Note: Not really writing a review about this place but think of it more like an FYI kinda thing... So ignore the Starts. Cool? Here we go... First of all this is not a restaurant or anything like that!!! I think this is like a by-product of some cooking class or experiment in UCSD where students sell the food under a big canopy once a week. The food tastes Awesome (don't get me wrong), but it's really not a "restaurant" kind of food. Of course the meal is very cheap, but there is only 2/3 dishes with rice and dessert and that's all. But the biggest problem you will face is to find the location. After you park your car (which is also very hard to find... remember, this is a campus area), you will be all lost and browsing for this place unless you are with some one who already knows where it is (I'm not kidding!!!) I also have doubt about the hygienic part of their food (both preparation and serving). I mean, I don't think they really have any certificates from the food inspectors or something (but again, I could be wrong). It's cheap food and tastes awesome. But careful about your expectation about this place!!! Thanks. read more

Wow! What $9 will get you. My favorite include their eggplant (baingan), as its usually more savory than the paler dishes. Not too salty nor too oily like some of the more traditional Indian dishes, as it doesn't sit well with me most of the time, despite it being delicious. Overall, it's a great little gem that as a vegan, I couldn't be happier about. This place has saved a lot of students (including myself) from cooking, read more

Ah Wednesday's and Krishna on the rooftop. Damn this is good food, my friends introduced this tasty goodness to me about a year ago and I have never been able to thank them enough. I have no idea what the particular dishes are called, all I know is that it's delicious. As a close minded carnivore I was a little hesitant to put the orange and yellow glop on my plate, now those Roberto's-esque colored mounds of food are my favorite. Ray O. & Joanne are correct when they say that the dessert is awesome. I would feel to guilty going back for seconds and I never really have a need; I can stack the food on my weak paper-plate with the best of them. Also, I never leave feeling too full or hungry, Zen indeed. read more

Yummy! I've never been here, and was told I was missing out, so I tried it today. I was a little afraid of the mountains of food, but everything tasted fresh and hot. I'm not usually excited about vegetarian food, but this made me not even notice that it was missing meat. The potato dish was incredible and rich. The black eyed pea curry thing was also good and filling. The dessert that was made with cream of wheat, sugar, spices, and blueberries was freaking amazing. Like I wanted an entire extra plate of it even though I was stuffed. They let you take basically as much food as you want for 4.50, so its definitely a good idea even if you're poor like me. Note: if you have a sensitive stomach to spicy indian-ish food, don't eat this before you do something important. My stomach was a little angry at me, but it certainly won't stop me from trying it again...and that says something for how tasty it was. read more

When I went to UCSD, I always looked forward to Hare Krishna. I loved that the food options are vegetarian even though I am not. The food is really good and they tend to rotate what they serve week to week so the food does not become rountine and boring. I love that it is self-serve so you can scoop as much of what you want and still be able to try a little of something else you haven't had before. My favorite was always the berry cream of wheat dessert that they have. One plate from here would usually last me two meals.. I call that a win! read more

Great food ! Great people . Their spinach dal was so yummy .deserts was so good and total value for money .

This is authentic homemade Indian food. Lots of veggies and lentils, light curry (not the greasy stuff you find in restaurants), and a decent dessert. For all those wondering what the dessert is, it's called sooji/rava halwa. The basic ingredient is semolina (the one used for making couscous). Indian semolina is made from wheat, but this could be from maize. They put pineapple and cherry chunks in it too :) The drink tasted like some kind of fruity Jaljeera, lightly sweet and sour. This is a no pretense place, focusing on just providing students with low cost healthy good alternative food. I enjoyed whatever was on my plate: a dal, a veggie curry, cilantro rice, halwa and the drink. I'm not sure if they accept cards. But the ATM is in the same quad, so it's not a problem. read more

Pros: - if you are a starving and broke college student or just broke person then come here on Wednesdays 11-3 at the old student center in ucsd. -5$ for a plate that you can pile with their dishes. - they usually have a creamy curry, rice, and a veggie side dish. Then some wheat of cream desert and a refreshing juice. -curry and veggie dishes always filling and just so yummy. Their food isn't too salty and is always vegetarian. -I love that its only five bucks for a good amount of food (not cafeteria food tasting) and their dishes are always delicious. Cons: -none Overall: Broke? Hungry? This place is all you can pile on plate for five dollars. Vegetarian dishes but they are very filling and homey good tasting curry and veggie dishes with rice. Desert is a must too. read more

$5 for Satvic Indian Vegetarian Lunch This is food for the soul. Delicious food with rice, 2 curries, desert, and drink. The best value in town. I wish they were serving everyday. I am not a student but this food makes me go there again and again. No Indian restaurant can match this. read more

Definitely the Wednesday tradition. Most of the courses are pretty good. Every once in a while they have some misses - beware of the white yougurty sauce. It's definitely the dessert that jeeps me coming back for more - even if it is just fancy cream of wheat. read more

WOOHOO! As good as it gets! $4 for a fulllllllllll stomach full of YUMMY HEALTHY FOOOOOD! I love the sweet bread/rice pudding they serve. Maybe I'll fill my entire plate with this next week. And the juice/tea! A unique blend of flavors and spices and not too sweet! I walk away feeling very full but not bad for stuffing my face because it's really all vegetables. or beans. read more

Best THING EVER! Warning: Food coma will occur 15 minutes after you eat a whole plate of Hare Krishna food. I've never had a bad experience out of the five/six times I ate here. No meat Mondays should taste more like Hare Krishna Wednesdays! I pile my plate high and usually share with another person because you will KO'ed in 15 minutes or less if you eat a whole plate to yourself. I loooooove the dessert they always have. Whatever they have, I eat. End of story. Delicious. read more

Hare Krishna - Mmm Indian wednesday - Indian Near Me - San Diego, California

Every Wednesday, from 12-2PM, on the roof of the old Student Center (near Grove Caffe, near the Food Co-op, near Hi-Thai, etc), they serve all-you-can-pile-on-a-plate Indian food for only $4. Rice, curries, vegetables, beans, squash, tea, and dessert. The line can be long but it goes by relatively quickly and is definitely worth it. Oh, and if you bring your own bowl/tupperware, you can scoop out even more food. But please pay extra if you do, because otherwise...that's just tasteless. Pun intended. read more

There are only 2 good things about Hare Krishna: 1) You get a lot of food for your money. 2) It's vegetarian. Other than that, it is meh. The Food Co-op has much better food (the Food Co-op is that store that the Hare Krishna stand is set up in front of - they are NOT the same food/people/store - Hare Krishna just happens to set up in front of them). As a plus, Food Co-op food is mostly vegan (non-vegans don't be put off - I highly recommend that you give it a shot - you might not even notice that it is "missing" meat, and I am saying this as an omnivore). read more

Exactly my style -- quantity for a cheap price.

It pains me to give Hare Krishna a 2-star rating, having so many friends who live by it, but knowing there's better Indian fare to be had in the city, I must give my honest opinion. Spinach Paneer: incredibly bland, even for my light palate. Loaded with potatoes. Other dish: a ton of legumes and pieces of yellow squash (questionable...) in this red tomatoey curry. I've never had an Indian dish with squash, but understanding the fact that Indian cuisine is characteristically seasonal, I wasn't that surprised. Rice: mediocre. Contained undercooked peanuts. Hmm. Dessert: couscous-like texture, sweet. Best offering. I usually enjoy spontaneity when it comes to food, but I just couldn't shake off the feeling that the weekly offerings are made with wholesale produce for that particular week, which means a general lack of freshness. The main dishes are also loaded with starch; great if you're looking for a filling meal. Overall impression: good value for mediocre, starch-laden food. Better than other campus offerings as you can stretch $6 worth of food into 4+ meals. read more

It might not be everyone's favorite type of food and the dishes may seem foreign to some people, but try it at least once! Some people hesitate when I tell them that the dishes are vegetarian, but the veggies are super yummy in the curry and pasta, although I can't always tell exactly what I'm eating... They have a different menu each wednesday consisting of rice, two dishes, rice dessert, and a drink. The dessert took me a few times to get used to.. I didn't like it at first but now it's the first thing I eat on my plate! =] $4.50 for a plate and you can get as much as you want. Trust me if you know how to stack your plate you can get 2-3 meals out of it each time! read more

$4 never gets you so much food and a small juice, which varies week to week. Sometimes delicious, sometimes just okay, but will always fill you up. You will most certainly see your Philosophy TA's and professor, anyone with dreads, every UCSD vegetarian and most hippy Muir college students (myself included). I would give five stars, but lately I've been losing my taste for this vegetarian/vegan delight. The carb load I get from these meals is a bit overwhelming, and you'll usually find me in a coma on the "grassy knoll" after I devour a huge plate. read more

I love this place. Don't go here expecting a fancy Indian food buffet, but it is similar to Indian food, the price is about the best you can get on campus, and it tastes pretty good. Too bad it's only on Wednesday. read more

Yikes! It looks like I'm going to have to go against the grain of predominantly generous reviews. 2 stars from this UCSDer. As you probably know, Hare Krishna serves its all-vegetarian-and-sometimes-vegan meals every Wednesday at lunchtime on the patio of the Old Student Center. $4 for as much food as you can fit onto a plate. Sounds like a good deal? On a monetary basis, sure it is. But there's a serious problem: the food is NOT actually something that I want to eat. When I was here last time, Hare Krishna was serving its usual array of mushy and pasty things. There was one dish that looked like couscous. It looked tasty, but good lord -- it was loaded with sugar. It was lip-smackingly sweet. It wasn't at all what I was expecting, and the surprise wasn't a pleasant one either. Next up: a spinach dish. This concoction looked vaguely like saag paneer, but didn't taste like saag paneer. Instead, it was completely bland. It sure felt rich, given the way it sank to the pit of my stomach, but it didn't taste like anything. Finally, to wash all this down, I had a glass of fruit punch. Somehow they even screwed this up -- again, it was loaded up with obscene amounts of sugar. It tasted like molasses thinned out with Kool-Aid. I thought vegetarian food was supposed to be healthy. Hare Krishna is going to give me adult-onset diabetes if I can ever manage to learn to actually like the food that they serve (or, alternatively, I guess I could always force-feed it to myself if my blood sugar falls too low). Once again, I get hungry and UCSD fails me. No fair. read more

One of my favorite things to eat on Wednesdays on campus. The best part? You never know what they're serving until you're piling it onto your plate. There's no set menu, but everything is delish. The prices are ridiculously good too. All you can eat for like...$7! And a HUGE plate full is only $4. You can even bring your own tupperware and bring things home with you. They NEVER complain about how muchyou take. I've seen people take BUCKETS worth of food home. The guy working there is quiet and not very communicative, but who cares! The food is great! The yellow curries are the best. Also, the dessert is absolutely delicious. It's my favorite! Wednesdays ~11a-3pm at the old student center on top of high thai. Enjoy! read more

Best food around. Well the lemongrass BBQ is pretty decent too actually. I never really liked the drinks they gave out here but the food was generally interesting and pretty tasty. I would easily recommend this as a place to check out on campus. A cheap and easy alternative to the shit show going on at the price center. read more

Good value. Bring your own container and get even more bang for your buck. Never feel like doing work after packing myself with lots of Hare Krishna, but that might not be the food. read more

Super tasty vegan food, for super cheap! What more could a girl ask for? I usually go for the $4.50, stack your plate deal, but when I bring my own tuperware (they don't care about how big it is), I can feed myself for the entire day for $8. The curries they have are good and the occasional pasta sides they have are alright. The highlight of my meal is always the dessert, which is some kind of vegan/rice thing. I'm not sure what it is, but it's some kind of amazing with raisins, peaches, or strawberries in it (depending on the season). Fun fact: Hare Krishna is also here during summer school and it's way less crowded then! read more

Great Deal! You can pay $4 for a huge plate of food, $5 for all you can eat, or $6 to eat a meal, and take a box to go! This weekly event changes up their dishes every week. Definitely better than any other deal you can find on campus. read more

3.50, good for you (vegetarian), good for your soul (if you swing that way), next time, bring your own fork and plate n' make it good for the environment. Seriously, bring your own fork, cause theirs suck so bad, you will be cursing into your next life. I ain't going to tell you when or where, cause the line is long enough. read more

first timer today, and i'm not quite sure why there are such amazing reviews. yes, the food is perfectly decent (i got a yellow broccoli curry and a red chickpea/zucchini/carrot curry) but the food isn't AMAZING. yellow broccoli curry: very mild taste, broccoli a little overcooked? wilty. good for people that like their curries bland. red chickpea/zucchini/carrot curry: i read today that chickpeas are 15g protein per cup and it made me happy that there are so many chickpeas in this curry. sliiiiiiightly spicy but the taste is also a little bland. could use more spices~ at least it will keep me full? rice: too much water. no taste in particular although there's something sprinkles in with it (some kind of herb, i assume) cream of wheat dessert: so to me this is the worst part LOL. why was everyone so excited about it ?! this is a overly sweet, cooked in syrupy sugar cream of wheat concoction with purple ribbons of a fruit sauce all throughout. it kinda tastes vaguely cinnamon-y ...like a pie or dough or something like that. i took one bite and was so confused as to why everyone likes this. took another bite for the review and threw the rest away. perhaps next time i'll bring my own spices (sriracha makes everything better!) and try again. for now i do recommend it for the price, especially if you're a big eater. load up on the super protein chickpeas!!! read more

My friend decided to take me to this place, mainly because it is all you can eat, and he knows how I feel about all you can eat. He told me that it was fairly cheap, 6 dollars for all you can eat, but that it had a limited selection. That was fine with me as long as the food they had us try was good, and indeed the day I went, it was.\ 5 dollars for a plate, 6 dollars for all you can eat, and they have a take out option to fill your own Tupperware for 8 bucks? That sends good news around the world. This is vegetarian friendly, which is going to fit a lot more niches than it use to nowadays. And even if you aren't a vegetarian, I think you would still enjoy the food. They put protein rich vegetables in their dishes, so you don't have to worry about being protein deficient, since that's everyone's biggest fear. If you are a big eater, you will at least be going through two plates, which will be a good deal since one plate is already 5 dollars. I know I enjoy the rice of course and everything else they have to offer. The drinks that you get along with your plate will vary from week to week and it could be a hit or miss depending on the person and the week, but more than likely, it will be good. Although this place only pops up once a week, it's worth a go. Prepared to bring your stomach! read more

DYamn shizz be ballin. I think it seems like variations on a similar theme everytime. Some great rice with something saucy to put on top. Some other kind of meat or veggie dish on the side. And then the sweet desert. All are amazingly good, and you can wash it down with some delicious red drink. I really don't know wtf I'm eating as you can tell... but its pretty damn delicious. Come on a Wednesday and bring tupperware that's 1 L big. haha. For 4 bucks its a deal... I think for a buck or two more you get seconds, but just bring a large tupperware and its chill for onesies. But don't fill it too much cuz the suckers with the paper plates will eye fuck you while you're nonstop scooping. Plus you feel bad... its almost like you're stealing the food from these starved vegan hippies who eat here. JAYKAY. read more

I ate this food at a food and career fair at SDSU. It was served by a grungy man , however to my surprise, the food quality was better than expected. I would eat it again. I would not, however recommend talking to the tassle headed men who are behind the movement unless you are prepared for and want to be indoctrinated. read more

Affordable, homely and simple food in campus for just $5! Wednesday's 12-2pm, all you can eat! Usually has rice, 2-3 veggies- one cream based, one with beans, some days a dry veggie too with rice and refreshing drink! read more

After reading others reviews for Hare Krishna I had very high hopes, but unfortunately these were not met. I am an avid lover of all kinds of Indian food, including having an Indian Roomate who's mother constantly brings home cooked meals and when I heard there was a cheap delicious Indian buffet I ran to the opportunity. Not only that, but I invited an enormous amount of people garuanteeing them happiness. Needless to say, I've learned my lesson. At arriving there was a man walking in circles who hardly noticed us. After reading others reviews I brought my own Tupperware and everything, but after filling it with the sort of canned vegetable and tomatoes sauce mixture I realized that I had wasted my time. The only thing I can mildly agree with is that the dessert was decent enough, but the hours old food was not doing it for me. Out of friends and I, none of us finished any of our food and ended up just getting somosas from the food co-op. I definitely recommend someone looking for Indian food at UCSD just make the trip off campus, because they definitely won't find anything good here. read more

Definitely an unbeatable deal; some of the dishes will taste better than others but the dessert portion is always incredibly delicious. I also dig the Hare Krishna cats that serve it up, and I am tickled by the option of buying "All-U-Care-2-Eat" (as in, Perhaps all you CAN eat is not necessarily a wise choice, karma-wise?) read more

This food is cheap, cheap, cheap. Definitely a plus for a cash-strapped college student. The food here is vegetarian. You are allowed large scoops of food for a measly $4 or $5, and you can even bring your own tupperware. The food isn't particularly good, but for such a low price and large portions, it is definitely worth it. The dishes tend to be bland, but the dessert is usually very sweet. Typical fare includes: -rice -beans -something without beans in it (mixed veggie "stew") -dessert (I think it is cream of wheat with sugar and bits of fruit; this is usually the best part). All in all, Hare Krishna is a good deal. Lots of food for a low price. read more

My favorite weekly tradition! Bring a large enough Tupperware and you can eat for three meals!

SO GOOD! This is literally the best lunch you can get at UCSD (and possibly the SD area) for $4. First of all, it's all you can eat. Second, it's down right delicious. I always pile it sky high on my plate. I don't know the names of the different dishes, so I just call them based on their color. The red one is pretty good (one with garbanzo beans), the yellow one is alright, but the green one is my favorite (one with broccoli and potatoes). They alternate between different dishes every week, but I've never seen that pasta one people are talking about. There's also a dessert, which is good, but I'd rather not waste space for it on my plate. I'd rather get more rice and more of those delicious curry type dishes. They also give you this great pink colored tea to wash down the food. If you're feeling greedy, bring a tupperware (they allow any size, my friend brought a tub once) and pay $6. It sucks that it's only on Wednesdays, but they have it throughout the year -- even in the summer. The line can get long, but it moves fast. I think this is probably also the best vegetarian option on campus for students. So get their early, grab the best food you'll find on campus, and take a seat on the grassy hill. People can dock stars off for the "lack of service," but come on. It's a tent in the Old Student Center on the rooftop and it's an all you can pile on your plate buffet styled lunch. Do you really expect or even want there to be service? read more

This was some of the greatest Indian food I've tried in San Diego. For $4.50 you get a heaping plate of food (self-served). Everything was flavored really well and the dessert was delicious! It also comes with a side of some kind of tea as a beverage, also very yummy. Would've given five stars if there were more than two stew/curry options. read more

To be honest, I actually think the food from here is pretty good/decent. It is well worth the price. It also beats any other foodplace on campus (I guess when you're sick of everything else). That pink (dessert?) food thing is pretty delish :) read more

I love Naan, and will totally over-indulge if it's exceptional, this is the place. I tend to bring a friend so that I will exercise at least a modicum of self restraint. The service, the aromas, the colors all take me to my happy place. I greet the host as if we are long lost friends, this place, these people are the cheapest therapy going. I sit with my meal and can actually be present. My needs are few, but they are needs and I always feel pampered here, and of course, the Naan ! read more

I come here as often as I can. $5 for a self-serve plate is an amazing deal for students especially since it's I believe to be locally made. All the food tastes super fresh and different every week. You'll never know what they're going to serve each week but its always good! Usually there will be some rice dish and a curry-esque type of dish to go with the rice. And for dessert, some type of mush, which sounds awful, but that's the only way to accurately describe what it looks like. In reality, its like a fruity and creamy fluff that is super yummy. One time it was peaches, but another time it was mango. This is usually my favorite-part of the meal! I know it's hard to imagine fruit flavored mash tasting good, but it's the bomb! Additionally, the sweet tea that they serve is super addictive. I can go through 3 cups in one meal! read more