5th Element is the best Indian restaurant I've ever. On my recent visit I was escorted by a very efficient and friendly hostess to my luxuriously large booth in less than 2 minutes of arrival. My complimentary water arrived within 1 minute of sitting down, and order placed with a most attentive waiter within 4 minutes. Though a single party, I placed a very large order (gotta have leftovers when driving 6 hours to eat here) for 'eat in' preparation; he didn't have to write down a thing, remembered all perfectly. The mango lassi and coffee came less than 4 minutes post order. My order-ahem-12 garlic naans, 2 saag paneers, 2 baingan barthas, 1 lg rice, were hot, fresh, and on the table within 15 minutes of ordering. You have options of desired spiciness-hotness levels too. Garlic naans are made in traditional clay oven and have impressively abundant and appropriate level of garlic and cilantro, tender with irresistible bubbled up crispy tops. Their consummate ability to layer so many layers of spice, herbs, and boost food flavors ensures I will always return to 5th element on Baymeadows Road. Upon looking around the restaurant, the floors and bathrooms were clean to standard. If you're seeking authentic, unforgettable, delicious, hot and fresh Indian food, you'll get there as fast as you can! Side note, a separate server was very helpful with my cultural table etiquette question, put me right at ease. Next time, I'm hitting the buffet!! read more

Went for lunch and got this! Basically a sampler of everything which was awesome!! I'm still learning Indian cuisine so being able to get a one stop shop here was awesome. Perfect spice level for me Service you ask?? Amazing. Everyone so attentive always filling my water and asking how everything was. My FAVORITE thing about this - YOU CAN TAKE THE TRAY HOME WITH YOU. They give you aluminum foil and you can take leftovers home!!! This was awesome and I had basically 2 1/2 meals out of this which is great. Highly recommend! read more

5th Element - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

I have been CRAVING Indian food so bad lately! I hadn't been to 5th element in like a year so I placed an order online and picked it up! They're currently next to the Patel Brothers and moving to the town center later this week! The facility is nice and clean, and the staff is SO NICE and so quick with their service. I ordered chicken tikka masala (spicy), the lamb biryani (spicy), the goat pepper fry (spicy) (not pictured), garlic naan, butter naan, and 2 orders of the veggie samosas. Everything was SO GOOD and really hit that craving spot for me. Chicken tikka masala is a classic, and the spicy was not bad at all and so flavorful!! The veggie samosas were cozy and packed with filling. The chutney sauces that come with it were so delicious too!! I love wrapping the rice and chicken tikka masala in the garlic naan. The lamb biryani was honestly probably my favorite! So flavorful, so comforting, and SO MUCH. My boyfriend and I have been eating away at it since Sunday and we still have a decent amount left!! I'll probably be eating it again tonight for dinner :) read more

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We were seated fast and our waiter promptly took our order. Our food caim out fast and tasted delicious. We also got the garlic Naan bread and that was a little dry but still good when I dipped it in my masala. Ee did have to wait some time to flag down a waiter but once we did they rang us up promptly. Would definitely eat here again! read more

5th Element - Goat Masala - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

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Once again, absolutely a great place to dine-in and eat even during Covid. Unfortunately, lunch buffet is unavailable at this time however, they have dine-in menu. The staff adheres to the Covid guidelines by wearing masks and social distancing customers. Masks are required for customers as well. They did a great job at accommodating everyone and been busy keeping up with delivery and take-out orders as well. As usual, the food is great! Although I do understand the portions-to-price, but it was still plenty to eat and take home for me and my sister. We ordered the following: Rose Milk - smooth, pink milk with rose flavoring/aroma Aloo Gobi - potatoes and cauliflower cooked in medium hot spicy sauce (my sister's favorite) Saag Paneer - tender chunks of fresh homemade cheese in creamed spinach (my sister's favorite) Chicken Tikka Masala - charcoal broiled chicken in moderately spiced creamy sauce (one of my favorites) Chilly Chicken (Indian Style) - Deep fried boneless chicken marinated in soya sauce, chili sauce and pepper (this is new to us and loved it). Careful, it's spicy in heat. Garlic Naan Mango Ice Cream Overall, we enjoyed our meal and was able to take home leftovers. Definitely will be coming back and try other items on the menu. read more

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Try the lunch buffet to figure out what you like the best on the menu. Some dishes are better than others and every one has different opinions on each dish so try them all.. Very convenient and affordable. Great service. The food is very authentic, my favorite is the blackened mahi. read more

Lots of options to choose from, especially veggie friendly! Forgot to take pics but would recommend the samosa chaat and veggie vindaloo. They also give free mango ice cream! Great service. read more

This restaurant has moved locations (in the adjacent strip mall) and this spot no longer serves the buffet. But you can still order your favorites a la carte. read more

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When I get a craving for Indian food I head over to the Baymeadows area and this time I stopped at 5th element due to the reviews. The service was prompt and they were nice to assist describing in detail some requested items off the large menu. I just ordered my usual and enjoyed everything. The portions were large enough to take half home and enjoy again later. It was a Sunday afternoon and they did not have a buffet only menu offerings.They offer a happy hour for their beers on tap at 2pm. I loved the bread basket which contains several varies of Naan to try at your table. Their curry sauce comes in stages and mild was perfect for me. Very good all around... read more

Food is very good and close to the quality of Indian cuisine I enjoyed during my 6 years in Manhattan NYC. All items were fresh and the buffet and tables, floors, everything was exceptionally clean. A little on the pricey side @ $16 for the lunch buffet but probably to be expected these days. The soft serve ice cream was a great touch after the spicy meal that I enjoyed. I will return. read more

Horrible on every level. Staff was rude and lazy. I stacked up the plates because they weren't taken them and they still didn't remove them. They needed to go as we didn't have room on the table. The food was so so. Staff was extremely rude, not just for not removing the plates. When we sat down there were 4 of us, 2 parties of 2. I requested separate bill. Check came it wasn't and they refused to separate. Food wasn't good. The only thing that was good is their mango ice cream. Atmosphere is unpleasant. Go some place else any place else! read more

If you love Indian food, you have to check out 5th Element. I haven't been since before the pandemic. While there's no buffet anymore, the thali lunch is where it's at!!! So much food for a low price. They have a vegetable, chicken, and lamb platter. On the Chicken Thali, there was Naan, jeera rice, butter chicken, daal, eggplant, chana masala, chili chicken, samosa, tandoori and gulab jamun. There are a few items that may be a spicy if you are not used to it. We also ordered butter chicken and garlic naan. Every thing was so delicious and flavorful. The naan was airy and soft, the eggplant had a nice kick, and the butter chicken was savory and moist. Love their daal -- perfect consistency and right amount of spice. And with every meal there's complimentary mango ice cream for dessert! The space is no frills, and an older building. So come in knowing it's not fine dining. The temp was a little warm, but was bearable and still comfortable. We had food envy! One table ordered the tandoori and it came to their table sizzling--and it smelled amazing. I can't wait to come back. read more

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Wish I had taken some pictures of the meal that was brought out. Very authentic Indian food and the menu is set up so you can see the different regions when the food comes from. Both of us had butter chicken. Mine was milder in the spiciness because I wanted to taste the meal and not just the heat. Also ordered 2 orders of the garlic naan. That was excellent. Used to dip into the sauce for the butter chicken. Good service and good food for both of us. read more

I love the food here. Everything was very flavorful and fresh. The naan is hands down the best thing on the menu... for dipping, eating alone. It may have been timing of when we went, but it seems super dark and outdated inside and the buffet style was closed, which we'd heard was the best thing ever. It would've been nice to try to more things on the menu that way. But the food... zero complaints. read more

The food here is REALLY good, but the place is sub-par. I ordered the Mango Chicken, Saag Paneer, and Garlic Naan. Everything was super flavorful and well seasoned. The Mango Chicken was really tasty and it wasn't that sweet (which I liked). The Saag Paneer is a dish made with cheese (looks and tastes a little bit like tofu) with a spinach-based sauce, and it was such a good dish to pair with the chicken. Of course, the garlic naan is a must and always a good choice. Now, the actual place could be better. The bathrooms and floors are not that clean and even saw a fly trap hanging from the ceiling. The staff is helpful and the food is really good so maybe it's worth it? read more

5th Element - Saag Paneer Mango Chicken - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

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Amazing food, friendly staff. Enjoyed lunch with a client and loved the chicken dish. So many choices and mix and match. Food was delicious. read more

5th Element - Chicken dish - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

Being from that part of the world, I like to think I know a thing or two about the food. Everything I know was tossed out when I tasted the food here. The staff was very welcoming but it didn't help with the entire experience. We ordered various things, bullet chicken, chicken lollipop, dal tadka, a lamb dish, another chicken item, naan, lassi and a few chais. Chicken lollipop, a dry item, was exceptional. Can't say the same about bullet chicken and the other chicken/lamb item. In fact, the lamb item was so horrible, we didn't even finish it. Dal by far was the best out of everything. Even the naan were dry and unbuttered. Even though we asked for it. The lassi was TOO sweet. We didn't try the free mango ice cream but from the looks of it, I'm sure it was decent. I'd also work on the decor. Whoever painted it blue didn't know what they were doing. Don't recommend this as there are other good restaurants in the area. read more

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While the food is pretty good, it obviously the best Jacksonville has to offer. I'm from Dallas and India Palace is a 5 star Zagged restaurant and I've eaten there for decades. This is not the same. - but not a negative review. The tiki masala was lacking enough cream and the flavor was ok. Nothing outstanding or superior. There were only 4 chunks of chicken which suprize me. Very skimpy. The chicken tandoori was nice but again only 4 small pieces of chicken. Not worth the price. But if you need an Indian food fix.... Don't go anywhere else. Jacksonville is not know for great Indian food.... But I feel this is as good as you will find. I support this place. read more

Love new location! Service was attentive and fast. Food good especially love their dosa and choices. Buffet great deal

Normally this is an easy 5 star for me, but my order (via Uber eats) was not how we requested. 2 dishes were supposed to be medium and a 3rd dish (for my teens) was supposed to be spicy, as it even reflected on the receipt. However, we got the opposite, the 2 dishes were spicy & the 3rd was very mild. We almost always order the same dishes and have been going to 5th Element for several years now. But this is still me & my family's favorite Indian restaurant and we will continue to go there (mostly for dine in & avoid takeout). read more

Samosa chat, mixed naan basket, buttery chicken, served with white rice. Very tasty. Worth the drive from the south side. And ice cream for desert. Busy mid day with families. So you know it is good. Try it! read more

I love this restaurant! Highly recommend get reservations! The owner is always so nice the people are nice! We got so many apps and drinks!

I pick up food from 5th element at least once a week ! Definitely my favorite Indian spot . As you can see , i ate half already before i took the picture . Lol . But soooo good and filling ! I always get the butter chicken or saag paneer and vegetable samosa. Garlic naan is amazing too! You cant go wrong ! I get the spiciest level but its not as spicy . Full of flavor tho . Thank you guys for staying consistent every time i come . :) Service is 5 out of 5 too! read more

5th Element - Veggie Vegetable Samosa - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

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I don't necessarily have anything bad to say, but the food just wasn't as good as I have come to expect with Indian cuisine.

I'm so grateful for this restaurant, one of my main issues when dining out is to make sure the food has no spicy condiments. This is an authentic Indian cuisine where is common to have spicy food. The gentleman that help me choose a non spicy dish was extremely polite and accommodating. I enjoyed a perfectly seasoned chicken tikka masala with white rice. My hubby ordered very spicy schezwan Indian fried rice and our friend had chicken dish... everything was super delicious. I also ordered a freshly made naan bread. Thank you so much for an excellent dinner and freshly made dishes. I recommend this restaurant and definitely will be visiting again. read more

Love the food and service here! It's always a joy to visit and I always try new dishes as the menu is very diverse and full of authentic options. Service is friendly and environment is always nice. Always a pleasure dining in or taking out from 5th element. Best Indian food in town. read more

In my experience, it's one of the best buffets in town when it comes to quality and affordability. Everyone knows Baymeadows is a goldmine for Indian restaurants. 5th Element does a great job for a number of reasons: 1. The lunch buffet is $10.99. Cheap af for the amount of food you get. Unlimited gains, y'all. Prepare to nap after your meal. 2. The two stations are fully stocked and the food is swapped out regularly. Compared to most buffets where items are left out for hours, 5th Element actually tries to bring out the freshest version of said items on a regular basis. 3. My favorite part of buffets is being able to sample a variety of different dishes. The classics are here; Tandoori, Biryani, Naan, Maasala, Goat Curry, Saag Paneer and so much more. I admit, most of the items are really well done. I had two full plates and wasn't disappointed. In my opinion, since some of the items are fresher than others, it's not worth comparing to a fancy Indian dinner. The top dishes in my opinions were the ones with meat on the bone, as they were incredibly tender and oh so delightful. I even topped off my meal with Mango soft serve yogurt at the DIY yogurt machine. You really can't beat the value here, it's a bonus that the wait staff are accommodating! read more

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Absolutely loved this place. This is exactly the flavor I was looking for! Nice well decorated little spot. Food was out quickly. Friendly service. Can't wait to return! read more

I can only write about my experience via taste buds since I ordered it to go while at work. I've never had 5th element but the experience with my taste buds. I was hesitant because this came up in the doordash app for delivery. I enjoyed the Tikka Masala and the butter Naan. I was extremely excited because although I enjoy garlic naan, I'm not a fan of large clovers in my mouth.. (yuck). The naan could've been more buttery but I could eat both together all day. The lunch portion was perfect for one but maybe not enough for two people unless you mix and match. I would visit and sit down to get the full experience. I was at work and hungry. So much so, I didn't even stop to take a photo of the presentation. read more

5th Element - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

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The food here is always great! This time for take out, we got some noodle dishes and each one we ordered was simply excellent. We have never had a take out meal from here that was not outstanding. Portions are plentiful; so is the quality! read more

If you want good curry - this is the place to go. Fifth Element has yet to fail us. Everytime we go, we get our normal orders and it is always consistent with the taste and the portions. We normally order to-go, but we have ate at the restaurant once before. The place looks slightly outdated, but it doesn't change the fact that this is probably the best Indian food that you'll find in Jacksonville. I appreciate the fact that they're trying to up their service & technology with QR codes at the tables to order what you want. The service is also consistently good. The people handling the takeout are nice and don't give off any rude vibes. The one time we went to eat inside, they were good with checking in on us frequently, and the food came out fast. You really can't go wrong with this restaurant, and for the price, it is very much worth it. read more

What a pleasant experience we had safely dining in this establishment! We'd heard about the flavorful cuisine at 5th Element, so we decided to check them out for lunch. Upon entering, we were comfortable with the spacing between tables & down diners weren't crowded together, so we decided to eat on the premises. We took advantage of the Lunch Thali specials. These consisted of small samplings of what would've traditionally been on the buffet, but served to us individually on large round plates (in light of Covid precautions). I had the lamb curry & my husband devoured the chicken curry. Our meals came with naan & julab jamun desert. As a bonus, we treated ourselves to complimentary mango ice cream cones on the way out. Yum!!! The only small negative to this visit was the chilly chicken on my plate wasn't spiced at the same level nor heated to the same temperature as the that on on my husband's plate. Nevertheless, we plan to support this business again by ordering different dishes to go. If you haven't tried 5th Element yet, you're missing out on great Indian cuisine!!!!! read more

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My favorite Indian restaurant in the Jacksonville area. Everything is good! From curry to tikka masalas, to the tandoori dishes, everything I tried had a very satisfying feel to it. The portions are very generous. The spices combination feel just right. Highly recommended! read more

5th Element - Chicken Tikka Masala - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

I haven't had flavor this good since I was in England. The service was very good. I asked the server if I should get the Chicken Tikka Masala, my favorite or try the Tandoori sampler. She confidently recommended the Tandoori and brought me a side of Masala. She was right. I barely touched the Masala. Not to say it wasn't good, I just wanted all of the flavor of the Tandoori. I'm a big dude and will be eating this for another meal. Portions are huge, flavor is so good, and value is there as well. read more

5th Element - Garlic Naan and Tandoori combination - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

This was our first time having authentic Indian cuisine and we were so glad we chose this spot. Right as you open the door a wave of spices wafting from the kitchen hits you. Servers were very polite. The food was outstanding with so many unique flavors. Definitely will be back! read more

5th Element - Lamb Curry and Lamb Jalfrezi - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

Amazing. Probably the best food ever. There's a reason why i catered from here for our wedding. This is why European explorers left their homes to sail by sea; in hopes to find flavor and fusion. read more

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Fantastic Indian food, especially the vegetarian options. I have a lot of friends from India and we enjoyed this place. Unfortunately, the buffet is not currently available but you can dine in. Management is complying with all of the covid guidelines. High recommend: (ask for paneer instead of chicken if you want vegetarian, its cheese cubes resembling tofu) -Chicken tikka masala (favorite) -chicken korma (sweet, nutty, creamy) - aloo gobi (fried cauliflower with sauce) - chicken manchurian (another indo-chinese recipe but with more spice) -garlic naan (this is required, trust me) The dish in my photo is the thali. Its a sampler with the chicken tikka masala, chicken manchurian, and some veggie options on the side (dal and lentils). read more

5th Element - Chicken thali. Its a sampler with the chicken tikka masala, chicken manchurian, and some veggie options on the side (dal and lentils) - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

We ordered a dosa, chicken tikka masala, and mutter paneer. Funny enough my doctor recommended this restaurant when I told her my spouse was Indian. She said the food is delicious and spicy My husband is Indian but he doesn't really like spicy food, neither do I. Which is why it took us 2 months to finally try this place. We haven't had Indian since moving from NYC so we have some high standards. Well when we ordered our dishes mild, they were MILD. like no heat at all whatsoever. We just needed to be cautious for the spice level the first time, but Next time we'll definitely move up to medium. The dosa was delicious, I've never branched out to a dosa before, but was so sorry I hadn't tried one sooner. This was delicious. The potato was delicious the sauces were delicious. 10/10 The mutter paneer was also really tasty. It is a sweeter gravy and I love that I think a little spice would be great to counter the sweetness. BUT the paneer was over cooked. It was hard and rubbery. When I chewed it, it was like squeaking against my teeth. To me paneer is the best part of dishes and to mess it up is a big no. I may order it again to see if we got a bad batch but I have a feeling it's how they cook the paneer. 4/10 Chicken Tikka masala, you really can't mess up this dish, I've made it plenty of times myself. 5th element has a decent tikka masala it's a little sweet if you order mild, though FYI almost like butter chicken. My only complaint: the julienne chicken is an annoyance. I like cubed chicken. It's easier to grab with your naan or chapati. The julienned chicken slips through and it's hard to find. 7/10 Overall, it's gravies are good but the main components of the dishes: paneer, chicken - are just not for me. If I dont feel like cooking Indian food I might order from here again but I also might try another place just because of that julienned chicken lol. read more

5th Element - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

Finally visited with my youngest daughter and we feasted. The menu is amazing the food was incredible. Service was excellent! There are other choices for Indian food but no need to go anywhere else. Visit now, visit often! read more

5th Element - Indian Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

I love this place! The buffet makes it so much fun to try new Indian food. This is what Yelping for me is all about! I've had about 20 different items for an amazing price of less than $10! If you've never had Indian cuisine before, 5th Element is a great place to start. If you have the palate of a 3 year old, there are food options for you! Indian cuisine is hard to describe, the flavor profile of each dish is nothing like other international foods. 5th Element showcases Indian food quite impressively. In general, they just use so many different seasonings/spices but they do so in perfect harmony! You really just have to try everything. Indian food, by far, has been one of the most challenging type of dish for me to recreate. The recipes call for so much and ingredients are hard to find..which is why I love coming here. My personal recommendations if you are a picky eater: white rice, chicken tandoori (it's that red chicken), spicy bbq chicken. If you enjoy traditional curry: Mango curry is really amazing. If you love goat meat, they have that too! The goat curry was so good, very tender, not smothered in a ton of spices either. It's just perfect. If you want the food that Indian cuisine is known for, try Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Biryani (mixed rice dish). Oh and that naan bread. I can eat that all day! Whatever you do and however much you eat, do not skip the Mango ice cream. What an epic way to end your feast. read more

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