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Dosan A Social Eatery ran a buffet with a Sweet Tomatoes-style salad and hot bar on Shaw.The restaurant closed for a month in February, removed the salad bar and added a new menu.The limited made-to-order menu features a 14-oz rib-eye, $20 French dip and salads.
Clovis wanted a Sweet Tomatoes.
So for four months, a local restaurant on Shaw Avenue — Dosan Social Eatery — tried to bring that big salad bar to town, along with meat-carving stations reminiscent of Fresno’s old Silver Dollar Hofbrau.
It didn’t work.
So the restaurant is changing things up.
Now it’s an upscale restaurant with a regular menu, serving steaks, pasta, salads and more.
It has an “express lunch” for $11.95 to $13.95.
It still has a full bar and specialty cocktails, such as a hibiscus margarita.
But what about Sweet Tomatoes?
The restaurant, in a big building halfway between Minnewawa and Villa avenues, used to be Elephant Lounge, an upscale Indian restaurant. Then it was a Straw Hat Pizza franchise.
Both were run by the same person who owns it today.
“Straw Hat, it wasn’t where my heart was,” said Ranjit Dosanjh.
So before switching to a new concept, he did a lot of research, asking people what they wanted, what was missing.
Overwhelmingly, people said they missed Sweet Tomatoes, followed by the stations where workers would carve off hot slices of roast beef or turkey at the Silver Dollar Hofbrau on Shaw near Highway 41.
And it made sense.
Fresno and Clovis are obsessed with Sweet Tomatoes, after all. The internet went wild earlier this summer when a local TV station reported that the buffet “could come back to the area.” The Bee’s reporting burst that bubble like an overripe cherry tomato. Sorry.
But Dosanjh figured he’d give the people what they want.
The owners installed a 25-foot long salad bar. A hot bar had several kinds of meats, au jus sauce and more.
The name of the restaurant, Dosan, is a play on his name. It also combines two Indian words to create the English expression of “two things coming together.” “Do” means two. “San” means coming together, an owner told The Bee.
But the restaurant didn’t take off.
The buffet cost $25, plus more for drinks.
It got some good reviews, but it also got quite a few negative reviews criticizing the quality and variety on Yelp.com.
People seemed to want another Golden Corral or HomeTown Buffet, Dosanjh said. They wanted more fried food.
They told him: “’You need to add fried chicken. You need to go look at Golden Corral,” he said.
But that’s not what Dosanjh was about, he said. He couldn’t offer more food without dropping the quality.
“It just wasn’t feasible, with today’s market and pricing and produce going extremely up and down, we were having a really difficult time keeping our margins and keeping our quality,” he said.
So, it was time to pivot.
The restaurant closed for a month in February. They ripped out the salad bar. Turned it into a lounge area. Added more cushy blue booths. Adjustable lighting at each table.
Dosanjh went back to running the type of restaurant he used to in the Bay Area before moving to Clovis. He worked with a consultant who had experience working with chefs at Michelin-starred restaurants.
“We collaborated and designed a menu, and the response has been phenomenal,” Dosanjh said.
The menu
There’s a regular, limited menu. Everything is made to order.
Top sellers include the 14-ounce rib-eye steak for $39, served with mashed potatoes, a sweet chile risotto and charred chimoy vegetables. The $20 French dip sandwich is another popular choice, made with sliced rib-eye and served with grilled onion and provolone.
There are saffron potato samosas, a round of warm bread with garlic and white wine butter, a strawberry salad, and a creamy fettucine alfredo.
Since the change, diner reviews on Google and Yelp.com have been primarily positive (with most of the negative ones coming from people who expected to find a buffet at the restaurant).
Elite Yelper Jacqueline A. of Clovis left a review July 18, after trying the tropical ceviche, the strawberry blush cocktail, and the cinnamon apple bliss dessert.
“I actually hadn’t heard of this place until recently, so it was interesting learning that it originally opened as more of a buffet-style restaurant before transitioning to its current concept. I personally think the change really fits the space and the aesthetic. It feels a little more elevated while still being approachable for a casual lunch, dinner, date night, or group gathering.”
Dosan A Social Eatery is open along Shaw Avenue between Villa and Minnewawa avenues in Clovis with a new menu. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com 
A lounge setting is seen at Dosan A Social Eatery, which recently changed its concept and menu, on Shaw Avenue between Villa and Minnewawa avenues in Clovis. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com 
The charred, grilled rib-eye is on the menu at the newly revamped Dosan A Social Eatery on Shaw Avenue in Clovis. It’s served with steak butter, sweetcorn and Hatch chile risotto and charred chamoy glazed vegetables. Special to The Bee Dosan 
The grilled salmon with lemon and herb glaze at Dosan A Social Eatery, served with turmeric basmati rice and charred chamoy glazed vegetables. Special to The Bee Dosan 
Dosan A Social Eatery on Shaw Avenue in Clovis has a new menu and a new concept. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
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The Fresno Bee
Bethany Clough covers restaurants and retail for The Fresno Bee. A reporter for more than 20 years, she now works to answer readers’ questions about business openings, closings and other business news. She has a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and her last name is pronounced Cluff.