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View Full Version : The Namaste' Cafe experience and review...



nurturetruth
04-01-2008, 02:53 PM
So last night, "lifequest" and I went for a nice journey to the coast.

Went to a trial head called "Pinnacle Gulch" which was fabulous! Spring was beautiful and evident, hawks were soaring in the sky, saw 2 large crabs, found beautiful shells and played with building rock structures.

Afterwards, we decided to finally hit the new Indian restaurant, Namaste' Cafe in Petaluma, as lifequest is very familiar with my passion for Indian Food. (I eat 80% live raw food. the other 20% is indian food! :thumbsup:)
We also had a coupon for "Buy one entree, get one free" coupon to appreciate and put to good use.

The Namaste' Cafe is located at 1390 N. Mcdowell Blvd and is nested amongst the shopping center in a cute little small space that sits about 7 tables.

When we got there at around 5:45pm , it was fairly busy. A good sign for a week night, as it indicated to me that it was a well liked place!

We got situated to look at the one page (front and back) menu. I was surprised to see that drinks were not listed on the menu. Even a little more surprised that the kind server took our drink order without ever noticing we did not have water. We decided to see how long it would take for someone to notice. Finally, my dear "lifequest" had to just politely ask for his water . Lifequest mentioned to me that his water even tasted a bit like chlorine! Suppose it was the petaluma tap water like most restaurants in that area serve. Would really be GREAT if Namate' invested in a water filter! Luckily, I had brought my own...WHEW!

And in my opinion , the food was a bit bland in comparison to other places I have been and enjoyed. Disappointingly, the Raita was not near as good as I am accustomed to, nor was the naan. And there were only 2 selections of naan on the menu. I have also had better mango lassi's in my days. And I found myself longing for brown rice to be added to the menu as an option/alternative.

I will say this restaurant is no where in comparison to my favorite local thus far, the sebastopol Himalayan and Tandoori Restaurant ! ( which uses organic salad greens, and is very tasty with attentive service)

The Samosos I ordered at Namaste' were good though... and the mango chutney recipe was yummy wonderful !

and ...the MOST interesting and FUN part of our night at Namaste' Cafe was when I went up to the host /owner to ask a question. I offered him a bow/nod with my head and then a "namaste' bow".

He grinned real big. He asked me, "Are you from Sebastopol?"

I replied with a " yeah..do i dress like one? how can you tell?"

He grinned again and said.." you do the namaste' bow and nod your head. no one does that except people from Sebastopol !"

:):

By the By... IF you are EVER in FAIRFAX... they have a new really awesome ALL ORGANIC Indian Restaurant called .. "Cafe Lotus".
Their menu is available from their online website for download.
Even their meats are organic and hormone free and they have eco-organic brown rice! :thumbsup:
By far the BEST of the BEST tasting Indian Food. And they have pesto Naan which is highly addictive!

lifequest
04-01-2008, 07:17 PM
There was a recent review of Namaste' Cafe in the Press Democrat but I prefered NurtureTruth's... not just because I was able to enjoy her company for dinner but her writing style and imagery is a joy to read.

I don't have much to add as a result except for a fascinating Indian beer called Flying Horse Royal Lager. They were out of Taj Mahal but this was a huge bottle - more like 2 regular bottles. Perfect with Indian food - I ordered the Jogan Rosh (lamb cubes in tomato sauce and spices). There was an attached flyer saying the bottle was certified by the Chairman of the brewery. Then it recommended that I sit back and drink deeply. Yes I did but didn't quite finish it all... but it was a kick in the ole jodhpur's.

The place is new and I expect there will be improvements over time. Prices were reasonable too. It's close to Cisco and the other telecom companies along Old redwood Highway so the lunch hour is going to be busy.

Dark Shadows
04-01-2008, 11:32 PM
Speaking of good restaurants in Petaluma, I recently tried Lily Kai on Lakeville and it was really good for a slightly upscale Chinese restaurant. We had duck salad $9.50 (muscovy duck with yummy maple-flavored sauce atop baby greens and topped with pine nuts) and spicy basil lamb $9.50 (with very fresh crunchy snow peas and red peppers). The wine list even had my favorite La Crema Chardonnay $8/glass. Dinner for 2 plus drinks and tip was $48. I was hoping that the duck and lamb were local because these animals are raised in the Petaluma area, so that I was doing my part to reduce dependence on petro. If there was a list of locally produced meats, dairy and veggies, so we knew what to buy, that would really help-if anyone knows of a site where I can find this, please let me know.