Jackson Diner

The overall place had a nice set up if you like being hidden in the booths. Yeah we had to flag down the waiter a few times but it was busy so i let that one slide. The décor has very simple but i have a peeve about dirty dishes openly dislayed in the hallway leading to the bathroom. It was set to the side but safety first.
Now to the food. Dont get me wrong… it was not terrible by any means. I feel that if there was any way to introduce my husband and son to what they would consider «exotic food» this place was a good start. I personally love trying new places and new things and i want my loved ones to enjoy it with me. Unfortunately they cant handle anything spicy. Which is why this place was good for them. The chicken tikka was very mild, the rice just managed to compliment the tikka. The saving grace was the naan (which was incorrecrly spelled in their menu. tsk tsk).
As for me. as i mentioned earlier it wasnt bad. The issue: i have HAD authentic indian food. I would consider this place a good starter for people who are picky eaters. It will not overwhelm with spice and is easy on the tummy. In my opinion the naan shouldnt be dripping with grease and the chicken tandoori was not given enough attention and came out a little dry. But again… a good place for an introduction to indian food.

This was my go to place for a great Indian lunch but after the horrendous service I got today I will think twice before returning. The buffet is awesome but I was basically ignored through my whole meal. Tables around me received water and naan while I just kept getting walked past by every waiter in the place. I even had to get up and go to the bar to get my bill and pay cause no one would come to the table at all. I would be more understanding if the place was packed but there were maybe 7 tables worth of people in there at the time. Great food but horrible service.

Basically, the only Indian buffet anywhere near Union Square. Comes with fresh naan. The tandoori chicken is great.

Delicious lunch buffet. I love coming here to get my Indian food fix. The masala chicken is just the right amount of spicy and has always been tender and never overcooked when I’ve eaten here. Great quality of food for the price. The buffet is 12 to 15 dollars per person with tip. Service is pretty good too.

My biggest complaint about this place was the service. I found it to be slow and inattentive, despite not being too full. Getting refills on the naan and water took longer than it should have and always had to be pointed out to the waiters. They never took the initiative themselves to do so.
In terms of the food, the selection for the lunch buffet wasn’t very impressive. While they did have a few options, it did feel lacking when compared to prior experiences with Indian lunch buffets. However, $ 12 per person is a very good price.
Overall, I don’t believe I would return. There are so many better overall restaurants nearby to choose from.

they’ve gotten their delivery straightened out and it’s great food and fast delivery. I order twice a week usually!

i come here once a year for a curry goat fix, nothing fancy, rather proletarian, delivers what is supposed to at the right price. very popular at lunch time i prefer the evening when it s less crowded. the mustard greens were very good and the king fisher super refreshing

My favorite Indian restaurant in NYC.

Haven’t tried the buffet but we enjoy dinner here when we’re in the neighborhood. It’s a laid-​back place with a relatively simple menu. We’ve never encountered a crowd on Sunday nights, so if it’s too busy right now, maybe it’s worth waiting til Sunday if you can hold out.

I came here with a few co-​workers last week to try their lunch buffet. I found this place to be ok. I’ve had better Indian food/​buffet style. Either a dish would have a lot of masala in it or none at all. The tandoori chicken is pretty good though. The chicken tikka masala felt like it was doused in masala. Not sure if I’ll come here again, if I do I’d probably only eat the tandoori chicken.

Do not come here for dinner. Ever.
Or plan to wait an hour.
Take out or lunch buffet.

I came here with a few accomplices, for fortnightly Stuff Your Face Like You Hate Yourself Day, after we discovered, sadly, that several other neighborhood spots had disabled their buffet feature (and one of them had markedly decreased the size of the «A» on their sign). We were relieved that Jackson Diner existed as a backup, and wasn’t lying about the existence of their buffet, like people often do in general.
The lunch buffet had two chicken, one goat, and four cooked vegetable dishes, plus salad and dessert. The meat was perfectly tender, and although the seasoning probably would have made Gordan Ramsay enter puke mode, it was good in my books. Their complimentary naan was as flawless as Jaime Lannister. Even better, they did not rush us, and refilled our water quickly during all four hours we were there, as if they could detect empty glasses in real-​time. The booths on the side are the perfect dining caves for your hunger squad.

Decent lunch buffet for 12 $ including naan. The service sucked though. I had to go knock on the back door after sitting for 20 minutes without water. Eek.

One of my to go Indian places. I tried the samosa chat for starters, and chana masala and chana sag. Everything was amazing.
This place is great for people who enjoy great flavor but can’t handle food that is too spicy. Also has a good selection for vegetarians to choose from.

Alright. So.
First of all, the server talked down to us the entire time. My friend and I, who are both obsessed with Indian food, ordered one of our favorite dishes, samosa chaat.
«Haha, do you know what that is?» the server asked, laughing, presumably at us.
Um, yes that’s why I ordered it. There’s also a handy description, but thank you for assuming that I can’t read.
Fast-​forward 45 minutes later, he brought out two samosas. «Excuse me, we ordered samosa chaat not regular samosas.»
«My apologies.» It took ANOTHER 30 minutes for the samosa chaat to come. And when it finally did, it was lukewarm and mediocre.
That was just the appetizer.
I don’t remember how long we waited for our main dishes, but man, it was a long time. Everyone else at the restaurant also seemed to have waited as long as we did. A man even got up and started yelling, «EXCUSE ME WHEN IS OUR FOOD COMING OUT WEVE BEEN WAITING A LONG TIME. ITS NOT LIKE THE RESTAURANT IS FULL OR ANYTHING.» He then went back to the kitchen (???) and also spoke to the manager.
Our food did eventually come to the table. It was fine. Nothing to rave about, nothing to warrant any disdain.
If it wasn’t for the AWFUL AWFUL service, I would give this place 3 stars. It’s decent Indian food, edible enough.
Please, save yourself and just go somewhere else.

I came in here yesterday for lunch with my aunt since her first choice actually closed for business. We had their buffet lunch.
Since my aunt is the vegetarian she stuck with the vegetarian options. I do like how it appeared that the meat dishes were separated from the vegetarian options so for vegetarians they didn’t have to be getting all tangled up with the omnivores or carnivores. I like the fact that even though it is a buffet, the naan is made to order.
I sampled the chicken curry, rice palao, the chicken curry, the tandoori chicken, the tandoori vegetables. I also took some the goat curry which was a bit of a surprise to see it as being included i the buffet. I took some of the boneless pieces of goat and they were tender. Everything tasted well seasoned but none of the food was too hot but I’m sure you can get some hot peppers or pepper sauce to make your food hotter.
For dessert they did include kheer, which is creamy rice pudding, in their buffet.

North Indian style buffet for lunch
Examples of things I had. Most of the dishes were not nearly as spiced as I would like but this is to be expected due to the area, kind of.
What I did not have: Meat dishes: tandoori chicken, goat curry, vegetarian dishes: tandoori vegetables (because who does this to vegetables/​they did not look appetizing)
Cabbage: No flavor, really dry, waste of food. 0.5
Sweet lassi: Good iteration, could have been a bit more sour 2.5
Veg bhalia/​Chana masala: Bhalia texture was proper, Channa masala needed more
spice. Bhalia, 4.0, Chana, 3.0, so, 3.5
Kheer: Solid iteration. 3.5
Mattar panner: Peas and Cheese were both excellent, a lot of flavor. 3.75
Naan: Excellent and free. A bit buttery but it is better this than being cold and good for buffet. 4.25
Curry pakora: Best dish, Pakoras and the curry were both highly flavored. I went back for seconds of this more than anything. 5.0, especially for buffet. I’d go back here for this alone.
Solid food. I could round it down due to one of the servers but I won’t as it was solid buffet food and the Curry pakora was EXCELLENT.

Recently came here to dine-​in with my man and we both enjoyed our food, although I found this outpost of the well known Jackson Heights’ eatery to be disappointing.
The Manhattan Jackson Diner occupies prime real estate just steps from Union Square. While clearly a lot of attention and money has been thrown into location, not much effort has been put into the ambiance and décor. The restaurant looks sort of run-​down and dreary and it lacks character. Also, even though it was a bit early for dinner, the place was virtually empty. It was a Saturday evening in one of the busiest parts of town and we were the sole diners in this large restaurant.
I ordered Saag Paneer and a margarita and my man ordered tandoori chicken and a bread basket for us to share. The food was quite tasty — the tandoori was moist and juicy and the saag paneer tasted fresh and flavorful, but the menu was lacking in selection or originality. Same shit, different toilet The margarita was surprisingly quite good– it was really strong and I felt pretty buzzed after just one.
Overall, it was a decent, reasonably priced, tasty meal but nothing overly special.

Really good lunch buffet for a fair price. $ 12 for the AYCE indian food buffet. Tandori chicken is great, saag paneer too. They had a good assortment of veggie only dishes that were pretty tasty. Chicken Tikka Masala was a little bland, but when you are making it buffet style you can’t make it too spicy. AYCE comes with free naan.
The place itself is very weird. I walk by this restaurant frequently and notice that during lunch hours (when the buffet is going on) it is packed. If you come back around dinner time however, it it completely empty. So skip here for dinner and come by for lunch if you are in the area.

I work right by this location, have frequented the original one in Jackson Heights, and thought to myself: what better way to laze out and enjoy India’s independence day than by getting take out from Jackson Diner?
Now, I know that they have an all you can eat lunch buffet for $ 11, which is nice and affordable, but be warned, for takeout it can get pricy. Especially for takeout.
I ordered through Grub Hub and got:
Mixed bread basket (good bread!)
Curry Chicken (2 kinds)
Samosa
Rice
That came up to $ 50. So if you aren’t willing to dole out that kind of money, be warned.
The food was good – tasty, could have been spicier (I asked for a dish to be made spicy, they didn’t do that), but overall very good. I’d go back for lunch sometime (if I don’t have to go back to bed, because I would just stuff myself, ha!)