Punda Tibetan Restaurant

Incredible place. The staff and chef were so kind to us from start to finish. We ordered the Momo and a spicy chicken dish. The Momo was fresh and was the perfect blend of flavors. The chicken dish (I forget the name) was spicy and the mixed vegetable were cooked perfectly. It was one of the best meals I’ve had in awhile!

Food came out on time, service was great although it was hard for the waitress to understand us but that makes the place that more authentic! I love supporting local businesses when the service and food are great and these have both. They redeemed my Unilocal check in free dessert offer which was ice cream that had pistachio nuts in it and was tasty and topped off our meal splendidly.
I had chicken curry that didn’t come with rice but was very tasty and rich in flavor. And the momo were small but came in a big quantity and still tasty.

Nice tibetan restaurant in the neighborhood. Has a nice patio at the back for warm weathers which is perfect. Love their momos, especially steamed momos are my fav here. I also love their beef Thukpa. Would definitely recommend it. Always a nice spot to stop by for some good momos.

The food is fantastic and the service is amazing. The patio out back is a great spot to enjoy an evening.

Very good momos (they are traditionally only served with hot sauce) no dipping sauce. Chicken, tofu, beef, vegetable momos. Only wish they had yak! Their tingmo (steamed bread) is very good as is their chicken soup. Most dishes are very spicy, but if you ask for mild it will be very mild (even bland) which I needed when my stomach was precarious.
If you order a dish, it comes with either rice or tingmo not both. Order extra tingmo you’ll wish you had. Hoping to try more dishes soon.

I have to say that the food here is good. It definitely does not compare to the amazing Tibetan restaurants in Jackson Heights and I suggest a trip out there to try some of the restaurants there before settling for this one. The service was ok and the staff was friendly. One thing that lost me on this place was their poorly written «cash only» option in front of their door. It wasn’t clear enough at all before in and I had no cash w me. I am not really a fan of restaurants that have cash as their only payment options and unfortunately I did not realize this after I ate and was paying. I had to go out to the nearest ATM and get cash paying an unnecessary 3 dollar fee. I guess my point is that If they would have made their cash only sign clearer, it wouldn’t have been so inconvenient.

Went here because of the Unilocal reviews, was definitely disappointed. I ordered the chai tea, beef momo, and the biryani. Chai tea and biryani were okay. The yogurt sauce was a lot more watery then traditional Indian biryani sauce. The momo were not very good. Something was off about their taste and they were dry to the point of being crispy, and not in a good way. The side salad that came with them was a little brown too. I think the quality has either gone down since the other Unilocalers came here, that or the quality drops during the winter time. I really want to root for them since their a small business in the city, but they really need to improve on the flavor and textures of their food. I will say that the prices were nice, my table ordered five dishes total, plus drinks and it was only $ 37.

Punda is a super solid option for those who don’t want to go to Jackson Heights — the mecca of Nepalese/​Tibetan/​Himalayan food (Lali Guras and AMDO Kitchen are the best). The momo is quite good although not as soupy as those served at the AMDO Kitchen truck. The paneer chili is rich, spicy, and pretty damn oily — much to my liking. The prices are definitely very reasonable even for Sunnyside.
The outdoor seating makes this place unique — especially in the summer. That is something you will never get at a restaurant like this in Jackson Heights which is a noisier and busier neighborhood.

Delicious food and loved the Tibetan cuisine. Very attentive service as well.

It really makes me upset to give such a low rating. I was going to give this 2 stars but gave it 3 because the food — is actually good.
The service was terrible. The hostess was not attentive and the waiter didn’t seem like he knew what he was doing. It took such a long time to get someone to come for us to place to order, when we wanted to order more drinks/​food — took us forever to get someone’s attention and have them come back to us. The waiter DID NOT CLEAR OUR PLATES!!! We literally stacked them up and put them to the side because there were so many and it was getting in our way!!!
We wanted to order desert and they said that none of them were available. Wouldn’t you think to tell someone this when they first sit down???
Took us forever to get someone to give us the check (what a surprise? NOT)
With the food that we ordered, it was good — maybe we just came at a bad day… Maybe we’ll try this place again in the future.
Establishments really underestimate how important customer service is, it can make or break you.
PS. Cash only

Great food. The bread, tingmo, was the best and oatmeal icecream was delicious. I am in love with the icecream.

I am so happy to finally see a great Tibetan restaurant in Sunnyside. This place is a hidden gem and the food here is delicious. The Kotie pan fried momo was yummy along with chowmein, Alu Ping Sha, steamed Buns, chilly chicken, and chicken Lollipop.
The price is very reasonable and the service and quality is high. They have an amazing patio out back. Check out pix.
Checked in Unilocal and got a delicious home made oat meal ice cream. Check pix.
My new Tibetan spot in queens!

Incredibly delicious and flavorful food! I especially love the stews (beef thentuk is my jam!) and the Tingmo bun. The only thing is that the delivery takes a REALLY long time — like an hour — and I feel bad saying it because it’s always this very sweet older gentleman who comes and bring the food!!! Other than that, this place is great food for a great price.

Don’t be scared off by the somewhat bizarre banner wishing George W Bush and the Dalai Lama a happy birthday. This place is well worth a visit.
We had the veggie momos, Chinese bhel, dal, and tofupalak. All were excellent, especially with the house hot sauce. We also ordered the ghabra, a whole wheat pancake of sorts, on the side which went nicely with the dal.
Compared to other Tibetan restaurants I’ve been to they have much more vegetarian variety, which includes Indian, indochinese, Nepali, and east Tibetan specialities which I’ve never seen elsewhere.
Super nice patio, helpful staff, and nice environment. I’ll definitely be back!

With heavy heart I have to say this is the worst Tibetan restaurant I have been to in NYC. I should emphasize that I have been to almost every single Tibetan restaurants in NYC (Manhattan & Queens).
Tibetan restaurants are known for their momos (Tibetan dumplings, very different from Chinese) and frankly the main reason I go to Tibetan restaurant. Their momos were not fresh. They very likely heated up precooked momo in a microwave because the cover was dry and no soup in the momos.
I also got a fried beef dish and I specifically requested if they can make it spicy (usually this dish is spicy and I just wanted to make sure). The waiter said yes and brought a tasteless dish with no spices of any kind.
This place is a huge disappointment.

There’s been a number of Tibetan places opening lately, all of which I think are good.
However, this little spot tucked away on 47^th Ave is by far the best of them all. It’s not just the best Tibetan place, but arguably one of the BEST restaurants I’ve been to in all Queens.
I’ve been here three times so far, and everything so far has been spectacular: Fresh, SPICY (I’m forewarning you!) and you can truly taste this chef’s mastery of the different spices. Two dishes though that really speak out to me were the spicy prawn — HUGE prawns expertly cooked and served — yes — SPICY and the Langsha Jintsel (beef with celery) which — I KNOW celery right??? Well, it was a hot day and this dish was surprisingly tasty and very refreshing. I never thought I’d recommend celery so highly! haha!
The only dish that comes to mind as disappointing was the «Indian» chicken butter masala. Not that it was bad mind you, its just that in comparison to everything else it was only «meh». At pretty much any other restaurant it would be considered good.
If you had been to the place that was before Punda, you know that the current décor is a huge upgrade. It’s not incredibly fancy but clean and nice. The best though is the darling backyard where you can go to enjoy your tingmo and curries!

Nunca habia comido tibetan food pero me encanto mucho en especial chilli chiken and veg momo. Recomendaria a cualquier persona este luger.

Excellent dinner with a nice deck in back for warm nights. Had the pork dumplings which were truly excellent, the chicken satay which was kind of standard fare, and the Shabtak which was by far the best dish and served with a Tibetan Steamed Bun to help soak up the spicy sauce. And at the end of the meal, a small scoop of ice cream to cleanse the palate and give voice to your sweet tooth. Very attentive service, too.
Overall, a great place.

Came here for my partner’s birthday on a warm weekday evening. He read the great review in the New York Times and wanted to try it since we live nearby. We sat in the patio and felt as if we were in our own back yard — clean and comfortable and quiet!
The service? Impeccable! Polite and attentive.
The food? Even better! As we are both vegetarians and share all dishes, we always scope out the restaurant menu before we eat out to make sure it’s not only vegetarian friendly but creative and interesting.
Since there is a separate section for vegetarian food it was easy to order. We ate Paneer Chilly — very spice and flavorful; Vegetable Pakora — my favorite — amazing! Vegetable Thenthuk soup was a bit bland and Mapu Tofu — wow!!!
And to finish — homemade strawberry ice cream gratis.
Thank you!

Very authentic food! Loved the ice-​cream surprise in the end!

Interesting place. I ended up checking it out since it was the only place open late Sunday night.
The restaurant is a bit stuffy and there doesn’t seem to be any AC or fans, so it was a bit uncomfortable.
The food was pretty good and definitely feels like a mix of Chinese and Indian — they seem to have both on the menu.
The presentation is probably their strongest point. They must spend a long time cutting up veggies into different flowers for garnish.
I’ve never had Tibetan food before, but the flavors were interesting.
We ordered a bunch of apps and a main course. Prices were really great.
Everything on the menu is under $ 10 and portions are on the smaller side, so I’d definitely enjoy this place tapas style.
I HIGHLY recommend just getting all the fried chicken apps your first time here.
The chicken lollipops were amazing. Only downside was there was no real dipping sauce.
They do have a «signature» chili/​hot sauce but I didn’t like it too much. The taste was a bit floral.
The chili shrimp was pretty good too. Very much like a Chinese dish, where the shrimp was cooked in a chili based sauce with sauteed veggies.
We also tried the Syabhaley — Tibetan style empanadas. They were alright but the inside was absolutely hot like molten lava. This was served with their chili sauce again.
Entrees come with rice or «tingmo». Tingmo is a steamed bun, and looks/​tastes like the inside of a dinner roll if it had no crust on it. Not bad but you’ll end up dipping it in whatever sauces you have. The rice portion was also huge. Flavor was pretty standard.
Also tried the Shabtok entrée. It was basically a Chinese style beef stir fry. It was pretty decent and the flavor was very familiar.
Their signature «Shake» was alright and tasted like almond milk. Downside was that it was served room temperature and would have been way better blended with ice.
I would definitely come back and try more meat dishes.