Jewel of India — Restaurant in City of Albany

We thoroughly enjoyed the food but the staff and appearance of the restaurant put us off a bit.

We ordered quite a selection for lunch which turned out to be enough for dinner as well. Ordering online was easy enough and our meal was ready in a short amount of time.

As mentioned above, it was the staff and restaurant that was a bit off. Our meal was packed in paper bags, plastic containers, and stuffed in a plastic bag. Based on all of that, I thought we would definitely be disappointed in our meal. However, the food was so good that it offset my initial impression.

We ordered two (2) vegetable samosa as we were not sure how many came with each order; there were three per order for us. They were still warm, crispy, came with sauces, and had good flavor. Unlike some samosas I've had, these were completely filled with the potato and pea mixture.

We shared the Aloo Chat which we thought was the best tasting dish with the mix of yogurt, tamarind, and mint sauce.

Our soups were good but nothing fancy. We had the coconut soup which had quite a bit of fresh coconut but seemed light on the beshamel. The Mulligatawny soup was surprisingly a smooth bisque.

We saved our entrees for dinner which were Chicken Dopayaza and Chicken Vindaloo. Both were good and flavorful with large chunks of tender chicken. I highly recommend the Dopayaza with its tangy tomato sauce.

Don't let the appearance of the restaurant or the gruffness of the staff stop you from trying Jewel of India because their...

Maybe it's better to come here for the lunch buffet or order delivery. I came he in the evening in with a friend, and ordered an appetizer to split and an entree each. The waiter was immediately asking "are you planning to split", asking if we wanted naan, etc., which I just assumed was overeagerness until my friend's dish came... and mine didn't. It was one dish between the two of us. Then I realized he must have trying to upsell a bit to make up for what he thought was two people coming in and ordering one $10 dish to split. The question about splitting was the closest we got to any double checking to make sure I really meant to not order anything for myself, and it was not clear at all that this mistake had happened until the food arrived.

We were on a minor time crunch, so we didn't have time to wait for the kitchen to cook another dish from scratch, and it is awkward as hell to flag down restaurant staff to go "we ordered a dish each and only one is here"—you never really know how that's going to go. So I just ate half my friend's dinner, and had to go get more food from a supermarket after we left because I was still hungry.

I wasn't charged for the dish that never arrived, so I left a reasonable tip, and the food itself wasn't bad. Still, it's probably better to come in for the buffet or order delivery...

I ordered from Jewel of India for the first time through Grubhub. I wasn’t familiar with the restaurant, but it had a 4.5-star rating, so I decided to give it a try. Overall, the food was pretty good! The packaging was okay, nothing special.

I ordered a dish that was similar to Chicken Masala but spicier and included potatoes—I can’t recall the exact name, but it was delicious! It had a great flavor, just a spicier twist on Chicken Masala.

I also got the vegetable samosas, which were tasty, though I wish they had more spice and a better mix of vegetables. It felt like mostly potatoes with just a little bit of veggies. The green sauce that came with it was really good, but the portion was way too small—less than a teaspoon in the little container. Next time, I’d definitely request a full container of the green sauce and skip the sweeter sauce, which wasn’t my favorite.

The delivery experience was smooth. The driver was respectful, though he handed me the food outside, and for a moment, I thought it was spilling inside the bag. Thankfully, it was just the temperature of the bag. One surprise was that they included paper plates, which I’ve never received with an order before, but I appreciated the gesture!

I might order from here again so my husband can try it. If I do, I’ll make sure to request extra...