Spicy Mint Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Town of Colonie

2nd Updated review 2025: Went back for buffet again and boy was it bad. We even went in as soon as it started and it was just.... BAD. Changing good rating to bad again. Maybe the good buffet we had was a blip. The girl who was serving us also seemed like she hated being there.

Updated Review 2025:

Went back here after a while and absolutely loved the service AND the buffet selection. The food was a tad bland, but VERY fresh. Starting from the veggies to the meat dishes and the biryani and sweets/desserts. It was very good!! We went on a Saturday. The prices were very reasonable.

Old Review: Changed my rating from 4 to 3 star seeing other people's feedback regarding buffet. A restaurant must take customer feedback seriously.

Great food, kitchen staff seem passionate to serve fresh food, good service. Very heavily influenced by South Indian cuisine, but trust me, it is a good thing. Way better than the watery crap you get at some of the "Indian" restaurants around here.

Only reason I'm giving it 4 stars is because they're not clear about the buffet they have on Thursday nights only. (I didn't even know they had a buffet). Me and my wife went there for regular dinner, saw buffet, sat down then realized there's no meat. But since we already started I didn't want to be like those fobby desi people without any restaurant etiquette. Food was delicious but, no meat. Then we got our bill and for two people, the buffet cost $30. That's OUTRAGEOUS. When we went to pay my wife asked the front desk guy and he said it was a 'chaat themed buffet'.

Fair enough. Just a piece of advice, please be clear/advertise about the kind of buffet as normal expectation would be it would be similar to other places. Also, $15 for "Chaat" buffet is too expensive regardless of the quality.

All in all, I'll def get food from there (we did end up taking some food to go), but not spending $15 on any kind of Desi buffet with or without any meat products.

So for non buffet lunch/dinner, yes, great spot. Absolutely GREAT food and right prices.

For buffets... NOOOOOO!!! LOL. Go to Curry House, Jewel of India or...

When I was a child every occasion that warranted dining out ended up at the Sitar on Central Avenue (RIP), which at the time was the sole purveyor of Indian cuisine in the Capitol Region. Over the years the Albany has seen the a proliferation of eateries offering sub-continental lunch buffets and subtle variations of the Indo-Pakinstani fare. Many have fallen by the wayside after a decline in quality, or perhaps as foodies seek out the next culinary trend bandwagon? But, still I seek out those uncharted Indian restaurants that my creature of habit mother would not be willing to investigate without at least three references. Spicy Mint is not an empty promise, their well-seasoned and seductive food will induce a flush. Your meal begins with a basket of pappadum, lentil flour with cumin seeds rolled into a wafer and fried to a blistered crisp and partnered with the spicy mint and cilantro chutney and the earthy tamarind paste that is a common condiment in most Indian restaurants. I came looking to try dosas, a pancake made from a batter of rice or lentil flour served with raita and often stuffed with other ingredients, I ordered the Mysore Masala dosa which was filled with the same delicious golden curried potatoes from vegetable samosas. I was generous enough to be a meal and served with a side of soup. I also ordered the chicken tikka saag, inspired by nostalgia for the Sitar of yore. All indian restaurants offer a variation of chicken tikka palak/saag, the Sitar used to use tandoori chicken thighs in their chicken tikka palak and chicken tikka masala, so it created a subtle smokey flavor and had the intense red color produced by food dye, no other Indian restaurant has ever done that (in Upstate New York or Seattle). And while Spicy Mint has not done that either, their chicken tikka saag was spicy and excellent. Their service is friendly, charming, and genuinely helpful, soliciting feedback and keeping my desperately needed water glass filled. He mentioned that Thursday evenings are dosa nights, where 25 different varieties of dosa are available! I will...

I would say I am well versed in Indian food, cook it at home, eaten it my entire life, have visited India - with all of that said here is my frank review of this establishment.

The menus are broad which is great The food is less than buffet level food at best 2a. When you pay for food in the non buffet dining hours, there is an expectation the quality increases as do the prices. When water is placed on the table, and it is bottled water, and the waiter and host DO NOT tell you they will charge you for it - I have a problem. We ordered Pani Puri, didn't match the images on the website. Was bland and no depth of flavor. Also didn't have sufficient toppings which is typical when you order this dish. We ordered Samosa Chaat, a fave we order in every city we go to - struggled to find the Samosa and had insufficient toppings. We ordered Gobi Manchurian, the sauce was overly sweet and the dish was soggy - reminiscent of precooked and microwaved style meals. The mint chutney tasted watered down and bland. Like it was from a bottle and then watered down again.

Highlights were the waiter, who was pleasant. Although he wasn't the guy who ran the nightclub style music (poor choice of music for a dining establishment btw) Waiter wore a mask. The Chai was good ALTHOUGH I had asked for it to NOT have any sugar. It was presweetened. Slap!

There has to be better Indian Cuisine in Albany - surely!

Do yourself a favor and try some other great joints in town. Indian or otherwise. I know the good people of Albany can't see this as the standard for Indian Cuisine.

ALSO - the checker took the water off after he tried to argue with me about COVID and the need to give bottled water. This wasn't my issue, being told upon giving me the water is when I want to be told there is an associated cost. And to boot, he charged me for 4 bottles when...