Thali of India — Restaurant in Town of Henrietta

I don't usually do restaurant reviews but this place was a bad experience.

Let me start by saying the food was decent. Lots of vegetarian options. I'd expect an Indian buffet to have biryani but they didn't. No biggie.

The worst part is the service. I walk in and the lady just says "pickup?" Um, no Im here for lunch. She guides me to a table for 2 and takes one of the stemmed glasses away. I use the restroom while they setup the table. Come back and there is a water glass... All stemware is gone. No utensils either just a napkin. No worries I'll just grab utensils near the buffet. Can't find a fork so I ask and she gestures at plastic forks... everyone else in the restaurant has silverware... Fine whatever I just want to eat. I eventually find a metal fork elsewhere.

I finish a plate and sit for a bit to then get some desert. Come back and the table has been completely emptied. My water is gone, tea is gone, utensils and napkins gone... My jacket is still on my chair... I set down my desert and go get another set of silverware utensils. A waitress comes back with a stemmed glass of water and apologizes.

Like I said. I don't usually leave bad restaurant reviews but I just did not come away with a great experience from this place. I'm only in town for work so maybe I'm not used to Rochester but after looking around and seeing I'm the only young black dude in the restaurant I just felt uneasy. Finished my food and left. Won't be...

We enjoy stopping by every few months when we're in the area at lunch time and are generally quite pleased. They get a good crowd and offer a nice range of cold items, hot items, some of which would benefit from warmer temperatures--admittedly a challenge on a buffet, condiments, multiple deserts and hot tea. The bread (nan) is served on the buffet, not tableside, so it isn't as fresh as made-to-order, but with the rise in food prices everywhere you go Thali is still a good value. The staff who seat, clear, and serve water to the table are polite, but be aware that there is a step between levels in the dining room. There's easy parking shared with the rest of the strip mall out front.

UPDATE July 2025 Stopped back for lunch on a weekday recently and either the management or the chef or both have changed. The variety and quality of the items on the hot and cold buffets have both declined, from seasoning that wasn't Tandoori on the so-called Tandoori chicken to soggy nan on the heat table which was way too thick while other items from samosas to chocolate and vanilla puddings which had been staples for years were gone entirely. We all know costs are up so the increased price wasn't a surprise, but with the decreased quality of the food we'll look elsewhere for...

Maybe the best of the Rochester “Indian” restaurants. Buffet is clean and kept well.

Food is toned down to the American palate with little evidence of spices and almost no chilis. As a result I find the food totally boring. What is Indian food without cardamom? The chutneys are straight out of a bottle.

As a vegan, I appreciate That the buffet as Vegan and vegetarian labeled, thus three stars.

Just returned after a year. The place was very busy which is great to see, but if you are going to sell me a dinner, then it had better be good for a positive review. Being vegan is difficult in Rochester I admit, but last night was not the best dining experience.

The vegan on the buffet: picked over buffet for the entire time there: baby spinach salad was empty for too long. Empty. Other dishes nearly empty. Rice was lumpy. “Mixed vegetables” a brown mess of unflavored potatoes and potatoes skins w nothing but tubers. Dal the worst I can remember having. Pakora were little half bite sized dough balls with vegetable flakes. That’s it for vegan. But they did serve naan to the table.

I am really glad Rochester supports Thali but “Rochester Indian” is really nothing...