Swagat Indian Restaurant
“- Friendly: I've never once had a bad experience with service, or even overheard them talking rudely with a customer.”
“Masala is a chickpea/potato/onlon filling and the Masala filling her is generously spiced and delicious.”
“I have only tried this place thanks to the wonderful invention of Seamless– so I cannot rate anything but the food and delivery process.”
Swagat Indian Restaurant
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
The food isn't especially good, and there is no decor to speak of, but this is why I give this place 4 stars:
It's super fast, conveniently located (to me) in a place that doesn't have much for good cheap fast food, and very inexpensive.
These folks opened a few years ago, where the three block radius only had oh… 4 irish pubs all owned by the same people! So yeah, it brought a lot of much needed variety.
It's one of those cheapee Indian places where the food is sitting heated behind a counter, and a mystery chef is behind a pair of doors preparing whatever else is neeeded. The good — no microwaving your food here (unlike most similar places)- things will come out hot and ready for you. The samosa is too potatoe-y, but because it isn't microwaved, it is very crispy (and at $1.95 for TWO, a steal). A real plus – the naan is prepared freshly and is crispy, warm, and doughy in a good way. The mint chutney is nice and spicy too.
Everything else is mediocre standard stuff, sitting in trays that you can see. They have pre-made mango lassis in a fridge for $2.50, and for $5.95 you can get a LOT in your vegetarian platter (rice, fresh naan, lentil sauce, two veggie dishes of your choice). You will be full (at least if you've a stomach similar in size as me).
So bottom line – this is just a 3 star cheapee Indian joint, but I give it the extra for being in this neighborhood, being quick, having crispy naan, no wait time (once you order, the food is simply packaged hot before you and there you have it!), very cheap in this area, and always being there for me.
Of the few times I've encountered this place, I've always received the same (bland) experience. Eating in seems to be a less stellar experience than their lightning fast delivery. Each time I've ordered from here, they've been very good about calling if they are having trouble locating my address and have been reasonably quick in the delivery times.
The problem, like many of the restaurants in the area, is that the food is uber bland. My Palak Paneer and Tikka Masala were as unfulfilling as the dry naan. The prices are cheap, which makes them really appealing but tainted with the quality of the food. Stick with their vegetarian options, I find the Palak Aloo and the Shahi Paneer to be its most consistent decent items, but on a whole the restaurant could use some more work.
I've been eating lunch here consistently every week since the summer months. It's a very serviceable hole-in-the-wall Indian this side of Curry Hill. The standard cabbie-counter decor thankfully keeps out tourists, trendy eaters, and picky foodies, making it a peaceful reprieve from work in this area to eat some curry and read during lunch.
Great nan, paneer, and other veggie dishes. Meat curries are fine, nothing to write home in Mumbai about. Portions are fairly small in an apples-to-apples comparison to other no-frills Indian eateries. Overall, a heart endorsement.
I got the vegetarian platter (came with 2 sides, dal, rice & naan) and while it satisfied my craving for Indian food, I have definitely tasted better in the area. I chose veg korma & saag as my side dishes & they were quite bland. I LOVE paneer so it was a pleasant surprise when I saw it pop up in the saag, but other than that, the rice didn't really produce the arosmatic basmati flavor, the naan was warm, but became stale really quickly after I brought it back to the desk.
Everything came out to be about $7.50 total, but I probably wouldn't go back. Service wasn't very good & I'm sure there are other Indian food options to explore in the area with better service and higher quality food.
I go to this place at least a few times a month and gotta say, for under $8, this food rocks. I mean, salads cost more than that! I get the tikka massala and the califlower side every time I go and its super. nothing to go out of your way for but if you work/live up here its pretty sweet. the nan is great too!!
It's good for fast food. The naan was hot and warm just like your man should be. The rest was ok. Pakora left me feeling sad.
3.7
To finish later
well this a whole lot different than the Swagat on Amsterdam and a whole lot better.
Seems like most of the bad reviews come from people ordering curries or Chicken Tikka Masala or looking for a nicer place. To be honest:
1. The people are nice
2. The food is inexpensive, dishes range from 1.50 to 9, most expensive dishes are curries obviously outside of the couple fish dishes
2. The place is clean regardless of the rating
3. You get gigantic portions
4. The medium is hotter than the watery Chicken Curry junk Tikka Korma Vindaloo from next door from your place for 12 bucks
5. The portion is larger than said curry
6. Most dishes are vegetarian
7. The Lassi is bad and they don't care
8. Communal water/cups
9. You get your own silverware
In short, no health rating, a lot of vegetarian dishes, nothing labeled, no problems.
Anyway, little place. Went here for lunch and had a Mysore Masala Dosa. For anyone who hasn't had a Dosa it is basically a thick yet flaky bread made from lentils and rice batter (almost like a pancake but much softer wrapped around itself with a filing of some sort. It is a specialty of South Indian areas. Masala is a chickpea/potato/onlon filling and the Masala filling her is generously spiced and delicious. Mysore is a very spicy red pepper/cumin based spread.
So in other words it is a large pancake stuffed with potatoes and peas with pepper around the outside. It is quite filling and quite spicy.
It comes with a small stew named Sanbar (made out of peas and lentils with some spices such as pepercorns and cumin, a bit above average) and a very good coconut chutney (a lot of coconut pieces with some light spices.)
It's 5.95 for a regular Masala Dosa and 6.50 for the red stuff/Mysore. Inexpensive and quite good. I'm sold.
On another note, the woman is nice but the cashier was not, but the place has good food so I wont' care too much.
I have only tried this place thanks to the wonderful invention of Seamless– so I cannot rate anything but the food and delivery process. I was craving some Indian food and gave this place a shot. Delivery was quick and the food arrived hot both times I've ordered so far.
First time I had the Daal soup with Nan and the lamb vindaloo. Soup was not quite what I expected as it was VERY greasy but it was delicious and flavorful. The lamb was tender and quite spicy but good. So good that the next time I ordered I got the veggie pakora and lamb biryani. They were both good but the lamb was so spicy that I had to pace myself.
Overall: filling, great taste and cheap. Can't beat it for lunch at work! If it wasnt for the unpredictable spice level I would probably want to order everyday!