Temptations

I wish yelp existed or I knew about it back a few years ago when I tried this place but I can see why it got such terrible reviews since my experience was much the same.

First, for the amount of food they give you this place is VERY pricey for an Indian restaurant because most Indian places at least feed you a little more. Their foods are extremely salty and doesn't contain much flavor except for salt. Even the butter chicken which is supposed to taste delicious tasted more like a bucket of salt with some chicken and one spoonful of butter masked in between it all. Their naan is pretty hard and too crispy for my liking as it should be soft for dipping and eating, and their water is strictly tap to the point where it tastes so bad I wonder if they use a filter even ...

When I came here this place was very empty and there wasn't much here in terms of people or populous; and I came at 7 pm which is prime time for dinner. The waiting staff was nice and friendly but the food was just terrible. I would not consider this place for dinner, ever.

Temptations is one of only two "Indo-Chinese" restaurants in the Bay Area, as far as I can tell (the other being Red Hot Chili Pepper in San Carlos). Indo-Chinese food is not a hybrid food, as many people assume, but rather its own distinct cuisine, developed by Hakka Chinese immigrants in eastern India in the early 1900s.

With that said, Temptations is a decent place, but not a great one, because the food is not that creative, the portions are small, and the ambiance is not ideal for dates or even a quiet meal. Let's start with the food:

-the veg. manchurian (~$10) (arguably the archetypal Indo-Chinese dish) was good. It was smoky, savory and well-done, with a medley of cabbage, onions and bell peppers. The portion size was small, though, so it felt like a rip-off.

-the chili paneer (which I didn't eat, as I'm vegan) was literally identical to the veg. manchurian. Same sauce, same vegetables. The only difference was paneer instead of manchurian veggie balls.

-the yellow dal tadka ($10) was part of the traditional Indian side of the menu, and was okay, but needed more garlic, cilantro and tomatoes.

Temptations does fall short in a number of areas:

-the service, while friendly, was extremely slow, even though we were the only customers in the restaurant for at least 30 minutes

-the menu is really small and not inventive or interesting (as seen above, many dishes are identical to one another, save for one ingredient). Where's the tofu? Where's the seitan and tempeh and mockmeats for vegans? How about soy milk for chai?

-they don't offer brown rice, which is a travesty in this day and age.

-the portions are too small.

-the ambiance isn't good, with lots of families coming in. Don't come here on a date as kids will inevitably be screaming next to you. Don't come here if you want a quiet evening out.

-the restaurant shows signs of decay. Water from the ceiling was dripping on my sister-in-law at the first table we sat at. And anywhere you sit you'll see scuff marks all over the walls, chipped and missing paint on the walls, etc. The place looks shabby.

All that said, the food here is passable, and superior to Red Hot Chili Pepper in San Carlos. If you're looking for good Indo-Chinese food in the Bay Area, this is the best you'll find, but it's not great by a long shot. Red Hot Chili Pepper has much better ambiance, but the food is only mediocre.

Indochinese cuisine is an adapted version of hakka cooking with a fusion mix of satisfying the Indian taste buds with spice. Its really hard to find a good Indochinese restaurant only some restaurants like Inchins' Bamboo Garden franchise takes the cake.

I have been to this place couple of times and i can honestly say, this place doesnt really fit the bill of Indochinese. Most of the items are either outright bland or have too much soy/vinegar. I tried veg manchuria(which was undoubtedly bad not so dry) and other schezwan items here.

I love their friendly service but the price you pay for (this) food is also simply ridiculous.

There was a time when I wanted to come here on weekly basis but now have decided not to come here ever. I love indo chinese food and when i found out about temptations, i was so happy!!

Now, the quality of food has gone so down. service is still good but food served looks leftover from previous day and doesn't taste good.

A big NO to temptations.

Wow the reviews are definitely polarized for this place. Sounds like lunch and dinner are literally "night and day"! Luckily I had dinner which seems to coincide with the better reviews.

I haven't the faintest clue on what the Indian/Chinese fusion cooking authenticity is so I really have no reference. In fact my friends and I all went for Indian dishes so my review is going to reflect that accordingly.

The space is minimalist but modern and the use of large mirrors in the back give it a spacious feel. The servers are all dressed very modern-formal and there's a sleek bar that occupies the left side of the restaurant. The clientele seemed to be all over the map and I'm guessing the draw of a new restaurant on Castro has brought everyone out of the woods.

Four of us started with the Paneer Pakora, Mini Veggie Samosas, and Aloo Tikki. I just realized these are all fried items and they were well fried. Not greasy with a crispness all around. Good sizes and not so filling that it affected our meal. When then went with one dish each in addition to a basket of their assorted breads (Butter Nan, Tandoori Roti, Onion Kulcha):

Goat Curry
Vegetable Biryani
Butter Chicken
Lamb Handi Pasinda

At first I wanted one of their two lamb kebab selections but they were out. Everything we had was quite flavorful but not very spicy. I think as Indian food goes this was better than many places I've had. However the Chinese side of things didn't really appeal to us and if you're just going for Indian food, there's a number of better places to choose from. Still solid no doubt. The service was a bit up and down and I thin k because they are so new they don't have their flow going yet. It's worth to see if they firm up/change the menu and I'll probably return in a few months to see where they've headed.

Great concept (Chinese & Indian fusion) but terrible execution.

Should've known better when we walked in for lunch today at 12 and the place was almost empty.

For the appetizer, we shared the chicken 65 - the only decent dish.

For my entree, I ordered the chicken tikka masala ($14.50 lunch portion). It came with rice and tasted more like tomato sauce than masala I also had garlic naan ($3) which came out too soft and lacked in flavor.

My coworkers had the chow mein and another chicken dish. The food was not fresh, overly salty and we actually had to send the chow mein back.

The decor and wait staff were nice but not enough to make up for the lack of good food. Sufficed to say, I will NOT be coming back.

Had an early dinner here on Saturday night with my sister and Dad. We were drawn to it by the whole Indian-Chinese Fusion thing. We ended up ordering all Indian food!

+1 star - super fast service (probably because it was so early).
+.5 star - Manager stopped by to have a chat with us to ensure everything was fine. My dad entertained him with his stories about his trips to India.
+1 star - great food - unique flavors. We ordered the samosas, curry chicken tava, chicken tikka masala, palak paneer. I would definitely recommend getting the samosas and chicken tikka masala.
+.5 star - The wine we wanted was out ... but the bottle we ordered instead was enjoyed by all. Even my little sister who is a brat.
+1 star - Neat decor, different and not what I'd hang on my walls, but inspired nonetheless.

I should have read the recent reviews before going. One of the worst indo chinese restaurants.Even the cheapest road side food stall in India will make good Indochinese food compared to this.

This place used to be very good a long time back but not now. Its time the owner gets a good chef.

We ordered 3 dishes and pretty much everything tastes similar. even the chicken looks similar in shape and texture. (Diced chicken, ginger chicken and chilli chicken and rest of varieties usually have different shape and the sauce taste different)

I went to this restaurant after some recommendations from a couple of friends. I was unfortunately extremely disappointed. Every single dish I ordered was close to a disaster. The ambiance is also not great. This is my rating based on the dishes we ordered -
Chicken Sweet corn soup-1/5
Chicken lollipops-4/5
chicken manchurian w/ gravy-2/5
chicken fried rice-3/5
naan-3.5/5
palak paneer-3.5/5

Stop the hate, yo! You have to know what to order here to enjoy it... So know this:

You can finally get Indian-British curry stateside; get the butter chicken or tikka masala and you won't be disappointed.

Attracted by their snob-mod interior, two friends and I came in for lunch and ordered three dishes family style: butter chicken, lamb biryani, and hot garlic chicken. The food was very slow to arrive, but the butter chicken was straight out of London: rich, sweet, and creamy - even better than the nearly-Anglo similar offerings at posh Amber India and iconic Darbar. The biryani was decent but the hot garlic chicken had too much hot and not enough garlic. Granted, it isn't really fusion, and you have to like your curry Brit style... but if that's you, this is your place.

UPDATE: I've been back twice for the Anglo style curry. Here's the deal: the tikka masala, butter chicken, and naan are the winners but I can't find anything else that is! I've now tried the "Seafood curry" (with sea bass and prawns) and some cheese thing and some other stuff and nothing matches the butter/tikka masala chicken dishes. fellow yelpers, please recommend something for me!

UPDATE2: Finally found a second great dish, but I can't remember the name! It was one of the lamb ones and the waiter recommended it highly. He was right on.