Rangoli, Auburn Hills, MI

www.detroitrangoli.com
Walton Village Plaza Shopping Center, 3055 E Walton Blvd, Auburn Hills, MI 48326
(248) 377-3800

Weekday lunch buffet - 5/10 average overall, although the shrikhand (yogurt based dessert) was nice.

Zaike lamb chops - 8/10. well made, marinated and juicy. Some pieces were a bit stretchy (chewy) though, but overall tasted good

Hyderabadi chicken biryani - 6/10. Not much Hyderabad to it. Wasnt spicy, but that is subjective. It did have a dominant taste of a mix of cumin seeds and perhaps coriander/mint, which did not help the flavor.

Singh's Cafe, Wellesley MA

http://www.singhscafe.com/
312 Washington St, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481

(781) 235-1666

Good spread in the lunch buffet, and an overall 7/10. The buffet features a 'tawa' with different types of food on it.
 

Madras Grill, Chelmsford MA

Madras Grill. Good food & decor, to sum it up.  New Indian restaurant in Chelmsford, MA.

Update Feb 2012:

Karaikudi Chicken - 9/10.
Ask the chef to make it semi-dry (and spicy if desired). Very flavorful gravy, soft juicy chicken.
Description: A delicacy from the southern region called chettinadu, bone in chicken cooked with some distinct ingredients such as poppy seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds that give a very special aroma to the curry.

Mirapakaya Kodi Kura Chicken - 9/10.
Cooked similar to the Karaikudi Chicken above, but different flavor (Andhra style). Having it semi-dry doesnt dilute the tasty gravy.
Description: A spicy andhra bone in chicken dish cooked with green chillis and home ground south indian spicy masala.


From the buffet:

Chilli chicken - 8/10. Not too spicy, dry (good), not messed up with bell peppers or gravy (good).

Chicken tikka masala - 8/10. Very soft and juicy chicken, almost the 'melt in your mouth' kinds.

Chicken tandoori - 7/10. Better than the usual, well marinated, but by the time you get half way through the meat, the marination wears off... and you are back to 'white meat'.

Chicken with black pepper and hint of coconut (I forget the name) - 7/10. Tasty. Nice gravy.

Naan - nice thin fresh ones.

Filter coffee - decent. The real deal (not machine made). Could be a bit stronger.

Carrot halwa & sooji halwa - nice.

The veggie food was generally good too. The (moong-daal?) dosa with potato stuffing, that comes with the buffet, was ok, and so was the zucchini mixed vegetable.

Recommended overall.

Lunch buffet on all days, $9.95 M-F, $12.95 S-S. Menu looks interesting too, but a bit pricey.

7 Summer Street
Chelmsford, MA - 01824
Phone : (978) 330-5133

Email : info@themadrasgrill.com

Punjab, Arlington MA

Punjab - punjabarlington.com
485 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington - (781) 643-0943

Update 4/9/09
Tandoori chicken - 6/10. Juicy, with a good coating of masala, but still not enough to get into the meat. It was fresh, on insistence that they make it well.
Chicken curry - 6/10. Rich, above average hot, on demand.

Lamb seekh kabab - good flavor - 7/10
Goat curry - tasty, although the gravy was a bit rich and on the sweeter side (probably because of the long fried 'caramelized-like' onions). 7/10
Fresh naan - 7/10 (when we ordered from the menu)

Order more - the above meal (with 3 naans/rice) wasnt enough for 2 guys.
Nice ambience. They have a buffet too.

Pongal, Billerica MA

Pongal, 786 Boston Rd Billerica, MA 01821
(978) 667-3443

Update 4/25/10

By far the best Indian restaurant this side of town! It also has a good selection of Indo-Chinese food.

Chilli paneer dry - 8/10. Very good, well made, comes very close to the Indian Chinese style, probably without much MSG

Chilli chicken dry - 8/10. ditto. The real deal, not adulterated by green peppers and such, although it has onions (the Indian one is just green chillies and chicken)

Chicken chettinad - 8/10. Very tasty and flavorful. It didn't feel like chicken thrown in some standard gravy, as we also ordered veggie chettinad. The chicken was juicy and prepared well.

Vegetable chettinad - 7/10. Good stuff.

Lamb seekh kabab - 7/10. This one was a bit disappointing, given the other good food and expectations, but not bad nonetheless. Could have been a bit more moist and flavorful.

Overall, this is the place to goto if you are in the Northwest area.

Update 1/1/10

The weekend buffet is good, 7/10 on average.

They have a good mix of veg and non veg. Their tandoori chicken is much better than the average fare elsewhere. Its well marinated.

Goat curry - 7/10

Lamb biryani - 7/10

Naan - 7/10

Chicken tikka - 7/10

One of the best in the area.

This restaurant replaced Masala. The decor is better, but the food is average.
Update 4/9/09Heard from many foodies that the buffet is much better on weekends.

Buffet included:
Tandoori chicken - 5/10
Chicken tikka masala - 5/10 - the chicken pieces were dry and the gravy as usual
Lamb meat balls - 6/10 - nice flavor, but the gravy could have been better - the ingridients and spices werent well mixed in, which left the gravy chunky (much like an amateur cook - how most bachelors cook at home :)
Ginger chicken - 5/10
Bhindi (okra) entree - undercooked okra
Garlic naan - 6/10 (was fresh and served as part of the buffet)
Service was slow.

Kebab Indian Cuisine

Kebab Indian Cuisine, (978) 454-7777
1270 Westford St. (Drum Hill RD.), Lowell MA 01851

Nice place, new. Daily buffet, including weekends. Buffet generally has 4 non veg entrees and a similar veg variety. Nice dessert (kheer or gulab jamun).

Update Sep 2008
Goat curry - 7/10. Tasty, with rich gravy. However, the pieces were a bit dry, and the aroma of "goat" :) was missing from the overall entree.

Update 3/26/08
Butter chicken - 6/10
Chicken Aachari - 6/10
Chicken curry - 5.5/10
Chicken seekh kabab - 6.5/10

They also had a nice 'vaghare baigan' (eggplant in rich curry sauce). They seem to be always out of lamb seekh kabab, so call ahead.

3/2/08
Buffet - 6.5/10

Tandoori combo platter was some nice and some average. It has
Tandoori chicken - 6/10
chicken tikka - 6/10
boti kebab - 5/10

They also had a shoe-lace-fluorescent-green dry paneer dish - I forget the name - Paneer hariyali/kofta (paneer with spinach covering) maybe - which was useless and tasteless (despite asking for spicy) - 4/10.

Bollywood Grill

Bollywood Grill
350 Winthrop Ave, North Andover, MA - (978) 689-7800

Average buffet (weekends only). Had 3 non-veg dishes.
Chicken kofta - 5/10
Tandoori chicken - usual fare 5/10
Prawn curry - was over salty and stank a bit 4/10.
The vegetarian stuff was nothing to write home about either.

I have heard that the kali mirch ke tikke is nice here.

Minerva

Minerva Indian Cuisine
500 Boston Providence Tpk (Rte 1 North), Norwood, MA 02062
Tel: (781) 551-9797

Good food overall. New restaurant. They have a buffet on all 7 days. Better variety than the average Indian buffet. Courteous folks. The place has a nice Andhra flavor to the food.

Shrimp fry - 7.5/10. Good stuff. Dry, kind of like shrimp manchurian with chillies and onion. I wish the shrimp pieces were a bit bigger though (it was chopped up). Nicely spiced, well done masala.
Lamb curry - 6.5/10. Nicer than the average fare. Tasty.
Goat biryani - 7/10. Welcome sight to see biryani in a buffet. The goat pieces could have been a bit more moist. But thats nitpicking now. :)
Chicken curry - 6/10. Better than average.
Naan - 7/10. Thin crispy naan, almost bite sized, fresh. Not the half raw, half cold stuff you get on average.
Tandoori chicken - 6/10. Better than usual.
Mushroom curry - 6/10. Tasty, different, but the curry was a bit dilute.
Palak paneer - 5/10. Ok.
Gulab jamun - 7/10. Very nice. Soft, no lumpy core, not overly sweet.

Mantra

Mantra
52 Temple Pl, Boston, MA
(617) 542-8111

Update 1/1/10

Custom ordered a few items from the menu (vs the lunch buffet)

Goat curry - 7/10, made well if you tell them exactly what you want and how you want it

Lamb boti kabab - be very specific on how you want it, they made it well, twice 7/10, and messed it up bad, once 4/10

Lamb seekh kabab - 7/10

Naan - specifically asked for the freshest ones from the tandoor and they obliged. 6/10. They could have been a bit fluffier.

The ambience of this place is worth mentioning. Mentioned. Decorated differently than the usual rows of chairs and tables.
They are a Indian buffet place by day and a fusion food place by night (which I heard is better than the day food).
The weekday buffet had:
Tandoori chicken (with a mint - aka "pudina" - marinate) - 6.5/10. This one was marinated well, with the flavor well below the surface of the chicken, unlike most other restaurants. But the food was not even moderately hot (otherwise this would have been a 7/10)
Chicken tikka masala - 6/10. This was nice too. Tasty, but not hot.
Chicken biryani - 4/10. The biryani was not worth it. No taste, utterly bland. Not even spicy.
Naan - 6/10. They made fresh naans, thinner than the usual Indian naans (kind of like the thin crust pizza at Dominos).
Paneer tikka masala - 5/10. Average.
Rice kheer - 6/10. Nice.
Heard that their vegetable "pakodas" (deep fried dumplings) were slightly on the raw side. They did make fresh "aaloo tikkis" onsite. They were ok.
Definitely better than the nearby Tantric Bar & Grill restaurant.

Mysore Veggie
1689 Middlesex St, Lowell, MA
(978) 452-8700

South Indian vegetarian restaurant, along with the usual North Indian cuisine too. They have some fusion dishes too (I still havnt come across a properly "fused" fusion restaurant - they all seem to be lost in translation). I prefer the Udipi next door (almost).
The food was ok - idli/sambar, and some multi-vegetable uttapam. 5/10
They have a Sunday lunch buffet.

Bombay Club
57 Jfk St, Cambridge, MA
(617) 661-8100

They have a variety in the buffet - freshly made dosas (nice), chat and the usual buffet spread - tandoori chicken (5/10, 1/2 mm problem), some vegetarian food thats on the richer side (ok).
Unfortunately, the food is barely above average.

Bombay Mahal Restaurant
45 Middle St, Lowell, MA
(978) 441-2222

They have nice "samosa chat" (although the chana in it should have more taste). Make sure to pick it up fresh (it gets soggy if it sits too long) - 6/10
The buffet is average. 5/10

Indian Village - closed.
Sun Plaza, Nashua, NH
603-891-1140
Directly across from the Pheasant Lane Mall

Rich food (creamy, oily, but in a good way, with taste), better than average buffet - 6/10

Tandoor chicken had the usual 1/2 mm problem.

Update: the place closed.

Bangalore Club - closed.
14 Thompson St, Winchester, MA 01890
(781) 721-2582

Tried the buffet, but it was pretty useless. Walked out of the place. Didnt have much variety either. 3/10

Update: the place closed.

Ajanta
145 First Street, Cambridge, MA
(617) 491-0075

Average buffet - 5/10.
They serve Dosa in their buffet sometimes, which is nice.

Moghul, Iselin, NJ
1655 Oak Tree Rd # 195, Edison, NJ (732) 549-5050

Buffet - 6/10 - above average buffet.
I have heard from the locals that their entrees are much better, but they dont serve from the menu when they have the buffet. The locals also claim that Ming is the best general restaurant in the Oak Tree Rd vicinity (Iselin, Edison area)

Indian Village, Billerica, MA
279 Boston Rd, North Billerica, MA (978) 670-0001

Buffet - 6/10. Some buffet dishes are above the average fare dished out at restaurants (the lamb curry for example).
From the menu:
Chilli paneer (wet) - 4/10. Yuck. The paneer tasted like tofu (its not supposed to, normally).
Chicken tikka masala - 4/10. Chicken in McDonalds is better. Maybe it was just the day, but both these dishes were unedibly bad. You have to try hard to mess up CTM, but they did it.

India Palace, Chelmsford, MA
313 Littleton Rd, Chelmsford, MA (978) 244-1235

Chilli paneer (dry) - 6/10. My wife gave it a 8/10.
Its an appetizer, so you can eat a couple. Its not the kind you get in India (the ones with MSG :), but American Indian instead. Its still better than the wet chilli paneers that many restaurants serve.
Their buffet is average - 5/10.

Bombay Mahal in Waltham, MA
458 Moody St, Waltham, MA 02453 (781) 893-9988

The best goat curry in the Boston area. (Credit for this find goes to a close friend, also a trusted authority on good food)
Goat curry: 8/10. They dont have it daily, so call ahead.
The daily buffet is average - 5/10