Shalimar Restaurant & Sweet Center

I was in Edison last weekend, and of course had to stop at Shalimar. I had not been here since my days in college when we would drive in the late hours of the night just to get chicken cheese kabobs.
My aunt, uncle and I stopped for the lunch buffet which is $ 15/​pp. A little pricier than your normal buffet, but the amount of food you can have is incredible. They had about 15 different saalans/​entrees — including haleem, chicken tikka, chinese style chicken, tandoori chicken, I mean the list can go on forever.
I was deeply craving pakoras, so I went for those first. They were okay. They clearly weren’t fresh, but the flavor was still right on. I also had the bhindi masala, chicken tikka, some haleem, biryani, and a few others I can’t even remember. The haleem was a huge hit amongst all of us. It was perfect in consistency. The chicken tikka was decent, could have had a little more spice to it. The tandoori chicken also was full of flavor, and the meat wasn’t too dry.
The best part of this place is that they keep bringing fresh naan to your table as you’re eating. I felt like I was in Pakistan when they make it right in front of you! They also had a ton of dessert options including jalebi, gulab jamun, mithai. But, who honestly has room for that after eating so much for lunch.

Where do I start, Shalimar were the first ones to give me my taste of Home, back when I first came to this country its been 8 years since and they never seem to have failed me once.
Reason for that, they keep it simple and straight forward everything they cook is with «Shan» masala and ALL the recipes come straight from the back of the pack, really you can cook the exact same food by simply following the instructions but thats the beauty of Shalimar’s ideology «Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broken» or better yet «Why Reinvent The Wheel» and that’s the reason why no matter which Shalimar you visit (there’s about 3 – 4 of them in and around) the food quality and taste is ALWAYS consistent.
On a side note I’d steer away from the sweets they are good but not the best.

Excellent food… Good ambience… Reasonably priced… Did I say the food tastes so much better than most other Buffet places?

Garbage restaurant. Unhealthy food. Bathroom toilet broken. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place. I saw cockroaches and extremely unhygienic place

Their food is amazing and very delicious. Their nans (bread) are also great. I wish they would have a server take the order and checks. All in all the quality of food and freshness is delightful .
On a side note I have also used their catering services for my own wedding and sister in laws wedding, quality of food was impeccable. Keep up the good work.

My first ever visit here. Came in on a Monday for lunch. A decent variety of food in their buffet — and it was all delicious! Clean place, friendly attentive staff. I highly recocmend, and I will defintely go back here again!

1. Order at the counter. $ 6 for vegetable dishes, $ 9 for chicken dishes — goat/​lamb a bit more expensive. Naan and rice sold separately.
2. Get a number stand
3. Grab a seat
4. Wait for the food to come to your table
5. After you eat, pay at the register.
I got the chicken jalfrezi — really spicy! moist & tender chicken that fell off the bones. Yummmy!
& saag paneer — (spinach & cottage cheese) a bit too salty for my liking

This review is for takeout only; I’m definitely not a fan of the dine-​in experience, but I absolutely love the food from here.
The haleem here is probably the best I’ve ever had, and whenever I get the chance to visit, I get a couple of beef haleems to-​go to stack up in my fridge because they last for a reasonable period of time and seem to get better the following day.
The behari kebab– oh my GOSH! It is quite possibly the most amazing meat I’ve ever had; it’s soft, melts in your mouth, and is impossibly flavorful and just downright incredible.
The sweets are also pretty good, but the woman who boxes and sells them to you can be quite rude –_​– Otherwise, the staff is as friendly as can be with the line, and the food experience is not something you’ll soon forget.
Very highly recommended.

We have eaten at this place several times, mainly lunch buffets. Food is pretty good quality and variety at the buffet is just right — not too many dishes and not too few. The main item I like best is their seekh kebabs, not the ones in buffet but the ones you can order a la carte. Chicken cheese kebab and lamb kebab are made fresh. 4 to 4.5 stars for kebabs definitely. Today I got their goat biryani packed for the first time. Quite tasty and handsome quantity.

Good food in a cafeteria style environment. Lamb chops are pretty good, so is the biryani. Tandoori chicken is good too along with nihari and haleem.

Worst food on the block. Horrible service and no flavor. Complete fobbed out place and service.

Papri chaat, samosas, kabobs, naan, nihari, and jalaybees. You will never be disappointed with the food at this Shalimar location. Just order it, sit, and enjoy. They renovated the restaurant some time ago so it’s really nice inside. Don’t bring Bae here, cuz the aunties talk. And they got cameras on their phones. Perfect for fam bam and friends.
Parking sucks because it’s Edison and it’s Oak Tree Rd fam. But come here. You won’t regret it.

Large portions for a family friendly restaurant for those of the Pakistani background or lovers of a proper halal dish.
The waiting time is on the long side, and from my experience not the friendliest of ambiance by the staff.

First thing i want to say is owner please use those cameras you have put in your restaurant see what really customers are going through. May be its a good place for those whom they know very well or so but i was there i placed a ordered i was been told it will take 15 mints so i decided to wait there.
Mean while i saw there were order customers who were waiting for their food before i got there, after 20 mints i waited there those customers finally ended up at the counter asking what happened about their food its been 35 mints so she gets a reply from counter lady saying if kitchen people will give then only i can give u that too rudely and other staffs laughs along with her being a customer i felt very weird how can you say so at-​least put a effort to go inside and check whats going on at-​least.
I was looking at the tandoor there was no one there preparing my kebabs so i finally asked counter guy whats going on so he went inside and requested to put kebabs as we were all waiting. Then comes a chef who took more 20 mints to get my order ready. So i ended up waiting for ⁴⁵⁄₅₀ mints for just kebabs. And means while noticed all those people working there and passing comments on order dint even bother we is around who is not. Yes food was good no complaints but its not always food some times. So don’t think i will be going back for such attitudes. So owners please do use those 6 cameras you have installed hope they are not just to see customers who dint paid but also watch you staffs.

I have become a regular here over the past few months after having ignored the place for 15 years. I keep going back for the same two things though so I probably should be trying something else on the menu soon.
Their Bihari Kabab is really good. I’ve gotten it separately and as a roll and neither have disappointed me once. Definitely one of the better Bihari Kababs I have had in North America.
Their Papdi Chaat is really good as well. One order would probably be enough for two people.
They have a pretty good selection of Mithai as well.
I haven’t dined in yet so can’t rate that experience but haven’t been disappointed by takeout yet. If you are planning on doing a takeout and know what you want, I would recommend ordering over the phone.
Parking is available in a nearby lot. Finding a spot during the weekend is a little tough. It is a 3 – 5 minute walk.

I came here on a weeknight and it was surprising very busy. The tandoori chicken (malai) was great, but was a bit on the bland/​dry side. The naan complemented the dish, but was extremely oily. Everything tasted fine, but it certainly wasn’t AMAZING. I will give them another chance and try again, because I’ve been here in the past and I’ve had good experiences. The mango lassis were on point. If anything, that alone made my visit worthwhile.

Went there with a group of people, but we ordered takeout separately.
I only ordered 2 things, a chicken dish (which they asked if I wanted to heat up at home — I said yes.) Meaning just 4 scoops into a container in their front of house food, and some Naan.
In total it should not have taken 40 mins just for those 2, but the food was delicious, a so ill give them that.
Next time, I’ll just try the buffet, in hope that the service and speed is faster.

I was looking for another place while walking in.
Simple décor, nothing amazing but the food smelled great. Looks like a lot of locals come here. Lunch buffet has great dish choices and even has mango lassi and sweets without additional charge. Im going again soon.

This restaurant is not good at all!
I ate chicken biryani from here, and I ended up getting an upset stomach. I would not recommend this place. I have eaten other entrees from here, and I am less than impressed with each order.
I don’t like how they keep there food. They put everything in a glass display in the front of the place. It probably collects bacteria sitting there for so long!
The service is bad too. People here are not good at communicating with customers. They seemed to be half listening to me when I was talking to them.
I would recommend a different restaurant. I think this restaurant offers the buffet. I have eaten that in the past. I don’t think I can recommend it now.

Improve your customer service.