Dera Masala Grill — Restaurant in Clifton

It is a decent place with good food and just reasonable (not very cheap and neither too expensive) prices. I tried their weekend buffet for the first time and before I wrote a review I provided feedback to the restaurant. They assured me they will fix it. Visited again and noticed no improvement. In fact it was worse. First the positives - decent buffet with a small selection and good food. The restaurant is clean. Areas of improvement: None of the dishes in the buffet are labelled. Especially as an Indian/Pakistani restaurant it is very important to label the buffet dishes so people with dietary limitations are aware. For example it was very difficult to tell which dish was beef and which was goat. Had to ask and make sure it was the right dish. There are serving spoons placed on either side of each dish. It is not clear if you use the spoon from the left or the right when serving dishes to avoid cross-contamination between vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes or between beef and non-beef dishes. Noticed patrons mixing the spoons and hence had to avoid all dishes next to the beef dish due to openly mixing spoons. People were dipping the spoon coated with the beef dish into the goat dish and vice-versa! You would think given this is a tight place they would label the spoons with a simple tag on the spoons - beef, goat, chicken, vegetarian, etc. to avoid this problem but the owners have a very casual and care free attitude about this. No signs and mixing spoons by design!!! Shame on the owners for the complete lack of civility and courtesy. They have hot milk tea in the buffet table along with all the other items. However there is a catch. Tea is extra $1. There is a sign posted on the wall that you will notice only if you go scanning through all the other posted advertisements. I have never gone hunting for signs and special instruction before serving every item from the buffet to determine if it is included or not! If it is on the buffet table any prudent person will assume it is included. Naan and pooris (fried bread) are not replenished to ensure fresh and hot bread. Until the very last piece of cold bread is gone a fresh batch is not brought out. Barely had a 3" piece of Naan bread as it was so cold and soggy from the oil dripping from the pooris right next to it. Naan is supposed to be the star of Indian food and should and must be served on the table and not let to sit and steam or dry cold on a buffet table. Quite a letdown! The restaurant was largely empty during my first visit and terribly packed during my second visit. Nonetheless none of the servers stopped by to check on dishes or even offer water. Seating is also super super tight. You will be knocked by people around you every 2 minutes. Not their fault. There is no room between chairs or the walkways for people to go and get food from the buffet station. You cannot relax even for a minute due to this. A restaurant with some potential but being run in such a sloppy manner. Just because most of the patrons are largely Pakistanis it does not mean that you forget simple civility such as labeling the food, arranging spoons properly, offering water to...

I really do enjoy eating here. the food is great and quality of the food is great too. I come here just for the buffet, you can't beat the price for halal food. But be sure to watch the customers as they unfortunately like to use their hands to pick up some food. Come eat and enjoy the fresh goods. (2020)

So my original review that you can see up above was at a four star rating, that was a little over 2 years ago. It kind of breaks my heart that I have to come back and edit my review because I'm just not fond of this place anymore. This had always been my go-to Buffet. But lately, it hasn't. Now with the price inflation, it's $15 which I suppose still isn't too bad because you're getting halal food that's delicious and fresh. That being said, paying this amount of money for food; you'll be lucky if there's any fresh food that's put out while you're there. The food is delicious, it really is but unless it's a busy day, expect to eat whatever food is laid out and if it's cold, it's cold. If there isn't much of a selection to eat from, then you're just going to have to settle for what's there. I get that during slow hours you don't want to overcook but when you see new customers walk in and current customers that are already dining but waiting for fresh food... then you should make the effort to put out fresh food. Not only was I waiting for fresh food but another gentleman there kept getting up to check for fresh food but would then go sit back down when he didn't find any. (I think he may have been doing that to try and get their attention). Today, there was just rice and chicken and not much variety. No samosas, bread or another two dishes that they serve for the buffet. So this was kinda a big disappointment. I'll definitely consider revisiting but I don't know how soon I'll go back. I do believe that the gentleman that handles the restaurant is friendly and curtious. I just think he should either check on the amount of foods that's left or maybe ask customers if they need a refill on a particular dish. It may sound entitled that way but folks for the most part are either shy or don't want to be rude. As a restaurant employee and/or owner, it is your duty to make sure customers are enjoying their stay. One other thing that I'd also like to note is the gentleman that handles the restaurant up front tends to also handle some food. So respectfully, I think it would be a good idea if he wore gloves for those cases as he does tend to handle other various task at the restaurant. Thank you. Hope everyone will enjoy their trip...

only giving 1 start bec i cannot give any lower otherwise for what i went throug giving a 0 star is being generous. i went there with my family to only have 2 chapli kabab. when i walked in the seating place was empty but few tables were dirty, i combined two table to make room for my family and had to clean the tables my self. after sitting down i go up to the counter and place an order for 2 chapli kabab. the guy takes the order ( not Faisal). i go back to the table and sit down. after about 4 mins i go to the bathroom and when i get back i found that they guy has again asked my wife for what we ordered. now we are waiting and sitting 2 more family come in and sit down. 15 minutes pass and no food. mind you only 2 chapli kababs, no naan no nothing. i get up and go to the guy and ask on where is the food. he replies only 5 more mins. in the missdle of all of this i see the the chef keeps coming in and out of the kitchen. now the people who came in after us are receiving their orders. so get upset, but wait for the five minutes to pass now when i am about to get up i hear that he just gave my order to the kitchen. which now really pisses me off. so i decided to get up and walk out without eating bec my 3 month old kid is really fussy and crying. when i am walking out he tell me that the food is coming in 30 sec. at this point there are about another 5-6 people standing trying to order for takeout..i tell him that i have benn sitting and waiting for only 2 chapli kababs for the pas 20 mins. it doesn't take that long to cook. he tell me that it is busy. i look at him and in aww that what, the place is empty. so not to create a comotion in front of the other customers finding out the type of servie they provide he immediatley tells me no problem it is ok if i wanna leave. so i walk out. this place customer service has gone down the drain. i am assuming the owner is more worried about how much food do people take out during the buffet rather than how his emplyees are actually providing the customer service. the food take mad long to come. a point for the owner if he is really reads these comments. stop watching the camera to see how much food people are taking rather look at the time it takes for the people to get their food. good cusotmer service is what will keep you in business. otherwise pritty soon your doors will close due to no customers walking in. bad servie really bad service....