Indian Lunch Buffet

[rajbbhatt]

I am looking for the best Indian Lunch Buffet in Manhattan - a balance of price, excellent food quality and selection, and good options for vegetarians too (yes, I know Indian food inherently is veg friendly. What I mean is not just aloo gobi and very basic veg food). Thoughts? I hear Tiffin Wallah and Dhaba are excellent.

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Tiffin Wallah
127 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016

[FoodDabbler]

I haven't had the buffet at Dhaba, and I'm not as big a fan of dinner there as others on this board. I'm also not a huge fan of Indian buffets in New York. (I've had decent buffet food in India.) That being said, Chola offers a lot of variety, veg and non-. There's a South Indian slant (they bring you a dosa to your table), but not all the hot table dishes are southern. Once upon a time Utsav had an acceptable buffet, but the quality had plunged on a visit last year. It's been many months since I had any kind of buffet meal in New York, though, so you should take anything I say with that in mind.

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Chola
232 East 58th Street, New York, NY 10022

Utsav
1185 6th Ave, New York, NY 10036

[JungMann]

Dhaba does great Northern style fare and Chola does really good Southern, but I think Darbar Grill has the most variety I've encountered in the city. They had Punjabi standards, chaat, a Goan dish, a dosa station; I was very impressed. If you're comfortable with total veg, Tiffin Wallah has a very popular buffet. Their utthapams are among my favorite.

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Tiffin Wallah
127 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016

Chola
232 East 58th Street, New York, NY 10022

Darbar Grill
157 East 55th Street, New York, NY 10022

[Steve R]

I'm generally not around for lunches and Indian lunch buffets are not my forte, but I'm going to chime in anyway. I go to Dhaba for dinner regularly enough to know (& really like) their food; however, I've been to their lunch buffet on a weekend and didnt think it was anywhere near the quality that I'm used to there. Of course, it's a buffet (with the limitations that go with this type of presentation) and it's dirt cheap (under $10) so, in that context, I couldnt complain -- especially since they kept bringing fresh tandoori chicken (which was excellent at lunch but isnt one of their best items at dinner), fenugreek fritters and breads. Overall, I guess I'm saying that I hope this aint the best Indian lunch buffet around.

I've also been to Tiffin Wallah several times both for dinner (mediocre) and lunch buffet. The lunch sauces were thin and lacking substance. The selection of items was ehh. I was disappointed.

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Tiffin Wallah
127 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016

[Miss Needle]

Tiffin Wallah's uttapum is wonderful but only from the menu. They achieve a really nice crispy crust which I dig. But the buffet version is pretty flabby.

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Tiffin Wallah
127 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016

[lnedrive14]

chola

[AubWah]

same owner, the guy is probly laying in a bathtub full of $100 bills right now

[AubWah]

Dhaba, especially on the weekend

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Dhaba
108 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016