Gandhi Restaurant
“Our intention was to go to Seva around the corner, but there was an hour wait and we ended up stumbling upon Gandhi.”
“3.5 Stars, but I'll round up because I like that they do good deals like the Yelp deal and $12 dinner special.”
“That said, they deliver CRAZY fast and the food has always been amazing when I've ordered.”
Gandhi Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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OK, VERY disappointed. It was on a few frames of an episode of Anthony Bourdain, well the sign outside anyways. So I wanted to check this out ever since I moved to Astoria.
I went in trying to forget that every time I pass this place it's empty. But it's true colors showed in its lunch buffet… Now I know the disadvantages of Indian lunch buffet, but I think it's a good indication of how much they care about their food. And Ghandi doesn't care about very dry meat, less flavorful curries, and poor selection. It's also more expensive than the lunch buffet around the corner at Seva, which is much better.
The service was great though. I'm glad I have it a shot, even though it was disappointing.
I'll be honest, when I'm going out for Indian I always go to Seva because to me it can't be beat. However Seva does not deliver to us, while Gandhi does, and we were craving some Indian food the other night. We got the delivery special (lamb curry for boyfriend, veggie curry for me) and it hit the spot. Portions are adequate but you won't have leftovers — we got poori and naan as well and I cleaned my plate, less than you get some other places. Definitely our best option for Indian delivery! (Note: previous reviews are correct and it does run toward the spicy side. We generally like medium spicy at Thai and Indian restaurants but we got mildly spicy and it was perfect)
This is one of my favorite Indian food restaurants in Astoria and I order takeout from here all the time. The service is very quick (I always do pickup) and my food is ready within 10-15 mins from the time I place my order. The chicken tikka makhani and also the lamb tikka masala are among my favorite dishes. The staff is also friendly and accommodating. I left my cell phone in the restaurant and walked out once and the waiters chased me outside to give it to me. Great food and staff.
It's a good solid place. Clean good service, tasty and consistent food. Very informative staff. They usually have good deals online and the regular. When I'm in the neighborhood and craving Indian I head here.
Not bad, but not life-changing.
The $12.00 dinner special was inviting so we decided to try Gandhi. They have the muncho-esque chips with two sauces and a tomato mixture that was tasty. The sauces were alright.
For appetizers I had the mulligitawny soup and he had the onion appetizer. His was great although a bit burnt – and it also needed some of those sauces from the pre-app to make it taste more interesting. The soup was good but there were a couple of pieces that I had to spit out on to the plate because they were inedible. Flavor was good though.
For entrees, I had the aloo gobi matar and he had the lamb curry. Mine was pretty good but a bit mushy; he really enjoyed his. The basmati rice wasn't bad and had a pretty garnish. We both appreciated that there wasn't an overwhelming amount of spice on either dish.
The dessert that comes with the special is a rice pudding. It wasn't too sweet, which I preferred. I was just too full to really enjoy it at that point.
The service was good and the wait staff was considerate but not meddling. I really liked the decor. I would give this place another try, but I'd order something different next time.
Not sure how Gandhi himself would feel about this spot, but my guess is he'd still consider starvation.
Gandhi was the first Indian establishment I ever visited when I first came to Astoria. Back then Indian places were considerably more scarce than they were now. I didn't love the experience then or the subsequent delivery sessions from my desperation for all things curry. Considering it's been close to a decade from when that all went down, some merit has to be attributed to the fact they've remained open the whole time.
And to their credit, the food has improved. My chicken tikka masala was edible, if not a little too spicy and the vindaloo wasn't as unbearable as the first time. The service has also gone up a notch, which is half the battle is won and a near thumbs up on my end. Hell, there are even more customers than I remember, which is never a bad thing.
But I still don't love the food. In our group, the sighs were loudest when it came to their bhindi masala (okra), sag paneer, and some really sad looking malai koftas. Veggie friends were depressed ones, seeing as the meat dishes managed to outshine the rest, even if it were marginal at best.
As much as I am a huge Indian buffet fan, it's hard to justify their pricey spread when the local competition and beyond (Curry Hill, Jackson Heights, etc.) feature superior selections for significantly less. Yet, it is a double edged sword – don't disappoint yourself over the a la carte items, experiment with more in buffet fashion.
Let's hope like Gandhi, they can inspire themselves to go through some real change.
Simply put, Gandhi serves incredibly tasty Indian food at a great price, and for that I'm willing to tolerate the questionable decor.
Channa Saag with garlic naan and a mango lasse – yes!
$9 lunch special, $12 dinner special, $12 delivery special. Done and done.
This is really more of a 3.5-star review. But I want this business to survive, and I want people to experience this really solid Indian spot. So bumpin' it up to four stars!
A date and I were trolling around the 'hood, trying to find a spot for dinner on a day when were both feeling rather particular. We shot down a good five restaurants before stumbling upon Ghandi. We were drawn by the quaint appearance from outside, the semi-romantic vibe for a nice, low-key date, and the $12 dinner prix fixe menu. I was a little weary since there was only one table seated at 5 pm on a Saturday night. But something said go in.
The tables are well spaced. You don't feel cramped when eating. The decor is nice. Not what you expect at an Indian restaurant. But nice.
Unfortunately, you do have to deal with the stereotypical "WAAAAAYYYYY overly attentive yet still have to repeat yourself to them multiple times" server, which is typical of many such restaurants. Still, our server was quite nice. He was quick, though we never felt rushed. He was talented at fitting everything on the table in a way that would still give us room to eat. He was decent with explaining certain dishes to us. And things arrived at the table as he described they would.
On the down side, we eventually began to feel stalked. I get that we were one of two tables. But he got to the point of pacing by our table, and literally watching us eat. I shot him a look, he got it, and we went away. But it was a little Stranger Danger there for a hot minute, especially when the manager/owner started doing the same thing. But they eventually picked up on my vibe to give some space. Once business picked up, their attentions were spread, which also helped.
I also appreciate that servers have to upsell. But I should only have to decline your upsell once. I had to say twice that, no, we did not wish to order any extra rice or naan. I had to say three times – on top of mentioning that my date was not big on drinking – that, no, we are not going to order another half carafe of burgundy (which was a decent house burgundy).
Thankfully, everything we had was quite nice! The usual complimentary pappadam and all the three standard sauces were quite nice. While we liked the prix fixe menu, we wanted to go outside the norm. We tried the app sampler. Everything was quite nice. Just note that the samosas aren't the same. The one with the red tip is chicken, the other veggie. Both lovely, and nicely spiced.
Now, my true test of such restaurants of non-American cuisine: will you accommodate my request to spice my dish the way you would eat it?
I went with the Karahi Gosht for my entree. My date went with the Balti Fish with Mushrooms. I asked the server if they could make mine extra spicy. The convo went like this:
Me: I'd really like it if you made my dish extra spicy.
Server: Medium spicy, or hot spicy.
Me: Hot spicy. The way you would traditionally do hot spicy in India.
Server: Sooo…hot spicy? You're sure.
Me: I've traveled. I know your cuisine. I love it. I like to cry behind my eye balls with spice. Make it like you would want it.
He smirked and went away.
Lo and behold, they spiced it right! Not as hot as it could have gone, but far spicier than most restaurants have ever accommodated my request. And the flavor of the dish was still there! The spicing complimented it. Props! Lovely dish on its own. So nice to see a restaurant that can adapt a dish, yet stay true to it.
The Balti? Lovely! Mild dish. But an enormous portion. They served it with four pieces of regular naan…so very glad we didn't order extra. And we loved that all of our main dishes were served in these nice cast iron bowls and woks. Awesome.
So, yeah! I'd recommend this spot for a nice, inexpensive meal in the 'hood.
Ps – I noticed they seem to do a mondo delivery service. The dude never stopped running in and out with orders. Good for them 🙂