Clay Handi Restaurant and Catering (Halal, Indian and Pakistani Food) — Restaurant in Town of Tonawanda

I really really wanted to like this place but gosh, what a letdown. First, I agree with all who say that this place is way overpriced. I agree with all who say that service is poor. Really. I’m Pakistani so I know what each item on their exhaustive menu is meant to look & taste like. This place is embarrassingly conning people on some of the items both in terms of portion size & taste. Here’s a rundown of what I ordered: Chicken yakhni, which is meant to be just a chicken bone broth seasoned with salt, black pepper & ginger & with boiled chicken. What did we get? A super spicy concoction of cornstarchy soup with chicken & vegetables like green beans, corn, carrots etc. For $13.99 you get a single serving. Just unbelievable. Second, their Pulao. In which world does pulao have chilly in it? This is an Afghani dish & they never use chilly in pulao. Had ordered this for my toddler & of course she couldn’t swallow any of the food. The chicken biryani was okay, not the best in terms of moisture, ingredients & usual biryani herbs, but not terrible. Spicy (chilly/hot) but expected. The chicken karahi was good. Tiny portion even for a half chicken. Wasn’t too spicy. The chapati is not a chapati, they give you naan. The paratha is loosely a paratha because they just fry the naan/roti, that doesn’t make it a paratha. The kids fried chicken was okay but more like broast batter with tanginess. They promised it would be plain fried chicken. Gulab jamun was good but 2 tiny pieces. Gajar halwa was okay, no rabri added. The tandoori chai was well cooked but tiny portion for what you pay. First desi restaurant I’ve seen that gives you such little tea for what you pay ($5.99).

Everything took forever to come, they got the order items wrong twice, we sat outside & by the time it was night, there were mosquitoes & no outside lighting so we ate in the dark despite asking them to turn the lights on.

Will I go back? NO. Very disappointed. So for a grand bill of $190, we got tiny portions, super spicy food even when it’s not meant to be by definition, very long wait times, having to go & check on food than wait staff checking with us, wrong items, mosquito bites & eating in the dark. Did I mention that their bathroom is...

Finally went to Clay Handi as promised! My friend Beth had the chicken burger with fries.

I had the boneless chicken handi and it came with rice. I also ordered the keema paratha which is like bread stuffed with a meat and spices. For dessert I also had gulab jamun! So so good!

We also had the strawberry shake which us addicting.

So without further a do, let's get into the overall review!

Going in its kind of dark which I don't mind and there are beautiful traditional pieces on the walls, beautiful clay plates and silverware plated on each table along with a handkerchief cloth to wipe your mouth. The tables had some type of cloth inside it was cool. Forgot to add you can immediately smell the aroma of spices and wonderful food when you walk in and it's more quiet here so please don't ruin the peace with loud talking!

The staff was very kind and understanding and I feel bad to keep asking the 1 guy more questions and stuff I know he needed to eat. With this being said I can infer there aren't many staff. So..yeah.

The Keema paratha was good. But what made it so good was the spices inside and the meat. 😋😋😋😋

The chicken burger that my friend Beth had oh my gosh! I tried it and when I tell u it was bangin' it really was! It was juicy and packed full of flavor! Mwah! 💋 it was so good I decided to order one to go to take home.

The chicken handi came boiling in the pot! I was very excited for it and it came with a bigger bowl of rice to enjoy it with. When we finally took off the lid we wasted no time and dug in! The chicken + the sauce was spicy but not unbearably spicy. It paired well with the rice ad well to neutral it out as well as with the yummy strawberry shake we had. Beth and I thought the shake was gonna survive but we were dead wrong. We ended up ordering another one lol and that we didn't save it for later! Hehe

Lastly on the gulab jamun there were 3 pieces. The syrup was alot as usual yk so after we ate the gulab jamun we couldn't down the syrup but by that time anyway we were full and I just felt lazy yk. It also had almonds in it and I'd never seen that before with gulab jamun. Prices...

Alot of reveiws make it out to be very unclean and unfriendly. I did not find it to be those but I can see where it would be a culture shock to those who have not experienced other cultures and are used to corporate type resturant standards but I felt safe and welcome and would not let it deter you from going. Out side of the US people are not so ocer the top fake friendly dont mistake it as rude they are still very nice they just dont give you a fake smile like we are used to here. The food is very delicious. Theres alot of options and menue can be overwhelming and use better descriptions but there were so many things i wanted to try. One complaint I agree with is the cost, the portions are not big and the prices are pretty steep compared to other places. Dinner for 2 of us (just 2 waters and 2 entries) was $70 and it wasn't like there was a ton of food that made up for it. Also they put time into making their dishes so exspect a lil wait for your fresh hot food its worth it.

Food was good I enjoyed that it had spice and heat and over all dining there was an exspence so I'd say give it a try yourself. My only complaint is the prices were very high especially considering smaller portions I will absolutely be back if in the area becauce its tastey however due to price I go out of my way to rush back or make it a regular thing.

If you like new foods and spices check it out yourself and have an openmind this is a family run restaurant and some cultural norms may be different so don't exspect some corporate America restaurant exspence this has its own wonderful...