Having lived for 3 years in the Silicon Valley, home to some of the best Indian/Pakistani food I've ever had, finding a good local restaurant is always a high priority.  Tonight we tried Maharani.\n\nWhen I crave Indian food, it's not about the ambiance or the service.  It's all about curries, rice, naan and spices.  While Maharani is a decent restaurant, its food is nothing special.  I ordered my usual round of chicken tikka masala, mutter paneer and veggie samosas.  The samosas were crispy but the filling was very pasty and far too pureed.  I could barely finish my serving of mutter paneer; it was extremely earthy tasting and the paneer quite bland.  That said, the chicken tikka masala was pretty enjoyable and had a wonderfully rich tomato curry sauce.\n\nWould I eat here again if I'm in the area?  Only if Meskerem isn't open.  Time to find a better Indian place, I'm afraid.