Tandoori Oven – 5/5
After spending the weekend away, doing lots of wonderful, non-academic things, I arrived back at school on Sunday after brunch had already closed. I was about to head to CoHo for one of their killer paninis, when I remembered that a) it was Sunday, and hence time to check out another new restaurant, and b) I had a really tempting coupon for Tandoori Oven, so off I went to California Avenue for my last supper lunch before the reality of finals set in.
Food — 3/5
The tandoori paneer salad (romaine with cucumbers, tomatoes, walnuts, cranberries, the house vinaigrette and light, delicious, traditional Indian paneer cheese) was fresh and pleasant but a little dull. At least it didn’t have the creativity and flavor I usually expect from Indian restaurants. The chicken tikka masala wrap, on the other hand, was great – it’s easy to understand why it’s advertised on the Specials board as their “best wrap yet.” The curry is fun and balanced, and the naan is fluffy and fresh. And pretty healthy to boot! As the menu advertises: “All Fresh! Never Frozen! No Trans Fat! No MSG!” (Clearly, this is very exciting. You should be excited.)
Service — 4/5
Acceptable, but nothing special. A cute guy behind the counter takes your order, and a nice server promptly delivers it to your table. On the plus side, they have a very fast turnaround!
Price — 5/5
This is where the restaurant earns its top marks. For regular Joe Sixpack, appetizers are around $6 and entrees are around $10. If you happen to have a Stanford ID, however, everything changes. The Stanford discount totally blew my mind: just show the cashier your ID and pay $5 for any ala-carte curry or wrap, OR buy one, and get one for $2 (this applies to everything on the menu). My friend and I had a good meal for $14 between the two of us. These people know their audience.
Location and Setting — 5/5
Lovely! Bright, beautiful murals on the walls; high level of cleanliness; indoor and outdoor seating; right next to Starbucks and across the street from Culture Frozen Yogurt on California Ave.
Good for… lunch or dinner with a group. Paying at the counter will help you avoid the awkward check-splitting process at the end of the meal, order turnaround is super-fast, the menu is extensive enough to appeal to pretty much everyone, it’s in walking/biking distance of campus, and the student discount is fantastic. This one comes highly recommended.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Stanford chapter.