The Clay Oven Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Roxbury Township

I discovered this place upon moving here to Succasunna in 2018. I did a semester in England, and I was in Manchester and became aware of Indian cuisine. It immediately became my favorite. It pains me to say that it was 30 years ago, but since then, I have become an Indian food aficionado/enthusiast/proponent, and I ALSO became a chef since then.

This self-promoting intro is only because I want you to trust my judgment and my palate.

The Clay Oven provides me with the most literally mouthwatering, from the moment I open the bag and the glorious aromas waft up to my nose, delicious, satisfying, and CONSISTENT meals I have had in my 7 years in New Jersey. Jitu, the owner, is so kind and always concerned about food quality. Sure, there are other Indian restaurants all up and down Rt. 46, as someone pointed out. I have ordered from several, and all so far have a cloying sweetness in the sauces and appetizers that I find inauthentic and off-putting. Every now and then, I "cheat" on Jitu and get South Indian, but the flavors that linger in my mouth that make me return WEEKLY - are those of his chefs'. It is such a comforting ritual for me that I order from him almost weekly. I usually get quite a bit of food so that I can have it over the course of a few days. Indian for breakfast is my favorite! I consider this bliss. I live 3 miles away from one of the best Indian restaurants I have ever encountered. With a stellar, kind owner. Hells yeah.

I like variety, and usually get 5 - 7 appetizers, and occasionally an entree. Khaman dohkla is a favorite, both the veg and the kheema samosa, and chili paneer are fantastic. The papdi chat is scrumptious, but by day 2 the little crunchies get soggy, but still palatable. I started off getting the date and fig naan with the eggplant dip, but I found the filling to be too sweet, even though I understand the sweet/salty concept, obvi. Anyway, I now sub the paneer kulcha for it, which Jitu has added as an option on DoorDash. Other items I get: Onion bhaji, navratan korma, chicken curry/vindaloo, papadam, tandoori mixed grill, chicken tikka, raita, gulab jamun, mango pudding, rice pudding and assorted veg platter. All delicious, EVERY TIME I order. SO consistent. SO delicious.

If you figure I order 30 times a year.... and I've lived here 6.5 years... that's 195 times.

You know how many times they've gotten my order wrong?

Twice. Omitted one item each time.

Guess how many times their food has been lower quality or hasn't tasted good?

Never.

Their track record is impeccable with me. Granted, all restaurants have mishaps, staff changes, off days, or receive questionable product that they have to perform miracles with. But I've never noticed if the Clay Oven had an off day.

So delicious. So consistently delicious!

Thank...

To Mit Patel who just posted a negative review here. You were rude, obnoxious and seemed to be intoxicated. At one point even your guests looked at you with disgust on your behavior. My wife and I were mid way through our meal tonight when this gentleman and guests that he came with sat at a table next to ours. He also came with a child who was playing a video on a cell phone at a sound level that could be heard from outside. Not courteous to the other guests trying to have a nice dinner. Mit Patel himself was very rude at one point insisting to the owner verbally out loud that he remembers the dining room was open to the kitchen and clay oven and insisting he wanted to know the answer as to why it wasn't open to the kitchen any longer. The owner politely answered Mit that it had never been open to the kitchen. Mit now frustrated and embarrassed then elevated his voice to tell the owner that it used to be open and that the owner was rude and lying about it and who made claim that he himself was responsible for filling the restaurant with patrons for the last 10 years. I mean, who does that? Mit you are a certified A-hole. To top off his bad behavior when paying he threw his credit card at the waiter. My wife and I have been going to the Clay Oven for over 10 years and have NEVER had a bad experience with any of the staff,...

This place was thoroughly disappointing from start to finish. Upon entry we were barley acknowledged. While we were there my guests accidentally dropped and broke her glass. The already shotty attitude of the staff completely turned from there even tho were extremely apologetic and even willing to clean up the mess ourselves. Iv never had worse service than we did here. We had to wait long periods for service even tho there were only 2 other tables being serviced and the quality of the service was basically nonexistent. On top of the subpar service the food is not identified as what would be considered spicy and what is not or/mild. Everything we ordered was too spicy to eat and when we asked for sauce to attempt to cover the spice instead of complaining we were charged and additional SEVEN DOLLARS for the sauce. Once we tapped out due to the spice of the food (not identified anywhere on the menu or by the staff) and waited the extra time it took to be waited on by the staff we eventually took our food to go with no questions as to why we only had taken 2 bites of our food, I asked about the $7 charge for sauce which in turn I received a shrug in response! I wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy. It’s about an hour drive but I’ll stick with my usual Place from...