Ghareeb Nawaz

Very delicious and fast service I love it and very reasonable prices, it’s very cheap compare to the other restaurants in the area, i like the biryani very much
Even I can’t finish my plate it too much to eat it one time hope to can go every day. thanks

Last Friday we drove to Chicago from Champaign just for grocery shopping and enjoying Indian cuisine on Devon avenue. First of all there was so much traffic that it took us 4 hours to reach Devon avenue. But, I was still being optimistic thinking the food will make our miserable trip worthwhile. I had bookmarked gareeb nawaz on the basis of good reviews on Unilocal,so we headed straight towards it for lunch. It was extremely hot outside and I just wanted to sit inside air conditioned restaurant and enjoy the food. To my surprise, they just had fans, no air conditioning. I was still fine with it, thinking food will be good (I’m just too optimistic sometimes). We ordered goat biryani, chicken seekh kabab and chicken chargha. Food came fast. This type of food is enjoyed best when hot. But, everything we got was lukewarm to touch. I know biryani is pre-​cooked, but not seekh kabab and chicken chargha. I know the prices are reasonable but then nothing can justify lukewarm food.
Rice in biryani was dry. I don’t think they boil rice separately and then layer the meat and rice. Rice was cooked Like you cook in rice cooker and then just mixed with meat. Guess, they added less water while cooking rice which resulted in drier biryani. Seekh kabab would have tasted good if it would have been hot. Chicken chargha was bland. It did not have any flavor to it. It was cold and dry too.
All in all, not so good experience. My whole journey was miserable and I should stop being so optimistic.

So we haven’t been here for almost a year, and the last time we came here, food was great and all but it always sends me straight to the bathroom after, hm. Now almost a year later, we ordered take out last night and food has changed a lot, NOT in a good way. The food was cold, bland and biryani was not mixed just chunks of white rice. Most likely will not return but we’ll miss the old Ghareeb Nawaz.

If all you care about is delicious food, then this is the place for you! Delicious Indian food at really inexpensive prices. I find myself driving an hour to get here because it’s worth it!
The restaurant is a diner setting, so don’t expect anything fancy. And the customer service isn’t the finest.

I don’t know why people have overrated this restaurant so much. I went there with lots of expectations and all went in vain. Poor service and highly unhygienic.

Ghareeb Nawaz definitely stands by what it translates into, which is «one who soothes the poor». Echoing the same sentiment as all the past reviews, the food is great and it is super cheap! Not only that, they are open 24 hours and they have decent amount of seating. I ordered 2 chicken biriyani and lamb khorma and all of that cost me only 14 dollars. And for my family of 2, that is definitely going to last me at least for a couple of days. By that, what I mean is, the quantity isn’t anything you’re going to complain about. Just make sure you have cash with you, because they only accept cash. They do have an ATM machine to help with getting the cash you need for your food.

Echo everyone else at 4 – 5 stars says: Gareeb Nawaz is the best!!!
Lots of good food for good prices. Open 24 hours!!! And the food is consistently good at any time of day or night.
Friendly service.
I’ve had their chicken korma [spicy, juicy, meaty bone-​in pieces], butter chicken [so rich and awesome], aloo palak, naan, hunter beef wrap [tasty meatballs diced up in a slightly sweet aromatic tomato-​based rub, in a lovely doughy wrap]…
Go!

I love coming to this place only because the food is cheap and tasty. I will only take carry out here. Will never dine in.
I always get butter chicken and and the chicken green chili. The butter chicken is only $ 5 and they give you a pint which is more than enough for a meal for one person.
Most of the items on the menu are under $ 5 and delicious. Hole in the wall kind of place.
Cash only.

The best!!! Low prices and good food! I love the veggie parata I love that I can have a good quality meal for a low price and it’s delicious

This place is open ²⁴⁄₇ it is a gem in the community. Ghareeb has the best paratha I have ever had, it is clearly made fresh and is altogether delicious. I would recommend the butter chicken if you are sensitive to spices, and the chili chicken if you like spicy food!
The prices are beyond reasonable, you can feed ¾ people in under $ 15. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend.
cash only.

Cheap. Fast. Cash only.
Friend and I got dinner to go (butter chicken and chicken saag), which cost us ~$ 12 total with two extra side orders of naan. The food is good, but what really makes it stand out is the price, which is absolutely insane. Less than $ 5 for an entrée? Tack that on to the 24-​hour open times, and you have a place that probably sees the majority of its customers late at night, probably after the clubs close.
Chicken saag was a little weird and lukewarm. Butter chicken was great. We’ll come back.

It was my very first time dining at Ghareeb Nawaz after passing by it so many time.
I met a friend here for lunch and was quite impressed with the newly remodeled interior, the presentation and of course the food was very good. I had the fish biryani and my friend had the fish paratha.
I would definitely return to try the countless other dishes available. It is no wonder why this place is busy all the time… the food offered it very good!
Impressed!

CASH ONLY!
For 21 dollars, I got butter chicken, two biryanis, 1 chapati, 1 roti, 2 naan, and 4 samosas… although they forgot to give me my samosas unfortunately. I will say their samosas in general aren’t my favorite — the filling is good, but the outside is more like filo, and less like the chewy thicker samosa covering. But they’re still good (if they remember them).
The butter chicken is really much more like chicken tikka masala, so be warned it’s more tomato-​y and creamy and less like butter chicken.
The grilled chicken in the biryani’s was outstanding this last time — I’m picky about it and this was a stellar ⁵⁄₅ — not gristly, tender, and full of flavor.
All the breads are great — the chapati stands out to me, but they’re all good. The naan is a little thinner and bigger than most, but all naans are different, so no judgement there.

If you want a place for cheap Indian food that is open late, this is your spot!
There is a huge menu on the wall set up like a normal hotdog/​burger joint. It makes it easy to choose from all their options.
Last time I went there was on a Saturday night after going out. There was a decent line and it moved pretty quick. I took it togo but there is a ton of room inside if you want to dine in. I ordered so much food and it around $ 10 only. If you ordered from a typical restaurant before you’ll know it can get pretty pricey depending how much you order.

This place serves up some pretty amazing Indian food. And for under $ 10 I got the chili chicken, two samosas and a mango lassi. What a deal.
The chili chicken was amazing. So was the butter chicken, which was super creamy and delicious. The mango lassi was super good too.
The place is fast casual, and the interior is about as bare bones as you can get. The layout is odd — there seems to be a lot of open, empty space, and there is a prayer room in the back. There’s an old picture menu when you walk in — and I think I’ve changed my mind about picture menus after eating at this place.
So, I highly recommend it — it’s really delicious food for an unbeatable price. Try it.

Good, cheap. Lots of stuff on the menu that I don’t know what it is. The food is GREAT. We ordered too much, and everything was totally cheap. Like you could eat here for cheaper than groceries, practically. It’s expanded since my last visit, and is a giant, clean, expansive dining room with families and a wide array of people dining and having a great time.
Daal. Paneer. Biryani. All of it! Warning: The food is rich, and you might want to take a 2 hour nap after dining here!

The prices here are unbeatable
Vegetarians: I would recommend getting the veggie biryani + a curry (i.e aloo palak). The serving sizes are huge, you can easily split this into two meals. And this will only set you back $ 6
The veggie thali is also really good if you want to sample different types of curry in one meal it’s only $ 3.99!!! It’s extra filling because there’s rice and naan.
The vegetarian options are the bottom row!

This place is a cult favorite! The food is good, the portions are huge, and the prices are dirt cheap. You know how the pictures on the menu look bigger and better than they do in person? It’s the other way around at Ghareeb.
Their butter chicken is one of my favorite ones ive had because its so aromatic and rich. My theory is that they add a touch of cinnamon. I’d recommend getting that or one of their biryanis for a good time.

I adore this restaurant for so many reasons. We crave them on the regular. Excellent excellent curries, lamb, and chicken dishes. The chana masala mixed with chicken curry is super good and so so cheap. Like 5 bucks cheap and with enough leftover to have another meal (at least for me). They are so much better than the expensive curry restaurants in other neighborhoods, the food here is just delicious.
Ghareeb Nawwaz is very casual, almost hole in the wall — and gets very busy with Devon Ave patrons. The menu is on the wall and they have 5 dollar meals, rice ordered separate. You can also order roti for a buck and you get a massive amount. I could take or leave the roti, it is the entrees that I love. The spiciness is also lovely. Although cheap the food is not lacking at all. The chicken is fall off the bone tender, the lamb tender and juicy. I feel like I’m eating over at someone’s house whenever we get food from here.
Easily a favorite go-​to. I wish they delivered.

I’m fairly certain I left Chicago and walked straight into India when I walked into Ghareeb Nawaz. I’ve lived in both India and Nepal and this looked and felt like I was at one of the local bus rest stops between Kathmandu and Pokhara. From the décor (or lack thereof), the large semi-​communal tables, the people eating with their hands, the unbeatably low prices, and the smell of delicious Indian food being rolled out at crazy speeds, this place is about as close to India as you can get in the US.
For $ 13, my boyfriend and I split the chana masala, chicken biryani, chicken korma, and two orders of chapati. No wonder over 2/​3rds of the people at Ghareeb Nawaz were eating the biryani… it’s HUGE and delicious and comes with a nice raita to cool it down. Each piece of chapati was massive and cost $ 0.75, the chana masala only cost a couple dollars and was also really tasty. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was the chicken korma. I liked the sauce, but I swear the ratio of meat to bone was 1:9.
I will definitely be back soon, and next time I will get their famous chili chicken biryani or green chili chicken biryani. Can’t go wrong with a massive plate of rice and chicken!

This place once topped my survival guide for life in chicago.
I have some great memories of this place from a few years ago where I stocked up on their food every week, visited them every weekend and tried almost everything on their menu.
Their chilli chicken was my favorite, there were days where I only ate their chili chicken for lunch and dinner, food being insanely cheap and being open for almost 24 hrs every day I was a big fan of them.
And there were days where I paid hundreds of dollars for parking tickets from my visits to devon st.
Today we got their chilli chicken, chicken nihari & naans for dine in.
Chilli chicken was great in its glorious form per usual, but their chicken nihari was bland had too much grease and the gravy was gelatinous. Naans were OK. If i go back here again i will stick to what they are best for thats their Chilli chicken

About time they remodeled! It looks a million times better then before, and they are still working on making it look better. The bathrooms actually look nice and clean. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s still not a nice family place like Usmania or Sabri Nihari, but it’s much better and looks more appealing then before.
And for the first time ever, all the tables were clean and we weren’t forced to clean it ourselves. They also have water jugs in the fridge! So you don’t have to wait in a line to fill one cup at a time like before. I can’t wait to see it when its completely remodeled.
Food is still ⁵⁄₅. Must get the chili chicken paratha or the gyros paratha (spicy)!