TastyPals
Login / Sign up
Taste ID
AboutMethodologyApp
GuideUpdated July 15, 2026

12 Best Indian Restaurants in New York

The 12 best indian restaurants in New York, sorted by rating and curated by TastyPals editors.

The best indian restaurants in New York are Cloves Indian Cuisine, Patiala Indian Grill & Bar, Mojitos, and more. Start with Cloves Indian Cuisine if you want the strongest overall first pick.

By Priya Sharma•12 ranked picks•Published July 15, 2026•Updated July 15, 2026
Methodology•Editorial team
Cloves Indian CuisinePatiala Indian Grill & BarMojitos
12 Best Indian Restaurants in New York
Google

Top picks at a glance

#1Cloves Indian CuisineIndian • Upper East Side • moderate#2Patiala Indian Grill & BarIndian • New York • moderate#3MojitosIndian • Jackson Heights • value

Who this guide is for

This guide covers the highest-rated indian restaurants in New York. The picks are sorted by Google rating and review volume to give you a reliable shortlist. Picks span Upper East Side, New York and Jackson Heights.

Quick picks

Cloves Indian Cuisine
Indian • Upper East Side
Cloves Indian Cuisine sits at 66 Madison Ave with a pedigree that deserves attention before you even walk through the door.
Patiala Indian Grill & Bar
Indian • New York
Patiala Indian Grill & Bar is doing something the midrange Indian dining scene in New York rarely pulls off with conviction: it centers the kitchen's identity on the grill, not the curry pot.
Mojitos
Indian • Jackson Heights
Mojitos is an easy indian option in Jackson Heights in New York to suggest without needing a long explanation.
Browse all New York restaurantsBack to New York hub
Editorial details
Author: Priya Sharma
Published: July 15, 2026
Last updated: July 15, 2026

On this page

  1. 1. Cloves Indian CuisineView →
  2. 2. Patiala Indian Grill & BarView →
  3. 3. MojitosView →
  4. 4. Moon Cheese RestaurantView →
  5. 5. Spice Symphony Times SquareView →
  6. 6. MusaaferView →
  7. 7. Salvaje Social Club NYCView →
  8. 8. DhamakaView →
  9. 9. BungalowView →
  10. 10. Masalawala & SonsView →
  11. 11. The QueensboroView →
  12. 12. Taqueria CoatzingoView →

How the restaurants compare

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Cloves Indian Cuisine
Google
Cloves Indian Cuisine
Upper East Side • Indian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
moderate
Best for
spicy
Mood
Upper East Side
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Patiala Indian Grill & Bar
Google
Patiala Indian Grill & Bar
New York • Indian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
moderate
Best for
spicy
Mood
Casual
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Mojitos
Google
Mojitos
Jackson Heights • Indian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
dinner
Mood
Jackson Heights
Moon Cheese Restaurant
Jackson Heights • Indian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
dinner
Mood
Jackson Heights

How we chose

We looked for restaurants that feel like a strong fit for the guide topic, not just the most obvious names in the city. The shortlist favors rooms with clear mood, dependable pacing, and enough distinction to help someone decide faster. Read our full methodology →

Room tone

Lighting, pace, and general energy all need to support the reason someone clicked this guide.

Food fit

We favored restaurants that feel best suited for the moment, not just restaurants with broad reputation.

Useful range

The final list tries to give readers enough variation in neighborhood, price, and style to compare real options.

12 ranked picks

Cloves Indian Cuisine — Cloves Indian Cuisine sits at 66 Madison Ave with a pedigree that deserves attention before you even walk through the door. Consulting Chef Vijay Bhargava carries a three-star New York Times reputation from his tenure at Raga, and Chef de Cuisine Ashish Negi comes up through Utsav — a kitchen that trained him in precision rather than volume. Owner Syed Haider has been building Indian restaurants in New York since the late 1980s, starting at Bombay Palace, and that institutional depth shapes what the room is attempting: mid-range pricing without mid-range ambition. The menu is where Cloves makes its case. The tandoori lamb chops have drawn early and consistent attention from diners — reportedly among the dishes the kitchen is already known for. The lobster masala signals that this is not a room defaulting to the predictable end of an Indian menu; it is a statement preparation at a price point where most kitchens wouldn't bother. Perhaps the most telling choice is the shrimp balchao, a Goan-inflected preparation that appears rarely on Manhattan menus. Its presence here suggests a kitchen with genuine regional range rather than a greatest-hits approach. The samosas round out the picture as a reliable opening — a dish that tells you quickly whether a kitchen is paying attention to the fundamentals. Cloves is the kind of room that rewards a reservation over a walk-in; the combination of chef pedigree and a menu built around considered cooking tends to attract exactly that kind of crowd. Start with the samosas, move to the shrimp balchao for something you are unlikely to find down the block, and anchor the meal with the tandoori lamb chops. View restaurant →
Patiala Indian Grill & Bar — Patiala Indian Grill & Bar is doing something the midrange Indian dining scene in New York rarely pulls off with conviction: it centers the kitchen's identity on the grill, not the curry pot. The name telegraphs the intent, and by all accounts the menu follows through. This is a room built around the smoky, char-forward register of North Indian cooking — the kind of food that reportedly tastes like it came off a live fire rather than a steam table. If you show up expecting a butter-chicken-and-naan situation, you are, by design, at the wrong table. The Royal Lamb Chops are the centerpiece argument, and diners consistently point to them first — known for arriving with real crust and the kind of caramelized exterior that suggests the kitchen lets the heat do its actual work. The Lamb Seekh Kebab is described as herbal and spice-controlled rather than aggressively hot, landing somewhere bright and balanced. On the lighter end, Bhel Puri represents the essential crunch-and-tang contrast that good street food depends on — the puffed rice base keeping its texture intact in the way that separates a well-timed version from a soggy one. Paneer 65 carries the deep-red, crispy-fried profile that the preparation is known for, though Patiala's version reportedly reads richer and more aromatic than a strictly South Indian rendition. The Murgh Malai Kebab — cream-marinated chicken finished over smoke — is the quieter recommendation that regulars seem to reach for without much fanfare. The practical move is to anchor your order around the kebab section and let everything else orbit it. The spread makes the most sense with four to six people. Book ahead for weekend evenings, and if the layout allows, position your group with a sightline to the open grill — it sets the context before the first plate arrives. View restaurant →

Get the App

Save these spots to your New York list

Keep the shortlist handy in the TastyPals app and find similar restaurants across New York.

Personalized city picksCleaner shortlistsBuilt for iPhone and Android
TastyPalsTonight
Your taste. Our picks.
Smarter follow-through after the guide: better restaurant context, quicker narrowing, less second-guessing.
For tonight
Date night spots with warm rooms and polished service
Next step
Keep exploring in the app when you want a tighter shortlist
Spice Symphony Times Square — Spice Symphony, a few steps off the main theatre district drag on West 46th Street, addresses one of Midtown's most persistent dining frustrations: where to find genuinely well-spiced Indian cooking within walking distance of Broadway without the tourist-trap markup. The room is reportedly chic and dimly lit — a notch above what the surrounding blocks typically offer at this price point — and it draws a steady crowd of pre-show diners who need an efficient, satisfying meal before curtain. What separates Spice Symphony from the broader Midtown Indian field, according to consistent diner accounts, is the Indo-Chinese wing of the menu. This is the real hybrid cuisine — the beloved Kolkata-rooted tradition of Chinese technique reworked through an Indian pantry — rather than a diluted approximation. The chili chicken is among the dishes the kitchen is best known for: bold, properly seasoned, and representative of what the category should be. The Hakka noodles are a natural companion, frequently cited alongside the chili chicken as the pairing to build a table order around. The chicken lollipop rounds out that Indo-Chinese core, and diners report that portions across the board are generous enough to make a shared-plates approach work well for groups. The service is described as attentive and knowledgeable about the menu, which matters when you're navigating a list that covers both classical Indian preparations and the Indo-Chinese specialties. This is pre-theatre logistics solved, not a destination you'd cross a borough for on its own. Reserve ahead on Friday or Saturday evenings, arrive with enough time to share the chili chicken, Hakka noodles, and chicken lollipop among the table, and you'll make the curtain without the usual Midtown dinner scramble. View restaurant →
Dhamaka — Dhamaka has built a reputation in New York precisely by refusing to make Indian food legible to a midtown palate. The kitchen draws from regional cooking traditions — dhabas, street stalls, home kitchens — rather than the tandoor-and-tikka framework that has defined the city's Indian dining for decades. What diners and critics consistently report is a restaurant with genuine conviction about confrontational flavour, one that does not soften spice for the uncertain or compose plates for social media. At this price level, that kind of commitment is uncommon enough to matter. The room exists for the diner who measures an occasion by whether the kitchen had the nerve to commit to something, not by whether it flattered them. The drinks programme is reportedly as purposeful as the food. The Genda Mule is known for a marigold-forward character that stops short of sweetness — assertive rather than decorative. The Aam Sutra works mango without collapsing into dessert register; accounts consistently describe it as tart and structurally complex enough to hold against bold food. The Bombay Blues is sharper than its name implies, functioning as provocation rather than refreshment. On the food side, the Avocado Avatar is not the accommodating dish the ingredient usually signals elsewhere — it is reportedly built around spice and acid in proportions that demand engagement. The Ghee Whiz, despite the name, is described as a dish where fat functions as genuine flavour architecture rather than garnish, layered against ingredients that require that richness to cohere. Reservations at prime hours book out well ahead of time; walk-in optimism is not something the room has historically rewarded on weekends. The consistent advice from those who have eaten here: start with the Genda Mule, order toward the more demanding end of the menu, and treat the full commitment as the actual point of the evening. View restaurant →

Explore next

Upper East SidePark SlopeTribecaIndiandinnerDate NightGroup Dinner

Related guides

Manhattan dinner scene
Google

Guide • new york

Best Restaurants in New York 2026

Ten New York restaurants that have earned their place through cooking, conviction, and the kind of staying power that survives every trend cycle — from a West Village Italian-American beloved since 2016 to a Lincoln Center tasting room that still sets the global standard.

Read guide

Guide • toronto

The 15 Best Date Night Restaurants in Toronto

The Toronto restaurants that make a date feel shaped, warm, and worth remembering without leaning too hard on cliché.

Read guide

Get the App

Save these spots to your New York list

Save these spots to your New York list in the TastyPals app, then explore similar restaurants when you want a tighter shortlist for the night.

Personalized city picksCleaner shortlistsBuilt for iPhone and Android
TastyPalsTonight
Your taste. Our picks.
Smarter follow-through after the guide: better restaurant context, quicker narrowing, less second-guessing.
For tonight
Date night spots with warm rooms and polished service
Next step
Keep exploring in the app when you want a tighter shortlist