India Palace Restaurant — Restaurant in Wheaton

This is a great Indian buffet based on my one visit on a Friday lunch and here is why:

1. First their cuisine is apparently from a Northern part of India, which to me the non-indian reminded me of good home made pleasant food quality.

2. I can't say enough how excited I get when I go to an Indian restaurant like this and don't see those pesky orange and red and yellow food coloring. Use of only natural spices and no food coloring is a sign of respecting the customers and their intelligence and health, and highly contribute to that home quality taste too.

3. They don't have 30+ items, may be 10-15 items, but hey have the "right" variety instead of fake variety! What is the point of having 7 or 8 pretentious non-veg items when all of them are chicken in different sauces? This place had the goat/lamb that lack of it in a buffet for me is a deal breaker. I actually call in advance and if an Indian buffet does not have at least one goat or lamb, I just give up on them. Similarly what is the point of 6 or 10 veggie items if all of them are just starchy ones like potato, corn, rice , or even worse soy bean products like those tasteless cheese cubes?

This place however had a very tasty veggie dish made with eggplant.

Room for improvement: your buffet would be even better if you add a second "good" healthy non-starchy veggie dish with cauliflower, cabbage, opa, or bitter gourd!

4. Their Raita which was above and beyond. As tiny as it seems, Raita for me is a fire extinguisher that enables me to tolerate and enjoy spicy food. Now there are Indian restaurants that for them Raita is just a watered down yogurt, not for this place!

Firstly, their base of yogurt was pleasantly sour which is how good original style yogurt should be (sadly it is getting harder to find that sourness in many yogurts due to some people's obsession with sweetness and thinking that "sugar=good, sour=bad"

And secondly, the Raita was thick, because it was loaded with shredded cucumber and...

Fantastic quality, extremely tasty authentic Indian food. Reminded me of the Indian restaurants I grew up with in England. Loads of choices. Extensive list of vegetable dishes. Classic, traditional, and some different (for me) dishes. The food is kept warm with those little candles underneath little balti dishes.

We had vegetable samosas, mirchi pakora and onion bhajis for appetizers. All delicious - especially the onion bhajis! Mmm!

We each had different main dishes but shared and tasted them all. My husband had the Lamb Madras - absolutely delicious, with coconut flavors! I had the Lashuni Tikka - this was new to me, but SO delicious - a twist on the usual Chicken Tikka - spicier, deeper garlic and onion flavors. My son had the Lamb Pudina Masala - Lovely hints of mint flavor. It was hard to tell which lamb dish was more delicious - this or the Lamb Madras - both similar, but different flavors. Mmm... And my daughter had the Kadai Chicken - Less spice heat, but incredibly rich, deep flavors. We agreed that all 4 dishes were equally delicious in different ways. We also had two types of Nan bread - plain and Masala Kulcha (new to me) with onions + chili pepper. Yum.

Very friendly staff. Very reasonable prices. A wonderful find. Wish it wasn't so far from us, but...

If you need a change from your run-of-the-mill burger or everyday pizza, if you want to support a local family owned restaurant, if you want to simply enjoy good food and good conversation and not be deafened by loud music and distracted by ESPN on a dozen screen TVs, then India Palace should be your next choice for dining out. It serves authentic Indian food, freshly prepared with top notch ingredients at reasonable prices, and they will take special orders if you want to add or subtract an ingredient or modify the spiciness. The dishes range from such appetizers as Pankora (vegetables fried in chickpea batter) to Samosas to such main courses as lamb kebob, Dal Palak (spinach and lentils) and Chicken Tikka Masala. Even our pickiest eater has no problem finding items that delight his palate, and our oldest, a self-described 'foodie,' likes the adventure of selecting a different, more 'exotic' dish with each visit. One should try a refreshing mango lassa to start the meal, and finish with the rice pudding with crushed pistachios and almonds. India Palace was my go to take out during COVID, and even today, I will pick up or dine in at least...