Dera Restaurant

I learned to eat Mediterranean food from here. It used to be that the smell is too distinc for me but Dera changed my perception of strong smell to tasty spicies.
I particularly like the sesame naan and chickpeas.
Their salad is fresh and meat based recipes are tasty and tender.
Although i am not a fan of Mediterranean deserts but surely I have recieved holiday box of gifts from friends so I am sure they are the best in Jackson Heights.
I would also recommend for you to try their Lamb chops, they’re Licious.
The service is excellent also in this restaurant and people are very respectful.
This place is worth paying a visit whenever you’re in Jackson Heights Queens, don’t miss it!

If you’re out looking for decent Indian food for a decent price, this is the spot to come to. I’m a regular at this restaurant for as long as I can remember. I used to come here when the whole restaurant was called Shaheen. The food and service quality has gone down ever since they changed the management and turned into Dera, however they still serve good food.
I always get the butter chicken and plain naan from here, both which are exceptionality good. The chicken biryani they serve is also pretty good.
My only complain with this place would be the service. They don’t have too many servers and you usually have to work a little to get there attention.
All in all, its a good restaurant to enjoy affordable Indian food in, so I definitely recommend it!

If you want good local indian food, spot to go, gets crowded tho and loud. Chicken biryani and goat curry was excellent, however i tried a few curries other curries at other times and they were very salty.

This is an «okay» restaurant but has potential to do better. Sometimes the food is old and given cold. The butter chicken lacks spice and it feels like the chicken is served with water instead of the curry. Chicken tikka is good thought and the white rice (pulao) is also great.

I LOVE their food. Everything in this restaurant tastes great. Their chicken tikka, chicken tandoori, Beef bihari kabab are really good. And their kheer is good too.
The only thing they need to work on is the interior. Overall love this place for their food.

Rate: 4.5
Okay, if you come here expecting some grand service, you’ve come to the wrong place. This is a casual, affordable restaurant that people in the neighborhood come to eat at with their families when they’re feeling a bit extra. But with that being said, this review is solely on the food — not really the service because the service is like the service you’d find if you were at a casual restaurant in India, Bangladesh or even Pakistan, and I don’t mind that one bit.
My family and I had come here on a random night because we were hungry and were tired of food from home. Thankfully there was free parking but it does look kind of sketchy at night, I’m not gonna lie. Besides that though, we went in, picked out a seat, and was given a menu within a couple of minutes. We ordered the mixed vegetable rice, naan, behari kabob, Chana masala and the tandoori quail. I personally ordered the mango lassi while my parents ordered regular fountain drinks and that tasted great.
The rest of food was extremely good. Even though the «mixed» vegetable rice was pretty much pea pulao, the tandoori quail was VERY VERY flavorful and the behari kabob was one of the best I’ve tried in NY. It actually reminded me of the kabobs they sell in Dhaka, it was awesome. As for the Chana masala, I was kind of scared to eat it at first because it had a pool of oil on top but I then realized that that’s how Chana masala was supposed to look. Desi food is not really known for its nutritional values anyway.
We all loved the meal and the portions were actually very big as well. My pulao was good for at least two people, and the quails were actually pretty large, which was a pleasant surprise. I was very pleased with my visit at Dera, very different from regular bland city Desi restaurants. But if you’re expecting 5star customer service and treatment — then this place is not for you.

My first time eating chicken palak and loved it will definitely come back for more and some sweets as well, nice service as well

5 stars for their parking space. It’s big and FREE! Hats off to the owners for this parking lot which saves a lot of stress and time of parking hunt. Now coming to food, unfortunately the story is nowhere close to 5 stars. I only wish their food tastes atleast as good as it looks. We were 7 people and ordered variety of rice and other dishes. The only thing worthy of some praise was chicken steam roast. The rest was not bad but had no taste. It was just food that’s good to fill your tummy. I would advise the owners to consider a new chef and do some extensive tasting before perhaps a relaunch of Dera

Delicious
So many varieties of mithae
Everything was so fresh n tasty
Family environment
Clean inside
Customer service is awesome

I have eaten there before. The food is excellent when they have time for you. A friend and I went there last night. The waitress seated us. They really weren’t that busy. But we waited about 20 minutes and she never came back. We eventually just walked out. Dera is like that sometimes you wait forever for a waitress or in this case they never return.

Dude. The chicken I was served was old. Visibly old. Like it looked like it had been sitting in the trays for forever. I told the guy behind the counter (twenties, south asian, brown complexion, heavy accent) give me chicken fresher than this, he replies with no one else complains about the food. Really bro? My man had the nerve, I said I always used to come here, the quality of food was never this bad? And my man had no chill, he told me «this was the first time ive seen you here.» Wow. Even if it was the first time he’s seen me here, you just don’t say that to a customer.
This guy should teach a class on customer service, and if everyone else wants to eat old chicken, that’s fine by me, but i wont do it. That guy should be fired, I should have taken a photo of him. I hope he was fired or got demoted to dish duty because he sucked. No customer service skills or he had a stick up his butt. I used to frequent this place a lot with my family (back in the 90s and early 2000s) and the quality used to be GREAT.
Not anymore. Many of my friends swear on Dera. It’s always packed. I’d rather go to the cart on the corner in front of Kabob King or go to Kabob King instead. After this incident with that guy, I won’t step foot in Dera again and I will let everyone know of my terrible experience here.

YOU SHOULD TRY THEIR Falooda (Desert). Naan was fresh… Chikan wasn’t fresh or coocked well.

Aah good old Dera, have visited thsi place everytime i come to the Small apple. The food has always tasted the same but i always go for the good old grill items or there goat biryani, hits the spot right.
Dinning inside if you are here onthe weekend is quite chaotic but the servers do a good job and get the food out right, due this being a busy spot i prefer packign it up and going home to get your hands dirty.
A cup of tea is perfect and cooked right as the art of tea needs to be smoked right.
Will be back again soon, the desi folks know what they are getting into here :)

Go! Go! Go! For some homey Indian/​Pakistani food just gooooooooooo. Laid back, very casual environment. Order at the counter and they’ll bring it to you at your table. They have everything from apps, entrees, sweets, desserts, beverages, etc. I adore and devour their chicken and vegetable samosas, a staple for any South Asian. Nothing fancy about this place but the great food is all I’m really interested in. Take your friends, family, neighbors, hell, break bread with your enemies. Yummmmm

I come here numerous times and it gets worse! On many accounts my friends and family have found roaches on the table, a bug in the rice, old hard rice. I’ve been coming here for years and the taste of the chicken makhani has changed. The quality of this dish has become watery and less appetizing. The only dish I like is the mixed vegetable.
They reheat the food by microwave and nothing is fresh when you come to eat for dinner. The best time to come and eat is around 1 pm when everything is freshly made.
The service sucks! You have to wait like 15 minutes literally to get napkins, plates, the check, etc. The worst time to come is on the weekend. You can never get anything on time. I’m sorry but I miss the old food/​service.

Absolutely love this place, Forget the poor service and dirty seating… Its worth it cuz once you start eating none of that matters!
Butter chicken, Garlic naan, half rice, chicken semosa and little milk dessert balls! Must try!
Youll leave satisfied.
I have to admit tho out of the 10 times I’ve gone here the food has made my stomach bubbly twice.

Great Pakistani food. Must try their beef nehari, the meat is so tender and flavorful! They also have many selections for tandoori and kebabs.

Can’t get more terrible. Great service and bad bad food. And not a good bang for the buck.
I would not go unless I was really made to.

The reason I come here is for the quality of the food, but it seems as if they’ve also carried waitstaff traditions over from Pakistan. Nobody seats you – you just plop down wherever you’d like; moreover, you more often than not, need to bring the waitress over to you rather than wait for her to come. Now this is fine for people who understand the south asian dining culture, but a non south asian family may have a hard time keeping up. My best advice to you is, think of this place as a hybrid waitstaff/​self serve type of restaurant. You can be more open and direct with the staff. Just don’t ask them to explain the food to you. You either know it or should do your research before you come. But, it’s worth it. The food is delicious.

Omg yas haven’t had Indian food in forever… Craving fulfilled!
Their specialty is nana bread and curry dips… The also sell desserts… chicken/​beef/​goat on skewers… And random fried foods…
They have good side items like fresh vegetables… salads…and white rice… I love goat curry… it was suppose to the spiciest item at the restaurant… i thought it was just good… not spicy at all… the texture was great… the seasoning is perfect… the goat was not dry at all… then i got this wired thing called coffin… it’s pure milk ice cream… more of a dessert than a side dish…
As far as atmosphere goes it’s just like a fast food restaurant… But you still have to tip… area is extremely cowered and rowdy and i came here around 10:30 pm… the chairs and tables are too close together felt squished…
I think overall the food was good but the service and atmosphere kinda sucked… I would go back just for the food!