Absolutely loved the South Indian food. The flavors were rich, authentic, and full of taste. The dosa was crispy, the idli was soft, and the sambar and chutneys were delicious. read more

Got to try a lassi today! Which is an Indian drink, like a mango-yogurt smoothie. It was incredibly good! Thank you to the staff! My next mission is to try their food (and maybe another lassi!) read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Lassi - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

06/2025 An update: Another fantastic meal here, and the restaurant now offers an adjacent room for private receptions. read more

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This is one of my favorite places for Indian food in Buffalo. Their menu has a huge variety of vegetarian options - dosa, curries, biryani, breads, etc. They even serve some popular Indian beer brands, which is a nice touch. The food is consistently delicious, and you can customize the spice level to your preference. Service is friendly and reliable, and the restaurant itself is spacious and well-ventilated, making for a comfortable dining experience. read more

Pretty good south indian food Parotta with goat curry - This was excellent. Flavorful goat curry and flaky parotta. We also got chicken salna but that was pretty okay. Would go with goat curry instead. Gobi Manchurian - This is our standard go to order and it was pretty good. King fish fry - Difficult to see this on usual indian restaurant menus. This was pretty flavorful masala and well cooked. read more

While nothing hardly is hardly open, Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Eve. This restaurant was open and well visited. We were here twice, as we had to order take out food for the non turkey eaters, which is fairly large in my household. We ordered tandoori chicken and fish fry. Fish was crispy and tender while chicken was mixed with a few pieces that were tender and the other few fiber y. We had a slightly longer than the given pickup time. While the ambiance is standard for an Indian restaurant. My experience was mixed, May being should have tried in the restaurant. My aunt, who lives nearby, frequents this restaurant. read more

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Love this place! Coming from NYC, I can say this food is 10/10 and so authentic. The service is great too.

For people picking up/doing take out, I suggest checking the food prior to leaving the establishment.

Delicious food but the service is a bit slow. The best time to go I feel is shortly after open and on a weekend as h to e food and overall experience is better then. On this visit, we got the plain dosa, chettinad goat curry, chicken biryani and the chicken tikka masala. Everything was delicious. The vibes is somewhat intimate but also great for large groups and there are alcoholic drinks available for those interested. With that said, they do their best to accommodate everyone so I appreciate that. read more

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Summary - ORDER BIRYANI only . Veggie dishes very average .. Cost - 240$ for 4 adults and 3 kids We were craving for some Indian food and when googling found this place . Looking at the menu we were super excited , as we are from chennai and love South Indian food . Was surprised to see the crowd in this restaurant. It was a big hall and could accommodate a lot of people . There was only one guy taking order , and it took 15-20 mins for him to even come to our table . Food took another 25-30 mins ! Service could improve vastly . Once u get a table it takes almost 45 mins to get ur first food . Now coming to food - we made mistake ordering veg food . It was very very average . Dosa was ok but chutneys were so average . No spice . Almost less salt and less pulippu in all dishes . Kuzhi panigaaram was oilyyyyy and we had to take oil off before eating . Kothu parota was very ver dry and didn't taste good . We ordered so many other things and when we said - "let's go and eat somewhere else " - there came the biryani... Biryani veggie and chicken was sooooo good . Even with chk biryani , they made a mistake with the order .. Seeraga samba rice .. one of the best biryanis I have ever had - and this is coming from someone who lives in Edison Nj . Made a mistake of ordering all other stuff. . Next time we will order only biryani . They also have a bar to order .. ok ambience .. Overall we wanted to give 2 stars but considering the location and rarity of Indian restaurants , I'll give 3 read more

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Authentic delicious food. Kept coming back for more. Recommend. Prices are fair. Extensive menu.

Absolutely delicious food!! We had the best meal there the other night. My favorite main dish was the Chettinad Chicken Curry, which was rich and deeply seasoned -- so amazing. Definitely get the Rasam as well, it is not to be missed! We also loved the NBL Curry Leaf Chicken appetizer, the Chicken Saag, and the Malabar Fish Curry. read more

The food is so wonderful. It makes me smile every time. I just had a rice dish that was 65 Chicken that was most amazing. You have to wait a bit as all is fresh, but we'll worth it. read more

At lunch on August 22 2025: -The rice was very low quality- grains were broken. -The garlic nan wasn't Nan, rather a fried chapati shallow fried with garlic powder sprinkled on top. -The kesari halwa tasted horrible because it contained oil that had been used for frying. Stay away! Hope they get a new chef! read more

First the positive Service was good. Fast. Now the hard part. Food: I dunno where to start. For a moment I thought the chef was either a North Indian or a college student from Andhra. The thalapakattu biriyani seemed like a curry rice. Egg Biriyani was nothing but vegetable ( or rather potato) biriyani with boiled eggs and no much masala. Finally we asked for prawn thokku and he gave us a tamarind curry with some masala and prawns.. Also the menu is deceiving. The menu says Ambir biryani but the server said it's been changed to Hyderabad biryani.. the Menu says naatu Kodi ambur biryani but the server said it's not Naatu Kodi, just the name is like that.. Ambiance was okay. No complain there though it isn't too great... Not sure if I chose the wrong items. But I will not go back to that restaurant.... read more

Very nice staff, delicious food from southern India, so not the typical menu of many Indian restaurants in Buffalo The goat parotta was spicy and delicious, the bread is something from heaven! I love it!!! read more

Nellai Banana Leaf for lunch. It was my first time here. I came specifically for their Dosai as my fathers family is from Southern India. I loved the restaurant smells like my Aunties houses. I ordered the plain Dosai with Masala. I had to wait a bit. Keep in mind Dosai takes some time to prepare. It was authentic and absolutely deliciousness!! So glad I made the stop. You must as well!! read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Plain Dosai - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

Why has it taken us to long to visit Nellia? I was intrigued since hearing their name. Banana Leaf brought back great memories of eating on them when visiting Bangalore India a few years ago. Nellia specializes in Southern Indian cuisine and I couldn't wait to try their dosas. I was surprised and happy to see so many different dosa choices on their menu! What to order?? Well I decided on the masala dosa which has a mashed spicy potato filling. Good choice! This crispy crepe was served with 3 different chutneys. Not sure what they all were. I liked that their menu had very distinct veg and non veg choices. Again a reminder of India where I got so used to see those big signs outside the restaurants. Our service was good though there was a delay at the end with getting our check. Now I have to go back and try to get through the rest of their menu and maybe get a dish that's even served on a banana leaf. 2021-118 read more

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perfect place to grab lunch. i had the chana masala and the spice level was regular which was perfect for me. the food came out piping hot so it was super fresh. the bowls look small but trust me, theres tons of food in them. i think if i had this food in the winter, itd be the perfect way to warm up read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Chana Masala - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

Overall a pretty well rounded South Indian restaurant. The food always seems fresh and flavorful. All of their chicken appetizers are a pretty safe bet, especially the chicken 65. Their biryani is okay, but there are better places to get biryani close by. Most of the food is not very spicy, so if you're expecting that make sure you ask. Try the malai kofta if you're looking for a good vegetarian entree! The only real negative here is that nothing happens quickly. If you order takeout, wait a solid hour before picking it up, even if the app tells you it's ready because it's usually not. read more

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Good Vegetarian options: We visited this place on our trip to Niagra. It was 30 minutes away from Niagra but we decided to go here for dinner on a Tuesday as most restaurants in Niagra were closed on Tuesday. We were looking for south indian vegetarian options and found many here. We ordered Dosas in particular and all of them were made well. The chutneys tasted great as well, some were better than what we get in the famous south indian restaurants in big cities in Bay Area, California where there are many south indian veg restaurants. Items ordered: Onion Rava Dosa Cone Dosa for kids Set Idli Kal Dosai Mysore Dosai read more

I have such mixed feelings about this review as was my experience based on who was taking care of us. It's 3 3/4 stars. For some of our staff it was 5 star service and some staff only 1-2 star service. And that affected the outcome of the food to some degree. That degree being spice level. If 1-2 star staff member was requested no heat and perhaps they weren't as attentive as possible, the food would then be very different than you might expect. Or if the food was already made at a certain heat level and couldn't be adjusted, a good staff member would tell you what to expect and perhaps suggest an order of yogurt with it. Having said that the Butter Naan was delicious!! Chewy and stretchy a little salty and lovely!! Their ginger tea, was served very differently , in small metal cups, unsweetened ( you sweetened to taste) but was delicious. Use caution till the cup is cool enough just drink with a spoon. The Gobi 65 which was seasoned fried cauliflower was absolutely amazing!!! Truly a must order!! Also the Marina Beach Mango Sundal which is a mix of chic peas and green mango with shaved coconut was also delicious and refreshing at the same time! It was spicy at first but interestingly you got used to it very quickly and it wasn't the type of heat that you needed a break from. The NBL Grapes Mint Juice was delicious according to everyone who took a drink from the person who ordered it's cup. The Spring Dosai was not what I expected. I found that there were pieces of scallions mostly falling out, and since I had requested no heat, it was very spicy ,as were the dipping sauces that came with it. The Chicken Saag according to the person who ate it (as it was not my order) was very good. Clearly fresh and hot out of the pot. But the spice level was fine. The Samosa filling was tasty and very nicely seasoned. The crust was smooth and crunchy with a little more butter too them. So it was clearly food done differently that the typical regional Indian food in the area. So that's fun but be aware if you are expecting one type of a dish, it's coming from a different region and may be a bit different. But you will love it just as much. But make sure that if your staff member appears to have a short attention span, you truly emphasize any special requests. The owner was absolutely wonderful and clearly a hard working young man as were many of his staff. They definitely get your order out fresh and hot to order and a local entrepreneur well worth supporting. read more

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We stopped in today to try chicken biryani and mango Lassi, cheese Naan, kal dosai and a plain parotta. I don't have vast experience with south Indian food and their many sauces and chutneys but I do love to be adventurous and everything we had was delicious. The breads were soft, fresh, flavorful and soaked up the sauces perfectly. The rice dish came with veggies and two sauces. It was rich and flavorful with all the complex spices, onions and curry. The Kal dosai we ordered came with two rice lentil pancakes with four different sauces and chutneys to dip into and all were tasty and distinctly different. I loved the texture of the parotta and how it was pull apart and almost stringy. I'd say it was fun to eat! We will definitely be back to explore more dishes! read more

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My son & I came here ,first of all , because it was a stop on the "Taste the World" tour. He likes some Indian food & wanted to try some. When we got there, we stood in the front for about 10-15 min and no one came over to ask us what we needed or wanted. We were ignored completely by the few employees I saw. I literally had to call their phone number and ask the employee to come help us out. About 4 min later he came out from the bar and asked us what we wanted. I told him I was from Yelp , so he asked me which Biryani I wanted. He told us to have a seat & he'd be out soon. It took about 20 min for the sample (a big one though) of the Chicken Biryani to be brought out. Meanwhile he brought us each a Mango Lassi which was delicious !! (It was room temperature though ,so it would've been so much better if it was ice cold) The rice, chicken & whatever sauces or gravy that was for dipping or scooping were all very good. I ordered a full sized one to bring home. My son ordered Butter Chicken, Cheese Naan Bread & we ordered Samosas. His bread and Butter Chicken was good, but neither of us cared for the Samosas. It was very hard to get any attention & even after , it took so long to get anything. We were there from about 8pm to 9:30pm, just to try a sample & order takeout. The guy who took care of us was not particularly friendly or social. The woman cleaning the tables, was the opposite. She helped us out in 2 minutes when I asked for something & was welcoming & nice. Some of the prices were pretty steep & not so much worth it. I will probably not be returning. Too expensive, Too slow, And I don't like being ignored. read more

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Service: 4/5. A little slow. And sometimes, some parts of the order are forgotten. Cleanliness: 3/5. Dining area is clean but the restrooms are disgusting. Food: NBL Chintamani chicken: 5/5 Mutton chukka: 5/5 Mutton Kotthu parotha: 1/5. Literally one small piece of meat in the whole dish and the taste was underwhelming. More like veggie or egg dish. Vanjaram fish fry: 2/5. Bland and no flavor whatsoever. Chettinad chicken curry: 4/5 Naan: 3/5 Ambur chicken biryani: 3/5 Mango lassi: 3/5. Indian beers and other Indian alcoholic drinks are available. read more

Enjoyed a fantastic dinner here tonight! We were greeted and seated as soon as we walked in, and our drinks and food came out quickly. Each staff member we interacted with was friendly and helpful. We came here for Yelp's Taste the World event, but in addition to the mango lassi and chicken biryani we got as part of that, we also ordered entrees. My husband got the chicken tikka masala and the bite I had of that was absolutely delicious! I ordered the pudina paneer tikka which was basically grilled cheese cubes and veggies served with slaw and mint chutney - and was also delicious! We will definitely come here again. The atmosphere was nice and it's good for a date night, a group of friends, or for families. Although this was a popular spot for Sunday night dinner, there's a lot of seating and food still came out quickly. I'd highly recommend! read more

Absolutely amazing food. Service was good, but slow. I think (at least I hope) they are short staffed. The one person running the dining room, endeavored to be every where at once, but he's only one person. With that said, he still did an amazing job and I felt personally welcomed and taken care of. After my meal, I was given the absolutely appropriate take out containers for what I was taking home with me. Fabulous atmosphere, attention to the details, amazing food. I will be back. read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Butter Naan & mint chutney - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

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Food is excellent, server was very polite. The ambience inside is a little darker than normal, so somebody may find it hard to see. A huge menu with lots of different items. One of my favorites so far read more

This Valentines Day, I decided to introduce my fiance to South Indian cuisine. When I was younger and lived overseas, I lived in an area which had a lot of South Indians. The food was delicious and a memory I was seeking to relive again with my fiance. We had reservations for 1 pm. Even though the place was packed, we were seated immediately and received put food at 1:45 pm. I don't think they were used to handing the number of people they had, for they were slow and were out of many things which were substituted with other items without notifying us. I was also missing two items but I didn't mind as the food was plentiful. We had ordered a non veg special vday thali which was $22.99 each. This was a tremendous amount of food, a lot more than we had anticipated. Now let's talk about the quality of the food. I will start off the bad then mention the good. The chicken biryani was substituted with veg biryani, which was flavorless and decent at best. I was also missing the aachar and the cabbage dish. All the other dishes were as I remembered and authentic! The payasam was just as I remember it when I first had it at a friend's house as a child. The employees were good too and doing their best. The price was a little steep but understandable. Either way, I would highly recommend coming here if you want to try Indian food which is unique to South India and not the mostly North Indian style food offered in 95% of the restaurants in the US. read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Special non-veg VDAY Thali $22.99 - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

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The food and service is ABSOLUTELY amazing every time. The best South Indian food in Buffalo. The restaurant itself is very clean. We ordered the Mysore Bonda, Chicken Lollipops, Rasam, Nellai Varuthu Araicha Goat Curry, Special Rava Masala Dosai, and the Gunther Dosai. Everything was delicious read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Chicken Lollipop, Mysore Bonda - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

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This rating is for the food only, not the takeout experience. Got takeout from this place today. Kottu was great! Also had eggplant curry and a lentil fritter curry which were both bursting with flavor. So. Much. Flavor. I didn't do the pickup but I was told the food wasn't ready on time, the restaurant felt unheated, and suspected they began cooking on arrival rather than when order was placed. You can order online but have to pay cash at the restaurant. Food took an hour. But for taste, go for it! Definitely spicier than an Indian buffet but nothing crazy for people who enjoy a little heat. read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Kottu roti. - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

This place is go to for authentic Tamil food! They managed to bring the essence of Tamil culture in food, service and hospitality here. Their biryani is amazing. They have a wide variety of tiffin items not just dosa and idli! The restaurant is spacious and has ample parking as well. Very warm n cozy atmosphere read more

By far my favorite restaurant in the Buffalo area. The menu choices, flavors, and smells all remind me of Chennai and it is one of the best South Indian restaurants I've been to in the U.S. It is such a pleasure to order in Tamil and feel like you're in Buharis or Ponnusamy in Chennai. I love taking friends there to show them the unique flavors of Chettinad food - the heavy use of karavapalai (curry leaf), black peppercorn, coconut milk, etc. read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Idli - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

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Tried this place (take out) for the first time. I've never had bad Indian food in the Buffalo area, and the streak continues. I had chattinad chicken curry with veg samosa and garlic naan. The samosa was tasty and flaky. The garlic naan was good, not the best but typical and good. The curry was interesting. Had a great flavor with a lot of heat. My only problem was the chicken was four small pieces and all four were more bone than meat. I was a little disappointed in it and would not order again, but it was very tasty. If I went back I would go for veg dishes as the meat in this was. It worth the price. But back to the positive, it tasted great. I will go back but will just try another dish. Nitin helped me and was very pleasant providing great service. read more

FOOD: The food is South Indian and specific to that area of India. Here are some of the dishes that stood out to me: Mysore Bonda: a fritter, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Absolutely delicious as an appetizer. Not oily at all as I bit into it and the temperature was good. We dipped it in sambar: a warm, tomato based and spiced rich soup-like consistency sauce that the bonda just soaked up. I also recommend the onion pakoda, a heavenly fried fritter alternative. We did not try the samosas but will definitely try it on the next trip. Mixed veggie dosa: essentially like a crepe-like dish. We got the mixed veggie. I love the accompaniment of chutneys, and the coconut one of the best chutneys I had! You could really taste the coconut. Chicken Biryani: Listen, when it came out, it was quite anti-climactic; it was not adorned in saffron or crispy onion pieces, no slice of lemon wedge was seen. HOWEVER- this was absolutely, one of the best biryanis I've had in quite some time. The chicken was tender and not dry, which has happened to us a lot lately. Also the rice was not basmati, however it fluffed up nicely and was smooth and buttery. Spice level I would've liked increased but we definitely enjoyed this dish. AMBIENCE: It was filled with a good amount of people but my husband and I were greeted and seated fairly quickly. It is a perfect place to have great food. Not a dining establishment that you should put your fancy shoes on, however the food makes up for it. SERVICE: Our server was attentive and listened to our needs. We also were able to get dessert and a mango lassi to go. TIPS: Parking is easily available. read more

This was our first time here and we will be back ! We started with apps (Samosa/ Vazhakkai Bajji), enjoyed dinner (Butter Chicken/Chicken Tikka Masala/Buttered Naan) and ended with a shared dessert (Gulab Jamun)! Everything was served hot and was full of flavor! Service was wonderful and look forward to our next dinner out! read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Butter Chicken & Chicken Tikka Masala - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

Had a wonderful dinner at this place! I first received my mango lassi which I have to say it was the perfect texture and flavor for me. I've had many mango lassi's where the mango flavor just wasn't present enough. This one was very flavorful, I could drink it all day! For appetizers I order the samosas and the egg bajji. The samosas were absolutely delicious, I wish I had a little bit of tamarind sauce on the side but the green sauce they served was great too. The egg bajji was new for me, it's not bad, I just don't know if I'd order it again, still worth a try if you like eggs. But I will be trying the egg masala when I come again! For my main I got the Araicha Goat Gurry with rice and it was spicy, delicious, perfection! Lastly I ordered a single plain parotta to go with my meal. I love the flaky texture and soft inside texture, and I personally prefer it over naan. Overall the food was great and I will be back! The service was awesome, my server was very kind and attentive! The ambiance was very pleasant with dim lighting, light music, and I went just after work so it wasn't super busy! read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Plain Parotta, Nellai Varuthu Araicha Goat Curry - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

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Scrumptious flavors in our ghee podi (gunpowder blend) dosa, palak paneer and garlic naan. Thick stewed curries with whole roasted spice pods and chiles, warm, pillowy naan, and of course their thin crisp dosa with a trio of sauces, and the whole lunch was comforting and crazy filling for two - esp at a reasonable price of $30. It's not a warm atmosphere, with a stark two rows of dining against the long interior walls, but I'm not here to feel like I'm on vacation - I'm here to eat. read more

Nellai Banana Leaf - Indian Near Me - Williamsville, New York

The first time I went here I really loved the place. I would give 4 stars for that visit. The pictures are from my first visit. Some of the dishes were really good and others were okay. My recent 2 visits for take out have been less than satisfactory. There was a bad stink in the restaurant once and the food (sambhar and rassam) was bland and not at all up to the mark. read more

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This place will satisfy you if you know what to order. It is run by South Indians so unfortunately the regular north Indian dishes like paneer curries and naan won't be very impressive (IMHO). Instead, go for the traditional south Indian food that you don't get very often - appam, uthappam, dosas, vada. Appam hails from the state of Kerala in India and is one of the rare things I have been able to find in the Indian restaurants in the US. So this was a good opportunity for me to try it and I wasn't disappointed. It is essentially a crepe made from ground up rice. It is made with coconut milk so that gives it a little bit of sweetness which I really enjoy. It'll come with a kind of dip so you can mix up the slightly sweet and salty appam with the more flavorful chutney. We also got a set of 5 uthappams and a rava dosa both of which were pretty good. Uthappam is like a pancake (quite thick compared to dosa) and has different additions like coconut, tomatoes etc depending on what you order. Rava dosa is thinner and crispier than regular dosa, so go for it if that's your style. They all came with 5 different types of chutneys and the service staff was kind enough to refill a couple for free when I asked for more. The ambience was pleasant and the service was good ( in and out in an hour) for a weekday dinner. It was nice to eat south Indian food outside for a change and the I would probably go back next time I crave an appam. read more