Punjabi Grill

If you want authentic Pakistani/​Indian food, this is the place for you. The ambiance and service aren’t terribly impressive — the servers are usually MIA, even though the place is always half empty — but the food is absolutely excellent. If you want your usual westernized-​sanitized-​mughalai fare (chicken tikka masala, anyone?) go somewhere else, But if you want hearty, authentic, everyday North Indian food, give this place a shot. Make sure you try the karahi chicken and the biryani (both of which are usually on the brunch buffet).

Poor poor food and infinitely worse service. I think the kitchen may do well to remember a key ingredient — spice, and the staff could use a lesson in being less lazy.

Hidden gem. Went for lunch buffet with a friend multiple times. Great if you like spicy food!

Absolutely the best south Asian food I’ve had in the boson area. Yes, the service
Is sketchy (hence only four stars) but the food was fantastic. We had Chicken Kahari, chicken ghost, and lamb sagwalla. All excellent.

Poor service. I am writing this review from the restaurant only. We are the only diners here and nobody bothers to ask of we need glass of water. They served the food and nobody came to ask if we need anything else. Spoilers.

Probably the best Indian food I’ve ever had. I went around 6:30 pm on Friday but nobody was in the restaurant except the friendly waiter. I was kind of worried the food might not be good since no one was eating, but I ordered the chicken curry and mango lassi anyways for a take-​out. When I opened the container, I was pleasantly surprised that it was filled as much as possible with the curry. The curry and the rice tasted really good and I enjoyed the fresh cilantro on top. It’s good for kids too because they offer different levels of spiciness.
I took away a star because it was pretty expensive, but I liked it a lot so I definitely want to revisit!

TL;DR, Best Indian food in Boston/​Cambridge area. Try the Goat Korma Biryani
I never had good Indian food in Boston/​Cambridge area, I am very picky when it comes to Indian food. I not only dislike, but hate the dish that most Indian restaurants call «Biryani», its not even close to biryani.
But Punjabi Grill, has THE AUTHENTIC Biryani as I have had it in different parts of India. It has the right spices, the right aroma and the meat (goat) is not hard to chew. I ordered from here reading a recommendation from one of my friends and boy he was right. I used Door Dash for delivery and I would be glad to pay $ 6 for delivery again for that quality of food.
Keep it up guys, you just earned a loyal customer!

Great food for an affordable price. The lunch buffet exceeded my expectations by including unlimited garlic and plain naan and veggie samosas in addition to all the other delicious entrees. I’m usually a chicken tikka masala person, but I found myself going for the beef Karahi and tandoori chicken the most. With aromatic and punchy flavors, the beef Karahi was one of my favorite dishes in the buffet.
For $ 8.95, this place had a great selection and good quality Indian cuisine. Definitely coming back!

Food: 4.0÷5.0
Service: 2.0÷5.0
Value: 2.5÷5.0
Décor: 2.5÷5.0
Overall: 3.5÷5.0
The service here is really slow and the restaurant has been near-​empty every single time I’ve been here for dinner. But what you give up in awkwardness, you get back nicely in the quality of food — call me crazy, but I like to overweight food tastiness when it comes to reviewing restaurants. The menu is generally very solid, though I’ve found most of the meat dishes and the biryanis particularly good. Have not been for the lunch buffet yet so no comment there.

Here’s a question: why was the place just about empty at lunchtime today?
The food here is definitely solid, and it’s far better than many of the other Indian places I’ve tried in Cambridge (except for Tanjore in Harvard Square which is also fantastic).
And for $ 8.95 for the weekday buffet and $ 10.95 for the weekend buffet, it’s a great deal.

If you look at the ratings below 5 stars, you will see that they all comment on the slow service. Not the quality of food.
This restaurant was my first exposure to Pakistani cuisine and i have since become obsessed. Each dish is incredible. And Im particularly taken with the chicken korma biryani and the beef haleem.
I insist that you go here and try these two dishes if nothing else, and i promise you wont ever stop dreaming about them. Get a side of naan, as you’ll want something to dip in the haleem. And then enjoy the best meal of your life. I promise you.
Also, yes, the service is slow. However, food like this takes time. So slip into a different pace for the night, bring good company, and enjoy the experience of having your taste buds spoiled beyond repair.

The food here is great. The waiters/​waitresses were courteous but they seemed too busy. The manager/​owner needs to just hire more help, perhaps more people would be interested in coming back without worrying about how long things take and how often water is refilled (important with spicy food)

Excellent and authentic Pakistani food. The chicken karahi is a favorite. The chicken saagwala and Nihari is also great. Haven’t had a bad meal here. The service could be better, it takes a long time to get your food and the staff is pretty unresponsive.

I love this place! I’ve luckily never had the abysmal service everyone else has. The service may be bad because it seems like they are understaffed. There’s only one waiter working on a Friday at 8 pm. Our waiter is great and he is working with 6 tables.
This is the only place that will serve you really spicy when you order really spicy.
I suggest trying the chicken biriyani korma and Bihari chicken kadai :)

Food: 4.5÷5
Service: ³⁄₅
I had the Chicken Korma and it was delicious! This was after an off-​putting experience of being ignored when I entered the restaurant.
I agree with another review that the food more than makes up for the service. Patience was well rewarded with great food.

This place isn’t perfect, but it’s by far the best option for indian/​Pakistani food in Davis or Porter. It’s much shabbier than Divas, but the food is much better. Also they offer samosas and garlic naan on the $ 8.95 lunch buffet. They keep their gulab jaman hot and their kheer cold. The chicken tikka masala is above average.
I highly advise the lunch buffet.

I must have walked by this place about two thousand times before finally venturing inside for the exceptionally well-​priced lunch buffet. It still baffles me that there rarely seems to be more than a couple other diners sharing the room at any given time, because the food here is quite tasty and again, the lunch buffet is a killer deal. Yes, the options are limited, but during each visit, I’ve had multiple helpings of the chicken tikka masala, coriander okra, and vegetable samosas. Consider this a hidden gem, and one of the last places for a decent cheap meal in Davis Square these days.

I ordered a samosa chaat, which was pretty average. I can’t speak too much to it because I waited a long time to eat it to be polite at the table while my dinner companions didn’t get their meals yet, so by the time I tried it was kind of sad already.
My partner ordered the meat platter. The meat was extremely salty and dry. It’s definitely meat overload, but he relied on it to be tasty without having any other sides. This dish was terrible and it wouldn’t have stood well with rice or something else either.
As for the service, it was kind of chaotic and impolite. I probably wouldn’t come back here. Boston is not short of good South Asian food, try something else.

This place is fantastic and may well be the best place for Indian in the Boston area. I normally use saag paneer as my baseline, and here it was absolutely fine… but completely outshone by the other dishes. The dal makhani and shahi navrattan korma were perfect, among the best I have ever had. The pakora could have been a touch spicier but the texture and mix of veggies was ideal. The raita was very pleasant.
I can’t rate the bread because gluten is my enemy, but my friends loved the naan.
We were here a bit on the early side and with my friends’ baby, who can, uh, act like a two year old. Service was great and I thought they did well with the baby. They gave him water in a plastic cup with a lid and a straw and were good about our various requests for a small plate and a bowl. The big down for coming here with a baby is that there are no changing tables in the bathroom.
There is TV, but it’s not obtrusive.
It is easy to get a gluten-​free meal here as long as you avoid the bread, samosa, and other things that normally have gluten in them. The pakora are safe. I had no trouble with any kind of kitchen contact issues. Getting a vegan meal would also be easy.
Overall, this was a fantastic dining experience and probably my new favorite in the Boston area.

Wow, seems like a hit job on this restaurant over the past month with multiple 1 star reviews. Ignore those folks who are completely discounting the quality of food!
The food here is delicious. Probably the best Indian /​Pakistani you can have in Boston metro area. If you like meat, this is the place for you. I’ve tried numerous Pakistani specialty dishes, takeout so far. The garlic tandoori chicken is the best!!!
Come here for the food and don’t stress about the slow service.