Samosa House (West LA): What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Samosa House West is a cafeteria-style Indian counter that has never served meat in its 47 years open. Order at the counter, point at whatever looks good in the steam trays, and get it weighed into a combo plate. Start with the samosas ($2.25 each), the dish the place is named for: crisp pastry stuffed with potato and peas, served with tamarind and mint chutney. Add a masala dosa ($9.52), a chana bhatura ($9.07), or a 3-item combination plate with rice ($13.99) built from whatever’s in the case that day (saag, chana masala, dal, mixed vegetable curry). The chaat menu covers pani puri, bhel puri, and dahi puri, all priced $4.49 to $5.49.

This isn’t a newcomer chasing a trend. Ramesh and Phulan Chander opened it as Bharat Bazaar, an Indian grocery store, in June 1979, one of the first of its kind in Southern California. New owners took over in 2006 and renamed the restaurant side Samosa House after its best-known item, but kept the market attached. You can grab imported snacks and sodas on your way out. It’s still family-run Indian cooking, not a franchise playbook.

Every dish here skips meat and fish, full stop. That’s confirmed across the restaurant’s own materials and independent reviews going back years. It’s not a vegan kitchen, though. Naan is made with ghee, and several items in the display case, dahi wada, lassi, some curries, use dairy. Reviewers note the case isn’t labeled item by item for vegan status, so if you’re strict vegan, ask the counter staff before you point. Good vegan picks reviewers call out include the jackfruit curry, soy meat curry, lentil and garbanzo dishes, and chapati instead of naan.

Expect a fast, no-frills setup. You order, they weigh your plate, you find a table in a simple dining room next to the grocery aisles. Don’t come for ambiance. Come for a full plate of Indian home cooking for well under $15, rare anywhere on the Westside now. A three-item combo with rice, plus a samosa on the side, runs about $16 before tax. No reservations, it’s counter service.

One thing worth flagging for anyone tracking the Samosa House name: this family has run other locations under the same brand, and not all of them made it. The Santa Monica shop on Main Street was shut down by the health department in March 2026 over food-temperature violations. Locations in Silver Lake and El Segundo have closed too. None of that touches the original West LA spot at 11510 Washington Blvd, which is still open daily and pulling in fresh reviews as of July 2026, but it’s a reason to double-check hours before a special trip if you’re used to a different branch. A separate Samosa House East location in Culver City, under the same family, operates independently.

Hours run 10:30am to 9:30pm every day. Parking is street and small-lot, and it gets tight around lunch. This is a solid pick for a cheap, genuinely vegetarian meal that goes well beyond the samosas, from a decades-old kitchen that has never cooked meat.