewing so well. Hmm I consider it my all time favorite indian restaurant.
Food is nice and spiced right. Just a tad too expensive but thats all.