Poona Indian Restaurant

Years back, after we moved to Duluth, we checked out Poona at its old location across from Gwinnett Medical Center on Pleasant Hill Road. When they closed doors, we were stunned. How could such good food desert us? There was wailing and gnashing of teeth. I’d see people on the side of the road, staring at what had been a beloved local establishment, looking not unlike a certain native american character in anti-​trash commercials of old. Cue toppling cans in the breeze. Sad music. The works. (I know, you’re heartbroken yourself)
Happily, Poona had simply moved down to Club Drive. What a misnomer of a street name. They largely have the shopping center to themselves. So be it. That leaves more food for me.
Or so I thought. Because Mike’s place (Mike being the owner, folks), can get very busy at times. Never too busy so that you don’t get excellent service, but busy enough that you can tell the place has a reputation. A well-​deserved reputation, I might add.
Mike sources most of his ingredients to be as fresh as possible. His food is just fantastic. Other Indian restaurants in Atlanta never blew my socks off; thus Indian chow remained an also-​ran among food genres in my book. But this place, oh, this place put chicken makhani on my top 10 all-​time favorite dishes list, particularly when I have rice and naan to go with it.
But all the dishes here shine. As far as consistency goes, it’s remarkable. They just have their act down cold, and I mean better than most other restaurants in the area, including other hidden gems, like Sushi Yoko.
They make the best sweet tea in GA, spiking it with cardamon and the like. You’ve got to try it. And yes, I know that people have been stabbed for such statements in this state (second only in homicides resulting from arguments and debates about which place the best biscuits emanate from). But they bring it. They really do, despite how good you think Granny’s tea is.
SMALL CHILDREN SECTION
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In today’s enlightened culture, where children (especially small children) are viewed as inconveniences and annoyances, Mike and his staff are always accommodating, always friendly, even when my girls and I ask to be seated at the back of the room. Thus:
Seating flexibility: ⁵⁄₅
Extra Napkin Score: Brought without prompts, without having to ask
Inevitable spill \ dropped crayon tolerance: Highest

Great Indian buffet restaurant! Their mulligatawny soup is so delicious!
The flavor of most of their dishes are not too spicy. Actually my young daughter absolutely loves their food especially their flan for dessert.
Service is excellent and the price is fair.
This is one of my favorite Indian restaurants in the area and I hope they stick around and keep the good standard for as long as they’re in business.

A hidden gem tucked in a small plaza. I went there with my colleagues during workday lunch time. They offered buffer. And it’s so peaceful inside. What’s more, their naan and dishes are more than average Indian restaurants.
First off, definitely try their naan and garlic naan. These breads are fluffy and delicious. After having them, I don’t think I would come back to Global Mall’s mediocre naan again.
The buffet was also top notch flavor wise. They did not have a lot of selections: several simple vegetable dishes and several chicken dished. No fancy lamb dishes, and no different curry dishes. But they did refill dishes to make us full. I enjoyed most of the flavors, but because it was a buffet, I can’t really tell which one is which.
For dessert, KHEER (Indian rice pudding) was tasty too. I couldn’t help but to have two bowls of it. Special caramel custurd and hot tea were also available at your disposal.
I heard they have better buffet selection at weekends, and you can order single dishes at dinner time.
Overall, a great restaurant with great flavors.

Great Indian Food, and nice ambience, would definately recommend any indian food lover

I’m very new to Indian cuisine, but there are tons of places to try in Atlanta and I’m on a slow, delicious mission to find a new favorite spot.
We came here for the lunch buffet on a Saturday. I tried a little bit of all the vegetarian dishes available and loved it all… I just wish I had paid more attention to what I was putting on my plate so I could write a proper review.
The food was spicy, but not HEAT-​spicy. Not the kind of spicy that leaves you crying and unable to enjoy the food, but the complex mingling of exotic spices that holds just enough of a kick to intrigue your tongue into a second helping. Everything was seasoned perfectly, nothing was too heavy or salty, and the naan was the softest, and fluffiest I’ve ever had.
Mango lassi was good, but pretty similar to other restaurants’. The iced spiced tea was wonderful and we had to ask for some to go.
The rice was a little dry. My one real disappointment with the place was the desserts! All my recent outings to Indian restaurants have convinced me that I’ve been doing desserts wrong my whole life. Poona had a very tasty kheer, but other than that they had flan (which, being Mexican, I’ve had way, WAY better), some pudding with Nilla wafers, and some generic cookies. I would have liked at least one more Indian option than just kheer.
Our server was lovely and had a voice like melting butter.
Will definitely be coming here again.

Without completely citing the Urban Dictionary definition of Poona, let just say that the
Malai Kofta here did not smell good. Its not often that I differ too much with the Unilocal reviews, but this was definitely the case with Poona. While the service was good, the food was not. The Malai Kofta was obviously not fresh and smelled like it had been in the back of the refrigerator for a long time. The other dishes were, for the most part, bland and did not at all live up to the other reviews. It might have just been a bad poona hair day, but I don’t think I’ll be back anytime soon.

My wife and I LOVE Poona. The food is excellent and the staff are incredibly friendly. We eat here for Sunday lunch about every other weekend and everything is tremendous. I won’t eat Indian cuisine anywhere else if I can absolutely help it.

My husband & I come here nearly every Sunday and miss it terribly when we don’t. I love Poona! The food is delicious and the wait staff is absolutely outstanding. We’ve never had a meal here that we didn’t thoroughly enjoy. The butter chicken, soup, biryani, samosas (meat AND veggie options), and naan are out of this world. Also, the outdoor patio is glorious in the spring and fall. We’ll be lifetime patrons!

Very tasty dinner tonight. We had a 9 veggie dish and masala with chicken. They were delicious. We asked for it to be mild, but they also gave us some hot sauce just in case we wanted to increase the heat. We also shared an original rice plate, which was enough to fill up 3 people! We especially loved the onion garlic naan! Our service was exquisite. She was very attentive and helped answer our questions. We will surely come back again.

The food was amazing and the customer service is outstanding. Their butter chicken is my favorite item there;the sauce is great. You also must try their somosas. They have veggie and meat somosas. I like the meat somosas but my girls love the veggie ones

One of the best Indian buffets around!
Great food accompanied by great service. I’ve been coming here since this place opened in Duluth. They have a great variety of different dishes that changes every once in awhile. Moist and well seasoned tandoori chicken and delicious buttered naan. Their garlic naan is my favorite! Family owned and consistent service is my favorite thing about this place. They always go out of their way to make sure you’re happy. Try the sweet tea! Their version of tea with cinnamon spices makes this place very unique.

Ok I had the lunch buffet at Poona today and it was really disappointing. Some of the dishes were good however the chicken tiki and the chicken marsala tasted old. I mean like warmed up each of the last few days over and over. (you know the funny taste chicken gets if old or microwaved). The price of 10.50 for a saturday buffet was a litttle pricey especially considering there are several places Naan n Curry and Asma’s that are cheaper. I was hoping for better results. Not sure if I would try again with the other options in the area. The people here were very nice and perhaps this was just a bad day.

This business is family owned. The wait staff here is very cordial. I am always treated like im the only one in the restaurant. The staff is very friendly The food cannot be yummier. I’ve tried many dishes and each and everyone is hand crafted by the talented cook, Mita. My favorite dish is probably the chicken biryani. Its made exactly how I like it.
The décor is authenic indian. And it’s very spacious to host parties!

The food here is amazing! They have a lunch buffet in which I was excited to try. They had a variety of vegetarian dishes as well for the meatless eaters. They also bring to your table fresh, hot naan to eat with your delicious meal. After feasting for what seemed like 45minutes, I enjoyed myself to some chai tea and cookies for dessert. They don’t always have cookies so you can opt for flan or their delicious rice pudding (kheer). Overall I would highly recommend this place to all.
Also the place is very clean and beautiful. The service is outstanding and the waitresses and hostess are very polite, quick, and professional. A remarkable experience. I will definitely be coming back here for the delicious food and great service.
Way To Go Poona!!! Two Thumbs Up!!!

Best Indian food in Georgia! The chicken korma, chicken vindaloo, chicken biryani, vegetable samosas, and mango kulfi are fantastic!!! I drive over an hour just to eat there. Well worth the drive!

I love this place the best food great chef very clean I highly recomend this restaurent

Really nice resturant and authentic food. I would definitely go back. The bread is the best. Really nice experience.. we ate on one side and the other side had a kids party. They weren’t loud and we still enjoyed

Am an Indian vegetarian. Food for today’s lunch was very bland. Pakora were very oily, nan even more oily. I was hoping to get some nourishing food, what we got was not. Mullgatwny soup was tomatoe bisque diluted. Sorry, not what you expect for Sunday lunch.

I normally wouldn’t go so far OTP but K1 Speedway opened up and I knew by the time I drove all the way from Downtown, I would need some sustenance.
I went to the lunch buffet with my longtime pal which is a huge fan of Indian (like myself) and has actually lived in India as a child. We ordered the buffet and some Mango Lassi. The buffet pretty much ran the gambit of typical tasty Indian dishes: curried chicken, chicken tikki masala, fresh naan brought to your table, fresh Indian salads, tandoori chicken, and two Indian desserts.
This is a family run business and the service is great. The food was good but as Indian buffets usually run; nothing special.
They don’t serve liquor so you won’t be able to get your beloved Taj Majal beer here.
The space is massive and they actually have outdoor seating. I will be back but next time I will try the dinner menu and judge them based on that.

I absolutely love this place! I’ve been there twice now with friends, and I can’t wait to take my wife.
The food is superb and the price is very reasonable. The food is not very spicy and is really, really good. I just can’t say enough about the buffet!
Oh, and the place is spotless! Bathrooms are very clean, which is something I really appreciate.