Simply the best Indian food I have ever had. Always fresh and the staff are very attentive and friendly. Highly recommend this place

Himalayan restaurant in San Juan Capistrano, just across the freeway from the mission. The curry was good, lots of flavor and spice. Food tasted fresh, not old. It was my first time trying Himalayan momos, and it was interesting and good. Samosas are classic Indian style, it tasted fresh. Lamb korma was great, love the cashew flavor. I did not like the roasted beet salad, the greens were wilted and the beets were out of a can, not roasted. Service was good overall, server seemed like he didn't want to serve us at first, but then he was very attentive and friendly. We will definitely be back. read more

Regular stop for fine meal. Service is outstanding as we are welcomed like family. Love the vegetable offerings and the tandoori main courses. read more

We order food from here regularly. Everyone in the family loves their food! I like the curry on the mild side, but my son likes it blazing! The vegetarian selections are great, too. I wish I could give them 6 stars. read more

Excellent meal tonight. We all got something different and everything was amazing. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is quaint. Great service and the food is fresh and wholesome. Will definitely recommend to everyone we know is who enjoys Indian food and plan to return read more

BASANTI - Tandoori chicken was delicious as was everything else. Fabulous naan and sauces. Delicious - Indian Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

"I had an amazing experience at [Restaurant Name] last night". "My experience at this restaurant was nothing short of outstanding". "The entire experience was wonderful". read more

We've been there many times. Everything they have is fantastic! We went again today. The staff, the cooks are great but the food & flavors will bring you back again and again, like has us. Our favorite ever. Yum! Chris and Carrie read more

Super embarrassed and offended. A favorite spot over the years and hadn't been back for forever and when we walked in, they told my friend ( frequent customer) she looks a lot bigger than last time they saw her and asked her how her pregnancy was. She is not pregnant, and this was really embarrassing for her in front of the people we were with. Completely inappropriate to ask. read more

Wow an excellent Indian restaurant in SJC! I came here with only a slight hunger and no expectations. The restaurant is small but with nice ambiance and friendly fast service. I posted pictures of their good sized menu if you'd like to take a look at what they have to offer. I tried their garlic naan, samosas, momo, chicken tikka masala, lamb rogan josh, and gulab jamun. All the dishes were prepared fantastically, cooked to perfection and flavorful. Their garlic naan was the best I've ever had. The lamb in the rogan josh was tender. The flavor of the tikka masala set a new classic standard. Even their water was a step above, chilled in carafes with cucumber and mint. SJC has been devoid of excellent Indian cuisine for a while, and this place definitely deserves a visit. If you have any kind of craving for Indian food this will satisfy it. read more

See all

Basanti!! Wow what can I say!! this place is hands down the best place in all of Orange County for Indian Food!! Well located right by the 5. On this occasion I went for the chicken tikka masala, samosas and Onion Baji! The restaurant was packed early Sunday evening and is clearly a treasured Indian restaurant in the OC!! Keep up the great work!! read more

I love the food every time I come here! My partner and I have been semi-regulars for around a year now, and they have never disappointed us. The service is excellent and the ambiance is really nice. They have so many great options. My favorites are the samosas, chicken tikka masala, and garlic naan. If you like Indian food, or even if you've never tried it, I would highly recommend you check this place out. read more

Went here for a meeting last week, the food was mediocre. First sign should've been the empty restaurant at 12:30 on a Friday afternoon. The samosas had no flavor at all, the butter chicken had zero flavor as in not even salt, the potato and cauliflower had zero flavor, The chicken Tika kabob was moist and juicy and that's about it. Definitely not worth the hype, also they had the doors cracked and kept the AC off which I'm not sure why do that on a hot day. read more

Great Indian food - one of the best Indian restaurants in Orange County. The San Juan Capistrano location is mostly take out but very easy to order and pick up. They have always been on time. read more

Very enjoyable and flavorful meal. Who knew San Juan Capo had this little gem off the Ortega? The place is quiet and a bit sleepy, but service was good. Of course I had to order the tikka masala and it was so rich and yummy with the naan. Will go again! read more

BASANTI - Indian Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

My girl has been wanting to bring me here for a long time. It was well worth it! Although portions may be small for some people, I thought they were just about right. I asked for my Lamb with curry to be spicy, it was not crazy spicy but enough to make you sweat, which I loved. Chicken tandoori with curry was also on point. My favorite was the garlic naan, right out of the oven! We were offered more rice and more naan with our dishes which we accepted. The server (didn't catch his name) was super attentive to what we needed, he topped our waters from the jar that was already at our table. The service alone make it worth coming here again! Prices are not bad for what the great flavor, the amount of food and the service! read more

BASANTI - Lamb and chicken tandoori with garlic naan - Indian Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

My wife, son and I had a great lunch here. We shared their lunch specials with Saag Paneer, Goan Chicken Curry and Lamb Rogan Josh served with a salad, garlic rice and basmati rice. The food was so good I think Basanti is one of the best Indian restaurants we've eaten at in the area. The fish in the fish curry was very fresh; the lamb in the Rogan Josh was very tender; and the cheese in the Saag Paneer had the perfect flavor for Indian cuisine. Along with the food we had two very rich, very good Mango lassis. The ambience of the restaurant is very pleasant and the staff are very warm and friendly. As for the portions, they were so filling we could only have a light dinner that night. read more

This place could have had the worst service and I would have probably still given them 4 stars. The food was amazing. I started off with the tomato soup, wow! Great texture, and even better flavors. I then had the chicken tikka masala! Holy smokes! I am I love with this dish. They have set a standard for me with Indian food. I feel it will be unfair for other Indian restaurants now as they will forever have to meet the taste standards of BASANTI. The service was good. Prompt and courteous. I would drive out here (60 minutes from home) to have their food again. read more

BASANTI - Chicken tikka masala - Indian Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

One of the best Indian foods in Orange County. We often ordered food from here and they have always delivered. The chicken vindaloo is deliciously spicy . Love their samosas and they're reliable. read more

Oh. My. God. I'm so glad I finally stopped in at this place. My sister and I went for dinner, and ordered samosas, garlic naan, saag paneer and the lamb boti kabob. The samosas were light, fragrant, and incredibly flavorful. The garlic naan was crispy and delightful. The saag paneer was absolutely fabulous, super fresh and the flavors were so beautiful. My absolute favorite, however, was my lamb boti kabob. It came on a sizzling hot skillet with veggies that continued to caramelize and cook while I ate. The lamb was tender and beautifully seasoned, and it was love at first bite. I usually can only finish half a dish in any restaurant, but I absolutely destroyed that lamb boti. The service is very good, the prices are reasonable (my sister and I got out of there for less than $50 for all that food!) and the decor is very pretty - they have a remarkable chalk mural on the wall that was captivating. I will 100% be back, over and over and over. read more

BASANTI - Indian Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

Amazing Nepali cuisine! Always love to come by and enjoy when we are anywhere near. Still missing the weekend food fair, but soon!

Best Indian food around with the friendliest service. I love chicken Tiki masala and lamb biryani (please check my spelling) - both test fresh and highly flavorful. They're also very nice to the kids there. read more

This place is a must! The food is delicious! Everything I order, I absolutely love! The staff is so friendly, the ambiance is great with the music videos. I highly recommend. read more

Great Indian food, nice restaurants in SC and SJC, Super nice ownership, and +1 for Indian Food in San Clemente! Just by virtue of being something other than pizza, burgers or southwest food it is an extraordinary thing. Since moving to San Clemente a year ago I have found a surprising lack of diversity in the Asian food scene. The choices are few and spread out. That usually means poor quality but I was happy to find not in the case of Basanti. We have ordered twice now, since they reopened last month. Both times were great. We ordered the Butter chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala. Saag Paneer, Paneer Tikka Masala at various times and all were great. Exactly what we were hoping for. The owner was also great. I accidentally ordered from the SJC location and had to drive to pick it up and he felt bad and gave us a bottle of wine! So nice! Highly recommend this restaurant in both locations! read more

Basanti Is a solid Indian restaurant. The staff is always pleasant to deal with in the food taste quite authentic overall because I spent 2 1/2 weeks in India many years ago and this food is quite reminiscent of my experience there. If you're looking for a really good Indian food then I suggest trying them out. read more

We had a wonderful lunch today at Basanti. It's one of the best Indian restaurants we've found for a long time. We are so happy to find this gem in San Clemente. Our appetizers were the Himalayan Momos which we loved! For our entrees we had the Vegetable Dum Biryani (fair warning- it's very spicy) and the Lamb Saag. Both were delicious! We can't wait to go back! We highly recommend this restaurant! The server was extra pleasant and took time to ask what we liked and what we would likely order when we had eaten Indian food in the past. He then explained some of the dishes he thought we would like. read more

BASANTI - Lamb Saag & Vegetable Dum Buryani. - Indian Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

See all

Got together with a few close friends and enjoyed a great evening of wines and killer Indian food. We all felt so comfortable and relaxed like we were in our own home. The service was nothing short of amazing, friendly and warming. They could not do enough for us. The food here was fantastic. Started off with some garlic naan. Piping hit right out of the oven. Flavorful and delicious. My favorite dis was the Chicken Biryani with basmati rice, saffron, herbs and spices. We all loved it so much we ordered it twice. The was the chicken tikka masala with a creamy butter tomato sauce. The flavor of the sauce was delicious but the chicken was just a touch on the dry side and a bit over cooked. Still tasty and flavorful. Next up was the saag paneer which was a delicious creamy spinach, indian cheese and curry spices. This was also one of my favorite dishes. I wish we ordered one more. Next time for sure. We then ordered a simple dish, the dal, with lentils and spices. Hit the spot just right as I drizzled some over the basmati rice. The wines we had were fantastic and the company was exceptional. Looking forward to try this again very soon. The place was packed in for a Wednesday and rightfully so. Thanks again to the amazing crew at Basanti for the fantastic service!!!! read more

Soup and Somosas & Naan were good. The chicken Tika Masala was like spicy spaghetti sauce, taste nothing like Tika Masala is suppose to taste. Extra gross, like seriously sooooo bad. We told the waiter/cook- he didn't care. Go to Himalayan Taste .5 miles away. read more

I'm so so disappointed. We have highly exception for this restaurant. I heard about this place from a friend. I was looking through the reviews about how good the foods was. We got so excited to try out India foods since it's highly impossible to find a good one in Orange County. This was a huge letdown. When we first walked in, we didn't expected how small this restaurant will be. They only have 3 (4 seats) tables & approx 10 (2 seats) tables. We ordered himalayan momo, garlic naan, chicken tikka masala, & chicken curry. It's come with balsamic rice. We dislike Himalayan momo. There was no flavors in it at all. Garlic naan have no flavor except garlic. There was too much garlic. And it was burnt. I was disappointed with naan. Then when they bought out both chickens & balsamic rice. They were so small! We didn't expected portions to be so small. Chicken tikka masala was horrible! There was no flavors in it. We were expecting the taste of spices & butter tomato sauce. Nothing! The chicken was very tender but flavorless. We only ate one chicken piece & didn't eat the rest of it. Chicken curry was flavorless, just kick of spicy from the curry sauce. We did eat all the curry chicken since it taste better than chicken tikka masala & we were so hungry. Overall, we won't be back. This place is overhype & all the reviews are over exaggerate. Also it was very expensive for such small portions. For all the foods & drinks we ordered, it was about $60. **my husband says their India beer (flying horse) was very delicious & light.** read more

See all

I stopped here for take out one evening. Ordered the sampler of appetizers and saag paneer. Overall, very good! In the sampler, I think the samosa was my favorite - gentle, aromatic spice profile! The pakora were also delicious but a bit oily. The saag paneer serving was quite generous. The flavor was tasty - a bit sweet from the tomato in it. read more

Before reviewing Basanti, which is terrific (doesn't count as a review!), I'd just like to enumerate my qualifications as a restaurant critic: 1. I eat a lot. Now that that's out of the way: Basanti is great. It's some distance from our place in San Clemente, but we don't mind the trip (except when some idiot is doing 53mph in the #2 lane, but that's hardly the restaurant's fault). The food is delicious, the prices are remarkably reasonable, and the service (remember when that was a thing?) is (was) always attentive and friendly. My wife is a long-time lover of Indian food, but I didn't really get into it until we lived in Manhattan (not the beach, the one between New Jersey and Brooklyn). In those days, 6th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues was choc-a-bloc with authentic Indian restaurants and grocers, each serving fare more delicious than the last. We had our favorites, but at one time or another we ate at several of them, as well as at some of the expensive midtown Indian places. That incredibly fascinating tale (movie rights available--call me) is offered by way of saying that Basanti could hang with those guys. I'm partial to the chicken tikka masala, though it's a bit different from what I get in other places (so yummy, though). Both of us love the onion naan, and the various pea/potato/cheese dishes. The missus orders everything spicy, I think primarily to discourage me from sharing. During the quarantine, we've been very comfortable with take-out. The staff is masked, and, unlike too many other local establishments, they have honored the restrictions against indoor dining. Not sure how they're going to handle the new 25% capacity rules. In any event: food, great; value, great; service, great. Parking not so great, but so worth it. This is a hard time for restaurants: order today! Well, tomorrow's OK, too, but not one minute later. read more

Fantastic food and service. We've been going twice a month for nearly 3 years. The chef, Gobi knows how to cook. Service is top notch. Lucas reads our minds. We are treated like friends when we arrive. They have been doing upgrades to the restaurant decor. Very comfortable. Roshan, the owner is very gracious and friendly. I couldn't ask for a better Indian restaurant in Orange County. read more

We've eaten here twice. Once when the weather was hot and now that it's cold for the time being it was so nice to eat some hot and spicy Indian food. The samosas are one of my favorite appetizers. I I wish someone would make Pani puri but probably not as popular as samosas. Their Chicken Tikka Masala divine. Aloo Gobi has the right amount to spice. Dal is delicious if you love Indian food go here. And did I mention how nice the staff is?? read more

My boyfriend and I had the saag paneer, butter chicken and the vegetarian biryani for take out. Everything was simply delicious! We love Indian food and this restaurant surpassed our expectations. I highly recommend this place, especially in times of COVID, when everyone can use a comforting meal. read more

This is an excellent Indian restaurant in a not so great strip mall right off the five freeway the food is delicious. They're very careful to listen about special dietary restrictions and orders such as not too spicy. their takeout is fantastic. In fact, I find that they give you a slightly larger portions for takeout then when you eat there. read more

I really enjoyed their food here. It was hot and ready right when I ordered it and the portions were appropriate for the price. The service was pretty good too, prompt. The place was much smaller then I was expecting. Not good for big groups and the parking was god awful. I had to wait up top to get a spot. They also had fruit flies which was slightly annoying while I was eating but over all I had a decent experience. I will be back for take out soon! read more

BASANTI - Indian Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

Great food and great service. Highly recommend the veggie sampler appetizer that way you get to try a little bit of everything. The chicken tikka masala was delicious and also came with rice as do all the entrees. Definitely going to come here more often! read more

We were driving through the area on our way south, and looked up potential good eats to try out. We found Basanti! The moment you enter the restaurant you get welcomed with the amazing smell of whatever is cooking/is being eaten! I had really high hopes for the food! We ordered a baingan bartha with naan and rice, my absolute favorite Indian dish. I asked for medium spice, which typically is tolerable by me and with enough of a kick for my wife. The rice was fantastic, the naan was great! The baingan bartha was spicy like the surface of the sun spicy. Definitely not medium spice!! Oh my goodness I almost started convulsing it was so hot, even my wife couldn't handle it. The folks next to us had also ordered a baingan bartha with mild spice and it was equally spicy. We mentioned it to the waiter who offered to have it taken back for doctoring so it wouldn't be as spicy, and it came back with some coconut milk added (I think) which helped, but only brought it down a couple of degrees. The flavor was good, I just couldn't appreciate it with my mouth on fire. Aside from the way, way too hot baingan bartha the place was great, the staff was friendly, the service was quick, and I'm told the dishes are usually not quite so spicy. If I'm ever in the area again, I'd give it a go again. read more

Basanti was a decent spot for dinner. The food was good, not great, not amazing, but not disappointing either. The service was quick an friendly, but again not amazing. Overall, I've had better Indian food in Orange County and for less money. If you're craving Indian food and you're in the area, go for it, if you're looking for the best Indian food you can get...keep looking. read more

This is our go to Indian restaurant. The best. Try the gulab jamun for desert. You won't regret it!

They actually took my last feedback seriously. Thank you. Dal makhni was tasty. I am vegetarian but I have friends who love their chicken biryani! read more