This place is my favorite Indian restaurant. They have amazing curries, to be honest I have not tried many other types of entrees on their menu since its hard to try anything other then one of the many amazing curries. My favorite dish would be the shahi korma, lamb in a creamy nut curry, I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of lamb, on a site note I get it with out raisins. This place is a bit of a hole in the wall and with an atmosphere to match but as long as that does not bother you, you will get to enjoy some truly awesome Indian food :) Ps. The Naan is a must have at this place read more

Really lovely place - I was very impressed that they offered a dr who had too much to drink a ride home, one of the men who worked here bowed and told me how lovely I was! And the food was out of this world! I don't give 5 stars lightly, but this place earned each star this time! read more

Bombay Cafe - I really like this place! But haven't tasted the food yet - getting takeout :-) - Indian Near Me - Vista, California

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I wanted to give this place 5 stars but I can't because of the ambiance and the fact we didn't feel too comfortable. The food however, is on point and very authentic. While I am not Indian, far from it, I grew up eating Indian food and am so happy to say this place took me back to my childhood. The taste, the seasoning, the ingredients, and the naan are all fantastic. They have a legitimate naan "oven" -which if you haven't seen one, you're missing out! It's essentially a hole that the naan dough gets thrown in and "slapped" against the side walls. It's the only way to make true naan. The very nice girl who served our table agreed to take my phone into the kitchen and snap a photo of that naan cooking in the "oven"...see photo. We had the chicken Tikka Masala (it's what I judge an Indian restaurant by haha), garlic naan, mango Lassi and stewed okra (I think the name is Bindi Masala) which is another thing I order to gauge how good or not good the restaurant is. Yes, the rice comes a la carte but between those two dishes, my husband and I shared one order of rice and we still almost had half left over. If you order naan and rice, one of each should be sufficient between two people, three even, because they're very filling. Here's my suggestion for improvement on the ambiance. We came in on a Friday evening at 7 and were sad to see we were the only people in there. We walked in, it was dark and very quiet. There were two young girls that appeared to be doing homework at one of the tables, one of them was our server. She was very nice and sweet, but we felt in a way we were intruding in someone's home. I suggest putting some light music, some candles on each table would also help, and maybe blocking the bright light that comes from the kitchen. The people who were cooking the food all seemed like they were family, and that was so lovely to see...rarely you see that. Overall, this place is AUTHENTIC and cares about customers; we will definitely be back, but the music and the lighting would make SUCH a huge difference. It also sucks that this place is located in the midst of Mexican food places in an area that doesn't seem to cater to Indian food, that's a shame. I think if this restaurant opened its business elsewhere, it would be very frequented and popular....there aren't many choices for Indian so it'd definitely stick out! read more

The food is amazing. The staff is always super friendly. This is my favorite Indian food in the area. I get the special naan, chicken saag level 8 and rice. read more

The husband and I have been there a few times and we don't like it. The portions are very small, the flavors are off, and the quality of the produce is really lacking. The meat taste rubbery and the potatoes, canned. We live less than a mile away from Bombay Cafe but would rather drive to Carlsbad for some Punjabi Tandoor. read more

Okay so I just can't believe the reviews on yelp anymore when it comes to Indian food. I get it- my palette is an Indian one so my standards are high but this was so sad. No no no. If you know Indian food and what it's supposed to taste like, this isn't the right place. read more

The food was delicious. I got the chicken vindaloo and my boyfriend got the korma. The chef served it himself and asked us if it was good. The Mango Lassi was amazing, not too sweet. The naan was hot and fresh. The vindaloo was a bit too spicy for me, they ask you on a scale of 1 to 10 and I picked 5. I am quite a fan of Tapatio but this spice had my nose running. I preferred the korma, very well seasoned. The waitress was a kind girl. And even though on DoorDash there is no naan, call and they will help you order it. Instead of just saying No to me, she helped me work around so that I could get what I wanted. Talk about customer service. read more

This is my favorite spot to eat. The food is exceptional, reasonable cost, and the family is really engaging when they can! I thought the best Indian food was in NYC, but this place tops New York. read more

Fabulous out of this world deliciousness! My husband has the chicken tiki masala - it was fantastic! I had a vegetarian dish with cauliflower. We also had vegetarian samosas, regular and garlic nan amazing!! All very traditional Indian food, traditionally made and the whole family cooking. Nice quiet restaurant this place should be busier but thank god it wasn't #OurNewSecret If you enjoy Indian food you'll love this place! read more

Worst shrimp biryani I have had till now. Had to discard half of it. I am South Indian, ain't nothing a bigger appetite killer for me like tasting a bunch of sweet dried resins in my biryani, ultimately killing the taste of the main dish, and there were lots of them! The biryani itself was soggy, felt more like bisibele bath. Just fished out the shrimps and ate them. The shell of the samosas I ordered were really hard to bite into. The best part I enjoyed was the rasmalai for dessert, but I am pretty sure that must have been from some indian grocery store ready made frozen section. I don;t understand, my experience is really different from the ones posted by others. Could it be because I went there early in the evening, around 6:15pm or so.. hmm..nevertheless, thanks bombay cafe for making me write my first bad review. Ciao read more

The food is the type that makes you happy to the core with how delicious and satisfying it is. I haven't tried much of their menu but so far I'm happy with everything. My favorite is the vegetable Korma. Omg if you are going here for the first time you have to get either the vegetable korma or the lamb korma. The service is the friendliest that I've had. The place could use some TLC, but overall it doesn't change my mind about loving this restaurant. I will keep coming back for sure. read more

Authentic and perfectly spiced. I love Indian food and grateful that this family business is in my area. Samoosas and garlic naan are always first on my order. The main dishes never fail to deliver. You can't go wrong here. read more

My favorite Indian food it's so delicious! It's cooked fresh on the spot so expect to wait a bit but it is definitely worth the wait! The naan is really yummy and you can actually see it being made through the glass panel to the kitchen. Traditional Punjabi dishes that are hard to find anywhere else, trust me. This place is a must if you love Indian food or you want to have a taste of authentic Indian/Punjabi food! read more

Love, love, love The Bombay Cafe and have eaten in (back in the good old days) and taken out (since March) and never been disappointed with their food. Just writing this makes me crave their coconut naan and Chicken Tikka Masala, kashmiri rice and dal! read more

We eat here often amazing and authentic food and great friendly service! I love the vegetarian plate and eggplant and stuffed paratha!

Service was awesome and the food OMG incredible! My new favorite place! Can't wait to come back!

So terrible. The other negative reviews were spot on - empty, dim/dark lighting and mustily decorated. The food was watery and too spicy with no substance. And to make it probably the worst restaurant experience (other than a place that gives you food poisoning), the (what seemed like) the owner walked in and then the whole area filled with the loud sound of their arguing and bickering about who knows what as they weren't speaking English so we couldn't even understand what the crisis could possibly about. Bad atmosphere and overpriced Indian food. We got our check, left cash & got out as soon as we could. read more

OK food. Avoid the wine. I was craving some Indian food, so tried this restaurant that has received good review. The naan and rogan josh (mutton curry) were good. I specifically asked for a glass of wine from a new bottle. The woman who seems to run the place told me it was from a new bottle. It just did not taste good, and I was sure it had sat on the shelf after opening for days. I asked her to show me the bottle from which she poured the glass. She showed me a large bottle that served 8 servings. It was right down to last 2 servings. Such poor service for a $7 glass of wine was a turn off. Other turn offs were the run down interior, and smoke from the kitchen that makes it impossible to enjoy your meal. There are many good Indian restaurants in San Diego area. This is not one of them. read more

My first time ever eating at Bombay Cafe and the food was excellent! Staff was nice and the service was great. Place is very good for a family. read more

Amazing food! Honestly the best Indian curry I have ever had and the vegetable samosas were amazing. This is my new favorite Indian restaurant and I will for sure be coming back. read more

Such great food!!! We order the Samosas, Chicken Korma, Dal, Chicken Saag - and crave them, this place is excellent!

Best Indian food in vista. We eat here at least twice a month. The family that runs it are so kind, you forget you're in a restaurant it's almost like eating at home :) Try the vegetable samosas they are amazing!! read more

We have been dining here monthly for about a year. The food is excellent. The family that runs it is friendly and capable. We highly recommend this restaurant. read more

First time at this place and it has completely reopened my eyes to Indian Food. The tandoori Chicken with rice was delicious and the staff there are so friendly. read more

I have lived on both coasts and have been eating Indian food for 30 years and Bombay is a gem!!! We just moved to the neighborhood and would otherwise never have found this delightfully authentic and always pleasing. I can't say enough about the quality and intense flavors of the food. So far, our favorite dish is the Chicken Korma but everything we have tried has been superb. Bombay Cafe is family run and all the more charming for it. I wouldn't change a thing. You can bet we will be regulars for years to come! read more

I used to live in Orange County, and there never seemed to be a lack of Indian restaurants. I recently moved down here and that is one thing I miss about Orange County. So, it's been a while since my husband and I have had good Indian food, and to our surprise we found, hands-down, the one of the best places in all of Southern California... in Vista! Service was good. Just good. One of the coolest parts about our experience was viewing the cook through a large window. You can see him rolling out the naan and putting it in the tandorri oven and throwing spices into the pans. Very cool! Since, we eat this food so much, we try and compare each restaurant by the chicken tikka masala. It was so good; nothing we've had before. Also, we had the lamb korma. Both the dishes were good sizes, with big pieces of meat. Indian food can be expensive, and at Bombay, you get what you pay for. The cost for two entrees, one mango lassi, naan and rice is about $50. We had a coupon from the Entertainment book and got $11.99 off so we ended paying $46 including tip. This was a little much for us, so we are gonna have to come back for the buffet, which is at lunchtime Sun-Fri... I think they open at 11am. I heard it's good! Recap: It's a little pricey, the service was ok, but the food was over-the-top AMAZING deserving 5 stars! read more

You wouldn't expect this kind of Indian food all the way out in Vista, but I was definitely wowed by the food and the service. Harpal and her husband, the cook, were very warm and friendly once we came in. As for the food I was very surprised by the quality of the fish filet in the Fish Tandoori. The Chicken Tikka Masala is one of the best that I've ever had. I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala an 8 out of 10 for spiciness. I love my things spicy and I thought that the 8 was a little weak, so I would recommend a 10 or above for the spicy lovers. Overall I think this place is even better than all of the Indian restaurants in downtown San Diego. I would definitely come back here and recommend it to anyone who is looking for some good Indian food. Overall: -Pros: Friendly owners, great food -Cons: Price (but I still think its worth it) read more

Couple of months back , i got a chance to eat at this place. I am an Indian and was tricked by so many positive reviews here so I visited this place with my wife. Enter Bombay Cafe and there is no one but a kid getting scolded by her mom to take the order. No menu card !! . Next the Mom enters with glasses of water in her hand - no tray. Asks very politely what to eat, takes the order. She calls an old man who was resting outside to come inside and cook. We felt hot and asked the lady and u know what she turned on the Table Fan on us !! . Cummon turn the AC on plzzz. Bunch of kids of owner i believe, on a far table playing, making noise - no professionalism at all. Got the Food. Not so bad but not too tasty.- Finally the Order $40 for 2 curry and couple of Naan. Very Expensive. Never visited there. Strictly avoid the place. You can have frozen stuff in Indian Grocery stores which is much tastier/cheaper read more

Worst Customer Service. One of the entrees was half cooked. When we complained, they said we cook it like that ( uncooked? yeah right ). Cannot believe we drove 30 miles to go eat at that crappy place. read more

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!! read more

It's pretty nice the decor and the food it was my first time trying this restaurant the tea was good the rice and the chicken flavors lacked and the texture was kind of off. read more

My parents and I were staying at a hotel nearby when we started craving Indian food. I Yelped "Indian restaurant" and chose this place because of the ratings and the location. Though I've never really had Indian food (I've had South Indian food and that stuff's HELLA spicy and not really my cup of tea) I decided to check this place out. The place is located in a shopping center plaza with a really loud karaoke bar & grill next door with drunk and belligerent customers, but just do your best to look past all that...we arrived at the restaurant about an hour and a half before closing on a Friday night so we found the place quiet and virtually empty. When we came in we were warmly greeted by Harpal, who we later found out was our host and server. She is also the wife of the owner of the restaurant and did a fine job with not only remembering our entire order by heart (meaning no pen and paper) but answering our questions on what she recommended to eat or try. We started off with one order of samosas for our appetizer. For you Indian food noobs they are like the Indian version of Spanish/Mexican/Filipino empanadas. I never had samosas before but my mom said they were the best she's ever had (her boss is Indian and occasionally brings her homecooked Indian food to try). There are two in one order but each piece is a good size so our party of four was able to xplit each one. We ended up ordering the following for the main part of our meal:chicken tikka (that's how it's listed on their menu), palak paneer (homemade cheese dish), tikka masala (spicy #2 out of a scale of 10 cuz I'm weak LOL), garlic naan (2 orders) and basmati rice (2 orders). The chicken tikka came out on a sizzling platter that was so appealing that your mouth just HAS to water on cue. My dad chose this dish because he likes boneless chicken but the tikka masala (non-boneless with its spicy, uber-delicious sauce) totally trumps this dish. It was just so flavorful and yummy that it made me a fan of Indian food. Spicy #2 was just perfect for me--any hotter and I probably would have ordered more naan and maybe some milk to go along with it. Also, I have had naan before elsewhere but I am not kidding when I tell you that their garlic naan was out-of-this-world and an item that MUST be ordered! My party loved it so much we had to order seconds. You can eat it by itself or dip it into the tikka masala sauce or the palak paneer. Speaking of which, the palak paneer was something else. I LOVED the minty-ness in its flavor as well as the texture of the homemade cheese. I've never really had anything quite like it. The basmati rice was good--light and fluffy and perfectly complemented the spicy and flavorful dishes we had spread throughout our table. However if you want to choose between the two, I'd definitely pick the garlic naan over the basmati rice. I removed a star because a few items were 50 cents to $1 pricier than some other Indian restaurants my parents have been to (I know that may seem nit-picky but I am trying to be honest) plus their decor could use a little work. However Harpal's friendliness combined with her husband's stellar, intergalactic cooking make this place a gem and truly a diamond in the rough. read more

I am by no means a connoisseur of Indian food, but I love the Tikki Masala and Chicken Vindaloo at this place. It's an intimate and unassuming family-run joint, perfect for a spicy meal on crisp fall or winter evening. read more

This is the only Indian restaurant in Vista, where I work, and it's a mom and pop place so I wish I could give this a better review. the food is ok...not great, but good enough if you're craving Indian. but they brought out a small dish of rice and a big basket of naan for each person in our party, then when the bill came they had charged each of us $3.50 for rice and $3.50 for naan--no mention of a charge at the time of ordering. It was vague at best, and probably closer to deceptive. so my bill for just myself was $23.30 with no appetizer and no drink. Final straw was when she ran my credit card for $24.00, again with no heads-up for an extra charge. I'm sure most people just pay all these charges, or don't even notice them. When asked, she said there was a $0.50 charge for credit cards and was completely unapologetic about the surprise rice and naan charges. I really hope the owners read this review and re-think the way they nickel-and-dime customers in a sneaky way. I would've become a very regular customer here, despite the mediocre food, but because of their "RICE SCAM" will never go back. read more

Friendly and helpful, family run restaurant. The food was a bit more than usual Indian restaurants but delicious.

Very good food. If you want Chicken Vindaloo, make sure and tell them to give you only the breast otherwise you get a mix of dark and white meat. read more

If there was an option of giving this place negative stars. I would def give that. I am an Indian. So I know how its supposed to taste. The biryani is not biryani. Please don't even think of ordering that. The rest of the food is below par. The breads(naan) are too thick and weird. We had the chicken masala and biryani. Beyond pathetic. Head to this place called curry and more bistro. The real Indian food experience. My first review. Don't know how right or wrong it was. Anyways .... Eat well sleep well. :D read more

I don't ever write reviews but this place has the best curry to me. Every time someone visits me I take them here. I used to go every week up until my work schedule changed. The naan IS TO DIIIEEE FORRRR. Always great service. Great food. Cold beer and good parking. Check it out. read more

This is the second time that I have gone to "Bombay Cafe" I went with a friend, before theater, for appetizers and a glass of wine. The service was great, and the food was wonderful. I love their appetizers and the sauces. We will definitely return. read more

Dinner on a Sunday evening was fantastic. My wife and I tried the chef's appetizer sampler. The samosas were perfect- crunchy and fluffy, with a savory filling. The onion bajhi is beautifully crisp, seasoned boldly without overpowering the sweetness of the vegetable in a pakora batter- deep fried yet were not greasy. I've found a new favorite starter. The wife had lamb saag and the meat was tender, spicy and delicious. The spinach sauce a creamy compliment to the lamb. Our waitress, a cheerfull, polite lady (the owner, I think) asked us "from 1-10, how spicy?" We went with "5" to gauge their idea of "medium." The spiciness is powerful- while I usually don't go for insane heat, the blends they use here are truly flavor enhancers- I could still taste the lamb, the vegetable and the creaminess. I went with the shrimp bhuna. The spices were fragrant and bold, and also served to bring out the sweetness of the green peppers and shrimp with a play of contrast and enhancement. With each bite, I found that the seasoning and spice worked beautifully and when I crunched into the shrimp itself, the fresh seafood flavors mixed in beautifully with the challenging sauce. Again- no heat for heat's sake, but warm spices to work with the main ingredients. We stuck with traditional naan and basmati rice, both served hot and fresh. Easy to see how someone might make a meal out of these sides on their own. We finished with a cup of traditional Indian tea and split a dish of ras malai. The sweet dairy after such spicy dishes was a perfect topper. We will be back for the friendly, expert help and the gorgeous food. This place is a little hole-in-the wall with decor that belies some fantastic dishes. I can't wait to work through the rest of the menu. We will bring friends. read more