New Punjab Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

Second review at the bottom.

First visit - Outstanding! Our new favorite Orlando restaurant (of any type)! Out of all the Indian cuisine options, we chose here, based upon the reviews, and they delivered!

Service: Let me start of by saying I've never had a restaurant go above and beyond like this. 2 years ago I had an Indian puffed pastry appetizer in OKC, that I've been searching for since, but didn't know the name. I showed our waitress a picture I had taken and the owner came over to look. "Oh, I know what this is. We don't have this on the menu, but I'll make it for you!", and she hurried off to the kitchen. 5 mins later I had exactly what I remembered, only better (and that's saying alot". (Dahi Puri Chaat) The entire staff gives a " You're a special guest in our home vibe". You almost want to give them a hug on the way out 😁. Like coming home from being overseas and having dinner with your mom, dad and favorite aunt!

Dining Room: The restaurant atmosphere has a classy Indian theme, enjoyable soft hand-drum music, and is kept up (fresh and clean).

The Food: Everything had layers of flavor. Savory seasoned base, Hints of sweetness, undertones of heat (prepared to the level of heat you want).

Chef's Speciality (Methi Malai Chicken) - It's similar to a Tika Masala, with more flavor all around, especially fenu greek! We heard a few other patrons order this as well! We'll be having this again.

Lamb Saag - large chunks of tender lamb in a thick spinach sauce, what I'd call a spinach pesto to give it visualization. Again there's a layering of flavors. An instant flavor when you bite into it, a different flavor works through as you process it, and a third lingering flavor. It'd be a disservice to try and describe or compare it to anything else I've had (Thai, Korean, Japanese). I would definitely order this again, if it weren't for wanting to try everything else on the menu.

Garlic Naan - I've had a lot of naan breads and this was the lightest by far! Lightly crispy on the edges, soft throughout!

Onion Kulcha Naan - Thick, yet soft naan bread filled with onion chunks and diced cilantro. Definitely the favorite of the 2 naans we had!

Rasmalai (Dessert) - paneer cheese with a sweet, floral tone (maybe cardamom & rose water). Topped with diced pistachios. Light and enjoyable even after eating too much. It's quite different than an American's idea of dessert, so keep that in mind.

If you love Indian Food, you'll love New Punjab. If you've never had Indian Food, you'll love it after eating here!

SECOND VISIT - Just as wonderful as the first. The owners remember us and made me 2 orders of my favorite appetizer Dahi Puri Chaat. This visit we order Lamb Rogan Josh (my new favorite), Methi Malai Chicken, and Chicken Bhuna (spicy). 2 orders Onion Kulcha.. Everything was exceptional...

Really very good considering what I was expecting, especially given the type of food on sale in International Drive!

I can see why this restaurant polarises people. For example I were reviewing this compared to the class of Indian food I can find readily in London, this restaurant gets three stars.

But let's put this in context for a minute. This area is full of AWFUL food. If you don't want steak or fish you are in trouble. This restaurant goes further than that and offers a decent Indian meal.

I arrived about 9pm to an empty restaurant and ordered some Onion Bhajis. To be honest they were probably fried from frozen - bit too fatty for my liking. But they were served with 3 sauces - onion, tamarind and mint which were clearly made at home and not preprocessed.

I had a very pleasant suprise when I got my main course of Paneer Masala with Peshwari Naan. Not only was the paneer exactly how I like it but the sauce was tasty and excellent, and the Naan bread had clearly been cooked in the Tandoor oven (which is the name behind Tandoori food).

What I liked most of all was that the portions were normal-person sized. What is it about restaurants in the USA, that they think that you want to eat the amount of food that someone 250lb needs to eat. Nope, the portions here were me-sized. I didn't manage to eat it all but that's not the point!

Service was attentive and excellent and they looked after me very well indeed. About 10pm the restaurant started to fill - almost exclusively with Indians - wearing saris and other traditional garb, nice effect. Clearly this is a restaurant popular with the local Indian population.

Given the amount of RUBBISH food this town has to offer... pizza, noodles and steakhouses... this was a breath of fresh air and a much welcomed meal. Price was a bit above average ($25 a head or thereabouts) but I'd much rather that than some dodgy...

SCAM ALERT! CHECK YOUR RECEIPT CAREFULLY BEFORE PAYING!! Had been to this restaurant last month. There were hardly anyone in the restaurant (just 1 other family seated in the corner and rest of the tables empty) which gave me early indications about the quality of this restaurant. However wanted to give the benefit of doubt and still try here. Checked the buffet items and it was not worth $20 so ordered some naan and paneer masala. Naan was good however paneer masala was like raw panner submerged in yellow colored hot water.. tasteless. It was pathetic! After having a bad tasteless food time to pay for the unworthy food. Asked for the receipt and found that an extra item (shrimp) was added which I hadn't ordered. It couldn't have been a mistake since the old lady (about 55 - 65 years aged) who took the order was the one who printed the receipt at cash register. There were no orders after me and it wasn't crowded to get confused or make any mistakes with the order. It seemed more like a deliberate attempt to scam me. Guess they dont do to regular customers. So please check your receipt since this restaurant seems to get away by scamming tourists.

Reply(to owner comment): Dear sir/madam, on that day at the time I visited, there were only 2 customers including me, in the whole restaurant. Making a mistake with just 2 customers around is hard to believe. When I questioned the error, I got an arrogant reply from another young lady saying it's customers' duty to verify the correctness of the receipt. Therefore I would like to share my experience to others who visit your restaurant. And one more thing: i did not like the gravy you served. It was awful and tasteless. Request you to serve good food for the high cost that you charge...