Godavari

I’ve been meaning to write a review… But I guess it closed before I got the chance.
The food was okay here and the service was okay. The only reason why I liked this place was the PAPADUM!

Godavari is now closed, but the place is under new management and has opened as «Shezan». The same people work there and the food is more or less the same. Lunch buffet price has been upped by a dollar to $ 9.95.

Three of us went to lunch here after softball practice on a Saturday (4÷3÷10) evening, since a friend recommended it, and it was close. There were only 2 other tables occupied when we arrived. Not a good sign at first. Appetizers of Lamp Samosas arrived quite quickly, and they were good! Then our meals arrived:
— Non-​Veg Thali (basically a combination of all their best stuff)
— Chicken Tikka Masala
— Paneer Chicken Tikka Masala
All were awesome!!! The only thing lacking was the service. We had to keep asking for water refills. And it took a while for the meals to arrive. But I would definitely go back for the food!

The food is excellent here. I’ve been going to this restaurant since 1996 (when it was originally named Sue’s Kitchen by the owner Sue).
Her family took it over after her passing, and continued with a new name Godavari. Same cooks, same recipes.
The current owners have sold the restaurant, and it will not continue as it is now. It will be a different owner and different recipes, etc.
I think the current owners will be out sometime this month, so make sure and frequent as often as possible and let the gentleman at the front (current owner) know how much you have appreciated his family’s cuisine over the years.
This restaurant will be missed.

I completely agree with Brooke R. below about the drinks adding up!!!
My husband and I casually strolled there Friday night, and somehow, we ordered a meal worth of Mango Lassi’s! haha~ just 3… but yeah. we were really into Mango lassi’s that night~ but think about it.4×3=$ 12=a great lunch!
I loved their garlic naan bread. The food was great~ the service was awesome, even though I thought the food took a long time to get to us considering there were only 2 other tables occupied at the time we ordered.
I enjoyed my meal, but I would have to give it 3 stars because I did not enjoy the musty smell when I walked in. It kind of spoils my appetite, and I feel hesitant about going back there. Maybe I could order out? I really want to go back again, but I’ll have to overcome my fear of that musty smell~

The best part about this restaurant is that they have two buttons on the toilets.
I used to always come to Sue’s Kitchen. I had no idea that Godavari was Sue’s Kitchen. Same menu, new owner is the sister of Sue.
A la carte is about $ 12, full dinner is about $ 16. With a full dinner you get the entrée, a bowl of rice, two dipping sauces, and a full order of regular naan bread. It is a lot of food.
Their naan bread is fantabulous. Puffy, small areas of brown, perfect. I can’t name a more perfect place for naan. They have about five different varieties. I’ve only had the garlic and the regular. The garlic naan has little bits of whole garlic in between the two layers of bread. It’s good but very garlicky, order with caution.
The tandoori is yellow. It’s very good, but don’t be surprised that it’s not the traditional red. I leave the spiciness up to the chef, and I’ve never had anything from here turn out to be spicy.
Be careful, because nonalcoholic drinks are $ 4, alcoholic $ 7, sides $ 4, entrees $ 16, it all adds up fast and suddenly your casual restaurant has turned into a more expensive experience.

I hadn’t eaten here since Silicon Valley’s heyday, when it was called Sue’s Indian Kitchen and had a hugely popular lunch buffet. I went there last week on a Thurs night for dinner. We had the only table between 6:00 — 7:00 PM, and once we were served, it was obvious why the restaurant was so empty. The food was way below mediocre. Don’t go there unless you like leaving hungry.
I ordered the chicken tikka masala special, which came with carrot salad, a green bean dish, and blackeyed pea dal. The green beans were a dark brown and were so salty I couldn’t even eat them. The carrot salad was tasteless. And dal with blackeyed peas is just a way for a chef to save money. My friend got a side dish of lentil dal that was the size of a tartar sauce container. The naan was warmed over.

An unassuming Indian restaurant with unique, unpretentious décor.
Ambiance:
This place doesn’t try to be super stereotypically Indian with the décor like some places in downtown. Instead the walls are lined with some interesting paintings, some better than others I just wish the rest of it was a little warmer and more open feeling… not that you really care about that. :P
Service:
Hit or miss it seems. Some days the kitchen is slower than others, but the waitstaff are spot on. It’s usually pretty empty (no idea why, maybe because I usually go out to eat on Monday & Tuesday?), so that helps too.
Food:
Samosas — good, not dripping grease, which was nice
Naan — awesome and fluffy with little burnt bits like it’s been cooked perfectly
Chicken tikka masala — I’m no expert, but it tasted decent. Honestly not a whole lot different from the chicken curry I got though.
Chicken curry — tasty, but not terribly memorable
Palak Paneer — (spinach and paneer cheese) looks terrible but tastes great
Bengan Bharta — (grilled eggplant with stuff) my favorite thusfar, absolutely delicious
Bhindi Masala — (okra) nicely spiced, somewhat drycooked
I definitely recommend the okra, eggplant, spinach and naan.
In the future I plan to try their lamb dishes and some of the South Indian dishes. Given that it’s right in downtown, this is actually likely to happen!
They also have a full bar it seems? Just in case you ever were curious, apparently you can get a margarita with your Indian food… that might not be so bad, actually. Hm.

A friend from out of town stopped by and said he wanted to go out to «Indian Food» and definitely someplace that offers «chicken tikka masala». I was stumped because I usually cook at home and have only been out to veggie restaurants.
We called around to see what was nearby and ended up coming here. Our server was Ravi and he was great. He was fast, attentive, and had a great smile. The owner (Sue’s brother) was also there and checked in on us a couple of times.
The food was, well, ok. We tried the corriander chicken and chicken tikka masala. The tikka masala was great but that’s about it. They have plenty of portions and lots to try and definitely budget friendly.
My fave part of the visit was to look at the awesome paintings on the wall by Sue. :)

My favourite local Indian food restaurant.
The service is really average, but it’s not a fancy-​schmancy place by any means, so perfunctory is fine with me. I’ve been coming here since 2001 and I’ve never ordered a bad dish. (I think I’ve only done the lunch buffet once, though, so I can’t really speak to that.) Faves are the aloo gobi and chicken khorma. The «meal» option (as opposed to a la carte) includes naan, rice, dal, and raita for just a few dollars more. A great option that more Indian places should have. Sure Godavari isn’t as nice inside as Shiva’s down the street, but the food is way better for a better price. It does get a little humid and stuffy inside, though, which is unfortunate.

I have to admit I have walked past this restaurants many times and haven’t gone in, but my gf has raved about it so she and I checked it out. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The service was amazing, the owner personally came and checked in on us more than two times that evening, and the waitstaff was very attentive.
I ordered the tandoori chicken and my friend ordered the chicken tikka masala, both of which were tasty and good. I will definitely come back here to try the south indian dishes.

Great place for mixed Southern and Northern Indian. Served Buffet style during lunch, your not going to find a better deal at $ 7.99.
I prefer other Indian Places on Castro for dinner, but the taste /​value ratio is through the roof on this place.
Still, I cannot get over all of «Sue’s» silly art they have in the place, kinda strange.

Great value. We ordered two $ 9 full meals (lamb dosa & mushroom something), and ended up with 8 sauces and 5 starches, for a total of 40 flavor combinations!
The service is not the most attentive, though, so be ready to flag down your waiter.

It took almost 45 minutes from the time we ordered (tali dinners veg/​non-​veg) to get our food. We also ordered soup to start because I was starving. After 30 minutes, I asked the front desk guy when the food would arrive. So he brought out the soup about 2 minutes later. I asked again about the food at 40 minutes, and our food arrived five minutes later. I wonder how long it would’ve taken if he hadn’t asked. We also had to ask for each water refill.
The food itself was pretty good. The chicken and lamb dishes were great, the spinach was good too. The dal was terrible though, bland and dishwater-​y. The raita was tasty. We ate well and left full. But the entire experience took much longer than it should have.
Summary: good food, lousy service.

This review is for the lunch buffet only.
Godavari is one of those places that’s been invisible to me, even though it’s apparently been here for awhile (under various names). Once it showed up on my radar, however, it didn’t take me long to stop in. I have now been here twice for lunch, and though the price is right, the food quality just doesn’t stand up enough for me to make it a regular place. There are just too many better options around.
The buffet is small and the selection is not that interesting. I tried aloo gobi (meh), dal (avg), veg biryani (decent), chicken vindaloo (boring), bengan barta (avg), Shrimp curry (too fishy), tandoori chicken (dried out), aloo matar (decent). No real standouts here, apart from the excellent naan delivered to the table. But naan does not a lunch make.
On my second visit they had most of the same items, except for shrimp vindaloo (yuck), chickpeas w/​potatoes (ok), and chicken curry (yawn). Dessert offerings were poor. The galub jamun was by far the absolute worst I have ever had, being totally dry inside. At least the «carrot barfi» was OK and didn’t want to make me barfi.
On the positive side: Service was good and extremely unobtrusive. Also, the price is one of the lowest out there — only $ 7.95, which comes out to about $ 8.60 with tax. That’s almost enough save it from a negative review, but I can’t picture myself coming here for the lunch buffet again at any price. And I certainly can’t recommend it to others.

Came here for lunch, but didn’t have the buffet. I did look at what they offered in the buffet and it looked pretty good.
Ordered the Potato Fritters (Aloo something) for an appetizer, Chicken Tikka Masala, Tandoori Chicken, and Lamb Something-​that-​sounded-​like-​Pasadena. Food was very slow to come out, even though we were the only ones in there not eating the buffet, so nay for that. That said, the food was very good and very plentiful. We got full dinners for all the dishes and were up to our necks in different sauces and stuff. The naan was nice and fluffy, just like I like it. The curry came in little metal bowls, and at first I thought I had been ripped off. Turns out a little curry goes a long way, and I had enough to pack up togo. A lot of people ordered this yellow smoothie drink (perhaps mango lassi?) so I assume that’s pretty good too.
Ambiance was pretty good. There were lots of paintings on the wall by Sue.
The total came out to be $ 61 for five people. Yes, we only ordered 3 main dishes, but that was more than enough.

We were looking for somewhere new to try on Castro and stumbled across this place. I have no idea why we had never noticed it before but we hadn’t so we decided to give it a try.
When we got there at about 6:30, the restaurant was empty so we were a little skeptical, but we had already stepped in the door so didn’t want to back out. By the time we left however the restaurant had filled up. We decided to share an order of fish masala and an order of samosas. This was the perfect amount of food for the two of us especially since they give you complimentary papadums and sides of rice and naan.
We went safe during our first trip, but will definitely branch out the next time we go to Godavari.

Arguably the best Indian food I’ve ever had. I’ve only been there a few times so haven’t had nearly enough time to try too many things on the menu, but what I’ve had (& picked off my dinner companion’s plate) has all been fantastic.
Most highly recommended dishes include the lamb curry and chicken tikki masala. They also do a couple of sampler platters so that you can try a bit of all their most popular dishes.
Other pros include great naan, plenty of veggie options for non-​meat-​eaters, Kingfisher beer (great with Indian food), and I –love– the lentil soup that comes with most of the dinners. They’ve also had some of the most friendly staff I’ve encountered every time I’ve been.

Until now, It had been a long time since I ate at Godavari. Actually, I had NEVER eaten here. Why? Because it used to be Sue’s, and Sue’s was weird and good.
Godavari has pretty much the same format: a buffet for lunch and menu-​only for dinner. Sadly, Sue’s strange and hypnotizing paintings no longer adorn the wall.
Nonetheless, Godavari is pretty darn good. Garlic Nan was fantastic, and in addition to the usual veggie dishes, I ordered a chicken Korma for the table. Most of the time, I just get vegetarian food at Indian restaurants, but my lovely dinner companion had never really eaten Indian food before, so i obliged her and got a meat dish. Dang, that thing was good! We ordered way too much food and took much of it to go (note: if you are ordering a’la carte, and especially when you order some specific Nan to go with it, do not order a dinner. It’s too much food!)
Smack dab in the middle of Castro St. you can’t go wrong.

Came here for the first time today. Food was very good, friendly and attentive service.