Diya

I love when food makes you want to sing at the top of your lungs. Looking for a comforting and warm dinner, I stopped by Diya for some butter chicken.The food was superb and I enjoyed our garlic naan. We ordered goat curry and butter chicken - both were well portioned and enough for dinner + a midnight snack after. I really enjoyed how tomato-y the butter chicken was. The service was friendly and attentive. I believe it was the owner? who was helping us out and he graciously explained the menu and made sure we wanted exactly what we ordered since people mix the dishes up sometimes. We also went at a quieter time so we ended up talking about the music videos playing on the tv with him hahaha.

One of the best Indian food in sf for me. I always got the take out from them. The restaurant is very open and spacious. And I always see the one guy there that I assume he also the owner. I've been there many times now and he also recognize me after a few visits. I've never dined in but I can tell the service from him would be great.The usual that I always order were rice biryani. The texture of the rice and flavor is really great and you can tell how spicy you want it to be, I ordered chicken to come with in also and it really juicy and tender. Fresh garlic nan is really nice and warm that go with the curry lamb or vindaloo lamb. The lamb here has no funky smells which I hate , just tender and lamb flavor is perfect. The spicyness of these 2 dishes could be really spicy if you let them know. I like the curry more because it got more sourness from the tomatoes but the vindaloo also great!The last couple times, he even gave me some dessert on the house to go home with. What a nice gesture from him.I've tried some of the Indian food restaurant in the city but this place just got my heart to it.

Got a thali with chicken from Diya! Large portions and came with a choice of meat along with rice, salad, and daal. Also great vibes for a social lunch or dinner and friendly service!

Portion size was good for the price and the food was tasty! Tons of vegetarian options. Not too many people on a Friday night, but overall we enjoyed it.Service was quick and for being on market street the noise levels were fairly quiet. Best to take public transit as there is little parking but you are just a block or 2 from the Powell Station.

I've quite confused by this restaurant.Chili paneer: $11.99 + tax for this amount is absurd. The sauce of it tastes good but the paneer wasn't pan fried or anything at all before being combined with the veggies. Daal Makhani: Spiced well but too watery so the lentils sink to the bottom. Some of the ingredients were also questionable. Daal isn't supposed to have green onion in it.

I think Diya opened right before Covid hit and thankfully they were able to stay open. So right off the bat, they have an extensive menu that includes fried rice and chowmein which was totally unexpected and something I may want to try at a future visit but for this time I want going to try some more standard dishes. chicken tikki masala - the balance between cream and tomato sauce is a true test for this dish and Dayi nailed it. saag paneer - which they don't have on the menu but is called something else but is amazing just the same. little spice. little cream. tons of spinach. winner.chilli cheese naan and garlic naan - order both. you'll thank me later. light. crisp. soaks up sauce wonderfully. it's a must.rice - it's rice. helps absorb the flavors. I get that you already got the naan to carb you up but come on. you gotta get some rice.I'm a fan and will be lunching here often.More menu reviews to follow.

This is my second time getting Diya for lunch through my workplace lunch system called Forkable. I ordered the Paneer Tikka Masala and a side of garlic naan ($15.98)The tikka masala is slightly different than other spots because it is cooked with onions and bell peppers! They really bring out all the flavors and the curry is so tasty!! The garlic naan was also good! But not as garlicky as I would like it to be (but that's just me bc I love garlic). It also tasted more flour based. Portion size wise, the first time I got it, I had only 3 pieces of Paneer (cubes the size of a quarter). I was disappointed but I didn't like it deter me because of how much I enjoyed the curry flavor. I'm glad I ordered again because the second time around there was a lot of paneer and veggies! I would recommend Diya and would try some of their other curries next time!

I just need to temper these great reviews with a realistic one.Located in the old Farmer Brown location - they have stripped the dining room of every single bit of charm it use to have. They pretty bar is gone and that section of the bar floor along the nice wall of windows has mismatched flooring to the rest of the room. The room just seems empty with generic tables and chairs widely spaced apart due to COVID. There are posters on the wall for decoration. (The decor was actually kinda sad, I bet with a $800 investment at Home Goods they could do infinitely better.)There were 3 of us. We ordered a few things: the momos, the fried artichokes, the butter chicken, a mushroom and spinach thing, some rice and some bread.Everything was fine, it just wasn't great or special. What I hoped would be the star, the butter chicken was too sweet and not enough meat (and it was shredded rather than those nice tandoori chunks). Service was fine, not great or super attentive. Who knew you paid at the register (we didn't until we asked)?The bathrooms could be cleaner/nicer.

OMG, what great food! Admittedly, my daughter and I only scratched the surface of the menu with a few dishes, but this is way better than the usual Indian food I get in the Lamorinda area. Was in the neighborhood for a show, so went early (6:00ish) and there was nobody else in the large, spartan restaurant space. My daughter had the lamb biryani and I had the lamb hariyali, which is way better than the lamb saag I'm used to. We also had garlic naan on the side, another winner. Large portions and generous amounts of meat in the two dishes of deliciousness. She had a mango lassi and I had one of the interesting Nepalese beers to round out the meal. Yes, the neighborhood is seedy, but not unsafe, so don't be deterred. The only bummer was not being able to bring the leftovers into the theater, so we had to give them away. Diya is a solid spot for a pre-theater meal (or takeout) if you like Nepalese/Indian food. I will be back. Highly recommended!

Me and some friends got our dinner there before heading to the Warfield. So much tasty food for such a reasonable price! I'd love to name my favorite dish, but, to be honest, they all rocked. I'll go back, again and again..