Had lunch here while we were in the area and we were so pleasantly surprised. Got the chicken thali and egg kothu paratha. Unlike other places where the thali is quantity over quality, this was definitely quality over quantity. Each and every item was delicious, the chicken curry was fantastic. I also loved the podi and beetroot. The kothu paratha was pretty good as well They also have some kids items which was very convenient. look fwd to going back read more

Fremont is saturated with good Indian restaurants. So it's hard to choose a place for lunch sometimes! (First world problems.) But a good South Indian one is a little rare and we're very happy to land on Zaitoon! Easy parking in the plaza lot. Just drive around a bit. Place is clean and modern. Order and pay up front at the counter with the nice and helpful guy. Had to use QR code and Apple Pay cos the payment machine was being fixed but no big deal. Ordered the Malabar fish thali, Chennai fish curry, Ceylon Veechu Parotta and extra rasam to wash it down. The sauces were amazing and the portions were huge especially the thali! Gonna have to come back soon to try more of the dishes! read more

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Went for dinner tonight with my dad after watching Vaa Vaathiyar movie. Ordered tawa fish fry, mutton soup , pallipalayam chicken gravy and Madurai parotta (2 pieces). Tawa Fish Fry (4/5) - finely cooked , spices blend well with fish and it was fresh. I thought it was vanjaram but it's some ghee fish it seems. Mutton Soup (5/5) - unexpectedly too delicious, I had sore throat and running nose. While having this soup, my nose block cleared. Freshly made with lots of spices and good portion of mutton rib meat Pallipalayam Chicken Gravy (3.5/5) - too spicy, and also very oily. Couldn't complete the dish and did To Go. Less oil would have been better, but they mentioned it would be too spicy. Madurai Parotta - flaky and fresh. Really impressed and it's not frozen. They make from scratch and serve fresh. Delicious Service was top notch and ambiance was decent and clean. Overall satisfying experience and will highly recommend this place read more

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Tried this place after the movies and was not impressed. The chicken starter was dry and had barely any meat, ambur korma wasn't great in taste and went well with parotta. Biryani - a lot better options are available in Fremont area. Service and staff seemed that of a new location, sitting space isn't that much and lacks organized dining and experience. read more

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Initially visited this place seeing the Instagram ad for the largest thali in the Bay Area. The thali is good. Essentially they have two servings of each of the non-veg entrees. That makes it two thalis combined into one. During Ramadan, they also have two special dishes on the menu: 1. Chicken white kurma 2. Nonbu kanji (a vegetarian porridge made of rice and lentil). The salna that came with it was decent. Our first outing, the restaurant did not have much of a crowd, but this evening was packed and the staff was patiently working through all the orders even if they took a bit of a time to arrive. The place is clean and the person at the counter was very friendly. read more

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Tried this place for South Indian food--everything was good, but nothing truly stood out as exceptional. Dishes were flavorful and fresh, service was efficient, and the place was clean. Solid option if you're in the area, but not something I'd go out of my way for. read more

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Husband is from Chennai and he was super excited when he found out that the famous Chennai restaurant Zaithoon is opening here in Fremont nearby our house. We later got to know that they only used the name and has no affiliation to the OG restaurant. Such a let down. Ceylon veechu egg paratha (1/5): hubs used to like it a lot back home. However here it's bland, comparatively smaller sized average tasting paratha with single egg omelet on top. It literally reminded me of frozen parathas that we find in Indian store cooked with egg on top. To our surprise the dish is not even hot. Marriage style Nikah biryani (1/5): the OG Muslim biryani is made with basmati rice. Here it's made with small grain rice. Bland, flavourless, cold, lacking any taste or spice to it. Wouldn't recommend this dish either. The only item that we both enjoyed are the simple salna and Chennai style raita they served with the dishes. Sulemani tea (3/5) I did not have it. Hubby said it tasted ok and not authentic. At least it's warm and comforting The place is small and narrow. Food is way overpriced and not worth it. For 2 dishes the total is close to $40. Disappointed. read more

Zaitoon Restaurant - Mutton Biryani nikha style - Indian Near Me - Fremont, California

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I have been here twice now! Tried the mutton thali and the fish thali, both are amazing! The service was quick too and ambience is decent. May look like a small place. I would rate their Thalis, 5/5 but the filter coffee I tried was a bit bitter. read more

Zaitoon Restaurant - Mutton thali - Indian Near Me - Fremont, California

Excellent nombu kanji and mutton biriyani. Will go again. Very few South Indian Muslim cuisine places around, and they are one of them. Also customer service was excellent. Maybe they have improved? read more

As someone from Tamil Nadu, I find Zaitoon's food remarkably close to home. The biryani tastes just like it does in Chennai, and the nool parotta with Pallipalayam chicken transported me straight back to Coimbatore. I've been searching for a place that serves authentic Tamil comfort food in Fremont area, and I finally found it. The gobi 65 and chicken 65 were also delicious and hit all the right notes. The gravies lean on the spicier side -- exactly how they should be -- and I hope they continue to maintain the same quality and taste without compromise. read more

We went on weekday afternoon; it was just us, tried their Chicken Thali & Mutton Biryani. Thali was very disappointing, a lot of rice and teeny-tiny sized sides. What do you eat the rice with? I asked the server the same question; he offered to give a side of Sambar. We used the biryani salna to eat some of our thali rice, as all vegetarian sides were below average. Chicken Curry alone, while watery, was flavorful. Biryani was mild yet tasty, meat was a bit chewy though. While I understand the intention to make it an all exclusive SOUTH INDIAN NON-VEG restaurant to appeal the non vegetarian crowd, but then you have to make the Thali exciting enough with enough non vegetarian sides in it; also, vegetarian dishes has a lot of scope for improvement. Overall, 3/5. read more

The staff was friendly and the food tastes great. Nice to have a South Indian non-veg place in Fremont as most South Indian spots here are usually veg only. The Malabar parrota with pepper chicken curry gravy was delicious. My wife enjoyed the Chicken Dosa. The restaurant itself was small but clean. read more

New restaurant in town. My husband and I decided to try it on Saturday of the long weekend. It was crowded but found a place to sit. The food is from Channai area. We ordered the chicken thali and chicken chukka varuval. I would have given the place a 4 star because the wait time for the food was too long. But, I'm giving 5 stars because the chicken curry and chicken chukka were so delicious and well cooked. It was the softest, juiciest chicken. The sambhar was okay. The rasam was to die for. Even the plain rice was cooked well. We will take friends next time. They said their biryani is good but we didn't try it yet. read more

Zaitoon Restaurant - Chicken Thali - Indian Near Me - Fremont, California

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Zaitoon offers halal, non-veg South Indian food in a simple, casual, counter-service setting, but the flavors here were truly on point. We started with the Madurai Parotta, two flaky, crispy layered flatbreads, served with salna (curry sauce) and raita (sliced onions in yogurt) on the side. But the truly impressive dish to come for was the Zaitoon Special Family Thali, a gigantic round metal platter with two servings each of rice, chappathi, papad, yogurt, rasam (a spicy pepper soup), spiced potatoes, dal (creamy lentils), and a sweet semolina pudding. The thali also came with Chicken 65 (fried chunks of spicy chicken), chicken curry, mutton curry, and fish curry, each of which was distinct in flavor. My favorite was the fish curry, which had a distinctly sour flavor and tangy spice. Each of the curries came with bone-in chunks of meat and had a tantalizingly spicy flavor, which went nicely with the plain rice and chappathis. Overall, the food at this strip mall restaurant was delicious and came at a great value too! read more

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The chicken biryani and veechu parotta were really delicious. It felt like enjoying food straight from our hometown after a long time. Very authentic taste. read more

Tried their Chennai biriyani and mutton chukka varuval. Loved the biriyani though would have preferred if it was hot (temperature wise). It was just warm. Mutton chukka varuval was a dry item. It was ok. read more

Authentic Madurai style simmakal Kari dosa, veg Kothu parrota, Salna and Raita. Sambar tastes good. Nostalgic! None of the restaurants in Fremont bring in the authentic Tamil flavors like Zaitoon. The quantity is more than enough for one person. Amazing food! read more

The quality of chicken is bad as we tried in the weekend so it's loosing it's credibility I don't recommend this esp for chicken pallipalayam chicken was so bad read more

Taking one star away for fooling customers with Zaitoon name. I had huge expectations and drove 40 mins to eat here. One more star away for the overall avg food. Parotta was authentic, Saalna was ok, Biryani was authentic in taste but rice was like meals rice(they overcooked it), Mutton Kulambu was also ok, Jigarthanda was also ok. Friendly staff but they were not open to feedback/improvement. They just wanted to hear good feedback. Overall average experience. Please fix the Saalna(it only has coconut flavor excessively), fix Biryani rice texture, get the taste right in mutton chukka and gravy. Good luck. read more

We ordered Mutton Thali and Chicken Thali. Both were filling and of good quantity. Chicken curry was bland but mutton was quite tasty. Both thalis came with rasam, sambar, papad, roti, yogurt, sweet, and aloo fry. I will try appetizers the nexttime. Ordered them as delivery so haven't been to the restaurant. read more

Zaitoon Restaurant - Mutton Thali and Chicken Thali - Indian Near Me - Fremont, California

Opening day is always tough so I'll allow the partial menu. Can sort of understand the 50min wait until 2 of our dishes came onto our table. But definitely didn't like that the fork given to us was dirty. Madurai Parotta Salna (2pcs) - curry sides were tasty and hot. Parottas was room temp. Gobi 65 - soft, flavorful. Have had better. Mutton Varuval Kolambu (gravy) - very watery. Meat was ok; in the middle in terms of tenderness. read more

Thought of trying a local restaurant They took the order but didnt inform they ran out of mutton at 8:30pm on a friday Came to us later asking for fix All mutton items they ran out If you run a business need to learn about provisioning They gave plates spoon water glass to all tables excepts ours They delivered food to orders who came 15 mins after us Up your game if you want to survive here Too much competition in bay area read more

Great food .. excellent service. We went as a big group and they accommodated with ease . Loved the chicken biryani , chicken 65 , gobi 65 and parotta . Tea was perfect to end the meal with !! A must try ! read more

Amazing taste and perfect quantity so many sides top notch Bakrid Briyani combo was too good read more

I ordered the chicken thali, and overall, the food was mediocre at best. The flavors were underwhelming, and the pappad had an off-putting smell--possibly due to old or reused oil. Unfortunately, it didn't meet my expectations. read more

Everything we ordered was very flavorful and well-cooked. The spice level for the food was just perfect. Can improve on the wait-time. Overall good customer service. We even got a grand opening discount! read more

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Great Food and Service, the restaurant was clean, and the staff was very friendly. Faqaruddin was especially helpful, checking in to ensure everything was good and providing great service. Goat Biryani was delicious packed with flavor, made with serga samba rice and the meat was perfectly cooked, plus it's Halal. It reminded me of Tahari from Hyderabad. Definitely coming back. Highly recommend! read more

I ll take away one star for using the name Zaitoon and not being affiliated in any way with the original in Chennai. I don't know how long they will get away with this :) I am big fan of their thalis. I have tried the veg and two types of fish thalis. They were pretty satisfying with the right flavors, spice levels and rice quantity. It is not too spicy, so andhra people should bring their pickles :) read more

Chicken lollipop: 5/5 Mutton biriyani: 4.5/5 Chicken Varuval dry: 5/5 Loved the flavors, spice level. We did take out , will be back to try more read more

Terrible service. I had been there before customers and I wanted to ask questions about their meal. He says they're waiting. I want to know what im ordering this is sad. then proceeds to help others and he's not even busy im the first in line. read more

Their nool parotta is very good . I am a big fan of the salna too. The place is little small so have not tried to dine in yet.

Halal South Indian restaurant. The food is good but the best is the Malaysian murtabak. It's similar to what you get in Malaysia. Will come back again just for that dish. read more

We ordered 2 chicken dishes. Chicken pieces in both were weird. Not entirely undercooked but probably bad quality / stale chicken. One dish had mainly bones with skin on them... like neck piece and lower part of the drumstick. The texture was weird too. Not going there again. read more

Very clean restaurant and restroom. Delicious authentic South Indian food . Generous portions. Highly satisfied with the service and friendly staff. read more

It's a new restaurant in the Fremont downtown area and I was excited to try it out as I liked their menu. Tried the chicken 65 biryani and the pepper chicken gravy. I liked both. Cooked well and the right amount of flavor. Wasn't overcooked or spiced more than needed. Will definitely try out more items on their menu. read more

excellent food. great service! very clean and nice ambiance! we ordered the Zaitoon thali which is sizeable for 3-4 people. He gave zaiton tea at the end which was really amazing read more

Food was very fresh, tasty and aromatic. The briyani and parotta variants are a must try. The staff are very friendly as well. Will definetely go back again. read more