This updated review is still mostly based on the buffet. I've been to the buffet a handful of…read moretimes, and gotten dinner service once. It's not bad food, and some of the items are great, but particularly on my most recent buffet trip, I felt like the curries were the most Midwesterenized take on Indian food you can get, like they've had the pizazz sucked out of them. Out of all the curries on the Sunday buffet, the only ones that really satisfied my craving were the malai soya chaap (this one was great, with big, tender pieces of chaap and a rich gravy) and the saag paneer (theirs is not like any other version of the dish that I've had, but I've come to like it for what it is). The rest of the curries (and this goes for other visits too) were just very stewlike, and the gravy on the shahi paneer was the thinnest I've ever seen. Aside from the underwhelming curries, the other buffet food was fine, but nothing else stood out. I've only tried the saag choley and chai a la carte. Again, the saag dish had kind of an nontraditional texture, but it was good. I ordered spicy and got way more flavour than you get out of any of the buffet dishes. Someone in my group ordered the chili cheese naan, and I didn't have any, but it looked delicious and he said it was great. The a la carte chai was also slightly better than the buffet chai, a little richer. The buffet chai didn't do much for me, but I'd get the a la carte chai again. The pros of the buffet are that you get to try a large variety of comforting dishes for a very good price: $15 with card or $14 with cash. It's very vegetarian-friendly with a wide variety of veg dishes. If possible, go for the Sunday buffet, which is the same price but includes a slightly expanded food selection and drinks (mango lassi and chai). The waiters are polite and keep the buffet stocked. The cons are that it can be very crowded inside (but the patio is more comfortable when weather allows) and the Midwesternness of it. But if you have unadventurous eaters, it might work for them. The place is very popular so evidently it's working for someone. Dinner service is a little better but I still don't think this is the place for very authentic Indian.

It's still the best Indian cuisine in Bloomington…read more Took friends this evening; great food. Oddly, service was yawning at best, and it wasn't crowded. We've also noticed that the carryout portions are larger than the dining portions, all the way around (naan is the same size). It was great; we sat outdoors, and paid cash, because there is a discount. Yeah, we save dimes where we can-- they add up. Tough to go wrong here.

So good! The staff were very nice and the atmosphere was great. Got the butter chicken and the lamb…read morecurry and they were both so tender and had so much flavor.

I thought it was really good! You might not expect it from the outside, but the interior of the…read morerestaurant is pretty classy. I was there for dinner on a weeknight, and while there were a few takeout/delivery orders that came through, I was the only dine-in customer, and the man who served me was extremely courteous. I ordered their vegetable malai kofta, plain naan, and Indian tea. I'm pretty sure what I was kadhi kofta instead of malai kofta; the gravy tasted like tangy savoury kadhi rather than creamy malai gravy. I'm not upset about the mistake because this is actually what I would've ordered, but I didn't see it on the paper menu. Anyway, the dish was very flavourful and the medium hot was actually medium hot - no watered down spice level here! Good naan, soft and charred in the right places. The food was reasonably priced and portioned generously. Cumin rice was included with the entree. The Indian tea (chai) was strong, and I felt like the tea itself was actually of good quality, but it was served sweetened and it was too sweet for me. I prefer chai unsweetened but don't mind some tasteful sweetness, but theirs was really strong. It was also pretty small, almost cutting chai size, and didn't come out until I was almost done eating. The tea wasn't expensive, but not so inexpensive that I was expecting it to be so small. Definitely would visit again. The hours are a little weird - they open at 2:30 pm and close between 1 am-2:30 am depending on the night. It would be nice if they were open at normal lunch time, but on the bright side, they're open during the mid-afternoon window when most restaurants close between lunch and dinner and stay open late when most everything else still open is fast food.

It's located in a spot formerly occupied by several businesses on E 10th St.; it's a low-budget…read moreendeavor, and it's comfy. The cuisine and preparation are good and unique in Bloomington's Indian food scene; this is a variety that reminded us of strong flavors and street food you might find in Punjabi food stands. There are a variety of protein smoothies, panis, and beverages, as well as desserts. Samosas. For entrees, there are grilled tikka-like tandoori preparations, wraps, rice bowls with options, and "Rice n Curry" combos. Breads (all naan, no roti), comes in several varieties. We choose one rice bowl with a tofu tikka sauce, and a Rice N Curry with mushroom matter (peas). The flavors were powerful and my dining partner loved the rice bowl. We tried a cheese-stuffed naan, and it was good; a little strange but tasty. My own was the mushroom mutter, whose flavors were pretty strong; the rice wasn't the long grain basmati normally seen and was OK. We're intrigued enough and happy enough with our meal to go back and try more. Prices are about average for the area; their location is on the eastern side of the IU campus and has plenty of parking. This is the real deal. Service was fast for our takeout and attentive to detail. The only real downside was listening to Christian Evangelical "Muzak" while we waited for our order. We found this an odd selection for a restaurant. There is seating for large and small groups, but it's a comparatively small footprint within a strip mall center. Try it.

I'm really happy that we have a Punjabi restaurant in Bloomington now! I will get into the reasons…read morethat I feel like I can't rate higher, but I will first say that despite the 3 star rating, I like this place so far and you should check it out if you've been missing Punjabi food or want to try a different take on Indian food from the other Indian restaurants in Bloomington. The menu offers variety without being too all over the place. This is a counter service restaurant, and the way the menu is set up is more suitable for casual dining than full service Indian restaurants that often have very large portions meant to be shared. The entrees here are designed as bowls that include your choice of protein/curry with rice and vegetables, which makes them a convenient and balanced meal for one. Also on the menu are wraps, pakora and samosa, desserts, Indian drinks and fruit-flavored iced teas, and protein smoothies. There are lots of vegetarian options, but I am doubtful that there's anything on the menu that's vegan-friendly. There is a lentil curry, but it seems likely that it's cooked with ghee or cream. Maybe the samosas and pakora? The protein smoothies can be made with non-dairy milk, but they still contain yogurt and honey. I read a Google review that said they will work with you to accommodate dietary restrictions but have not investigated this myself. The food is very tasty. The two bowls I tried, the paneer masala curry and a rice bowl with spicy Punjabi paneer, were both delicious. I really like the assortment of different veggies in the rice bowl. I got medium spice level the first time to be safe and I thought it was a pretty tame medium, so I tried hot next time and that was perfect. You will probably need to go extra hot if you want "Indian hot". The bread pakora was some of the best I've tried. Also really liked the carrot pudding. It tasted like it was made with soft cheese (like ras malai), which I haven't had before, but it added nice texture and creaminess. The protein smoothies are an outlier on the menu, but are made with real fruit and also unexpectedly good. Several of the dishes were too heavy on the ghee/butter. A lot of ghee separated out of the curry, the carrot pudding was sitting in a pool of ghee, and it was pooled on the naan. They only have disposable serving ware even when you dine in. Even if they can't use real plates, I wish they'd reduce the amount of packaging. I appreciate that they use the fiber-based bowls instead of all plastic, but they need to ditch the plastic lids when serving food for dining in. The menu images are AI-generated, which on the practical level is bad because they don't necessarily resemble what the food actually looks like, so it's unhelpful at best and misleading at worst. The rice n curry pictures show the bowls with a bunch of toppings that they don't actually come with, the iced tea pictures have fruit pieces in the tea when the actual product is just the liquid tea. I'd rather see amateur quality pictures of the actual food. Anyway, the lady that takes orders, who I assume is one of the owners, is very friendly. The food takes a while, but comes out fresh and hot. They always have great music playing and the atmosphere is nice with a warm wooden interior and comfortable chairs.

I know we just moved here, but this might be our go-to choice for Thai food in Bloomington!…read more The restaurant is small, but still maintains a good atmosphere. The night I visited, they were very busy, with a large party in the back part; however, they didn't miss a beat, and service was as good as you would hope. Food was so good, I had to order a second dish, so I could take the first one home to the wife! We also found the prices to be reasonable. A high bar has been set. We will try other places, but I won't be surprised if we keep coming back.

I used their website to order takeout. The site tells you it takes 45-60 minutes to prepare an…read moreorder. I showed up about 50 minutes after ordering and my food was hot and ready on arrival. The host who greeted me and brought out my order was very friendly. While I was waiting for him to get my food from the back, another staff member also came by to check that I was being helped. I ordered the fried eggplant stir-fry with tofu and the coconut ice cream. The stir-fry tasted good, but I selected spice level 3 "hot" (and the takeout container had a "3" written on it so I know they got it), yet there was not a hint of spice in the dish, not even a single chili flake. I don't know if they messed up and forgot to add the spice or what, but I was kind of let down. Taking the heat level out of the equation, it would rate it about average for American Thai food. I wasn't really impressed by the dish, but I enjoyed it (spicy is nice but not a must-have for me if there are other flavours). I liked the coconut ice cream dessert. The included banana spring rolls were helpfully packaged in foil separate from the ice cream, so I warmed them up in my oven a little, and they were very good warm. I'm pretty sure that what the menu calls "homemade coconut ice cream" was actually vanilla bean ice cream with shredded coconut on top. Which is still delicious but not what is written on the menu. Based on my single visit, I don't think this is close to the best Thai in Bloomington, but it's alright, and I might come here again because it's closer to home than the other places I like. I might have even given the food 4 stars if it had just been described differently on the menu, but the lack of spice in a dish that was supposed to be made hot plus the "homemade coconut ice cream" not being that left a little bit of a bad impression.

Large selection of dishes at different levels of heat. Service is great. Ambience is kind of meh,…read moreBloomington college town vibe.

Visited again and tried the pad prig khing. I really liked this one! A little on the sweet side but…read morevery flavorful! It came out fast but tasted fresh. The portion was generous for one meal but not quite as generous as I usually see at the other downtown Thai restaurants; I didn't feel like I could get two complete meals out of it. I still think it's reasonable for the price, but if you're really trying to get the most mileage for your dollar, the other places will get you slightly farther. Personally, that's not always my priority as long as the portion is sufficient for one meal, which it absolutely was. The Thai iced coffee was also pretty good. I'm glad I gave them another try, and I'd eat here again.

I've been wanting to try Rush Hour Station for quite a while, but it just never happens. When…read moremeeting a buddy for lunch he recommended it and I jumped for the chance. RHS bills itself as 'Vietnamese Fusion' and I have no idea what that might mean, but it was good. Very good. We went on a cold day, so eating on the outside deck wasn't an option. The interior is a basic strip mall location with a decent number of tables and plenty of seating, albeit a bit cramped. It's counter service, so it pays to take a look at the menu in advance and know what you want before you arrive. Paid at the counter, and they came to our table with the food very quickly. I had the 'Be Kind to Each Other' Chicken Pho which came with the usual sides of sprouts, basil, lime and noodles. You could upgrade your noodles if you wanted. I also added an order of cajun fries, which doesn't really seem like a 'Vietnamese Fusion' choice, but I love cajun fries so who was I to question them? The Pho was terrific. Loved it. The fries were very very good, though maybe a bit generous on the cajun. Still very good, and I definitely will return for this meal again. Friend ordered the Spam Banh Mi. Seriously???? Well, he did. And he said it was very good. You actually pay $0.50 extra for spam. Again, not sure what world you pay extra for the Spam but he did it. He selected the Fire Engine Tim sauce, which was to be spicy. When I pressed him for more details on the quality he said it could be spicier even with that sauce, but otherwise it was very good. He said to point out on Yelp that "That Diet Coke was clutch" - he may have been making fun of my questioning :) All in all a very good experience and I'll definitely return. I don't find much good pho in Bloomington, so it's nice to have a place for that. I won't be eating Spam anytime soon. I'm giving 4 stars only because the seating was a bit cramped and it was busy inside. I would go 4.5 if it weren't in a strip mall and pretty 'basic' ambiance. And that canned Diet Coke is clutch!

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots for a quick meal in town. The menu is Asian…read morefusion, mainly Vietnamese and Thai. There's a lot of choices on the menu and many entrees are customizable with your choice of protein and/or sauce. The place is very vegan/vegetarian-friendly; they have a handful of vegan protein options and most sauces are vegan, if you do try to order a non-vegan sauce with a vegan protein, they'll check to make sure that's okay, vegannaise is available for banh mi, and they will also remove the egg from the entrees containing egg AND take off the price of the egg. Their food may not be totally traditional but I really enjoy it. The level of "authenticity" will vary depending on what you order and which sauces you get in the customizable entrees. Their banh mi bread is different from the banh mi bread I'm used to but I actually like it a lot more. It's crustier and more tender than the usual banh mi bread, closer to a French-style baguette. They stack on lots of fresh veggies. The tofu is thinly-sliced and fried for tenderness that gives it a somewhat similar texture to deli meat. You can also get any banh mi combo as a wrap with the same ingredients, and while the wrap is good for a change of pace, I have to say I prefer the banh mi because the bread is so good. Their other entrees are also delicious and come in hefty portions. Their mapo tofu is the best vegetarian mapo tofu I've ever had. I usually get a Thai iced tea when I come here. It's strong and just the right amount of sweet. I appreciate the oat milk option! I recently tried the Thai iced coffee and that was also really good. Lastly, the staff who work here are very friendly! It seems like a small operation but they work efficiently so I've never had to wait too long for my order! The only thing that's left to be desired here is that everything is served in takeaway containers and they only have plastic cutlery (except spoons for some reason), but I don't know what they're dealing with in terms of capacity to use actual dining ware, so I am not letting that affect my rating.

Delicious and very affordable Indian street food! There are lots of options whether you're looking…read morefor veg or meat. So far I've tried the chana masala and fish kathi rolls, fish rice & salad, vada pav, mango lassi, and chai, and really enjoyed everything. The food tastes fresh and has that authentic street food flair. Don't be put off that it's outside a vape shop - it's legit food, and the people are very friendly. They can be pretty slow. I'd rather have fresh food that takes a while than fast food, but this is something to be aware of when ordering. They have some picnic tables set up behind the truck where you can enjoy your food on site.

Tried Sunny Palace for dinner. I wouldn't say it was anything outstanding, but it was solid and hit…read morethe spot since I had been craving Chinese. It seems like they get plenty of both takeout and dine-in customers. I dined in and the service was very good - the waitress was very friendly and came by often enough even though she was very busy. The menu is large but sensibly organized so you can easily find what you're looking for. They have two sides of the menu - one side has American style dishes and one side has Asian style. They also have a bubble tea menu with enough options to be comparable with specialized bubble tea shops. I got the fried tofu home style and a taro smoothie. The sauce for the tofu was tasty, the tofu and veggies were cooked perfectly, and the white rice on the side was fresh and fluffy. Big portion but not too big to finish if you're hungry. Pretty good taro smoothie too. The menu shows the option to adjust sugar and ice levels; I forgot to ask for less sweet, but the default wasn't too sweet. I would get food or drinks here again.

I am not a Chinese food connoisseur, but my experience was great! The hour I was there, I did not…read moresee another customer (on a Saturday at 1pm) which was nice to have the place to myself. I wasn't expecting much since I'd never heard of this place, and I saw the reviews; however, it was good! The staff were very kind and polite. I didn't have to wait too long for my food, and it tasted hot and fresh and delicious. It was a good sized portion with enough to box up and eat for lunch tomorrow. I ordered General Tsos. It came with an egg roll that I thought was good, even though I am normally not a huge fan of egg rolls.