Is It Worth It? $15 For A Full Indian Lunch Buffet In St. George: Here’s What’s Included

I am pretty broad in my food choices. I love food. Everything from Italian & Mexican to Thai & Indian and in between. I LOVE LOVE Red Fort. The Indian spices and flavors are AWESOME and I feel like you still get good service and plenty of food for the price. So that is what I am comparing to today. (FOOD PICS BELOW)

Some restaurants are trying to cut corners to save money. The prices go up and the quantity, and a lot of times, the quality goes down. Don't slight your customers. We all know that inflation is ridiculous in 2024. We know that your prices have to go up. But they don't have to skyrocket. There are too many restaurants whos prices didn't almost double in price. So we have a good gauge on how much prices had to go up.

If you are running a restaurant, don't raise the price and give your customers less food. It feels like cheating. We feel disrespected. It makes your customers mad and they are starting to think about not coming back.

If you serve a lot of meals that include things like lettuce or rice & beans, fill the plate up! Those are some of the cheaper foods you can make people feel full and like they got their money's worth. I don't know how many times I've gone to a restaurant and opted for a salad and it is so skimpy that it make me furious. If I am paying somewhere near $14-$17 for a chicken salad, at least give me some lettuce! If you are serving rice, make sure there is a decent amount. There is nothing like splurging and paying a good fair price for lunch and feeling like you were taken advantage of by getting sub par portions. But portions are no problem at a buffet!

Like I said I love Indian food, so I opted to try the semi-new Maharaja Indian Food Buffet on the Boulevard in St George, Utah. It was moderately priced at $14.95 for a lunch buffet.  Here are the rules:

Buffet rule #7 is probably my fav. "7) Sharing is not allowed to please be respectful and don't make it weird."  I still can't believe that needed addressed but hey hairdryers still have to tell you not to use them in the bath, so......

The buffet was clean and smelled great. Also there was no sent of sewer when I walked in the restaurant, like there is at a few places in town.

The art and ambience was great. It felt like a bigger restaurant because of the way it was set up. There was plenty of seating for larger groups as well. You could bring the office staff for lunch no problem.

You could tell this was a few business men's favorite spot. There were several business deals going down while I was there.

This was the only confusing part. We didn't know if we should wait to sat or wait for the server to pay our bill. We finally saw someone pick up a to-go order and went to wait at the podium to pay.

Here are the prices for the buffet and they do have some dishes that you can purchase from a menu. Now, on to the food. these pics make me hungry all over again.

Appetizers like Veggie Samosas, Onion Bhaji (fried onions), a version of fried potatoes Fried Rice and regular basmati rice.

Lamb Curry, Indian Fried Chicken, Tandoori Chicken, Saag Paneer, Butter Chicken and Chicken Tikka Masala. All were so good! That fried chicken was salty and amazing. (I'm a big slat fan.)

Yellow Daal, Chana Masala, Mixed Coconut Curry, Garlic Naan Bread and Regular Naan Bread.

If you think things need more flavor, this is where you can get saucy. Lettuce, cucumbers, onions and serrano peppers, along with all the sauces. Chutneys, yogurt dip, ranch and 1000 Island dressing.

They even had a bit of dessert on the buffet line to sample. Mango rice pudding, Nutella Naan and Churro Chips.

It was all pretty tasty. The rice was a little hard/dry for my liking and the sauces seemed runny and not and thick as I am used to, but I might just be picky.

I tried just about everything on the buffet and it all tasted pretty flavorful.
I am used to Red Fort so there are some things that I prefer there.

Here is the comparison:
Red Fort: 10/10
I like Red Fort for the ample amount of food offered. I always take some home.
I LOVE the deep flavors and the thickness of the sauces that just cling to your rice and taste buds.
I love the larger size of the Veggie Samosas because there is more vegetable filling than fried breading/crust.
I love that they take care of their customers and getting the food is pretty quick.
Maharaja: 8/10
If you are hungry, you can get filled right up with plenty of options on the buffet.
I loved that they had appetizers, 8+ options of sauces for your rice & dessert.
I did not like the rice texture or dryness, so that is a major part of your dish. (They might have had an off rice day.)
If you don't have a lot of time, this is a great stop because everything is ready for you when you get there.
It is quieter. There were several tables seated arounds us but I didn't feel like any of us had to shout out our conversations, whereas at Red Fort it sometimes can get a little noisy.

There are pros and cons to most options. So it just depends on your mood, hunger, time frame and preferences. Both are great options!

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