Serena Restaurant

I ordered fried shrimp which was raw, Lamb chops were really uncooked, I give only one star for this restaurant their should be ratings for customer service I rate them 5.

I ordered: 1 Chicken manchurian, 1 Nihari, 1Chicken fried rice, and 3 naans. I loved the food. It was absolutely amazing. I haven’t had food like this in a while, truly reminds you of the original taste in Pakistan. Love the food and will definitely keep coming here in the future.

Amazing halwa puri on Devon; the buffet includes biryani, pai (feet) and some other accoutrements but nothing memorable except the halwa puri. I am currently residing in LA but Devon Ave in Chicago is my only option for great Pakistani food. Serena is good, but could be better for Sunday Brunch.
The service is okay, but nothing to rave about as men just stand around until you ask them to come and help you. They do not do it the other way around.
I would go back since I enjoy Sunday Halwa Puris with my family. It’s the best time to unwind as well.

Went here Sunday asked for menus they kept pushing buffet. The service was awful. The food was the worst. We ordered chef special fried rice, chicken noodles and chicken curry. The chef special was the worst. It was dried rice with leather like beef pieces and my wife thought the food had a smell where it may have gone bad. We did not eat the chef special. The chicken noodles were little better but not by much and chicken curry felt like diced tomatoes thrown in with Shan masala and chicken pieces that were any thing but thighs, legs or Brest of chicken. We were at this place two years ago and had chicken tikka and it seemed it was left over from previous day. we wanted to give them another chance and we regretted that decision. They had the second chance never going back.

Interesting place, I wanted to check out some other restaurants on Devon Ave so we came here. The serve Indian, Pakistani, and Chinese food, so that’s an interesting combination right there. However our waiter said on Wednesdays they don’t serve Chinese. The food was good I got Nehari, plain rice and Garlic naan and my friend ordered Aloo Palak. We were both satisfied we thought the food was fine. The place was quiet and clean however I can only give them 3 stars because our service was pretty slow for a place that wasn’t really that packed. But I would come back.

Horrible service and mediocre food. I had Serena for take out before and it was fairly good. I wanted to try a Zabiha Halal place with my family. I went in with my family again and tried something from the Chinese menu. Found hair in my food. The Chinese fried rice is NOT what you think it is. It’s more bland rice with pieces of chicken — nothing else. Wait staff didn’t come by once. We had to ask for water. I asked for tea — never came. When I tried to cancel my tea order because we were done eating the waiter argued back and was rude! Still had to pay for the rice dish in which I found hair. I didn’t try the buffet but if you sit with a group who do get it, the wait staff will keep an eye on you like a hawk. I think the staff needs to be trained on manners and no one should have to pay for food that had hair in it. I’ve had better. Never going back.

Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this place. The service was bad, took 15 minutes for someone to come and take our order. The orange chicken was very bland and had no flavor. The chilli chicken smelled and tasted like spoiled meat! We had to throw the entrée out as it was not edible. I’d rather discard it than to risk getting sick.
Do yourself a favor and go to usmania Chinese, at least they don’t serve spoiled meat to their customers.

I keep coming back to Serena. It seems odd to me that there are so many bad reviews here. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d say it’s the competition. But it happens. Anyway, I am a VERY picky eater. I find most desi restaurants deeply unsatisfying. Not Serena. It is VERY rare for me to find a good chicken karahi. Most Indian restaurants serve me chicken curry when I order karahi. Only the Pakistani restaurants even approximate a proper karahi and Serena is one of the rare ones that does a good job. Weekend brunch is wonderful. Tandoori (which I usually don’t like much) is really good. Biryani is very good. The prices I’m not a huge fan of, but at least they give you something on the side.
I am beginning to wonder about fake reviews on Unilocal.I keep finding rave reviews about rubbish restaurants, and a ton of people trashing good places.

The Best Indian food on Devon … Tried almost all the restaurants on Devon.
The owner/​chef doesn’t talk a lot But lets his food does the talking The portions are Huge. The quality of ingredients-​super. I am eating the food prepared by Aslam since his days as part-​owner/​chef of Usmania.
Kheer, Frontier Chicken and Chole are my staple entries… I tried almost all, including Chinese dishes. Over the years I think the taste and quality remains the same.
Restaurants without liquor license has already cut their revenues in half. Still keeping up with the competition and stay competitive takes a lot.

They don’t deserve even a 1 star. The meats are extremely unclean. I found a film on top of their chicken which forms when the meats is not washed and sits uncleared for Long time. The food tastes horrible! I wouldn’t trust their food! In fact I think this place should be closed down.

We wanted to try a new place for buffet on Devon Ave last week. Serena was able to take our reservation over the phone (it gets full on weekends). Snack items were bland. Dinner items were fine. The Nihari, was good. Dessert was something unusal that they labeled doodh dulari, basically falooda noodles with gulab jamun! The gulab jamun tasted good though. They had one Chinese item, which was manchurian, it was good. Chai was good. Staff was inattentive, as is expected in a buffet. But the layout was very inconvenient — to get to plates or move around. It was very over-​crowded meaning you can not move out of your chair once you are in, without asking the people around other tables to move out of the way (and they move in an inch). The restroom were clean and the interior décor was better than most places on Devon Ave. I might go back to try ala carte on a less busier day. Their Indo/​Chinese menu seemed worth another try.

Awesome food and service. Revamped their food and service. I highly recommend this restaurant to any one. If you were here last year, it is worth a shot as they have done a lot to better their service and food.

One of My Favorite Restaurant On Devon Avenue. Mr. Aslam Owner Of this Restaurant is Such a Kind Heart Person and very Friendly. He is Also Such a Great Chief Ever.

I don’t eat on Devon because I am fortunate enough to have home cooked Pakistani meals, but the buffet offerings at Serena are a great deal. Great value with pretty good food, clean restaurant and polite servers. The fried chicken and halwa puri will keep me coming back here.

My experience at this restaurant was not good at all. There was bug in our chicken corn soup. There was no salt at all in the fried rice and the tandoori chicken was worthless. To add to this the service was horrible, the waiter/​owner told us to wait repeatedly when we asked for things like ice or pop. I would not recommend this place at all.

I dont understand why this place only has 2.5 stars. I’ve been there several times with family and have loved this place everytime! Never disappointed.
They had some bomb brain masala which is hard to find. Also if you like chinese food then try their sesame chicken… sooooo good!

Worst restaurant ever!
I was here in hopes of satisfying my craving for desi food (Indian/​Pakistani). The staff didn’t seem as welcoming as one would expect, but thats not uncommon on Devon Ave restaurants. We were were asked yo take any table we like and we did. We waiting to see if a waiter would bring us the menu but apparently they don’t care for customers who might want to oder from the menu instead of the buffet spread.
Hungry and without any hope of being waited upon, we decided to try the buffet. The got some kind of chicken dish and chole to go with naan and puri. They didn’t have any labels displayed making it hard for non-​desi folks to figure out what to eat. As expected, everything on the buffet menu sucked!
We asked our waiter who btw was brand new in the restaurant for the menu. Ordered Palak Paneer and Tandoori Chicken, which is usually part of the buffet menu in most desi restaurants. After around 10 minutes the we heard the waiters having long discussions and our new waiter came back to us apologizing and letting us know that they are out of paneer. Mind you this was in Devon Ave., the headquarters for Indian-​Pakistani grocery. We were okay with substituting paneer with aloo (potatoes).
Tandoori chicken came out sooner than we expected and, no surprise here, it wasn’t cooked! However, the palak aloo is the only reason I’m taking this time to write a review. The serving spoon had pieces of tissue paper stuck on it. Upon complaining about it, the waiter informed the ‘management’ yet no manager was at our table to give an explanation. We decided to pay and leave.
When the waiter brought us the check, and the damage was $ 42. I gave my credit card and the guy says ‘sorry only cash’. When I asked him to show me signs in the restaurant that let customers know about their ‘cash only’ policy he says ‘no internet credit card machine not working’ and walks away answering his cell phone. I gave up on hopes to be treated as a customer, walked to an ATM, withdrew cash and paid the bill.
I did not get a receipt which makes me think they don’t really operate as a regular business and pay their share of taxes. I will never go back to this restaurant and strongly recommend others to stay away from this place.
Oh Btw, my girlfriend was sick for a couple of days after eating here.

OK, the place is nice and very spacious. I was actually impressed with the décor, and found it rather classy. Unfortunately, that’s where the positive comments stop. I went there on Sunday around 5:30PM and brought someone with me hoping to make an impression. Neither of us were impressed.
We started off with ordering pakoras. I love pakoras and she had never tried them. I didn’t see them on the menu and the server pointed them out. He even suggested getting the chicken pakoras. Ten minutes after our entrees arrived, I asked about the pakoras. He seemed confused about me ordering them, never mind him suggestion them. He said he’d get an order in right away. HOLD IT! The purpose of an appetizer is BEFORE, NOT AFTER the dinner. Considering we were the only people in the place, I really wasn’t pleased to hear this. A packed house, I can understand forgetting.
She had the chicken biryani. It was ok, but I can’t say the rice was really fresh. I had the karahi chicken, which was less than ok.
Considering the lunch buffet ended at 4PM, I’m pretty sure they gave us buffet leftovers. Here’s why:
* Fresh rice does not get hard after a few minutes of being made. I had an extra order of rice for my dish and noticed the same thing.
* Straight from the menu: Karahi Chicken: «Tender pieces of chicken in onion-​tomato sauce with a touch of ginger and chilies, cooked in a karahi.» Instead, they gave me chicken legs in the mix that tasted like they had been sitting out for a while. Chicken on a bone is NOT a tender «piece of chicken.» If it had said chicken on a bone, I would not have ordered it. Regardless of on the bone or not, it was not tender.
I’m being brutally honest. You are better off going to some of the other places. I’ve been to about 80% of the restaurants on Devon and Serena failed to impress. I don’t plan on going back. Devon is filled with a ton of restaurants and with Serena being new, you’d think they’d make an effort to compete with the other places. You have a classy place, why not make sure you are serving up the best dish? If you are trying to impress someone? Not the place to go to.

I ordered my food for delivery THREE HOURS AGO and STILL have not received it. Called the restaurant, its on the way, called grubhub, sorry its on the way, sending you an apologetic gift cert, thanks grub hub. Called restaurant AGAIN, still on the way… Skip this restaurant, for delivery at least.
super disappointed and now super hungry…

Serena Analysis —
— Place smelled like fresh paint, grossed me out
— Bathrooms were warm/​clean but garbage was not emptied out
— Menu had mix of Indian and Chinese Food
— Prices were higher than Anmol
— Ordered Mixed Platter (14.99) and Chicken Pakora (5.49 — 8 pieces)
— Did not like Pakoras AT ALL. More flour than chicken, and the chicken was not cooked well. Did not like the chutney that came with it also.
— Platter was a big hill of random stuff — chicken botis, chicken bone pieces, lamb chops (but looked like 2 bones with some meat), and reyshmi kabob was OK
— Tandoori naan was too thick… did not like it
Not impressed at all.