Jyoti Exotic Indian Cuisine
“My personal favorite would have to be the chicken tikka masala, and lets not forget the freshly made naan, followed by a nice hot cup of tea.”
“I wish Jyoti had the chicken with okra dish Satish has, as we live near Jyoti and go there often.”
“This would have gotten a fifth star if the atmosphere was a little nicer looking…”
Jyoti Exotic Indian Cuisine
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
6 reviews
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Sadly I was underwhelmed by the taste of the Indian food here. The price is awesome for a weekend buffet, 9.95….It's normally higher in other places I have been during the weekend. So I loved that. Service was awesome, you get fresh naan at your table. We came in around 1:30p on a Saturday and every item was available but they were a little backed up on the tandoori chicken which is one item I absolutely loved here. The chicken tikka masala though was what was disappointing. No spices like I like it. All the other items were good: chole bhature, samosa, gobi aloo, paneer, saag mushrooms, daal makhani.
For dessert there was ras malai which I didn't taste and Gulab jamon – which I am sorry were not good. The Chai however, was hot and delicious!!
Came here with my wife for lunch on Saturday afternoon for their lunch buffet. Not too busy for lunch – and later found out it's much more busier during the week for lunch. But that's ok.. I'm here to eat, not mingle.. All in all, it was very good and had a nice spread of food.. Not too much, but just enough of a selection of different foods to tickle your fancy. You're also served (and you can get as many refills as you want) of their warm and yummy naan bread 🙂 It's very yummy to dip it in their selection of sauces and help ease the burn if you are tempted to get their hot sauce or wrap a piece of chicken in that bad boy and make a small gyro sammach!
Highly recommended and we'll be back!
Went here with 2 others. It's owned by the same nice people who own Satish Palace, a personal favorite in Montclair.
This place by comparison has a bar and a more festive atmosphere, at least if a lot of people show up. It's way larger/nicer looking but it is a bit pricier than Satish.
Anyway:
Got served Papadum at the start, the normal (but it is Papadum from an Indian restaurant so, yeah.
Got a Sweet Lassi, excellent version, nice portion size. I'd give it maybe a 3.5 if I was counting it in the rating.
He got a Taj Mahal which was fine, iced glass. I would have gotten a beer but the selection was small, especially compared to the size of the spirits menu. I mean it was Taj Mahal, Haywards 5k (Malt Liquor) and King Fischer.
They got the: Vegetarian Assorted Appetizers (for Two) 8.95. I tried the fried potato, the Pakora (though it wasn't the onion one) and a little piece of the Samosa. Good amount of veggies, a lot of fry though. A good mix of stuff, good size for 2/3 people. 3.7
I got: Palak Shorba (or Palak Soup on the menu) 3.50 (I think.) Not on the menu online but it is on their current well offline menu Palak is Spinach. Shorba is soup. So it's Spinach soup…with milk or cream and other stuff.
Good version of it, portion was a bit small but the flavors were excellent and it was quite rich. There seemed to be little pieces of Potato or some other similar veggie in there also. 4.1, I'd give it higher if the portion was bigger.
Mains: Big plate of Jasmine rice on the side.
Hers:
Chicken Biryani 15.95: Combination of white and dark meat chicken, cubed and sauteed with bell peppers onions and fragrant basmati rice.
A lot of bell peper, a good amount of chicken, and a lot of spices. It came with some raita, which was nice (and it worked well for some of the other dishes. I don't think she was a big fan of it, then again she tried something new. Chicken was tender though. If I had to rate it, I'd give it a 3.7 or something similar.
His: I don't remember, at all. It was a reddish curry (big narrowing by me, right?)
I tried it. It was moderately spicy, solid overall. I'd rate it if I remembered it more.
Mine:
Khoa Kaju. 13.95 mashed home made cheese cooked with cashews in Chef's secret spices.
I ordered the dish spicy, as I have had similar dishes before. I know the dish is not super spicy usually so ordering it hot. He made sure I was fine with it, and made a little joke that the Sweet Lassi would help with it.
Anyway, the dish was a perfect heat to it. It wasn't super spicy, as expected but all of the flavors were excellent. A lot of cashews and cheese, though I would say more cashews (some cashed cooked with mashed home made cheese you mean.) A lot of flavor. Highly recommended. 4.4
Bread:
pishwari naan 4.95: Bread stuffed with coconut, raisin, almond
Way too much sweetened coconut. Needed more raisins/almonds to balance it. Sickly sweet. I would have gotten dessert but the Pe(i)shwari/Kashmiri Naan was sweet enough 2.3
Overall: 3.98
I'll give this a 4, mostly for my soup and main dish. Don't get that Naan though. Nice people here also.
I have to go with 5 stars here, as this food is so delicious. I went during lunch and got the buffet to go. Initially, I wasn't overly impressed with the amount of items they offer on the buffet, but everything was so good I quickly forgave them. I stuck to veggie dishes, and everything I tried was just perfect. Very nice people too!
This is my favorite Indian place in this area. My Indian coworker preferred Garam Masala, which I'm not a fan of. So basically, different places for different tastes. I've been here many times and always ask to go back. The dishes are different and flavorful, and if one of them gets low during a buffet, wait 5 minutes and it will get replenished. I love the different sauces used here, and sometimes some interesting dishes pop into the buffet (like goat).
Don't let the loss of one star fool you. This place is still one of the best around. Unfortunately I've grown in my palate and have dined in many more Indian restaurants since. Therefore my perfect five star rating two years ago can no longer hold true. My visit this time around was still fantastic. The quality and flavor of the food is right up there with my faves. The masala, paneer bhurji, and vegetable manchurian were oh so yummy. The desserts of gulab jamun and kheer were done perfectly–seriously it was done perfectly. To top it off they served me fresh naan that was still piping hot and buttery from the kitchen. They also had some Indian sweets along with their desserts. Only gripe I had was their pakora was kind of soggy and they didn't have samosas left during my last visit. Also it took a long time for the naan to come out and I started my first plate without it. Aside from those minor things Jyoti is still one of the best. It had been quite a while since my last appearance here and I'm delighted that it still holds a special place in my heart. It may not have a perfect five rating this time around but I can still surely say "Yay! I'm a fan."