Khichdi Junction Restaurant and Banquet Hall — Restaurant in Sayreville

This review is for Haveli Junction, which just opened around October 1, 2019, and not for Athidi or the Indian restaurant prior to that one in this same location. The reviews for this new restaurant seem to have gotten lumped together with the two previous restaurants. That is why you see over 200 reviews. However, you'll note that while it appears they have only a 4-star average rating, almost all the new ratings since they opened under as Haveli are 5 stars. They are doing a great job so far and I hope they'll continue and not get lazy, start taking shortcuts, or start taking their customers for granted, which I often see happen within a year or two after a restaurant celebrates its grand opening. Hopefully that won't happen here. If it does, I'll update my review to reflect this.

But for now, let me start out by saying that I don't normally leave reviews. Most places don't impress me enough to warrant my taking the time to do so. But this is fantastic Indian food. Great owner (humble, kind and respectful) and polite, responsive waiters, along with (most importantly) an outstanding, multi-generational, professional Indian chef who seems to truly love what he does and he does it very well!

Haveli's lunch buffet is one of, if not the best I've had, and I've been to many Indian buffets. There is always something different on their buffet unlike most Indian restaurants who seem to rotate the same boring, standard Indian dishes over and over again. And, everything they put out tastes great and you can see a lot of care goes into what they do. There are also plenty of vegetarian and wheat/gluten-free options, which they are always happy to guide me on.

I've loved their food from day one, but I waited to leave a review to make sure they were consistently good, and they are. I've eaten there about five times now and they've been great each time.

I feel very lucky to have such a great Indian restaurant open up so close to me. I've been waiting years for one. Most in the area are "so-so." This one's great.

I have probably seen 7 different people working there so far. They have been friendly, attentive, and concerned with making sure I had great dining experience. I've been to other Indian restaurants where it felt like the owners/workers were treating me like I was there simply to give them money in exchange for very mediocre and hastily-prepared (and often dried out) food. Here, I feel I'm treated warmly and respectfully, like a welcomed guest or a family member, and the food is always fresh. A big difference in attitude and food quality from many other Indian places I've dined for lunch. A lot of humility and gratitude for your being there.

If you're in the area, definitely check them out. You'll be happy you did. Definitely 5 stars. Again, I've eaten at many Indian restaurants so I know the difference between bad, mediocre, good and great Indian food. This place is great, and is likely going to get very busy once...

PROs - hidden gem , homely food , service CONs- location , limited menu items

I rarely give a 5 star . We were near Marlboro area and were craving for some vegetarian food . Saw Google and decided to visit this restaurant . At first , we kinda were joking around looking at the restaurant as there were no customers . Location was a bit wierd. .. we went in and asked if there was food and the Indian lady came and was kind of shocked to see 12 of us coming in . She said she will start cooking then and will take time .

We almost wanted to leave the place because we weren’t confident of how fast they will prepare.. to all our surprise , she was able to cook food quickly and the food was deliciousssssssssss.. its almost like our mom cooking at home . We had unlimited thali.she brought us dolls , samosa , kichadi , rotis , undhiyiu, potato bhaji, gulab jamun, chaas etc. all my friends were happy and had a fantastic meal . She said to call her next time before coming , so she can prepare all food :) even though it was a slow start , we were so happy with the food .

It’s truly a hidden gem . Both owners were sweet and the service was...

food was not bad though there was only one appetizer and one sweet but they charge 16% mandatory tip for a buffet if you are four which seemed odd for a buffet as you serve your own food and its not written anywhere and when asked they say its in program which again seemed very odd as you could have given me two bills if it was just program and not your intention "which clearly was not the case", you wanted that extra money for no work of yours we were vegeterian and for the money we spent there are far better vegeterian restaurants in NJ having better food variety.

03 30 update

I was not talking about food I hadsaid it was not bad my concern was only the mandatory tip but if you want to speak then for veg I could only see 1 apetizer 3 veg and one dal 1 desert which was halwa Naan One noodle Biryani

And the cost is 12 plus 16 percent mandatory tip so it's 14 dollar

Go to Dosa grill route 27 and you will get at least 20 items for 14.95 without tip

So either you are saying vegetarians are not welcome or don't come in group of 4

If I had split in 2 groups of 2 and ate non veg...