Punjab Palace - Crazy Good Indian Food Lunch Buffet in Riverside CA - Rating 9 out of 10

When you first walk in the door at Punjab Palace you are instantly engulfed in the fiery aromas of another world. The smells of India sucker punch you right in the nose with a wild flying haymaker that is almost disorienting at first but you quickly adapt and grow to love it.

Nan Garlic Bread,  Saag Paneer (Spinach + Cheese), Yellow Curry, Lamb Curry, Vegetable Curry, Rice (sooo goood!), and two baby vegetable fritters scrap.

It has a Discount Carpet Warehouse feel

The front of the restaurant looks like the entrance to a ghetto indoor swap meet or some sort of carpet warehouse where all carpets must go go go! But actually, when you get inside it really does look like a palace. The dining area is quite large and the seating quite comfortable. It's never full and the service is prompt.

Towards the back of the restaurant you have a small buffet that is split into two sections: one with all their wonderful signature Indian dishes, and another with a horrible prison salad bar with piles of that hard white center of the lettuce, ladles of ranch, and off colored jello. Skip that part.

So colorful it should be marching in a parade

The first item I was excited to try was the Mulligatawny soup because I had never had it before and I keep seeing re-runs of the Seinfeld episode with The Soup Nazi where Kramer makes Elaine order it for him while watches her armoire.

I have to say it is pretty damn good. It has a slight kick and the spices are perfect. It makes my mouth water thinking about it.

The next thing I got was the Tandoori Chicken which I wasn't too fond of. It was a bit dry and I didn't care for the flavor.

Next on the list was the deep fried Vegetable Samosas which I didn't really like either because they were super oily and bready.

But it's ok. the Saag Paneer made up for everything. Saag Paneer is a spinach dish mixed with Indian cheese. It is amazing especially with the garlic nan. It's creamy, it's cheesy, it's just soooo gooooood.

The pile of nuclear orange mess is actually vegetable curry which is my absolute favorite out of all the curry they serve. It is just so flavorful and the vegetables just meld into a tasty spicy mush and when you scoop it up with rice, it just ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I want it now!

My 3rd plate, I'm going to pay for it in the morning.

Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was too busy shoveling pure goodness into my mouth but here's a couple of items I should talk about:

Lamb Curry - I didn't like this at first because I tried so hard to scoop up some lamb from the tray but someone had already harvested it and all that was left in the mixture were hard boiled eggs. I went back later and was able to get some lamb and it was really good.

Yellow Curry - This was my least favorite of the curry. It was quite sour and odd tasting. But that's just me.

Some sort of Carrot Pile - There was another radioactive orange colored dish in the corner that I didn't try till I was absolutely stuffed but it was pretty good. It had a light carrot flavor coated in a mass amount of sugar.

Cheese Ball - There's also this thing called a Cheese Ball which doesn't taste like the way you'd think it'd taste. Think of a flan like texture in syrup. I grew to like it.

On our way home from the restaurant our tire exploded, probably because we ate so much that my car could not handle the mass we accumulated.

Category	Score	Comment
Taste:	9	I loved what I loved
Presentation:	7	Buffet is kind of weird looking but food is good
Value	9	All you can eat lunch for about $10
Satisfaction:	9	I love this place
Rating:9 out of 10

I have to say that this is the one place I've been craving on a consistent basis. It's a little farther away than I'd like but it is well worth the drive. If your'e in the Riverside CA area and in the mood to try something different. You should definitely check this place out.

Punjab Palace

10359 Magnolia Ave, 

Riverside, CA 92505

(951) 351-8968

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