Darbar Grill — Restaurant in New York

We recently used Darbar for an upstate interfaith Pakistani Punjabi wedding in which the outdoor venue did not provide anything except tables and chairs. Darbar's food was excellent and exactly the right amount of spice for all audiences to enjoy, most especially their butler-plated appetizers. All our guests (older Desi aunties and uncles and non-Desis) really loved the various kabobs, fried fish, pakoras, and gol gappe/pani puri with tamarind and mint chutneys to match. Darbar also allowed us to customize the menu with many different options to allow for different dietary (vegetarian/non-dairy) and halal restrictions. We heard from the venue that there were some logistical hiccups during the wedding itself, but I think this would definitely not have been the case at a more traditional ballroom/hotel venue that offered more than just tables and chairs. I would especially recommend Darbar for event catering especially for ballroom and hotel style weddings in which the venue can provide more so the caterer can focus more on the food. Darbar also participated in a walkthrough at the venue with us 1.5 months before the wedding. Darbar also was able to provide waiter and cleanup staff to match our guest count, which can be hard to find with South Asian caterers. Manek, the owner, also made himself readily available to us over the phone during the entire process to answer any questions we had. He also met with us before the meeting at his Midtown Manhattan restaurant and gave us some samples of dishes and offered good recommendations without being pushy about them. Darbar also stuck with our original contract drawn up nine months before the wedding without any complications or changes to our contract and were able to accommodate some of the changes due to the venue...

Had a lovely dinner here last night on Christmas Eve . Great ambiance and friendly staff . We started off with a couple of cocktails, my friend had the Karma cocktail and liked it so much he got a 2nd one . I thought the Passion Fruit Margarita didn't have enough fruit flavor but the glass of Cabernet wine was very nice for a Winter night. For appetizer we got the Bhajia onion fritters which were delicious and hot and fresh , get those . The shrimp Balchao was spicy but ok. For mains my friend got the Lamb Curry and he enjoyed that , also they give you one plate of Basmati rice to share but they did offer to bring extra rice if you want it . I got their House Specialty of Beetroot Malai Kofta and the sauce was so tasty ! I ended up dipping the fresh Naan in it . Delicious. The beets are in a meatball shape and have an unusual texture but it's worth getting in my opinion because it's unusual to see this dish on a menu ,so give it a try . Also they have Rosemary Naan , another unusual menu item that was really good. Definitely try the Gatlic Naan too. We ordered a dessert of Kulfi ice cream but they also brought out their Rice Pudding Kheer on the house , which was a great touch . Staff are all nice . If you are on 55th Street or in the area you should stop in here, it's a good restaurant . The inside is relaxing and nice. Bathrooms are...

The food here is decent, but nothing outstanding.

The restaurant itself is dimly lit. To get to restrooms, you have to go upstairs into a completely dark room and find the restrooms in the corner.

For food, we started with gobi manchurian (fried cauliflower in a sweet sauce). This was not sweet or crispy as it normally should be. This was soggy and very bland in flavor. Additionally, they only gave 6 pieces of cauliflower! Definitely not worth the price.

We then had their beetroot malai kofta. The sauce itself was very creamy and heavy albeit very tasty. The issue was the balls of beetroot themselves that had too much dough and not enough actual veggies.

We also had their matar paneer (cheese and peas). This was good. I wish they gave more paneer for the quantity of sauce, but the flavors were there and solid.

My favorite item was the garlic naan that was extremely fresh and covered in butter. That was excellent.

Our entrees also came with rice.

Overall, I think the quality and quantity of the food compared to the price is definitely not worth it, but if you have to come here, stick with a matar paneer and...