India Palace — Restaurant in Lubbock

IF THE LUNCH BUFFET WAS YOUR ONLY IMPRESSION OF THIS PLACE, YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF TO ORDER A REAL MEAL! I've been to the lunch buffet once or twice and I was not impressed at all. They don't really serve any dinner options at the buffet. It was kind of a strange variety of things. If you have to go for lunch, the little meatballs and sauce weren't terrible, but I'd load up on naan and rice!

I get the Murg Mirch Masala with an order of Naan almost exclusively! It is delicious every time I go for dinner. Between my friends and I we've tried the samosas, Aloo Paratha, Murg/Gosht Saagwala and the Murg/Gosht Mirch Masala. Everything we've tried has been great but we usually end up ordering what we've already gotten instead of something new because it was so good the last time. My friend always asks for his food extra spicy but I assure you, the Murg Mirch Masala is plenty hot. You get unlimited rice with your meals too! It usually takes a little while to get your food, however, that is because they seem to cook it from scratch when you order (I can tell because sometimes the amount of ginger in the food varies). It's always piping hot!

Do not come here if you are in a hurry. It's usually one person working, sometimes two. Sometimes I call and order for pick up if I need to be somewhere. I will say that the portions for pickup seem a bit smaller, however, it's still just as delicious and it's ready to go when you get there!

The restaurant itself is a bit "hole-in-the-wall". I will admit that I was nervous when my friend first brought me here but now I'm the one who wants to go here every week. It's in an older building with a bit of a dated style but I've never had an issue with cleanliness of the tables or dinnerwear here. There are two areas with both tables and booths in a seat yourself setup. The staff is extremely friendly and keeps your water...

First I want to start by saying that the owner/server/chef here is one of the most polite people I've ever met. A very pleasant man to be around. However, I think that his politeness is influencing a lot of people's reviews when commenting on the quality of the food. This place is kind of a hole in the wall. The interior is very drab and looks like it used to be an office building of some sort, but I find a strange sort of "dive diner" appeal to it, so I rated it very good. The owner once again is very polite, albeit a bit slow, but I forgave the slow pace of, well, everything since he was/is the only person working there. However, I cannot forgive the quality of the food. Every dish that I saw up there that was in some sort of sauce was EXTREMELY watery and very very salty. When I put three items on my plate it all just sort of ran together like three different colors of dye and made a mess. The buffet ran out of naan, so I went back to my table and quietly waited for about 10 minutes then went back up to check. Still no naan. I started eating my food and about the time I was finished the owner came to my table with a plate and gave me some fresh naan. The gesture was appreciated, but the meal was already kind of ruined at this point as I was almost finished and everything was the consistency of chicken noodle soup and I had no bread to go with it. Great guy, cool...

As other reviewers have noted, the owner of the place is one of the most refreshingly kind and respectful people you will ever meet. I honestly think it's more than just being a good businessman--he is a genuinely good person. And the food is much like the spirit of the owner: nothing fancy, just darn GOOD. Simple, delicious Indian food with a home-cooked feel, a totally unpretentious atmosphere and exceptionally friendly service that I've only ever experienced in restaurants where I'm from in the Deep South. When the food is just plain good there's no need to dress it up too much. There's another Indian place in town with a somewhat pretentious vibe--the food there is super rich and excellent in a different way, the service is quite professional--and it's a great place for fancy date night. India Palace is more like the place you'd go with friends or the place to pick up some spicy dish for your spouse who is recovering from a cold. Real food, made with love. If you like affordable, safe, wholesome and healing tasty Indian food plus a really chill staff, India Palace is the way to go in my opinion. Not to mention of course the location is awesome for students. Support...