Bombay Cafe - Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

Bombay Cafe is the ONLY Indian restaurant within the Oakland Park/Wilton Manors area that doesn't require a cross 95 passport to find (that I know of). We've been here several times over the years, but only for dinner. We saw that they had a lunch buffet and as I was having a craving for all things curry it seemed like a perfect fit.

Inside Bombay Cafe is pretty typical for an Indian restaurant, the statue of Ganesha keeps watch over the door and color scheme is cozy and warm. On the day that we visited a majority of the guests were opting for the buffet, in fact it wasn't until we were leaving that I discovered that the full menu is available as well. When we entered we were promptly greeted at the door and escorted to a table. Obviously the lunch buffet is very popular as the usually white table cloth was covered with bistro paper, not a surprising addition considering the volume of business. We were immediately brought a pitcher of water - and that pretty much was the amount of service. no drink order, not greeting, nothing. We followed the cattle to the buffet line and proceed to stuff our faces with traditional Indian fare. Once we both made it through the line, a basket of warm naan was brought to the table accompanied by a platter of tandoori chicken - a nice touch.

As far as buffets go, it's pretty large. There is a fairly wide variety of options, from curried vegetables and vegetable fritters, to Chicken Tikka Masala and a Goat Curry. For sweeter options there are the typical sweet spiced carrots (which I need to find a recipe for) and coconut rice. Sadly one of my favorites, Saag Paneer was missing. All the items we tasted - which was just about everything - were delicious and curbed my Indian cravings. If you don't care for highly sauced dishes then obviously this won't be your cup of tea, but if you like to sop up every morsel with a hunk of naan, then you will be in heaven.

The daily (m-f) lunch buffet is priced at $10.95 which is more than fair for the amount of food offered. There is a dinner buffet on Wednesdays and Sundays for $16.95 that I may have to mosey over and check out. All in all it's a keeper. While there was the curious lack of a service at the table, it didn't detract from our experience. Like many a buffet, you follow the masses and look like you know what...

Update (prior review below for full transparency): These guys know their flavors. It's been a year since we last ordered, having sampled a few other regional Indian restaurants in the interim. Boy, I'm glad we ordered tonight: the butter chicken and lamb korma are amongst the best in the region (I'm biased to butter chicken sauces that are creamier with less tomatoes and they deliver). No issues with unwanted heat levels. Also tried a new app, which will become a staple for this household - the Chloe bhatura - it comes with the best fried bread 🤤. I'll be ordering soon!

Old review from a year ago: Flavors are excellent but I ordered carryout for the family and kids. I was explicit in my request for no pepper on the dishes for the kids - they said it was possible and not a problem. I also ordered all other dishes mild and one medium heat. I love pepper, and I get that some peppers hit different palettes differently. But the dishes that I asked for no heat for the kids had plenty heat! If it wasn't possible, I would have gone to grocery store and whipped up something for the kids versus waiting for food that was not edible for them. And the two of the mild dishes were definitely very hot heat... Wasn't fun after...

It was a let down 😒! I don’t recommend you to eat here.

On our way to the airport, we thought we will have some Indian food and based on the reviews here we stopped at the Bombay Cafe.

The restaurant is a stand alone building and by the appearance and the way it maintained ( from outside look), I should have never gone in there.

They have a modest buffet with few items. 3 items we always look for in any buffet are Chicken tikka masala, tandoori Chicken and nan bread. So they had all three in the buffet. But the chicken tikka masala was made with dark meat chicken— which is not good. Tandoori chicken was cold. A big no no. Naan bread was ok. All the other items on the buffet , we didn’t care much.

The entire place need a thorough cleaning. We walked out of that place within 10 minutes of walking in. We smelled like curry chicken.

Buffet cost $10.99. They only serve can sodas no fountain drinks.

So I don’t recommend anyone to go eat here. Sorry I couldn’t take more pictures because we were in a...