Pasand

Place is bomb. Totally worth the drive. Authentic. The people that run this joint are people — remember who you are, they’re down to earth, which also adds to this easy vibe.
I go here a lot, never have I been turned off by anything. Prices are reasonable and they are not stingy with the portions.

Pasand is under new ownership and the changes already seem good. I went there today expecting the same old stuff. What I got was some truely excellent tasting food. The food was leaps and bounds above the previous food. The spices were much more distinct and flavorful and especially fresh. In talking with the owners they were going to rennovate the run downinside and add some more buffet places. Overall I approve of what has been down to the place especially the food.

My Mom and I decided to have a girls day today, starting with massages and ending with Indian food on a whim. My mom said that she hated Indian food, but then it came out that the last time she had had it was 20 years ago, so we decided to give it a shot. The place is dark and a little run down, but once you get past that it is a decent place. We split the chicken tikka masala thali with garlic naan and a mango lassi. The drink was really tasty and my mom loved it! The chicken was good, but it wasn’t as good as I have had it other places and it wasn’t that spicy. The sauces that came with it were all pretty good. For dessert it came with a little fried donut thing that was sorta chemically tasting… not my fave. Overall, the place was good, it just didn’t measure up to other places I have tried BUT it did change my mom’s opinion on Indian food, which is awesome!

Gosh, I haven’t been to Pasand in a couple of years and I am glad that it was just as good as I remembered. I love, love, love me some Indian buffet. We came for lunch today and it was about $ 8.
I had a couple plates of fried pakora, naan, chicken mahkani over white rice, tandoori chicken, and chili chicken. The food was delicious although not as spicy as I remembered. I wasn’t complaining, though. We also ordered some dosa that was stuffed with potatoes. The service was good with prompt water refills and cleaning up extra plates. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal today!

We entered through a darkened door into stillness.
Not a soul to be seen.
My brow broke a sweat and my knees started to shake.
I feared we had made a tragic error.
And that was the most exciting part of our visit.
We sampled a variety: Vegetable Pakora, Papadum, Pooris, Naan, Garlic Naan, Vegetable Korma, Dahl, Sambar, Rasam, Raita, Chicken Curry, Chicken Tikka Masala, a Tamarind/​Tomato sauce, Mint/​Cilantro/​Jalepeño sauce, and Gulab Jamun.
Everything was spicy. I would consider most of it mild, but my poor spouse couldn’t eat any of the mains. She was stuck eating Naan dipped in Raita.
I found all of the dishes to be Ok. Nothing bad, nothing exciting.
The Chicken Curry was fall apart tender and the Galub Jamun was very tasty.
I would eat here again, but the are many other restaurants that will receive my patronage first.

Some days are good, some days are bad. I have experienced the good and the bad of Pasand. I have experienced great service and horrible service from the same person. When my family and I first tried Pasand, we had a very family warming type experience. The food was exceptional as we each tried a variety of North and South Indian foods. There was also a time where the server took the food out too late and the dosas turned out cold. He did not offer to refire another one. In another experience, my dad got sick the next day. It is hard to dine some where when you don’t know how it will turn out.

This place gets my vote for best Tandoori Chicken in the Valley; if you like a flavorful ‘dry rub’ on the outside juicy on the inside, this is the place. Most local tandoor seems too soupy for me (I once encountered a local version that honestly tasted like they just dumped Campbell’s Tomato soup on it and that’s it — no joke)
On a side note, they also serve a sort of jalapeño chicken dish — I’m not savvy enough know whether this is authentic (it’s kind of on its way to chinese-​american) — but, my point is that I think it works — I like to see this kind of cuisine morphing (don’t be shy to amp up the heat on this one Pasand — it’s best this way — and if anyone complains that it’s too spicy — then they shouldn’t be scooping anything with ‘jalapeño’ onto their plate to begin with — right!?!

Went for their buffet last week, and sadly didn’t have any sort of memorable experience. The most impressive dishes were the potato cauliflower dish, and the drink. Naan was boring, spiciness of the meat dishes lacked flavor to make them complex. Perhaps it is just that I have been spoiled by the amazing Indian food I have had elsewhere, but this just did not stack up.
To be fair, I have never ordered off this restaurant’s menu, so perhaps their cooked to order fare is more impressive, but the lunch buffet was just not doing it for me.
Price was reasonable, so at least there was no sticker shock to add insult to injury.

Solid. Definitely a place to go for lunch. Dinner is a little overpriced for what you’re getting.

ahhh pasand. I was introduced to this place by a friend of mine who’s form India. Her and her husband frequent this place. I’m a huge fan of the Indian buffets because I don’t know very many of the dishes and like variety. Pasand prepares the food much spicier than some of the other Indian buffets around, which I really dig. Don’t dull down the spice to suit my gringo taste buds, bring the heat! The atmosphere is very mom and pop, and we’re always made to feel welcome. Make sure to get some of their Pakora and the Chili Chicken, totally awesome!

I love this place even though I live in Gilbert; few Indian places at all in Gilbert. Will usually stop by when I go to Trader Joe’s and get the chicken tikka kebab, thali style — that’s enough for 2 meals for me. (thali just means it comes with pappadums, pooris, rice, raita, lentils, soup and 1 gulab jamun ball for dessert (two would be better…).
Also love the onion pakora, onion pieces deep fried in lentil batter. Service has always been friendly.

Went here for lunch with Rand H. and found a nice quiet and comfy restaurant. The buffet contained most of your average Indian buffet items .All of which were good, the tandoori chicken was really good. They have salad dressings on the buffet but no salad, they say its for the naan bread. For dessert they only had the monkey balls and some cubes of watermelon, mind you the monkey balls were good. So I decided to give them 3 stars but they are bordering on four. If you like Indian food this place is not bad and a good value at $ 9 for the lunch buffet.

Wow. Just, wow. I’ve never had Indian food make me say that. Granted, I’ve only had it one other time, and it was pretty good. But this? Wow.
It wasn’t very busy when we arrived, so we were seated right away, and it really has the feel of a «Mom and Pop» restaurant. Very nice couple, and a comfortable laid back atmosphere. I’m glad I was with my sister because she knew more about the food than I do (but I’m learning!), and I decided on the curried shrimp, which came with rice and 4 different soups on the side. Sis gave me a bite of her Chicken Biryani, and that was pretty yummy too. SO MUCH FOOD! And it was all delish. I wanted to keep eating even though I was ready to burst. The price with the amount of food you get was surprising, I expected it to be much more than it was.
I can’t wait to go back, and I would not complain at all making the drive from east Gilbert! Wow!

i dig pasand
they are a pretty stand up joint
just your average mom and pop indian restaurant
i honestly cant complain about Pasand, the owners are friendly enough, the food is usually good– if not the freshest its still tasty.
i’d advise going during their lunch hours in order to catch the buffett; earlier the better as the food is at its peak earlier in the day
there arent that many indian restaurants in tempe, unfortuantely, and between this place and café udupi i’d probably go w/​pasand
(not a veg so im biased tho)

This place is A-​OK. Why? Primarily cuz of the price. I went here for dinner today, and Pasand has FABULOUS specials. There are four to choose from, and they are all $ 4.99. No joke. I ordered the chicken curry special (you can choose from all different kinds of chicken curry, so i went with saag), which comes with rice and also your choice of naan or bhatura. It had a little kick to it, but it was still good. Even without the specials, the prices are awesome. My friend got the first-​timer special, which comes with a little bit of everything, and it was only $ 12.
My friend and I also both ordered samosas, and though they weren’t the best I’ve had, they were still pretty good and definitely filling. Also, per usual when I go to an Indian restaurant, I ordered the mango lassi, and that was delicious. Not as creamy as I once preferred it, but I think I might enjoy the not-​so-​creamy version now.
The only downer was that the waitstaff never came around to asking how we were doing or refilling our glasses or coming around with a check. They seemed not so enthused that we were there, so there was a slight feeling of unwelcome-​ness, but neither my friend nor I was all THAT concerned. I thought it was also interesting that there were some boys (possibly owner’s children?) playing with a ball and running around on the other side of the restaurant. I mean, I’m aware that Indian culture is all about the family, so part of me was like, Whatever. Then again, there was another part of me that was like, Oh that’s distracting.
Regardless, I’ll probably go back again when I’m low on cash and need an Indian food quick-​fix.
PS: This place also serves some North Indian food. Yum…

Went here for lunch.
They had a buffet which was priced at $ 6/​person (don’t know if it includes beverage because they never informed us).
They didn’t have many choices to choose from. Their food was REALLY spicy! We were quite busy wiping our noses due to the spice level of the food.
The food was fresh because they kept refilling the entrée choices.
They had no dessert which I think is necessary; not because we were still hungry but anything sweet would’ve helped our burning palate.
I would go here again during their lunch buffet but not anytime soon.

Pasand is a great option for lunch if you’re hungry and want some Indian food. The buffet is great, and they always have a good selection of flavorful dishes. The nan is hot and plentiful, they always have a good combination of sides and entrees, and the spice is just right. Best of all, it never leaves me feeling sick or having digestive problems.
My only complaint is that they never seem to have a wide enough selection of chutneys. Instead, I find myself dipping my nan and other things in the extra sauce from the entrees, which isn’t bad, but some mint chutney would be nice.

Eh, I was unimpressed with my experience at Pasand. Pasand translates to like, which I thought was cool and I’m pretty much down to try any Indian place in town.
I ordered the chana masala and the paneer tikka masala. The chana masala was decent, seasoned well and spicy. The paneer tikka masala lacked much of any paneer and I felt like they must have scraped the bottom of the pot and just given me the remaining masala.
I ordered these two items a la carte, so they come with a serving of rice and naan– which is a pretty good thing as far as value is concerned at Indian places.
The restaurant décor didn’t do much for me, and my service was okay-​nothing to complain about, but also nothing kind to remark about.
I might give them another shot, but there are several other Indian joins nearby that I’d likely want to try out first. Bummer.

In Short: A shell of its former glory, but still edible.
I remember the glory days when this place was awesome, definitely the best indian food in the valley. I hear there was an ownership change and all went down hill from there. The steady decline resulted in lesser quality ingredients, smaller portions, shoddy service, and down right rundown nature of the place. I wish they reinvested some cash in to this place and put a little pizazz back into the food and décor.
The best and worst thing I can say about the food is that it’s edible. Most items are over spiced, all I can taste is the curry and nothing else. Lunch buffet is still probably your best bet, it still have most of the staples but at the height of this place, the buffet was a sight to behold. Samosas are pretty top notch, then again it’s hard to mess up a samosa. It’s still decent indian food, but nothing great, there are much better options out there.

Recently enjoyed a thali dinner, which consists of papadum; choice of chutney (mango or hot carrot); sambar (tomato-​based soup); raita (yogurt-​based soup with cucumbers and spices; daal (curry-​based soup consisting of lentils and spices); tamarind soup*; choice of entrée; two pooris (deep-​fried bread puffs– I asked to substitute paratha– pan-​fried wheat bread); basmati rice; and dessert (one pc. gulab jamun). My choice picks were hot carrot chutney (VERY salty and greasy, and I can’t recommend it to ANYONE), and palak mutter paneer (spinach, peas, and cheese cubes in a coconut curry sauce).
*(Tamarind is a sweet and sour ingredient used in flavoring Asian entrees and can also be made into a popular candy with many versions– three versions I know of are salty/​sour, salty/​sweet/​sour, and sweet/​spicy!).
I don’t think I’ll be ordering thali dinners here anymore, since the raita and sambar are made with ingredients I’m allergic to. I would recommend the palak mutter paneer entrée, except the serving is pretty small, even for me. (I like serving sizes that allow me to splurge and still have enough left over for a meal– I’d say three Goldilocks-​portioned servings– you know, not-​too-​big, not-​too-​small, just right.) Another strike against ordering a thali dinner here… dessert consists of ONE piece of gulab jamun! What a tease! Perhaps one piece would satisfy the majority of diners out there, but for a super-​sweet tooth such as me, either give me AT LEAST two pieces of gj or don’t give me any at all!