Charminar Indian Restaurant & Catering in San Diego

Courteous and dressed sharp upon entering. Sat us promptly, food came out in a timely manner (without all the excess oil and such of other restaurants), and it was pretty darn tasty 😋 👌! Price point was perfect to portions and overall an excellent hour in life. Thank you 🙏

I visited this restaurant based on positive reviews. The ambiance and service were commendable. However, the food didnt meet my expectations. We ordered chicken boti kabab, goat sukha, goat biryani, garlic naan, and mango lassi. The boti kabab was tasty but had a small portion size and was slightly salty. The goat sukha resembled more of a goat curry, which was disappointing. Despite my anticipation, the biryani fell short of my expectations, although the meat within was well-cooked.

Amazing food and experience. One of the best Indian foods I have had in SoCal. In many restaurants I have noticed some food being good and others not that good, but here everything was amazing. We had Samosa, Goat Dum Biryani, Chilli chicken, Chicken Chettinad, Roti l, Naan, Gulab Jamun and Mango Lassi. In some of the restaurants, chef keeps changing and hence they are unable to maintain their standards, but I hope Charminar is not one of those. Next time we go to SD, charminar is going to be our dining spot for sure.

I had a wonderful dining experience at this restaurant. The ambience was great, creating a pleasant atmosphere. The service was very attentive and efficient, making our meal enjoyable. The Chicken Kodi Vepudu was exceptionally delicious, bursting with flavor. However, the Bejawada Biryani was a bit too saucy and spicy for my taste, causing some discomfort. Nonetheless, the Chicken Dum Biryani was outstanding, delivering an authentic biryani taste. Overall, it was a very good experience, and I would recommend it.

I stopped in for a solo dinner after work and was blown away by the food. I was one of the only dine-in customers, but takeout orders were abundantly flying out of the kitchen. I ordered the paneer butter masala (which is inherently mild but I requested medium spice), chili garlic naan and the jeera rice. The naan was just perfect. The butter masala was rich, savory and loaded with paneer. It could have been spicier, but I’ll order it hot next time and see if I regret that life choice. The jeera rice was very flavorful and aromatic. Rice doesn’t come with the dish which is a bit inconvenient, but it’s worth the $6.99. The portions were healthy. The servers were friendly and attentive. I will be back to try more of their offerings.

The taste didnt live up to expectations. The new upgraded version, Charminar, promises authentic Indian food, but the wait time is quite excessive. The restaurant has undergone a pleasant interior upgrade that brings a touch of India 🇮🇳. As for the food, we ordered the dragon chicken starter, but the chicken pieces were disappointingly tough and seemed deep-fried instead of stir-fried as listed on the menu. The dragon chicken lacked sufficient cashews and didnt really capture its essence. Then came the disappointment of the chili baby corn: overly oily and excessively roasted, resulting in a bitter taste. The baby corn was chopped into hard, oily pieces that didnt resemble the expected tender texture. As a gesture of goodwill, they offered pan laddu. The Hyderabad dum biriyani was passable, lacking excessive spices or gravy. On the whole, the prices seemed reasonable considering the portion size.

Wow! Chicken 65 was really tasty for an appetizer.A glass of mango 🥭 lassi refreshed me!Also, butter chicken and chicken dum biryani tasted good.What I didnt like was a glass of lukewarm water in a summer season.

My friend recommended this place and we went there for dinner. We had a small wait time being Saturday night. Coming to the food, we ordered veg Manchurian balls for appetizers and lamb biryani and panner biryani for entree. The Manchurian balls were too good and loved it . However, biryani did not meet our expectations. Initially when served, the biryani was cold. We had to send it back complaining the coldness of the rice and they served us a hotter one immediately. I am not sure if the biryani was freshly made on the day or just heated up from the previous night. Overall, the ambience and service was excellent, but food did not meet all our expectations. Might give an another try soon and see if it meets my expectations.

If you want authentic Indian Cuisine, here it is. I know because all but 3 tables in the place were filled with happy Indians! We were happy as well. We ordered Butter Naan, Kadai Goat, and Dum Ka Chicken. Delicious. The hit was the kadai goat. Plenty of meat in the dishes and the sauce in the kauai was killer.

I really enjoyed the food here. Lots of great options for vegetarians and non vegetarians. Apollo Fish and Baby Manchurian were great. Dum Biryani veg and chicken were also delicious. The mouth watering Ras Malai comes with 4 pieces and it melts in your mouth. Even though the place was pretty busy somehow we were able to get a table in time. The service was great and food was quick. While waiting we browsed through the menu and ordered as soon as the table was assigned to us. I would highly recommend this place for anyone who is interested in good food, I wish I had known about this restaurant earlier. I was visiting San Diego for a quick trip so couldnt try any other items. Overall, it was a great experience, will return for sure on my next trip to San Diego.