Chandni Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

I have very mixed feelings/review about this restaurant. (Sorry for the long review)

I knew this spot when they were under other management as nawab restaurant, didn't get a chance to dine in after they became Chandni.

Recently, I came across them on UBER while in search of a pakistani breakfast. So, I ordered 2 halwa puri combo, 2 lacha paratha, 2 naan, nihari, and omelet. I was glad with the order as their channa had that authentic pakistani taste, alo curry tasted amazing, lacha paratha was huge with good thickness and well cooked. Nihari tasted good, too. Omelet was well made, too. Portion looked appropriate, served a gathering of 8 well. And yes, there was some salad too in aluminum foil, which looked and tasted stale.

We got hooked up and ordered breakfast again in 2 days, this time we went with 1 halwa puri combo, 1 paratha, 1 omelet and 1 goat paya, again breakfast was good, paya well cooked, portion wise bit on smaller side.

I had family coming over for brunch, so I thought to order from them this time we got 3 halwa puri combo, 1 nihari, 2 paratha, 2 naan, 3 rus malai, 1 omelet and I decided to went in to pick it up. Here, I found out that they charge 3% convince fee if you pay on a card and no tax or fees if you pay cash. Let me tell you I was impressed seeing their wide variety of sweets and halwa, it gave us that pakistani homie vibes, i was super excited to see they have apparently pakistani style dahi bada and samosa chat available. we also got "akhrot (walnut) halwa, which tasted awesome.

When we opened our order and at to serve, Chana, alo, and halwa portion was similar to the one we got with 1 combo, though it was packed in relatively bigger box (not that big to compensate 3 portions) but merely filled. It was an embarrassing situation where we had to share 1 Tbsp each of Chana, alo curry, and halwa per guest (among 8 ppl) where few days back with 2 combo order we had enough to enjoy with left over.

I was still hopeful and wanted to continue with them, giving them a margin that restaurants do that as Chinese restaurants give you a slightly bigger box to compensate 2 free white rice with 2 curries. So, we decided to go back next morning to try/explore more.

We got samosa chat, dahi bada, qeema paratha, tawa roti, and Mutton karahi

Samosa chat tasted good mainly because their channa has authentic taste, dahi bada was bit disappointing, there was imli chutney but they didn't bother to add that upon asking for it we got sweet red syrup. Qeema paratha was huge but served without any yogurt or anything else to go with it (we usually go to mithaas for paratha and all restaurants should learn from them how to serve food with love). Salad tasted stale, Mutton karahi tasted okay, tawa roti was huge but poorly cooked as raw from different spots and had unequal thickness. 1st i found hair in karahi and thought it might be stuck with my shirt but on next bite thank God I saw hair embedded/cooked in roti. We all lost our appetite and all the excitement of finding a halal pakistani restaurant nearby who could serve our cravings, which we get fulfilled at Mithaas. I really wanted to become their loyal customer and support pakistani Halal restaurant, but sadly, it was a disappointing experience. We didn't mention it to the staff and decided to pack leftover and leave. Disappointment didn't end there. The container we got to pack was broken (i will try to upload the video).

I would strongly recommend the owner to work on the quality of food and service. Be transparent and serve with love instead of cutting on cost, serving small portions, and gaining benefits. Restaurants should work on building a long-term relationship with serving constantly good. Hope you would reconsider and would work on raising your standards. We need good pakistani restaurants to serve our...

I have always been advised to dodge Pakistani restaurants in NY and I can see why.

They seem to be consistent, consistently poor.

We went here tonight as a family for a meal tonight.

For starters we had wings, beef chapli, chicken seekh, samosa chaat and masala fries.

The wings were tough, way too much masala and greasy. The kids weren't impressed and left these.

The fries were better, but they weren't masala fries in any way. When we queried this the staff were adamant they were, saying they sprinkled the masala onto them themselves. Blessing in disguise I suppose as these were at least eaten.

Samosa chaat was decent. The samosa was obviously pre made however, lukewarm. The chaat was basic but there was no imli or green chilli. Still serviceable.

Never got to try the seekh kebabs as they came out a lot later.

The chicken Karahi however was dreadful. I understand business is slow for Pakistani restaurants during the week but how on earth can you try getting away with old chicken thrown into masala and passed as a fresh dish?

Just imagine leftover fried chicken that you find in your fridge 2 days later that is then microwaved. This is exactly what this chicken tasted like. The owner insisted to my uncle this wasn't the case but either he was lying or being misled by his own staff. He offered to cook the dish further. God knows what that would have achieved. We said the chicken was old and stale, how could cooking it further fix this?

The nihari came out 10 minutes before the naan so was forgotten about also. I don't get why the starters could not come out together and then the mains after? This really needs sorting.

The naan were lovely. The waiting staff were friendly and helpful as was the young boy at the front desk.

I don't expect the restaurants to be as good as back home in Bradford or England in general and I don't really care for decor as long as the food is decent but why do all Pakistani restaurants here feel like they're set in the late 80s or early 90s? Either that or you feel like you're sat eating in a basement.

I can safely say I will dodge eating at a Pakistani restaurant when...

Oh my God!

COCKROACHES in the restaurant !! OLD REUSED OIL !! EXPIRED CHICKEN WITH NO TASTE !! Soaked in oil !! 🤮🤮🤮

I was so close to suing this place!!! This is literally the worst food (both taste and quality) I have ever had in my entire life!!!!! I can't believe the owner is Muslim. Because if he was, he would never do this cheap act towards other people. He is literally giving old, reused, expired food to your customers in exchange for a huge amount of money. Like How Can This Food Even Exit Your Kitchen with this quality????????????? Are you trying to kill people???

I ordered Bhindi Chicken for 15 dollars since I was craving it. As you can see in the picture, it looked soaked in old, used oil. I could hardly see any chicken or Bhindi but oil in this dish. Even from the smell of the oil, I could tell that it has been reused multiple times, especially to fry stuff. I was so scared to eat this but then I didn't want to waste all the money I spent on this. So I decided to give it a try. There is literally no taste of Bhindi. Even the chicken tasted expired. Probably, they just reused it from another dish, which they are very popular to do. After a few bites, I started to feel like throwing up and super bloated. Even started having a headache. I literally had to throw almost all of it away. It has been an hour since I ate it, and still, the taste of the old reused oil is bothering me.

I don't know how such an illegal and unhygienic restaurant can exist in the USA. I WONDER IF THEY EVEN HAD GONE THROUGH ANY INSPECTION. Unless you are desperately out of food or options, DO NOT TRY THIS PLACE EVER IN YOUR LIFE! TRUST ME, THEIR FOOD WILL MAKE YOU REGRET REALLY BAD. I wish I had never tried their food. I'm drinking gallons of water to make myself feel better, but the taste of oil is...