Southern Utah’s newest affordable Indian buffet!

I love food. So, love-LOVE! Everything from Italian and Mexican to Thai and Indian and lots in between. I decided to try a newer Indian buffet in town. The name is Maharaja. I knew it would be hard to rate Maharaja because one of my favorite restaurants in Southern Utah is Red Fort. At Red Fort, the Indian spices and flavors are AMAZING and I still think you get good service and plenty of food for the price. Did Maharaja keep up? Pretty close. I’ll give you the breakdown. (PICTURES OF THE FOOD AND RATING BELOW)

Some restaurants try to cut costs. Prices go up and quantity and often quality go down. Don’t let your customers down. We all know inflation is ridiculously high in 2024. We know your prices have to go up. But they don’t have to skyrocket. There are too many restaurants whose prices haven’t nearly doubled. So we have a good gauge of how much prices have had to go up.

If you run a restaurant, do not raise the price And Give your customers less food. It feels like cheating. We feel disrespected. It makes your customers angry and they think about not coming back.

If you’re serving a lot of meals that include salad or rice and beans, fill the plate! These are some of the cheaper dishes that can help fill your guests up and make them feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to a restaurant and opted for a salad that was so meager it made me angry. If I’m paying $14-17 for a chicken salad, at least give me some salad! If you’re serving rice, make sure it’s an appropriate amount. There’s nothing better than splurging and paying a good, fair price for lunch and feeling like you’ve been ripped off by getting subpar portions. But portions are not a problem at a buffet!

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

Buffet rule #7 is probably my favorite. “7) Sharing is not allowed, so please be respectful and don’t make it weird.” I still can’t believe this had to be brought up, but hey, hairdryers still have to tell you not to use them in the bathtub, so…
The buffet was clean and smelled good. Also, there was no sewage smell when I entered the restaurant like there is in some other places in town.

Starters like vegetarian samosas, onion bhaji (roasted onions), a variation of fried potatoes, fried rice and regular basmati rice.

Lamb curry, Indian chicken, tandoori chicken, saag paneer, butter chicken and chicken tikka masala. Everything was so good! The chicken was salty and amazing. (I’m a huge slat fan.)

Yellow daal, chana masala, mixed coconut curry, garlic naan bread and regular naan bread. You can have as much naan as you like!

If you think that things more Taste, here you can try it with sauce. Lettuce, cucumber, onion and serrano pepper as well as all sauces. Chutneys, yogurt dip, ranch and 1000 island dressing.

There was even a small dessert at the buffet to try: mango rice pudding, Nutella naan and churro chips.

It was all pretty tasty. The rice was a bit hard/dry for my taste and the sauces seemed runny and not as thick as I’m used to, but maybe I’m just being picky.

I tried pretty much everything at the buffet and it all tasted pretty delicious.
I am used to the Red Fort, so there are some things I like better there.

Here is the comparison:
Red Fort: 10/10
I like the Red Fort because of the variety of food. I always take some home with me.
I LOVE the intense flavor and texture of the sauces that just cling to your rice and your taste buds.
I love the larger size of the Veggie Samosas because they contain more vegetable filling than fried breading/crust.
I love that they take care of their customers and that they serve the food pretty quickly.
Maharaja: 8.5/10
If you are hungry, you can eat your fill at the rich buffet.
I liked that there were starters, more than 8 sauces to choose from for rice and dessert.
I didn’t like the texture and dryness of the rice, so that’s a big reason for your dish. (Maybe they had a day where they didn’t eat rice.)
If you are short on time, this is a great stop as everything will be ready for you when you arrive.
It is quieter. There were several tables sitting around us, but I didn’t feel like any of us had to shout out what we were saying, whereas the Red Fort can get a bit noisy at times.

Most options have pros and cons, so it just depends on your mood, hunger, time frame, and preferences. Both are great options! Here’s some more information and pictures to give you an idea:

The buffet is set up.

The art and ambiance were great. The decor made it feel like a larger restaurant. There was enough seating for larger groups. You could easily bring the office staff for lunch.

It was obvious that this was a favorite place for some business people. While I was there, several business deals were made.

That was the only confusing part. We didn’t know if we should wait to sit down or if we should wait for the waiter to pay our bill. Eventually we saw someone picking up a takeout order and went to the podium to wait to pay.

Here are the prices for the buffet. There are also some dishes you can purchase from the menu. All in all, it was a great place for lunch. Check it out!