MILON — Restaurant in New York

I've been overdue for writing a review for this place!

Came here about 2 weeks ago with some gal pals for some fun, cheap, tasty Indian food - complete with BYOB, sans cork fee! Huzzah!

You don't make reservations for this place, but on a Friday night you come early before the 8pm crowd of hungry folks begin to line up to get a seat. You also don't come here solely for the food - you come here for the experience. Milon's food is okaaaaaaaaaay, certainly not the mecca of chicken tikka or of spicy foods in general.

My best friend told the waiter when ordering her chicken dish, and I quote, "Give it to me spicy - not bullshit spicy - but spicy as you guys eat it - as spicy as humanly spicy" and another one of my friends ordered the chicken vindaloo which is already supposed to be the spiciest thing available at any Indian restaurant.

Yours truly CANNOT handle any sort of spicy and my taste buds are uber sensitive as to what qualifies as spicy. Neither my friend's "non-bullshit spicy" dish or my other friend's chicken vindaloo dish set off my taste bud's smoke alarm and folks if I didn't die then they WERE NOT spicy. So if you're looking for spicy food - go elsewhere...frankly if you're looking for amazing, out of this world food - go elsewhere.

I cannot stress how much you come here for the overall experience and not for culinary reasons because in all honestly, the food here is pretty mediocre. Not the worst but certainly nowhere near the best I've ever had either. We all sampled each other dishes so things I got to try included: lamb tikka, chicken in supposedly spicy sauce, vindaloo and I got chicken korma.

We all shared the white biryani rice - it was ok, nothing special. For dessert we pretended it was one of our friend's birthdays and as a result we got complimentary mango ice cream - it was ok, tasted very mild and vanilla-ish.

The highlight for me was their na'an - amongst the table we shared the DELICIOUS butter na'an (this is just basically regular na'an pan-fried in butter, if you're not looking out for your waistline - then this is a no-brainer!), the potato na'an and the garlic na'an.

Service here is VERY "wham bam, thank you mam!" - they seat you quickly, give you menus quickly, expect you to order quickly and churn out foods quickly as well. This place is very no frills - with the exception of the MAGNIFICENT SEA OF LIGHTS strung across the entire ceiling and through most of the walls with interesting decorations and artificial flowers woven in.

Most of the lights are your standard Christmas bulb-y lights but if you look very closely you can make out some random strings of Halloween jack-o-lantern pumpkin lights, red chilli pepper lights and some random other knick knacks which add to the kitchy charm of this place.

Great for quick group dinners or for a fun one-on-one date - space is a luxury here. Be prepared to have strangers practically sitting on your lap as you're wondering why your food isn't spicy, LOL. In all I like this place for what it is. Don't take yourself to seriously and you'll have fun here - also, don't forget your wine or alternative booze of choice! :)

OH!! And don't be fooled by the upstairs and downstairs employees trying to get you into their respective Indian restaurants - they're owned by the same folks and just like to put on the "competitive" show for people that...

I'm giving this place two stars since the decor is pretty interesting and unique. But I was extremely surprised with the lack of service and mediocre food since the reviews seemed to be great.

I called in advance and made a reservation for 8:00pm. We didn't get seated until almost 9:00pm and we noticed people that came later were able to push their way ahead of us. The restaurant only cares to move people in and out as quickly as possible and doesn't pay attention to who has a reservation. I was with my family and grandparents who are not in good health and had to wait standing up in the cold outside for an hour, while people just walked in ahead of us.

Finally we get inside to some interesting decor. Very quaint and very small. I don't have a problem with small but we were 10 (my whole family) and they squeezed us on 2 tables (there was one other group of 9 people and they had a lot more space). When I told the manager that we had the same amount of people and had no space, he lied and said more people were coming in that group (that never happened).

When we get in, we ask for water for the table multiple times. The waiter looks at me and 10 minutes later comes with 3 glasses. I thought "maybe I wasn't clear", so I asked again. Again he brought 3 glasses of water. Finally, on the 3rd attempt he brought all the water to the table. I was really surprised with the lack of care from this restaurant. The waiters didn't even put the plates on the table, they placed is quickly in our hands or tossed them quickly across our plates.

From there, we learned that the menu had a fixed cost of $20 per person, which was never mentioned when we made the reservation. Fine, it took us a while to get in and the atmosphere was fun, so we decided to pay that sum of money. The food however was very little for 10 people and was very bland. I really enjoy Indian food and have not had food quite this bad in a while.

As we were sitting, a lot of commotion was going around, the table next to us was relocated in the middle of their meal to accommodate a bigger party. That bigger party needed more space, so the owner clears our table as we are eating and notifies the big party (in front of us) that we were leaving. Since they wanted us out, they refused to get my grandmother a cup of tea that she had requested.

I have written a bad review once in my life, and I hate to do this. High demand and fast turnover I can understand, but refusing service and bad customer service to this extent should never be exceptional. I will...

First of all, when you get to the restaurant, there are 3 or 4 more restaurant owners trying to heckle you into their restaurants saying "yes, this is Milon" or "it's the same thing." If you are trying to get to Milon, don't be confused by these people. By the time you make it up the stairs you'll have suffered through a whole ordeal of yelling men trying to get you in their stores.

Then when you get inside, there is barely room for you to move because the place is so crowded. If it's busy or you're coming in a big group, you will most likely be squished into a corner or wherever else they can fit you. The food here is good, but the prices are up there. But it's okay for Manhattan I guess. Also, before you leave, they bring you a scoop of ice cream and traditional Bengali mouth freshners.

Personally, I've been here 3 times, and because of my experience the last time, I will not be going back. If you want a new experience you should come here. But if you want a smooth dining experience, this is not the place. My group and I were squished into a corner next to the door because they didn't have enough space. There wasn't much room for our bags and all the plates managed to barely fit on our table. Something to note: This place is CASH ONLY!!! Big mistake. There is a Atm nearby, but this was something none of us were made aware of at any point in our dining experience. That is why it took a long time for us to handle the bill. Only a few people had cash on them. Another thing. TIP IS INCLUDED in the bill. There isn't a recommended or suggested amount. They charge you for your total, tax and tip. In my opinion, the massive amount of lights everyone wants to see would not be worth all the hassle for this place. But if you want something Insta worthy, you might wanna...