Bombay Cafe

WORST INDIAN FOOD IN SOCAL…
Soggy Naan
Refried Samosas.
Really Every thing is WAY BELOW Average. except the Price…
Next time I would Choose PIZZA (even though not one of my favs)

This place is amazing! Every time I have went the food is absolutely delicious! Lots of flavor and lots of spice. I would highly recommend this place to everyone!!!

Delicious! Everything was perfectly spiced and so tasty!
We had matter paneer and a lamb dish, can’t remember the name but it was so good! I’m a garlic naan lover, but everyone was raving about the coconut naan so we tried it. It was very good, but I didn’t realize it would be sweet, so more of a desert for me. I’ll take garlic naan next time! Cannot state deliciousness enough!

Chicken Tikka Masala is awesome here. Buttery, creamy, delicious. The atmosphere is cozy and everything I tried was delicious (Naan, Raita, vindaloo).

What an awesome hidden little gem this is. The British family loving every bite of their meal should have been my first indication that this place was going to be good! I’ve been so disappointed by other north county Indian restaurants, but Bombay Café restored my faith in finding GREAT Indian cuisine close to my Oceanside home!
We ordered, devoured and loved each of the dishes we ordered. The onion bhaji was well flavored, super crisp and not at all oily & the chutney and condiments were bright and delicious as well. The chicken korma was sweet and full of flavor with just the right amount of heat (a 3 for the woman who now gets heartburn… sigh) and just a sprinkling of raisins and cashews in the wonderful, creamy sauce. The lamb rogan josh was spicy and perfect but it was the tandoori prawns that stole the show this time. Perfectly cooked, definitely marinated over night, the prawns were served on a sizzling platter with onions and peppers cooked in a mouthwateringly savory sauce. The rice and naan were perfect and the raita was the best I’d ever had in the states (sorry USA, but London is still the home of the best Indian food I’ve ever had) and had a wonderful flavor… not just the boring plain yogurt that most places serve and have the nerve to call raita.
While there is little to no ambiance here, there is something just as charming that totally makes up for it… a window into their kitchen, where we could see the chefs practicing their magic with spices, sauce pots, pans and the tandoor itself! What a joy it is to watch… and to eat! We will be back for sure.
The prices are very reasonable. Our entire meal, including an appetizer, 3 dishes, naan, rice and raita as well as drinks cost only $ 71. We have spent much more for much less, and we have paid almost twice that for Indian dinners elsewhere that weren’t nearly as good.

This place was an amazing surprise! We ordered Dal, Chicken Tikka Masala, Palak Paneer, and a number of side dishes, all of which were delicious. This is a fantastic family owned business with excellent service as well.

It’s a musical ride and they did not pay me for writing this review. Started with Shahi Korma (Lamb curry) with Basmati rice, level 3 spicy goes really well with the medium hard rice. Thick creamy lamb flavor emerged after a few bite. With a sip of Hayward 5000 larger, the malty sweetness of beer recombine with the spice. Then Chicken Tikka comes in with a hot iron pan, smoke busted through the air. One of the most tender chicken breast I have in the month. Chicken tikka is cooked with vinegar based, the flavor switched my pallet to another spectrum. On top of those I order Garlic Nan and Onion Kulcha Nan to mix with two main dish. Tandoori Nan are crispy on the center and chewy on the edge. I also ordered Raita yogurt just to soften the sharp edge of the cousin. Total to be 65 dollars with lots of food in my belly and to-​go box. I can’t say no more, you try it yourself.

First of all I don’t usually give 1 star to people that try hard to keep customers happy. We had been here twice. Service was mediocre almost non existent. But for the most part food was good.
The other day we come in the middle of the week. Only 2 tables were occupied. We ordered our food as usual it took a while to get to us.
When we received our food both our dishes were not done the same way as other times. One a #2 was very spicy. Mine lack flavor meet was so hard. But I didn’t complain. My friend dish was too spicy i saw she was having a hard time eating it. So I suggested to have it sent back and get it replaced or fixed. When we called the lady (I think she’s the wife owner?) she was rude and told my friend that she didn’t know what she was talking about.
She said my chef has 40yrs experience so he never makes mistakes? Really?
She walked mad and who knows what she was saying about us. She made my friend feel very uncomfortable.
She comes back and brings back this dish is to my friend that was like they added ketchup or something sooo sweet and nasty tasting.
So, from that experience we chose not to ever come back again!

My husband and I went on a weekday night– it was close to 9 pm and the space was empty. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but the food was truly delicious.
I truly loved the Lamb Pashmiri– it was a nice variation of traditional lamb curry dishes. I will warn people– the scale of spiciness is a couple notiches above most Indian restaurants. I ordered a side of Dal with a spicyness scal of 6 and wow– it was hot!
My biggest complaint is that I found this place using an Entertainment coupon book that offered a deal of $ 10 off that wasn’t honored. When I presented the online coupon, they told be that they never registered to offer this discount. and refused to extend this to me. I was very disappointed. (communicated with the Entertainment group and they said they’d investigate but didn’t offer any type of credit)
A decent place to go if you’re in the neighborhood.

Alright, I’m going to have to go against the grain on this one. Our chicken marsala was incredibly disappointing.
We ordered take out from Bombay, just the chicken marsala curry dish. The plan was to go home to put it over rice and enjoy it.
When we called in, I asked how much the curry could feed. «Three or four people». Great, I thought, because the 11.99 pricetag without rice or sides seemed a little steep for me. A large amount of curry without rice is 7.99 at the place I normally go to.
When we arrived, I saw a small container that I prayed wasn’t ours. It was. There was no way the small amount of curry could feed both of us with rice, not even mentioning the «three to four people» I was quoted. This sounds snarky, but the box was in a Chinese takeout box that was about half the size of a normal takeout box. It was an absurdly small portion for 11.99.
While we were in there, the place earned a star above one just for the décor and open layout of the kitchen. I really didn’t want to write this, since it’s obviously owned by a family and isn’t a big chain. I didn’t have that many qualms with the curry’s price, I just wanted Indian.
Until I tasted it.
The chicken had tough skin, a dry inside, and (lots of) cartilage. It didn’t seemed prepped at all. I didn’t really mind that much, until I tried the sauce.
It looks and tastes like a tomato sauce you’d find inside of a can of chef boyardee. We couldn’t stop remarking at how it tasted like Campbell’s tomato soup. It was too spicy, and I’m no gringo. The spices weren’t developed as a cohesive unit, it was one note strong spice and it accompanied my palette with the strong flavor of… Just tomato.
We had to buy Ling Ling potstickers to fill us up, and that’s all I ended up eating. I’m sorry, but it was awful. There’s no way this place should have four stars.
Overpriced small portions of a butchered chicken marsala, which should be the thing on the menu you’re never scared to order.
Twelve dollars well wasted.

I have not been here in almost two years and I still think about this place for good Indian food.
I spent a month in India when I was young and this restaurant is the closest you can get to the exact taste. I have been to other Indian restaurants and they are absolutely terrible compared to the Bombay Café. The sauces are thick and not oily and watery like most restaurants. The naan feels like you are biting into a cloud and it goes great with the sauces from the curry dishes. HIGHLY RECOMMEND IF YOU WANT REAL INDIAN FOOD ITS THE CLOSEST YOU CAN GET!!!
My favorite dishes are the lamb, chicken, rice… oh wait everything is good here!

First thing when we walked in the restaurant… How can their fire alarm not go off? Don’t they have a functional smoke detector?! Well, we really wanted to try this Indian place out and I was craving for some paneer, so wth let’s stay. After ordering our spinach paneer and chicken tikka masala, I decided I needed some fresh air so I went outside to take a few deep meditative breaths before I went back into the smoke like a courageous firefighter…
So that was my experience before the meal had even started. I was telling my boyfriend: dude, they better make bomb-​a$$ food because I’m inhaling all these carcinogens for good Indian food.
Yeah the food was good. The flavors were amazing! We also got the garlic and coconut naan and they were to die for! One complaint about the food was the portion size. I was cutting the small pieces of chicken into smaller bites so they could last long enough for the naan… Quite stingy on their part. The naan was very, very fresh as we saw the guy through their kitchen glass window putting the dough into their tandoor right after he got our order paper. The waitress (his wife I suppose) brought it out right after he pulled it out from the oven and so it was so hot and fresh!
The service was very sincere and the girl (their daughter I suppose) was very polite and a bit shy which is kinda cute haha.
It’s too bad we won’t make this our regular spot because the smoke was really bad and their prices were way too high for the small portions they gave us. You might be better off if you order to go like some customers were doing. But still, the steep prices were definitely not justified. I can’t give this place a 4 star for all these main reasons.

What a pleasant and delicious surprise in north county. We ordered the palak paneer (creamy, with tender chunks of cheese), tandoori chicken (it came out on a sizzling platter, and had a pleasant tang), lamb vindaloo (tons of flavor and very spicy, just as my husband ordered it), and garlic naan (fresh from the tandoor oven and loaded with garlic). Everything came out perfect, and the staff couldn’t have been nicer. Even when my 2-​year-​old decided to knock over a full glass of water, they were quick to help us clean up and told us not to worry.
I recommend it if you want really good Indian food in a friendly atmosphere. Fantastic.