We had a total feast. So much I fear we hardly ate our entrees. We walked in and the atmosphere was lovely. Classy establishment. Good for a romantic date [yessss!]. Everything looked in order and clean. We were served lemon-mint water and I made the mistake of ordering the chai tea [hoping for iced tea without ever telling the waiter harbors disappointment]. 2 appetizers = 1 too many. Samosas were really great. Crunchy on the outside [would like just a touch more crisp] and soft potato insides and paired nicely with the trio of chutney sauces [mint chutney and hot and sour tamarind chutney, and something else. yum to all 3]. Aloo Tikki which is also a potato dish was a little too dense for our likings. Improved with sauce. Complimentary papadams were very salty. Velvet Butter Chicken with basmati rice and an order of regular naan. Lovely! Medium is pretty spicy, but delicious. Butter Chicken simply rocks. I have no idea what my friend had because I was too into the Butter Chicken to care. Picking the original naan from the choices seems a tad blasphemous - there were so many intriguing ones to choose from [mint, cherry and coconut, garlic, onion, etc.]. We agreed both naans [plain and garlic] were a little too dry. I'd go back and give everything a second shot, it all seemed very reasonable. Plus I want some of that crazy candy on the way out and loved that the entrees came in the copper pots. Very pretty. Wish I didn't read some of the reviews below. Stop reading and just go and enjoy. Service was good, unsure if we were charged for 2 rice, and drink refills. No idea. read more

I'm wondering if all these joints called Clay Oven that I've eaten at are in any relation to each other. Perhaps a chain? Who knows...it just might be a generic Indian Restaurant name. Anyways, this was the only Indian joint I found to be remotely good Indian food in the Peninsula. We came here on a Friday night and just seemed a decade behind in the clientele that they had here, meaning myself an the husband was a decade YOUNGER than the rest of the people here. What the? I am not joking. However, that never deterred me from getting good food. This place came off....average at best. Their chutney that comes to the table with their naan isn't the best, but again, if you read any of my NoCal yelp reviews, everything has to be taken a notch down from your usual standards. Remember, mediocrity is key to NoCal!!!! Anywho, back to the food. We got some samosas to start off with. Meh, not much flavoring to it and the wrap that the samosas were wrapped in wasn't crispy, which is disappointing. However, their vegetable korma along with Chicken Tikka Masala made up for the mediocrity. Not by much, but it was tasty as it could be. The garlic naan could have, oh, I don't know..have more "garlic" on it? The ambiance is dark, the service was average at best (had to waive down someone a few times for water refills) and the food just didn't come off remotely authentic. Eh, it's worth a try, but nothing that would make you wanna try it more than once, sorry. read more

Solid Indian food. Currys are well seasoned. The meat in the chicken tikka masala was a little dry, but otherwise pretty flavorful. Nice and creamy and full of flavor. Garlic naan was fluffy yet was a little crispy on the edges. Perfect. Restaurant was pretty empty so we had pretty awesome and attentive service. Average prices for sit down Indian food. Parking was a little hard to find, but still. Its like this for the entire area. I want to try their Indian beer next time. read more

When I have to add Cayenne pepper to my Lamb Vindaloo to make it spicy, then we have a problem. Ordered takeout, delivery was fast but the food was disappointing, bland and not spicy! If you like Indian food, find another spot! Most disappointing Lamb Vindaloo I've EVER had. read more

I go to Clay Oven once in a week. They are located in a heart of San Mateo downtown. The food here is so authentic and tasty. My favorite dishes are Chicken Tikka Masala(spicy), Kashmiri Lamb, Tandoori Chicken(sizzling) and veggie Samosa( so good). There are different kinds of beverages, beers and Wines. I really recommend the Panjabi Chai and my favorite Mango Lassi. The employees are friendly and nice , especially John( the Manager). They have lunch buffet that you can try several dishes as well as desserts. If you go for dinner, there is bar next door SKY-LOUNGE , an awesome place to have fun and relax. Parking- street and in the back read more

This restaurant has a great atmosphere, friendly staff, and EXCELLENT Indian cuisine. I highly recommend this restaurant if you're in San Mateo, CA and would like an absolutely delicious experience! read more

The food was solid. I ordered rice, samosas, do-piaza,and tikka masala. All were about in the 85th percentile of the 20ish standard Indian food joints that I've eaten at. To get better Indian you need to start paying about 50% more. The price was very attractive, with only $9-$11 per main, and the quantity of food supplied was much more than expected. In short: This is a great, great place to pick up some solid Indian food for the right price. With the quantities you get lunch tomorrow, too! read more

Always a good stand-by. My girlfriends and I always get delivery from here. Kinda interesting that they always ask for the phone #, address and name every time we call. You'd think they'd have all of the information in their system, but I guess they don't. We always get the chicken tikka masala, aloob gabi and 1 other dish with rice and naan. We order it medium spicy, but that differs with the cook. Sometimes the veggies have a nice kick with other times not having any at all. This place is hit or miss, but it's always a good stand-by. It's super handy when it's raining outside, you have a fire going and you can't leave the house. They always say it's going to be a 45 minute wait and that's hit or miss too. Once we received our food in 15 minutes and other times it's taken a hour. Either way, the food's always hot, so if I have to wait an extra 15 minutes, I'm fine with it. I ate at the restaurant once, and you get more when you get it delivered. I think I'll stick with that. read more

I just went to Clay Oven for their lunch buffet. I'm not into spicy spicy foods, so when my co-workers wanted to go recently, I was reluctant, but wanted to try it out anyways...and I'm glad I did! Not everything was spicy, and there was a good selection of buffet choices. I would have liked to have labels near the food so I knew what I was eating, but as long as it tastes good, I'm good! read more

*Delivery Only review* - Fast On-time Delivery - Well prepared food - Not too Oily - Tastes awesome! Thats 4-stars for you. Right There! read more

I just downloaded yelp to give this review, this is the worst restaurant I've ever been to! The staff are very rude and disrespectful! First time i went they got all our orders wrong and they took forever to get the food even though were the only ones there! Second time they refused to even answer simple questions about the menu, they just got mad like we were annoying them! The are so rude and unprofessional, don't waste your time or money, go to any other restaurant! read more

The food there are fantastic! That's the best chicken korma I ever had!!! I have it four stars because I ordered delivery and it spent almost 2 hours to delivered. But the food is really really good!!! I'll highly recommend chicken korma:) read more

This is your typical Indian food buffet. Can't really complain about the price $8.95 a person for lunch. I think they're run by the same people who run a whole bunch of Indian buffets in the city ( the website has the locations). It's missing a star because the bathroom is kind of eww-looking. read more

So I really like "Indian" food i.e. Anglo-Indian... with that being said I am not even going to pretend I know what great Indian food is. I have to admit the menu was overwhelming there were so many choices and everything really looked great. What to choose - what to choose... So I turned to my very friendly and helpful waiter and went with his suggestions. We ended up with Tandoori chicken which was really good so moist so juicy. The real star of the night was the fish Tikka Masala... OMG...large chunks of perfectly cooked salmon in a very spicy curry. To die for! Only thing I would change is that I can't drink beer or wine so I wish they had a bar. But of course that is not a necessity just a dream! read more

Clay Oven is a good place to eat. I enjoy the lunch buffet as they offer a great selection for an inexpensive price. I generally order delivery from here. It's an expensive dinner for delivery, but it's worth it every now and then. I'm so glad they offer this service. read more

My husband and I have been here many times. We always order the same thing- the Saag Paneer and Paneer Mahkni dishes with jasmine rice - flavorful and delicious vegetarian options. They get points for having an expansive menu, a good location in downtown San Mateo, and fairly quick service (I'm surprised by some of the other reviews saying otherwise). They recently remodeled the restaurant for a more modern look which makes for a pleasant atmosphere. read more

Very clean and elegant space. The samosas, chana masala, and onion naan were well seasoned & quite satisfying. read more

Clay Oven - well seasoned chana masala, samosas sabrosas, and onion-filled naan - Indian Near Me - San Mateo, California

The delivery took over and hour and the food comments from others were spot on. The food was bland and the naan was gluey.

I work in Burlingame and don't have a car, so food options are limited to what I bring to work, places that will deliver here, what I can steal from co workers, and what I dare to steal out of the company fridge (kidding!) There are limited delivery options that aren't pizza or chinese food, and this place is one of those options. The online ordering system is awesome because you don't have to call and let your co workers hear you ordering ridiculous amounts of food, and your boss has no idea you're salivating over a menu when you should be working. I reccommend the 'India Clay Over Dinners", which come with a ridiculous amount of food. My only complaint is that it isn't very consistent. The first time I got the Garden Thali, it came with the most AMAZING yellow dal I have ever had. I ordered it again a week later and it didn't even look like the same dish. I got it again tonight and it appears to be a dal soup, or else just a really watery version of it. It's still good, but I am dreaming of getting that first recipe again. Apparently this food is like heroin, and I'm always going to be chasing after the first high... The delivery drivers are really nice too, and prompt! I usually get my delivery within 30 minutes. read more

My diet goes out the door every week I step into this place -- this is my lunch spot on every Wednesday for buffet. And of course each time I visit, I always go for the same stuff which is almost everything =) The price is less than $10 for lunch buffet and I would recommend this place to folks who love indian food but don't want to pay a lot -- go there for their lunch buffets. Chai Tea -- YUMMO; it comes with the price of buffet. read more

Food was yummy. Restaurant was nice. Waitstaff was polite. Bathroom looked like something out of a horror film, complete with bare, red light bulbs. read more

On a quest to find a good Indian Restaurant around San Mateo. One says to judge a restaurant, visit the bathrooms. Well, if you do so, you may walk away from this place immediately. To be fair, the food was great but with such bathrooms.... No way!! read more

The food is good, and its delivery prompt. I have enjoyed on occasion the Nan, the Chicken Korma, and the Samosas. The lamb biryani was fair, and my only complaint with it was that there were medium-sized bits of solid seasoning interspersed with the rice. I'm not sure if this is a normal feature of the dish, but my approach to eating this dish had a lot in common with navigating a minefield. Always a pleasure dining here. read more

Came here to pick up a to go order for a late lunch out in Central Park. Was really disappointed to not find a fork, napkins, or in fact anything else in my order of a Chicken entree besides the kabobs. Kind of expected perhaps some rice, naan, vegetables or ANYTHING really when you pay $14. The container had cubes of chicken meat, which were good, but really kind of hard to enjoy without absolutely anything else to go along with it. Something tells me they bring you more food when you order this entree in the restaurant. At the least, a suggestion for these items would have been appreciated. read more

I LOVE NORTH INDIAN FOOD. A LOT. That said, it seems like most North Indian restaurants are at least pretty good. The buffets all seem to have your basic Tandoor chicken, butter chicken, some saag thing, curry chicken, some salad, some mutter paneer, an eggplant or vegetarian tikka masala or something, and some free plain naan. The dinners all seem to have the classic dishes as well. I guess chefs have figured out how to make it all tasty. Clay Oven is a case in point. Is it anything "special"? Not really. It's just as I described above. Is it a good value? Sure; about average. Is the food good? Usually yes. And the service? You may not get a lot of friendliness and smiling, but it gets the job done. I will say the tall owner-type-guy, acting as a host, seemed a little surly for years. I don't see him around anymore though. Buffet -- Good. Everything is tasty. Selection is standard. My favorites, butter chicken and tandoori chicken, always satisfy. They also have these fried bread things... I love them. Too much. They do not seem very healthy. The plain naan, on the other hand, is rather... plain. Dinner -- Usually good. I usually go with chicken tikka masala (let's be honest... the best non-vegetarian curry ever invented) medium-spicy, plus a garlic naan. All of it is quite tasty. My wife likes the malai kofta (vegetarian), and I like it too. Mwahaha. I often end up eating parts of that too. There is one criticism, which doesn't seem to pop up anymore thankfully, and that is on some nights the chicken tikka masala curry was incredibly thin! On those nights I'd give this restaurant 1 star. Bathroom -- Gross. Parking -- Can be hell. By the way, they deliver if the order is over $20. At least they used to. read more

My Dad loves visiting the Bay Area because of all the great Indian food. I used to take them down to Amber India in Mountain View, but now that I've moved up to San Mateo, it's a little bit far, a little too expensive, AND there are a couple of local options that are just as good. I've eaten at Clay Oven and ordered food to go a bunch of times. I usually get an order of naan and the grilled Chicken Tikka which is really flavorful and moist with a nice char on the outside. I've also tried the Chicken Tikka Masala, the butter chicken, and the Aloo Gobi which were all terrific too! The one thing I can't really recommend is the buffet. I love the concept of Indian buffet, but it always seems like the food isn't quite as fresh as ordering off the menu at dinner. The place is clean and warm and the staff are all super nice. I mean, the last time we were there, some jackass was really being rude and discourteous to the waiter AND talking on his cell phone loudly and the waiter just smiled and did whatever he could to make the customer happy. It was so painful to watch that I almost stepped in and yelled at the customer, but I didn't want to make my Mom uncomfortable. read more

I love it, my wife loves it, our kids love it.. good food, great service and awesome buffet! good all around for families, kids, even a romantic dinner for 2... read more

My absolute favorite Indian restsurant in San Mateo! Thanks! Papa fun so crunchy and delicious! The chai tea, bhindi bhaji, chicken tikka Marsala (my husband's favorite), saffron rice pilaf and the garlic nan are excellent!' read more

Clay Oven - Everything was absolutely delicious and fresh. - Indian Near Me - San Mateo, California

Excellent food. Attentive servers. Constant delivery orders throughout the night. Generous portions of rice in an order, tasty chicken tikka masala (says everyone at the table), scrumptious aloo saag, and pillowy soft naan. read more

We love Clay Oven! My family and I have been eating here for years. The friendly staff keeps us coming back, along with our favorite dishes- Cheese Pakora, Mattar Paneer, Vegetable Korma, Malai Kofta, and Lamb Rogan Josh to name a few. Mango Lassi and Masala Chai are delicious also! The owners wife Jessie is very nice, please visit the oldest Indian restaurant in San Mateo to give support during these challenging times. Takeout is always good and leftovers are still yummy the next day. read more

To be honestly I don't know why they only got 3 star I been eating Indian food all over country over here really taste good also good quality food super clean!!! And very affordable price even u include Indian milk tea!!! Come over and give a try they even got goat here. read more

Vegetables were uncooked. Service is slow. Music is depressing. Wouldn't recommend. Food was bland. No taste. Naans were ok.

Yelp makes you pick a star to review at least one. If I could minus or take away stars I would. My fav place Vedas in Burlingame was closed today and I was craving Indian so I made the dreadful mistake of coming here. If they put a big sign in the front window saying FREE food I still implore you to keep walking. Even the Nan bread was raw and doughy and tasted like bleach. The entire buffet has like 4 items and two of them are just tandoori chicken and butter chicken. I've never seen a tackier cheaper looking or more awful tasteless buffet anywhere. It's almost impossible to make Indian food tasteless but they seem to have found a way. No spice not even salt. You would get better Indian food at Cracker Barrel if they made it or maybe on a cruise ship. Absolute garbage. It was so bad I came very close to leaving without paying. read more

Just found a bandaid in my food... Im freaked out!! Steer clear and stay safe. -100. Never again..

This is one of the worst Indiana restaurant in the area. The food is terrible. The service is terrible I called before i come and they said they are open and serve lunch and when I I arrived they told me that only one working in the kitchen and I have to wait one hour. AVOID this place read more

Meh... I have mixed feelings regarding this place. Food was solid, service was good, and the price was reasonable. Wasn't the best, wasn't the worst, solid mediocrity. Mind you, I will be eating all my leftovers... read more

I'm always a fan of the lunch buffet. The people were kind and courteous and they have a great selection of foods. Sadly for me, only one dish, the mixed veggies were spicy enough for me. read more

Good ambience, good food, good music! This place is just good! :) One of my main choices when around downtown San Mateo. read more

This must be one of the best restaurants in the Bay Area for tandoori food. As the name suggests, they cook their naans in "tandoor" and no wonder it turns out so tasty. Their paneer makhani and malai kofta are to die for. On the flip side, they don't have a lively ambiance and the place is hardly ever full. Their lunch/dinner buffet is lackluster. Go here ONLY for tandoori food. read more

Yummy! My husband and I had been meaning to try Clay Oven for awhile so we decided to head over for a really late lunch/really early dinner. Despite it being 3:00 in the afternoon, there was another couple there eating too. We couldn't decide on an appetizer so our waiter suggested we try the Vegetable Samosas. Delicious! They were crispy on the outside and stuffed with a combination of potatoes, spices, and peas. They were served with some sort of garbonzo beans in a red sauce with cilantro. I loved these! I even sopped up the sauce with my samosa. For our meal, we ordered the Clay Oven sampler platter. It had prawns, two different types of chicken, and two different types of lamb served on a bed of seared onions. Everything was flavorful and juicy. The ground lamb was a little too charred on the outside but still good. We also got Chicken Tikka Masala, which was my favorite. The sauce was very aromatic and this time I sopped it up with my garlic naan. We also ordered saffron basmati rice which nicely completed the buttery-ness of the tikka masala sauce. Everything was delicious, the service was great, and we left feeling satisfied and talking about coming back again! read more