After a three-year hiatus due to Covid, the beloved family-owned Star India Restaurant on Geary Boulevard has restarted its all-you-can-eat buffet. Fans of the eatery can once again load up on their favorites, like chicken tikka masala, saag paneer and bone-in lamb.
Restaurant owner, Sukh Kaur, says that the restaurant is reintroducing the buffet with lunch service from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and seeing if the popular buffet can take off again after being dormant for so many years. Rising food costs due to inflation delayed Kaur from reopening the buffet once Covid restrictions loosened, but eventually demand convinced her that the smorgasbord of Indian dishes needed to return. She said that the restaurant was getting 10 to 15 calls a day from customers asking if the buffet was back on.
“The amount of calls was crazy,” Kaur said. “A lot of people were like, ‘Please bring it back, please bring it back!”
Once chicken and lamb prices dropped, it was a go. But there have been some changes. While diners can still enjoy choosing from about 20 dishes, the buffet is now $21.95 versus $12.99 before the pandemic. (Yeah, inflation!) Despite the economically induced price hike, Redditors pointed out the meal is still a steal in pricy San Francisco.
“Still worth it imo,” wrote one commenter, “I used to eat there a few times a year and the foods [sic] great.”
“Even if it's gone up 3 or 4 bucks since then that's a damn good price,” wrote another.
During the pandemic, the restaurant relied on takeout and pick-up orders to survive and Kaur credits the community for coming through to keep the restaurant afloat. She’s hopeful that locals will embrace the buffet once again now that the word is out.
Star India Restaurant
Inner Richmond
📍 3721 Geary Blvd.
🔗 starindiasf.com