This place is a solid 3.5 stars. We typically go to Bombay Garden, but found ourselves in the mood to try out a different venue one night. We ordered our usual dishes that we normally have at Bombay Garden and found that Clay Oven's dishes were definitely more flavorful. Not necessarily spicy, but more flavorful. Kinda stupid, but I thought the fact that they had King Fisher on tap was cool, so I haaad to have a glass of tasteless Asian beer (Tsing Tao, OB. Sapporo are also in this category!). Overall, the night was great until it came to paying the bill. The place was pretty quiet (in all, there were 4 occupied tables) that night, but the cashier busied himself by chatting it up with a friend. 10 minutes later, he finally noticed us. 1/2 star deduction for service, but we'll be back. read more

We've eaten dinner here a couple of times, and tried the lunch buffet. The food has almost all been absolutely wonderful. Deep complex flavors, fresh ingredients, good sized portions. The staff are attentive and friendly. Overall a very nice dining experience. read more

Wow as I took my first bite of chicken the sky's were opened and a tear fell from my eye, TALK ABOUT GOOD! It was well worth the wait to eat here I had the Bread with Goat Cheese the cucumber salad, and the chicken along with a couple of $ 8.75 dollar beers! The beer was malty and very good I am going back as soon as I get paid! It haunts me in my DREAMS!! read more

We tried the buffet and found it quite tasty. Not the best food or service, but it was nice. And we appreciate that they kept our water glasses filled. read more

Been here many times and am always disappointed when the food is gone. I had been making it a point to try new things on the menu, and everything has been good, but keep coming back to the lamb saag - so delicious! I like that they infuse the drinking water with lemon and mint, it adds a really nice touch to a plain glass of water. The service is good and the atmosphere is nicer than a lot of places. It isn't easy to find street parking but there is ample parking behind the restaurant and a back entrance as well. read more

This is a review from delivery via GrubHub. The food came slightly on time, GrubHub said they would arrive between 5:10 and 5:20, but in actuality the food arrived at approximately 5:40. We ordered Chicken Tikka Masala (mild), coconut veggie curry (medium), rice, and garlic naan. I was a little disappointed that the naan was in such a small serving for $3 (one piece sliced in two). I was surprised that the medium coconut veggie currie was actually very spicy...and I am very used to anything hot and spicy, especially indian food. read more

I really like Clay Oven and go there all the time. They have very good vegetarian (and even vegan) options, especially if you go during lunch for the buffet. Service is good. read more

You guys are GREAT!! You delivered on-time! The food was nice and warm and the correct 'spicy-levels' and super tasty! Thank you VERY much!!

Service and food was just mediocre. Not crowded and nice date vibe until the staff in the kitchen started screaming at each other.

This is the perfect lunch buffet. It is open for such a long time that I can even make it if I show up at 2. At that time everything is still full and fresh. They have a whole lot for vegetarians and people who are gluten free, but they usually have three types of chicken, one type of fish, mutton aka lamb (their lamb has no bones and very very little fat on it). It has more than 12 warm options, and things are always changing out, and there are many meals that are not too spicy! The other Indian restaurants nearby have extremely spicy food. If you need to have it fire hot you can, they will show you which ones are super spicy and there are extra sauces available of all types. I like that you can have Indian dessert , or ice cream, or fruit. And the salad is decent. Mango lassi! Service is friendly. Full dinners are exquisite, but I'm a lunch guy. read more

The food was bland and tasteless. We ordered a Paneer Jalfrezie in which both the carrots and potatoes were undercooked and almost raw. The food was underseasoned. The service was also slow. Won't be coming back here anytime soon. read more

This is a FANTASTIC restaurant. Every time I come we are greeted with smiling faces. Our favorite waiter is John. He is kind and is very good at his job. He keeps checking on us to make sure we have all that we want. It's a relaxed atmosphere. Great place to enjoy great Indian food and to relax after a hectic day. Thanks to the whole staff for always being so good that we want to keep coming back. I would love to give Clay Oven 10 stars!!! Try it ...you will not be disappointed. read more

Ordered from Clay Oven last night w UberEats. Order was delivered on time - yay! Order was delivered incomplete - BOO - No Rice in the order!!! Terrible. Indian food without rice - FAIL. As I write this I see another review of Clay Oven w UberEats where restaurant didn't check the order and left off items! This is a problem! Who cares if the food delivered is good? With UberEats by the time the food arrives, if the order is incomplete, clients will be disappointed in a major way. FAIL. My next UberEats order will be someplace else. read more

This is our every week Indian fix. It's based right in down-town san mateo and I think they serve pretty authentic Indian food. I would highly recommend some of their pakoras, (cheese being my fav.), chicken tikka masala and sag paneer is to die for. The place is usual not crowded during week days and the service is fast and good. Fantastic food... read more

love this place. I had the tandoori chicken, garlic naan, regular naan, chicken vindaloo, chicken curry, samosa, rice dish (can't think of the name). The food was great. Make sure you order a side order of rice to go with the sauce. Price is not expensive, but not cheap. Average dish is about $9 to $12. Service was fine! The waiters were friendly with smiles. (Maybe because we have been there about 3 or 4 times in the last 2 or 3 weeks.) read more

Food was above average, service was good. I liked Bombay better. However, the Samosas were better here than Bombay.

I just moved to San Mateo a couple months ago and hadn't found a good Indian take-out place yet. I was on 3rd about to walk into Amici's to order a pizza for take-out, but saw Clay Oven across the street. Since I didn't totally feel like pizza anyway, I went in and ordered Chicken Vindaloo, some Naan, and as I was kind of undecided on what else to order, I said, "Okay and I guess some regular Chicken Curry" , the manager said, "NO, you will get the Chicken Tikka Masala" I know I generally like Tikka Masala, so I said, "Okay then." Great suggestion bc it is hands down the best TIkka i've ever had. The sauce isn't too greasy, the chicken is good quality chunks with not a lot of fat on them. The vindaloo was good but just regular. VIndaloo seems like it's different everywhere I go. Always psychotically hot seems like a totally different gravy every time/different place. I will be going back here for the Tikka very soon read more

We come here almost every saturday for the $10 buffet.....we really enjoy it. i have two little ones ( 1 and 3 years old) and they never charge for them. The food is really tasty and you cant beat a full belly at that price! :) read more

I love this food!! AND they deliver. The only problem I've had is that when I've had food delivered, they don't make it spicy when I ask. Other than that, food usually arrives within 45 min, sometimes sooner and it's really yummy read more

Love this restaurant. Anything and everything in the menu is yummy. Price is reasonable. I've only been to the actual restaurant once but that was a good experience. And even when we usually order for delivery, food is still hot and super fresh. One of my favs in the Peninsula. If you like Indian food... you must try Clay Oven. read more

It is a small but really nice place to eat. The food is good and the prices are reasonable. We were a large group and they have a little trouble managing the orders but overall it was good. My favorites are the tandoori chicken and chicken tikka masala. I will come back here to eat for sure! read more

Fast delivery. Great food love it son. Maybe people in India would not be so poor if Indian food didn't cost so much? Just sayin

The food should get four stars, but delivery brings it down because it took a full hour. But if you're walking-in, you'll enjoy the food. Delivery guy was nice and friendly too. Just took too long, imho. read more

The whole family enjoys Indian food and the restaurant can accommodate stroller and high chairs. Only ate at the buffet and a great selection of vegetarian dishes. Our favorite are saag paneer and aloo gobi. The service is always good and the food consistently delicious. read more

I come here often for a quick buffet (close to my work). Food is ok, worst thing is that it's the same exact stuff every day. Been like that for a year, maybe more. read more

Wow, the food here was delicious! I ordered the mango chicken, spicy. For starters, they are NOT JOKING around when they warn you that the spicy is very much spicy. I usually order hot at Thai places in the area, but this was a few notches above that. The chicken was tender and juicy, and the curry it was in was wonderfully flavorful. Definitely ordering medium spice next time, but still extremely satisfied. read more

They have pretty good food, the server need to have better English skill, also a better attitude. Over all they have pretty good lunch buffet. read more

Pretty solid place to curb my craving for Indian food. I'm still sticking to my ol' faithful, Pakwan in Fremont but this place may have to be my go to place since it's so close to work. read more

Decided to have dinner here with my boyfriend. This place has cute colorful decor, an attentive staff and the food was cooked quite well. I really enjoyed the presentation of my meal, the food was served in cute little ancient metal bowls that made the experience authentic. The servers were also great, polite, and down to earth and we received a nice complimentary rice pudding dessert to end our night. The place is great for small intimate dinners with your loved one or even with close friends. It's also cozy and clean which makes this place inviting. read more

Clay Oven - Chicken tikka masala accompanied with basmati rice and a variety of Naan bread. - Indian Near Me - San Mateo, California

This is my go-to delivery place. Prompt, delicious and reasonably priced (hoping they'll go organic one day). Today put them over the top- they forgot the naan in our order. After a call, the naan was delivered about 10 minutes later. Amazing! Note, I order from them about once a month- they've never forgotten to pack something. Consistently great!! :) read more

Three of us ate here Jan 3rd 2016. We were seated immediately and the waiter was friendly. We had lamb (medium spice) and chicken with mushrooms (strongly spiced). We also shared Nan and Chai tea. The meal was very good and cost was about $15 a person. Easy on street parking. Recommended read more

This place was delicious! I was sorry to see it fairly empty on a Friday night but I guess the lunch buffet is really more their thing. The food was really flavorful, thoughtfully made and prepared. Sometimes Indian food is just kind of phoning it in. But these folks are good cooks. Nice place. read more

Ugh. Service was incredibly slow and I think our waiter was actually physically incapable of speech. Avoid the eggplant pakoras if you value your relationship with your esophagus. My dad's tandoori chicken was charred beyond recognition and my spinach daal was unremarkable at best. There was a ten minute gap between the delivery of our entrees and their accompanying starches. My rice never did arrive, despite several attempts to communicate that fact to our non-verbal waiter. The tamarind chutney, however, was fantastic, as was the naan. This place is an expensive gimmick. read more

Omg visiting from Seattle they were super tonight. We shared a delightful dinner with the family. Walking in you could ever so slightly smell the cardamom in the air. Our water had mint but not to strong, the food was fresh and made to order. From beginning to end this little bistro impressed me. The staff was accommodating and very nice to my baby and my family. read more

My experience with this restaurant has been mixed. I order from here pretty frequently and noticed their inconsistency in quality. Also sometimes the description on the menu does not match with the actual item. For example instead of stir fried mixed vegetables I got mixed vegetable curry with lots of gravy which was very different from my expectation. Another time, they missed adding some of the items I ordered. But on the good side, the food is pretty tasty here. I just wish they were a bit more careful with their delivery service. read more

We order from here all the time. Tonight, everything got messed up.... took us two hours to get our food but after they realized what had happened the owner personally delivered our food free of charge.. it meant a lot that they would go to all that trouble to make it right.... AND it was the same great food! read more

We had a late lunch here this aftenoon. Disappointing and OVER PRICED!! We ordered our standard dishes including appitizer pakoras. The plate that appeared was so tiny, it had barely enough for one person much less three people! The main dishes were mediocure. The true test of a good Indian restaurant is how fresh and warm the nan is, Clay Oven failed miserably! We advised the waiter that the nan was cold, his solution was to take it back and nuke it a bit. Ugh. The service was sparse, our waiter kept disappearing into the back, we were debating if he was a one man show. There are MUCH better Indian restaurants in the Bay Area, dont waste your money here. read more

NEVER eat here! This place is a disgrace to my heritage. I ordered some takeout tonight, specifically some tandoori chicken. I asked for another leg and thigh instead of the breast piece which normally comes with it and they were ok with that. When I get there it turns out they have screwed up my order, and prepared a tandoori mixed grill instead. And the guy told me that he had subbed in an extra leg/thigh like I had asked. I didn't want the extra stuff that comes with the mixed grill but I said hey whatever and took it. I get home and I find that there is extra chicken breast instead of the leg he had told me. And you know, I would have been ok with that had the food even been edible. The food was probably at least a day old, and they hadn't even bothered to take the courtesy to at least heat it all the way through. The lamb pieces were grizzled and tough, definitely not cooked recently. Basically everything was cold and dry. Normally you can tell about the quality of an indian restaurant from their tandoori dishes. This place was incredibly awful. The meat looked like it had been roasted in a convection oven rather than a tandoor. It wasn't spiced correctly at all, basically it seemed like they had added some red food coloring and decided to call it tandoori for the hapless white people who don't know any better. An even greater disgrace considering the name of the restaurant. Now I just hope I don't fall ill. read more

- 1 star for the sub par naan (maybe its just how it ends up because its delivered? but we've ordered indian food from other restaurants and the naan is never soggy and chewy as it is from clay oven. seems like other people who have reveiwed this spot say the naan in restaurant is delicious tho..) but we order delivery and we keep our fridge stocked with trader joes naan - WTF ITS SO GOOD anyway, the delivery service is always on time, and the butter chicken is droooooool the price is ok, two butter chicken dishes feeds my husband and me for at about 3-4 dinners lol - and it keeps well frozen :D read more

This is currently my favorite indian restaurant. I love the tandoori chicken and the chicken tikka masala. The food is very tasty. I highly recommend it. read more