Darbar restaurant — Restaurant in Boston

Let me start of by saying that Google wont let me give 0 stars.

This review is the result of 4 or 5 visits to this place in two years, thrice with families. Party size of 5-13 people at different occasions. All visits during the times of Covid and its precautions.

Be prepared to follow Covid Protocols if the owner doesn't know you :P During Covid, we were provided cheap plastic utensils, plates, Tea Spoons and cups, for our dine in experience. This would have been perfect if the owners acquaintances/friends hadn't walked in just after we had ordered, sat in the middle of the hall and been presented with proper cutlery and eating utensils right in front of us (So much for Covid protocols.) So not all customers are equal. Just be thankful they let you inside the restaurant I guess :P

Owner was once rude to kids playing with partially empty cans of soda. I can understand his concern for spillage but coming over and literally snatching away things from 7 year old kids is unacceptable and rude.

Biased treatment of customers and rudeness with kids trumps all food experiences anyway...read on if you still are curious about the food.

Food quality is below average at best, never consistent at all, except for the biryani which is consistently the same taste, more or less, but below average nonetheless.

Some of their dishes should never be ordered, I recall once we ordered Daal Fry and what we got was not even fit enough to be called a Daal in the first place.

I am quite sure that not all of their dishes are prepared daily, I say this because they were unable to make a slight tweak in spices for us in one dish and specifically told us that it is already prepared before hand. Haleem was microwaved and not Haleem.

Once they served reheated Chicken tikka, this is judging not only from how quickly it was served but also how tough/dry it was.

From multiple occasions, the waiting staff are akin to a Helicopter Parent, always there on my shoulder asking if we want any thing more in a way that made us felt most unwelcome. The place was mostly empty and no one was waiting to get inside for the exceptional food being served and yet they made us uncomfortable. Coming over twice or thrice is ok, coming over every 10 minutes is just asking us to pay the bill and leave before we can order anything else from the fine establishment.

They start cleaning the table right while you are sitting there, not clearing away the dishes but CLEANING the actual table top in preparation for other non existent customers.

Instead of high quality food they only have high hopes :D

Also on last visit, in the 20 minutes that we had to wait, in an almost Empty restaurant, for a friend to arrive before we ordered, the hostess and owner kept nagging us about the order. Specifically saying that the the BBQ takes time. I know it takes time and that time starts when I order and I can wait and I wont blame the restaurant for it. You can either directly ask people to leave or stop indirectly implying that they are taking up valuable space in an empty restaurant. There is a fine line in between being hospitable and obnoxious, these people seem to have crossed over to the dark side a long time ago ;)

By this point it is redundant to state the glaringly obvious result but nevertheless; Will not be going here again or recommend any one...

Rather mixed experience. One of the few places in the area to get decent goat. But some things were so bad not to warrant a return. Darbar has a long menu, serving what most people identify as Indian food. But some specialties are distinctly Pakistani & some items resemble Persian rather than Indian food. The latter includes breads. Naan & parathas are more leavened than you see in Indian cuisine. If you expect an Indian specialty you'll be disappointed. Most dishes seem competent although execution details can be improved. But buffet service was a miserable experience. There were 6 dishes - 1 rice, 3 vegetarian (turnip, chick peas, cauliflower&broccoli ?!), 1 chicken & one nondescript substance that turned out to be haleem. Chicken "quorma" would've been fine if steadily refilled. But for over 1h, it was all curry, no chicken. Biriyani had no meat, was heavily colored (red), very spicy and exhibited large chunks of undercooked potato. Both chicken & chick peas took forever to refill. Sliced turnip dish might've been the best of the bunch. Broccoli just isn't Indian/Pakistani & this curry made it obvious. Haleem resembled what one finds in a loaded diaper - flavors are good but it's hard to get past texture & appearance. The best part in it was what appeared to be barley, although no staff could figure out what the grain was - the overwhelmed waiter said it was ground beef & 3 kinds of lentils. Uhm... no. Kheer lacked starchy viscosity, resembling thin soup - but the flavor was spot on. Second order of naan came looking like it was run over by a tractor. Onion chutney looked like it was soaked in Red #1 (remember that massive recall a few years ago?) The delays in buffet refill were explained later. Turns out kitchen was short staffed & they got a large catering order for a funeral. To make things worse, when we asked for tandoori chicken, the wait would've been 25 min. Glad to know they cook it to order but that's just ridiculous. Instead of closing the buffet for 1 day they just screwed the customers. Weekend buffet is better but would anyone want to run the risk of another funeral interfering with their dinner? Too bad. Goat dishes are competent to very good, curries have good flavors even when texture is a bit off. But biriyani & haleem are unacceptable. And service kills the...

This is a small, family-run restaurant, and I was lucky to get a comfortable booth, which I appreciated. I tried the Sunday buffet ($25.99), which is the only Pakistani buffet I’ve come across in the Boston area. The food was hot and fresh, with dishes like chicken pulao (note: this is the rice included — plain basmati rice is not part of the buffet, so vegetarians or those avoiding chicken may be charged extra), chicken achar, chicken tikka, dal, chana, naan, halwa, rice pudding, and beef keema with potatoes that I especially enjoyed. There was also a goat dish, though I skipped it since I’m not a fan of goat. The chicken achar had great flavor, while the chicken tikka came in very small pieces. The naan was good, though simpler than the butter or garlic naan I’m used to at Indian restaurants.

I appreciated that they put a pitcher of water on my table so I could refill myself, but no one came by during the meal until the very end — after 3:00 p.m., when they were shutting down the buffet. That was the first time I was asked if I wanted anything more. When I asked about drinks, I was told I could choose something from the refrigerator. I was surprised there was no drink menu or options like mango lassi, chai, or sauces such as cilantro or tamarind chutney, which I normally see at Indian buffets.

At the end, I had a very small amount of leftovers and offered to pay to take them home. I was surprised at first by the $7.99 box charge, but they also gave me a $4.74 discount on the buffet without me asking, so it evened out to about $3.25. In the end, that felt fair. I also paid in cash, knowing this is a small operation, which I didn’t mind.

Because this was a $25.99 weekend buffet, I initially expected a little more variety, especially compared to Indian buffets in the $19.99 range. But at the same time, when I think about what I’ve paid for a fine dining tasting, $25.99 feels fair for what was offered. Overall, I’d call it a 3.5-star experience but I’m rounding up to 4. If you live or work nearby, it’s worth stopping by to try. Just be aware that the selection is limited for a weekend buffet, and the service is minimal, so I wouldn’t call it destination dining from downtown Boston — but I’m glad I...