Diwana

I love this place.
They technically don’t deserve 5 stars as the service is atrocious at worst and clumsy at best.
The reminder that service is not included also always winds me up.
However — the food and price makes the above completely irrelevant to be honest. I’ve been for the buffet and an evening meal. Both are incredible. The Thali’s are amazing. The choice of fresh vegetable and vegetarian dishes at the buffet — also amazing.
I’d find it hard to believe anyone couldn’t enjoy the food here.
Bravo Diwana.

Stuck in a corner, we waited and waited for everything. The bhel puri was almost certainly made well in advance, as evinced by the soggy crunchies. The «deluxe» rava dosa was a mismatch of bland favors, made soggy by the plates they put on top of it. The raita was sweet and looked like grayish mayonnaise. Our home is surrounded by Indian restaurants and we have never tasted anything like the «coconut chutney” – not in a good way.
«I guess you’re not used to this kind of food,» said the patronizing waiter as he cleared the table. Actually, pal, I lived in Himachal Pradesh.

Drummond street is an London institution when it comes to Indian food. There are a number of established Indians restaurants that have been kicking it since the 80s, still value for money, and well worth a visit.
We hit up Diwana and We all got the thaali. And it was Great Gujarati thaali.
Great dhaal, good subsi. Authentic flavours. Puris were a bit dry, I don’t how they dropped the ball there. Good portion sizes. Would recommend.
The décor is straight forward study but comfy wooden furniture. We were served by the owner I presume and we had a good chat. Friendly sort. He had that clipped brusque manner in speech which could be construed as curt if you’re not clued into it. It’s a cultural thing, pay it no mind.
We came in at about 5 pm and it was pretty quiet so we were served very quickly.
I did not get to experience this (came too late in the day) but they have U.N.L.I.M.I.T.E.D. .T.H.A.L.I for £7 over lunch. Excellent!
Will be back, next time I’m in London with time to kill at Euston.

One of the worst restaurant experience I’ve had in London staff kept trying to overcharge us and then bullied us into leaving a large tip. Avoid at all costs

I went here w a few friends and wanted to be seated accordingly in order but they seated all the white customers before us??? And the food wasn’t even that good or authentic? I guess if you’re white u can eat here but tbh this place sucks

always good value indian vegetarian food here

I actually did the lunch buffet, which was very reasonably priced. There was a lot of very good flavors and tastes, and I discovered some things I really enjoyed! Service was eh.

Waited 15 minutes for a table on a Tuesday night.
During which time found the service to be rude, confrontational and dismissive — quite an impressive feat!
Walked out.
Apparently the Pooris are great.

Everyone said how good it was before we went, and none of them were even vegetarian! So that’s a pretty good sign. (cue foreshadowing music)
We all got a thali, and number 1 was vegan so that was great for me.
I’m not sure if this was an off night or what. We did come an hour before closing.
This was seriously the worst Indian food I’ve ever eaten. Bland, boring… how can Indian food have no flavor?! We all had nearly the same thing. My group found it average, but it was well below that.
I just… no.
Sorry! Never recommending you or going back!

The food and service are usually pretty good here but sadly not this time. I ordered the appetizer assortment and the samosa tasted as if it was on the verge of going off. The parata that came with the main course was hard and certainly didn’t taste as if it was freshly made.
This is not my typical experience at Diwana so perhaps they get sloppy near closing time. I got there pretty late.

Perhaps because it is vegetarian, this place ranks up there among the top ten Indian restaurants in London. There is a sumptuous buffet for lunch. Dinner menu has attractive dosas and thalis. The Diwana Thali is particularly good. Highly recommended for homesick Indian expats.

I met up with a friend here for lunch. Since I’m just around the corner and he’s near Euston, it seemed like a reasonable choice. It’s quite a small restaurant though, so just be prepared for that!
We looked at the menu, but all the lunch mains are around £7. And at lunch, there’s a buffet for £7, so it seemed like the obvious choice! So buffet it is! There’s a huge selection of food available on the buffet, so it’s really easy just to go nuts. However, since it’s lunch, I try to be reasonable, so I just went for tiny spoons of the things I wanted (although I did go back for tiny spoons of a few more things as well).
For me the highlights were the fried chilis. They were freaking amazing. Some of the curries are nice as well. And it’s all vegetarian, so you can at least delude yourself into thinking you’re eating healthy. There’s also a bit of dessert including fruit, gulab jamun (YUM) and some other weird gelatinous things (which were also tasty).
The service is a bit awful though, which is why I only give it three stars. I mean, it took about ten minutes for our drink to arrive. And all we ordered was a diet coke. And another table got really annoyed when they were ignored for awhile. Since the majority of people were only getting the buffet, there’s not really an excuse for the service, is there?

Where can you get a dosa after 11 at night? This place.
My friend and I were looking for vegetarian Indian after an event at the Wellcome Collection and stopped in. They told us they were out of food. We asked where we could get just a dosa, and he told us to wait right there. 2 minutes later, we were seated and ordering, and 10 minutes later had some awesomely delicious dosas with probably the best coconut chutney I’ve had.

If I could I would go to this place every day :) the joy of it being a veggie restaurant means I can eat any of the foods on offer without having to worry, although it does take a bit of getting used to when I’ve spent years choosing between the two veggie options in many restaurants, you always think «can I have this?».
The food is lovely, the buffet is a good option and they always have a good selection of indian dishes and sweets. There are non alcholic drinks to choose from or you are able to bring your own alcohol which makes it a non expensive meal.
The place is quite simple but the staff are always friendly and helpful whenever I have been (which is a fair few times!) If you are around the euston area I would definetly recommend checking it out! :)

Love this place! I come here pretty regularly with my husband or with friends — it’s one of our favourite places to eat in London.
The lunch buffet is the obvious draw at £6.95 for all you can eat (including a selection of fruits, pudding and Indian sweets for dessert). The buffet is usually pretty well-​stocked and typically includes a couple salads, a couple types of rice, daal, saag aloo, a fairly wide selection of vegetarian curries, and a selection of sides — poppadoms, pickle, bhajis etc.
If you miss the buffet and go at dinnertime, I’d highly recommend the thalis — excellent value for money and you get to taste a variety of dishes. The dosas are also some of the best in London, as is the bhel poori.
Regarding the staff, I see some of the other reviews haven’t been impressed with the service. In my experience, the service is consistently fast and cheerful, and the manager is really friendly and personable.
The toilet is small and you have to be a bit of a contortionist to get in there. But given how great everything else is I’m willing to overlook that.
Highly recommended for a low-​key, casual meal.

Is it a 3*** or a 4**** … tricky because the food is pretty good I have to say, but not at all impressed by the rock hard, super narrow and immovable seats, the tight fit tables (all literally nailed to the floor) or the mildly surly and somewhat mixed service.
Most of the decent tables were apparently reserved. Even the table in the window that we first sat at, and which wasn’t reserved when we entered but which we were asked to move from, then has a reserved sign placed on it! No one came in to occupy that table or any other reserved table for the 45 minutes we sat in there!
When I paid by card I was ‘encouraged’ to add a tip to the bill and the person stood over me as I put in my pin — a tad insensitive around security in my opinion!
Anyway, the sweet lassi was delicious, the service brisk and the food definitely enjoyable. I had the most expensive Thali and I’d recommend it. The bill for two came to around £20 (with tip!)
Would I go there again? Doubt it, because I don’t want to be herded about from nice table to very uncomfortable table on the apparent whim of a waiter — seriously poor! I may try it again if I can go back in and choose a table I actually want to sit in. If I can’t sit somewhere comfy and relaxing, I’ll turn and go elsewhere!
So a mixed review. They let themselves down on service which meant I enjoyed my meal far less than I might otherwise! You get the impression it’s all about customer turnover and ‘my place my rules’, but if that’s how it is then they’ve lost my future custom.
To be fair they’re not alone in this kind of approach around Drummond St, but there are plenty of other options nearby who have a more relaxing attitude. Take your pick … if it doesn’t feel right when you first go into a place just head out the door. It’s what we should have done.

Cela fait 2ème fois que je vais au Diwana et j’en suis toujours aussi ravie. Pour même pas 7£ c’est un buffet indien végétarien qui vous est proposé. Étant une grosse mangeuse de viande, je suis pourtant comblée par les assortiment de plats aussi variés que savoureux. La clientèle est très diverse: familles, amis ou couple. Le personnel y est très sympathique.
Personnellement mon seul regret est d’arriver «trop vite» (à mon goût) à satiété. J’aimerais tellement pouvoir profiter de 3 assiettes… Les yeux plus gros que le ventre, voilà mon problème.

So worth £7! We were lucky it wasn’t too crowded when we went. My favorite was the red tofu dish and the rice with curry over it. What sucks is that they don’t put name tags over the food so me and my friends had no idea what we were eating. Honestly, we were so hungry though we didn’t care. I liked the rice pudding for dessert; all the other unknown desserts I didn’t really care for. The food is good and we all came out with the biggest food coma.

3.5 stars which I rounded down to 3, instead of up to 4. I don’t know; maybe I’m a little cranky today? But, truly, it was — as the Unilocal guide insists for 3 stars — «A-​OK».
Have only ever had dosa here. Which, honestly, is fine because… DOSA ARE MAGICAL.
They’re totally reasonable — the fancy extra-​stuffed-​with-​goodness-​ones run you roughly 7GBP. Come on a long metal plate (love it), rolled up and hot, with fillings (my fave: paneer and spinach) and some additional «gear». Some lentil-​y stuff. Some coconut cream-​y stuff. Some spicier stuff. Sorry I can’t be more precise; they all taste good, if that’s of help.
3 little things:
1. the wooden booths are fairly small and structured; there’s not much flexibility with solid wood. I fit, but I think some of my taller friends would find the seats really uncomfortable. Just a watch-​out
2. I still love it, but the food is really salty for my tastes.
3. I find the drinks by far the weakest link and the least reasonable «bang for buck». The tea isn’t strong, the purportedly fresh passion fruit juice had a tang to it that made me question that claim, and around the 2.50 point they were definitely not worth ¹⁄₃ of the magnificent dosa platter.
Bottom line: when I’m craving a dosa, Diwana always comes to mind; it’s solid, well-​located, I’ve never had issues with efficiency of food arriving to table, and it’s reasonable. That said, if I were on the other side of the city, I’d also be willing to give some other options a try. And would not go on a date here with a hella-​tall guy who wanted to lean back and relax while eating (wooden benches are prohibitive).
Unilocal note: I don’t know if this applies to all times of day, but if you go early the corkage is a big fat wallet-​saving 0 $! So, y’know…do that. The guy next to me was getting down, hardcore, on some brews along with his bhel poori.

Special place for me :)
Very cozy wooden tables.
Every body may not fit.
Food has super flavors with interesting combinations. I doubt I have ever had coconut as a part of an Indian meal, but this was a delightful surprise. I am not sure what it was that had coconut in it, but whatever it was, it was delicious.
I also enjoyed the unique dosa combination.
They turn up the music loud when it is time for you to go.. .took us a minute to figure that one out.

C’est la première fois que je mange dans un restau indien végétarien et je me suis régalée!
Au début je me suis méfiée car buffet à volonté + végétarien ça né sonnait pas bon pour moi. Mais adorant la nourriture indienne je me suis laissée tenter.
En effet j’ai toujours eu du mal avec le concept buffet car je me demande toujours si c’est de bonne qualité, et souvent c’est cher alors que même si j’adore manger, je n’ai pas un appétit d’ogre mais un appétit d’être humain normalement constitué.
Cependant ici les prix sont plus que corrects c’est £6,95 par personne sans les boissons tous les midis et il y a vraiment le choix.
J’ai vraiment eu un coup de cœur car j’ai presque tout gouté (ok je change d’avis c’est génial d’avoir un buffet) et tout était délicieux!
Il y a beaucoup de choses relevées et épicées donc c’est à tomber quand on aime ce type de nourriture.
La déco est assez simple et le personnel n’est pas très efficace mais qu’importe j’ai ADORÉ cette adresse, je mangerais plus souvent veg s’il y avait ce genre d’endroits à Paris.

Fantastic lunch buffet. The selection is unique (tofu almost makes it a bit fusion), broad (they have at least 12 – 15 dishes to choose from), and fresh (the restaurant was packed by 12:25 — there is certainly enough churn to keep the food frequently replaced.
Current price (April 2014) was £6.95 /​person. Highly recommended!

100% veggie 100% bon
Midi, buffet végétarien à volonté: c’est pas cher et c’est très bon.
Mon seul regret est de né pas avoir eu plusieurs estomacs pour manger encore et encore et encore!

Pour les végétariens
Restaurant végétarien avec de la cuisine indienne. J’ai mangé pour 7 livres comprenant le buffet à volonté et un coca donc pas cher du tout mais attention le buffet c’est le midi. Mais en regardant la carte je n’ai pas trouvé les plats chers, à peu près 5 livres le plat.