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Eating at Indian Sizzler
Dec. 27th, 2025 11:01 am"We could eat at Indian Sizzler," we've suggested to friends a few times recent. They've agreed to the Indian food aspect of it but figured we were making up the name. Like, it's an old Sizzler restaurant that shut down because its Boomer clientele got too old to drive, and now it's an Indian cuisine place whose name we can't be bothered to learn. But then we drive them there, and...
Yes, really, it's named Indian Sizzler!
And no, it's not a former Sizzler restaurant. Y'know, the family steakhouse and salad bar restaurant chain that was popular in the US in the late 1970s and 1980s. Yes, there were Sizzler restaurants in our area, but they folded up in the chain's 1996 bankruptcy. Or its 2020 bankruptcy. Or maybe one of its other bankruptcies or sales to new owners.
Speaking of once-common chains that are now defunct, this restaurant actually used to be a Bennigan's. That closed up years ago, and this spot has gone through a few other incarnations before Indian Sizzler opened a few months ago.
Indian Sizzler runs a buffet on the weekends. We've gone twice now this month, once for lunch and once for dinner. The buffet has plenty of choices, including a number of standard, Americanized Indian dishes, things like the butter chicken, chicken tikka, and mutter paneer you can see on my plate above. And there are also a variety of dishes that are not Indo-American standards. The sign out front mentions Sri Lankan and Indo-Chinese cuisine.... I spotted some definite Indo-Chinese dishes on the buffet. Sri Lankan, I'm not so sure about because I'm not sure which dishes, if any, are Sri Lankan. But I could believe there are a few.
The taste of the food is fairly standard for South Bay Indian served in a nicer restaurant. The setup hasn't fully escaped its former life as a Bennigan's, though. The layout of a grill-and-bar restaurant is apparent in how the tables and booths are arranged... and how at the center of the dining room is a full bar! 🤣
The bar winds up as mostly wasted space, an area it seems the owners weren't sure what to do with. Though they do offer cocktail service and have over a dozen beers on tap. Hawk has enjoyed virgin piña coladas there— so, yes, it really is a full bar, including a blender to make frozen drinks and the paper umbrellas to put in them. And last night I got a glass of Sam Adams. Her creamy drink and my beer were both good choices to cut the spiciness of Indian food.
Yes, really, it's named Indian Sizzler!
And no, it's not a former Sizzler restaurant. Y'know, the family steakhouse and salad bar restaurant chain that was popular in the US in the late 1970s and 1980s. Yes, there were Sizzler restaurants in our area, but they folded up in the chain's 1996 bankruptcy. Or its 2020 bankruptcy. Or maybe one of its other bankruptcies or sales to new owners.
Speaking of once-common chains that are now defunct, this restaurant actually used to be a Bennigan's. That closed up years ago, and this spot has gone through a few other incarnations before Indian Sizzler opened a few months ago.
Indian Sizzler runs a buffet on the weekends. We've gone twice now this month, once for lunch and once for dinner. The buffet has plenty of choices, including a number of standard, Americanized Indian dishes, things like the butter chicken, chicken tikka, and mutter paneer you can see on my plate above. And there are also a variety of dishes that are not Indo-American standards. The sign out front mentions Sri Lankan and Indo-Chinese cuisine.... I spotted some definite Indo-Chinese dishes on the buffet. Sri Lankan, I'm not so sure about because I'm not sure which dishes, if any, are Sri Lankan. But I could believe there are a few.
The taste of the food is fairly standard for South Bay Indian served in a nicer restaurant. The setup hasn't fully escaped its former life as a Bennigan's, though. The layout of a grill-and-bar restaurant is apparent in how the tables and booths are arranged... and how at the center of the dining room is a full bar! 🤣
The bar winds up as mostly wasted space, an area it seems the owners weren't sure what to do with. Though they do offer cocktail service and have over a dozen beers on tap. Hawk has enjoyed virgin piña coladas there— so, yes, it really is a full bar, including a blender to make frozen drinks and the paper umbrellas to put in them. And last night I got a glass of Sam Adams. Her creamy drink and my beer were both good choices to cut the spiciness of Indian food.
