Tandoor E India

My all time favorite Indian Restaurant. I strongly recommend the Chicken Tikka Masala.

We really like this place for 3 reasons:
1. It’s BYO.
2. The food is outstanding and they always have a great buffet selection.
3. The owner is always really friendly and all the staff care you enjoy your food.
The décor is a little outdated and odd but that adds to charm. Too bad it’s tucked away on a desolate strip mall — if it was on Main Street in Red Bank it would take weeks to get a reservation!
If you’re in the mood for some good Indian food or to try something new then definitely give this place a try!

Massive Disappointment.
Got take out on Christmas Eve. Alu Papri Chaat had barely any papri, mostly unflavored potatoes, and was the worst chaat I’ve ever had. Nothing tasted good (paneer shahi, fish mahkni, paneer pakora, etc). We noted that everything tasted different than when we have been before, so maybe something has changed, but not for the better. Even the mango lassi wasn’t good — how do you mess up mango lassi? I wish I could say that something was good, but even the raita tasted off.
We are never going back.

Ridiculously overpriced, subpar food, and non-​existent service. We went on a Friday, and had the $ 16.95 vegetarian dinner buffet. The «buffet» consisted of four vegetable dishes, two very bad sweets, and possibly the worst samosa I ever had. Furthermore, they ran out of naan, and didn’t bother to restock it (naan was self serve that day). They did not clear the dishes, and refilled the water once, even though it was not busy; the owner was sitting as was the waitress.
I’m not sure how or when this place was voted best Indian restaurant in Monmouth County, i can only conjecture that it is the only restaurant in Monmouth county.
The four veggie items were a malai kofta, dal makhani, navratan korma, and some potato and garbanzo bean amalgamation. Of the four, only the malai kofta was tolerable, the rest were bland. The two desserts were gulab jamun and kheer. Gulab Jamun was not fried throughout, and tasted like doughnuts, while the kheer had some strange scent and flavor. The samosa filling had way too much turmeric, and sadly no other spices.
All in all, very disappointing. stay away and buy frozen Indian food, much more satisfying that way. Or go to Edison and see what a 17 dollar buffet should be.

First time visit for take out after a very long week. Could have not been more pleased with the food. Shrimp Moglai –large shrimp in a medium spicy cream sauce. Complex flavors and delicious. In addition the smoky grilled Nan, Raita, Papadum, and Mysore Masala Dosai were quite lovely. Will definitely be returning.

I don’t know why it took me so long to try this place, as it’s been less than 5 minutes away from where I live, but I am glad I finally did! I love Indian food, but I am not educated in it nor do I have it very often. I have a feeling I will be an expert on this place soon, though.
I came with a friend of mine right after they opened back up for dinner. We did the buffet, for $ 18.95/person. I did have a
coupon, but no coupons are good on the buffet, which is fine. When we started taking food from the buffet, the waiter let us know he was going to bring out fresh appetizers and naan. I noticed he made small batches and brought them out whenever new people arrived or it ran out, which is good to know… very fresh!
I sampled everything on the buffet line and it was all delicious! My favorite was the chicken tikka masala. I was in love with the sauce it was sitting in and the chicken was so tender!
Can’t wait to go back!

Came here about 30 minutes before they closed which I’m always weary of doing considering I work in a restaurant and I hate when people do that. We had a very hard time finding this place which is why it took so long. It’s tucked in the back of a strip mall. We were the only ones in the restaurant and they didn’t seem upset we were there so late. We ordered the Garlic Naan, Shrimp Curry and Chicken Curry Rice. It was my first time eating Indian so I have nothing to compare to it but it was good. My only downside to this place is that the owner I’m guessing was the phone LOUDLY the ENTIRE time. Can’t he go in the back or outside and do this? It was very annoying and rude. Then when we paid, he finally got off the phone and looked pissed at us and talked about us to his wife I’m assuming considering he was giving us the death stare. We did not give him a very good tip. Why should we? He didn’t pay attention to us and kind of ruined our meal by chit-​chatting on his phone the whole time. Food was good, Service could have been better without that phone.

Birthday lunch for my son. We went there because of reviews on line and location.
We were the first customers in the door on Saturday, Aug. 29.
The plus: everything on the rather small buffet was hot and fresh. Naan and samosas right out of the oven and fryer.
The con: The food has HEAT but no real FLAVOR.
The ONE staff member (owner?) was on his cell phone the entire time we were in there. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. He did not put the phone down once. He poured our water continuing his conversation in a foreign language the entire time.
AND — he «forgot» to turn on any background music. he was so involved in his conversation he forgot he had customers. The small dining room was creepy as we ate in dead silence except for his loud cell phone call.
We will not be back.

I wish I didn’t live so far from here. An authentic Indian restaurant! I would seriously consider traveling the 2 hours to get here from home. Food, service, 2 thumbs up.

The food in general is decent but they play games with pricing. They advertise on
but the certificates aren’t valid for take out nor the buffet which is what they offer. When you go to the restaurant and ask for a menu they suggest the buffet and advise that anything from the menu will take a long time. That hasn’t stopped us from ordering take out but when we do there is typically something missing so double check. Other than that the food is decent and is almost worth the hassle.

Underrated, I wouldn’t necessarily give it 5 stars but this place is no 3.5. The atmosphere isn’t great, and I’ve never bothered with the buffet… Which doesn’t seem like a great idea. The food here is great though. It’s located on 35 in a strip mall. Not easy to find. Excellent food, tandoori chicken is probably the best I’ve had. There is not many indian options in the monmouth/​ocean area and I have tried a few, and this place is way better. I almost never tried this place based on reviews. Naan is awesome, lamb vindaloo spicy and delicious. Samosas awesome. They’ll ask you about how spicy you like it. If you don’t like spicy food, indian isn’t for you. I ordered takeout so I can’t comment on service, and probably will stick to takeout. But yeah, the food here is excellent.

Ate here for lunch and dinner. Lunch buffet is good with a nice selection of dishes. Dinner was just as good.

Our party of three was looking for something a bit different on the Saturday after Thanksgiving & were very pleasantly surprised with this unassuming small restaurant in a strip mall on the south side of Rt. 35. Can’t speak for the entrees on the main menu since we all chose the dinner buffet which was very reasonable at only $ 18. Plenty of selections including a tasty muliktawany soup, tandoori chicken, chicken masala, chicken kurma, lamb curry, alu gobi plus a couple of others as well as basmati rice, nan & a couple of deserts. Everything was delicious, well cooked & plenty of variety to please all of us. Definitely worth a visit…

Not bad for the only Indian place nearby. We ordered a few dishes off the dinner menu to share and they were all pretty good. We asked for medium spice, but nothing really had any heat at all. The chicken was all white meat, which is great, but lacks flavor. It’s in a weird little strip mall, so pretty easy to miss if you don’t know where it is.
I’ll probably go back and order the same things again. The dinner buffet looked awfully small for $ 18.95, so I’d be hesitant about trying that.
The service was very good. I assume it was the owner who was training his daughter to be hostess/​waitress, but they were both very nice and the food came out quickly.

I’ve only been here once, and you probably shouldn’t judge a place just by its buffet. However, I went here with my mom a few days ago and we both had the lunch buffet. It was very average, they had a selection of 2 chicken dishes, (one Tandoor and one Tikka Masala), a few vegetarian dishes, some fresh appetizers and some fresh naan bread. I usually order Chicken Tikka Masala when I go to Indian restaurants so really a portion of this 2 star rating is based on this particular buffet item. I hate to say this, but Trader Joe’s frozen Chicken Tikka Masala dish is better, which is a testament to their frozen meals. (see my trader joe’s review) Although fresh, Tandoor E India’s version lacked the taste and rich red-​brown color that Trader Joe’s version offers. I would go here again to try their actual menu Chicken Tikka Masala and then perhaps that would motivate me to change my overall rating.
The other potion of the 2 stars was based on the décor (think an old basement touched up to look like an Indian restaurant) and the lack of quality service. Although my mom and I were the only ones in the restaurant, the presumed owner/​waiter didn’t really bother with us much, it took time to fill our water glasses, clear our plates, etc. How about some customer service– «how did you enjoy the food, is this your first time here, please come again!» Nothing came out of this guy’s mouth.
As stated I would like to try their actual menu items for dinner especially. Per other reviews it sounds like the menu items are better.

I will start with a disclaimer that I went late on a Sunday night when they perhaps were not at their best, however, this fact only saved them from a 1 star rating.
My main issue was the poor value… I felt cheated — a non-​veg buffet with 3 chicken-​only dishes out of a limited 6 – 7 total for $ 17.95? The food that was available was mediocre at best, and no where near fresh; the sauce for the Butter Chicken should not turn brown and crusty, and wrapping mashed potatoes does not a samosa make…
It’s a sadly recurring theme to find really less than mediocre food served in Asian restaurants in this area. Perhaps there aren’t enough knowledgeable customers to make it worth their while to make any effort. All I can say was that paying over $ 20 for what I ate was insulting.
Doubt I will try again, despite some positive reviews by others. Won’t risk another $ 20 mistake.

I liked this place a lot. But then I ended up moving closer to Neelam.
I like the fact that they have vegetarian buffet separated from the other buffet. Their prices are very good. The owner seems to take a lot of pride in the place and is always really friendly.
The location is terrible. It’s a desolate strip mall that you never need anything in. And you can easily fly past it since it’s set so far back if you don’t know where it is.

The closest Indian restaurant to me, and one of the few in the lower Monmouth county area. The shopping center it is located in is kind of dated, but this restaurant is very good. The owner is very nice, and knows me by now. I go for the buffet and he always brings me 2 pieces of naan without me even asking, because he knows its my favorite (its included in the buffet price, and they make it fresh to replenish it at the buffet table). The buffet isn’t very spicy, but that’s not their fault. I guess it’s to cater to the bland american palette. When I order takeout, I get it HOT! and it is! Makes your eyes tear and your nose run! That’s how I like it!
The décor isn’t all that, but I’d recommend the buffet, esp for lunch time, as it is only $ 10!

A tiny restaurant in a dying strip mall that serves pretty decent Indian food. While not my absolute favorite Indian restaurant in the area, the food has always been both fresh and flavorful, and I find myself coming back from time to time.
The lunch buffet was what I normally went for, since I worked a mere 5 miles from here, and it was a good (filling) fast lunch. A nice bonus to any vegetarians out there, there’s a $ 1 discount off the buffet, and there’s usually at least 3 vegetarian dishes on the buffet. Food quality here is pretty good, and they aren’t afraid to use a little bit of heat in dishes that require it, such as a spicy vindaloo. As someone else noted, the buffet is covered by giant lids, which can get kind of annoying when serving food for yourself, especially with other people up at the buffet.
One thing that always had me wondering, is that this place was usually *empty* on weekdays. I’m not kidding, I’d come here with a coworker or a friend for lunch, and often we would be the only people eating there, or there would only be one other party. I know this place is easy to miss from the highway, but it’s a little odd when you’re pretty much alone at a buffet. Oh well, hopefully more folks give this place a shot — it’s a decent lunch /​dinner restaurant that won’t break the bank if you’re in the mood for Indian.

Over two years since my last review of Tandoor E India and happy to report that they are still providing excellent dishes along with friendly and attentive service. This Indian restaurant located on route 35 in Oakhurst, Nj is a favorite of many people here at the Jersey shore as witnessed by their loyal following. IMO better than any Indian restaurant within 25 miles and to match them you would have to drive up to the heavily Indian restaurant populated section of Edison, NJ.
Whatever your taste may desire you will be satisfied here as the owner will gladly adjust any dish to suit your needs. We have never tried the buffet but hear is is excellent as well. Their ambience is nice and considering the average cost of our meals there is about $ 40 this little gem is a good value as well. Take a bottle of a nice spicy red zin and enjoy yourself, then you will be rewarded by the vivid dreams when you go to sleep that night that are the result of those wonderful Indian spices.