Himalayan Cafe

Freakin’ DELICIOUS!
I had NO IDEA what to expect. I was a little intimidated by the menu, but the waiter was VERY helpful!
We ate 5 or 6 items and everything was incredible!
Come and eat here!

I’ve dined at the original Himalayan in Pasadena a number of times, so wanted to try the one in San Dimas. I was disappointed.
The food (lunch buffet) just wasn’t that great. Everything was bland and had no kick or complexity of flavor. Just bland. The garlic naan was also very disappointing — just tasted like a microwaved pita — total lack of flavor.
There’s only one server working the whole floor, which led to long waits to get water refilled, to get your check, to have him pick up the payment, and then return the payment. A lunch buffet experience took almost 90 minutes and that’s with us serving ourselves and only eating 2 plates.

Food here is awesome. Music, and it’s low cost. Low cost high flavor for a foodie like me means I am here weekly. Unfortunately the people in the area do not have a ethnic pallet… they seem to be McDonalds or Burger King people that live I. This neighborhood.
One day Anthony Bourdain will visit and this place will become a staple… until then I will eat like a king while others eat salted down burgers. Lol

Very friendly service and excellent food. The grilled meat was excellent and the balance of spices was superb!

We came here for lunch. Buffet style. $ 10 buffet that includes lamb is pretty good. The thing is there was not much choice in food. I think total was about 10 items in variety including salad, fruit and curries. Also there was very little food in the pans… Definitely did not feel «buffet» style.

Great place. Cheap prices. Friendly staff. My only complaint is that samosas aren’t included in the buffet, and are quite pricey to order off the menu (compared to other buffets that include them).

Great selection of food for the all you can eat buffet. They have Tandoori Chicken, naan, chicken tikka masala, goat, among many other delicious Indian and Himalayan dishes. Our hot Chai tea was included with our meal which was an excellent value. Everything tasted great! The staff were all very friendly and polite. I will definitely be back. The Himalayan Café is a welcome addition to San Dimas!

Located along Bonita Ave, a few doors down from San Dimas Pet Groomer with plenty of street parking. There is also a small lot in the back as well. By the way, if you end up parking on Bonita Ave and enter from the restaurant entrance here, it is actually the back entrance of the restaurant.
Anyways, when we arrived (two Saturdays ago around 12:30 pm), we walked towards the front of the restaurant and were eventually greeted by a male server. It was kind of strange that in the front of the restaurant it was rather dark, but lit in the back of the entrance (from where we entered). Anyways, my husband and I didn’t know if we wanted to either try their lunch buffet ($ 9.99 per person, prior to tax: 11 am– 3 pm, 7 days a week) or to just order from their menu. We asked if we could take a look at the buffet, which the sever told us we could.
As I walked over to look, I thought it looked okay and so we decided to do the lunch buffet. With some of the choices, there were some of your standard fare that includes tandoori chicken and. chicken tikka masala. There were also some vegetarian dishes, a vegetable and cheese soup and white rice on the buffet line. There were plenty of choices, however I was not impressed with the taste of the items.
Now the bad thing about eating these type of lunch buffets is that often times these restaurants use these specials to serve old food. And that was the case of this buffet. Now I don’t think there is anything wrong with leftovers, but on this buffet line, some of the food was just dry (especially the white rice). The tandooi chicken was actually pretty good but I was not a fan of the chicken tikka masala. It was too Americanized and just didn’t quite have the flavors that I am used to.
Some of the other vegetarian dishes were good (sorry, but I did not catch the name of them), but nothing really stood out to me.
We were given 2 pieces of naan bread at our table. Not sure if we could have received refills or not because we never finished our 2 pieces.
I also ordered Vegetable Mo-​Mo, $ 9.99 prior to tax, which is a dumpling stuffed with vegetables and spices. This dish came with 10 pieces and a peanut flavored dipping sauce. The sauce was cold and just didn’t taste very appetizing to me. The dumping itself was made well and had great flavor.
My husband got a mango lassi, $ 3.99 prior to tax, which tasted pretty standard to other mango lassi drinks we have had in the pass.
— — — — — — — -
(Total= $ 37.02 after tax, prior to tip)
Service was just okay. Considering that there were only 2 other tables (both of which also did the lunch buffet), I felt that the service could have been a bit more attentive.
I think the price is just okay, but could be cheaper.
I think if I was to ever come back, I would probably just stick with the menu, as the food is cooked to order. How do I know this? Our vegetable Mo-​Mo took a real long time to come out after I ordered it (in which I only had one piece and took home the rest because my husband and I were already full).
Overall, this place is just okay. But I have definitely had better.

I decided to try this place since I live in the area and had an interesting experience. We went in the evening, and this restaurant was DARK. I could barely see my fiancé at the other side of the table. I ordered a potato and peas dish with some garlic naan and it was pretty good. Their mango milkshake is amazing and I recommend it if you can eat diary.

I really wanted to like this place more — there are slim pickings in terms of Indian and Himalayan food in the area. They do stay open late, which is a plus; the menu doesn’t have any pictures, which is a minus. I mean you know your classic chicken masala, curry and naan, but it would be great to see some other options.
We ordered a mixed plate of grilled meats and a side of rice to share. It is enough food for two people, that’s for sure. They give you 2 pieces of shrimp, two small pieces of lamb, 4 – 5 pieces of chicken white meat, and 2 pieces of chicken red meat. The meat was overcooked and dry, and also burnt in some places. The two shrimps were pretty much not edible. The only meat that was good, was the chicken red meat that had been marinated before. The complimentary crispy naan and mint chutney was a pleasant touch, but probably not enough to get me back…

The goal was to try something different.
Goal achieved!
The food here was delicious and spicy. Similar to Indian food… or is it Indian food?
Oh well if that’s what I ordered, I’d do it again.
Service for us tonight was incredibly slow and my only gripe.
Tonight we had :
Chicken mo mo– looked like a pot sticker but the happiness inside was like nothing I’ve had.
For entrees we had–
Mixed grill– spicy– amazing.
Chicken tikka masala… this sauce made me question if I was in church… a religious experience. I couldn’t get enough.
Goat curry– good– sorry I thought it tasted too cinimony…
Can’t wait to return

It’s just another Indian food buffets for lunch !!
The food choices for the buffet are so limited.
There is nothing really «Himalayan» about it… hahaha

Clean establishment with great food. Tried the buffet for $ 9.99 which was good, only complaint was lack of variety. 3 different types of chicken & cheese in same curry sauce, it was good but all tasted the same. No veggie sides at all to try which would of been nice. The regular menu is pretty pricey with most plates at $ 15 and up, out of my league :/
For a Buffett I prefer the Diamond Palace in Diamond Bar, great variety & price

Got Groupon deal and came for lunch. Place was pretty empty however food order took about 30 mins to serve, not a good idea for quick lunch. The portion is kind of small and overpriced. We ordered few dishes and all of them were pretty except Vegetable Pakaudas, which was over fried, very hard and dry. Garlic Naan and Lamb Korma were the best.
I may come back again to tried their $ 10 lunch buffet.

Just ordered delivery from here for the first time.
The food tasted okay. The chicken tikka masala sauce was VERY sweet.
The portions were small and it was overpriced. Spent almost $ 50 and got $ 20 worth of food. Such a rip off.
My advice: don’t order out /​delivery.
I won’t be ordering from here again.

I was craving Indian food so my wife and i had Father’s Day brunch here with our three small boys (2,4,&6). Arrived right at open. I dread eating out with the boys, but the staff was friendly and accommodating.
We had the buffet and the food was surprisingly good. The garlic nann was freshly made and a generous portion as provided. My favorites were the cauliflower fritters, chicken curry and Aloo Kauli (cauliflower and potatoes). My wife enjoyed the chicken tikka masala/​butter chicken and the paneer spinach. I’m usually not a big fan of paneer spinach in general, but i did like the way it was made here with large chunks of paneer. this is one of the better places in the area and we will be returning.
wanted to point out the parking situation. there is ample provided behind the building, reserved for restaurant use, that can be accessed via the alley around the back or through the portico entrance at the right side of the building. i see few reviews here mentioned lack of parking/​street parking and wanted to point that out. the other thing is that the main entrance is actually in back of the building. the street facing entrance is actually the back of the restaurant and is not staffed.

More often that I would like to admit, I order delivery/​takeout from businesses nearby my work. So naturally, when I saw a place that had Indian-​ish food for delivery, I was thrilled to add some variety to the pizza and asian food options I most often find.
The minimum for delivery was quite steep, but on that day I just had to have Indian food so I ordered $ 40 worth of food (don’t judge me!!!), with additional delivery fees. That wasn’t extremely difficult to do given the prices, but most Indian food tends to right a little high on the price scale anyways. The app I ordered through told me the wait time would be an hour or so, and is usually accurate or overestimating.
Nearly two hours later my food arrived. Or, at least, part of my order, since two of my 5 items were missing. Off to a bad start but it smelled delicious and I was ravenous with hunger. Expectations were low since I am half Indian and am not expecting extremely authentic Indian food. Low expectations, mixed with extreme hunger, usually make for a tasty meal. This, however, was the exception to that norm.
Perhaps if the food had arrived warm, and I didn’t already have a bitter taste in my mouth over missing items, I would have been moderately satisfied. But even then, the flavors seemed off to me. Who knows, maybe this place is really good if you dine-​in, and just not meant to do deliveries, but I don’t think I will be going in to this establishment to give it another chance.

Came into this place around 3pm so maybe it was an odd time to go? Who knows.
Anyway, I walk into this place pretty hungry, and excited to try some Himalayan food (because it’s pretty much unheard of in the city of San Dimas.) As I walk through the front door, the place is dark, and desolate with no one in sight.
I finally find a waiter, and another gentleman who’s sitting down and folding napkins in the dark. OK, it’s probably off hours. Understandable.
I ask to order to-​go (and having looked at the menu prior to driving to the actual restaurant I already knew what I wanted.) And so I order the chicken chili to go without asking for the menu and the waiter nods as if a successful communication between the two of us had taken place. He continues to shove a to-​go menu in my face and insists that I have a seat, and disappears into the back. Thinking my order had already been processed, I wait for a bit. The waiter comes back 10 minutes later and asks if I’m ready to order. «I thought I already ordered the Chicken Chili.» «Oh,» says the waiter, and finally goes through the motions of putting the chili into the system.
As I’m waiting, I see a bus boy rise out from a booth from what I can only assume was a nap. Right across from me. OK, off hours. Take your nap.
After 15 minutes or so, I can smell the chicken being cooked and I can see it being placed in a styrofoam container from where I’m sitting. After it’s placed in the container, I shit you not, the cook waves me down and says «Hey! Here.» And points to the container. The chef also asks if I would like any bread with my order. «Sure,» I say. «Then you should order it separately.» *BA DUM TSS.* Needless to say I declined the bread.
I ask for a bag. «Yes.» The waiter takes the box, and starts wrapping that shit in not one, but two layers of saran wrap. SARAN WRAP. Appalled and slightly confused, and still wondering why I let them finish, I’m persistent with the bag. They finally comply.
14 dollars for overly salty chicken, poor service, and lackluster manners. Definitely not coming back here.
God only knows what the delivery service is like.

First time trying Himalayan/​Nepalese food and the verdict: similar to Indian cuisine.
I really wanted to like this place because it was close to home and I’m always about helping out local businesses whenever I can, but the food is just OK and a little pricey.
Bhuteko Bhat $ 5.99 fried rice with Himalayan spices was good and something I would order again.
Himalayan mixed grilled plate $ 16.99 is something I won’t order again. Comes with lamb, chicken, and shrimp. Came out overcooked and overpriced.
Garlic naan $ 2.99 for two pieces. I would’ve liked more garlic.
Saag paneer $ 9.99 good. But I actually ordered the saag aloo (with potatoes) and got this instead.
Ordered takeout but I noticed the cleanliness and nice ambiance inside. Also noticed that they have a self serve bar for the condiments (yes!).

Like the sign says: Nepalese, Indian, and Tibetan cuisine. Beats the crap out of Manohar’s Delhi Palace’s AYCE lunch buffet. I only tried a couple of things and the flavors were milder and more savory to my liking…
The Chicken Tikka Masala had boneless cubes of breast meat chicken in a rich, buttery sauce. The Goat Curry was mild and not gamey at all, the meat was stewed til it was just ready to fall off the bone. They also provided a basket of naan that was warm and fresh. My glass of water was never half empty…
The buffet selection was small and limited to about 10 – 12 items but more than enough to satisfy for the $ 10 price. There were other items like the ubiquitous Tandoori chicken, a vegetarian khorma, and some cauliflower aloo gobi (I think), as well as a side salad bar with some cut watermelon and oranges…
The layout is a bit strange; sort of narrow and L-​shaped but I also noticed a separate dining room in the rear. The walls are painted a royal blue and there is a glare from the floor to ceiling glass windows at either end of the dining area. The air conditioning wasn’t working on the day of my visit so I was sweltering from the combination of the ambient temperature inside and the warmth of my dishes, but there was an AC repairman there while I was dining…
This place is a short drive from my house so I can see myself coming to fill my tikka masala cravings. I understand that they have another location in Pasadena as well…