I'm visiting my family in Vestal, and chose Royal Indian for our dinner out mostly because I saw…read morethey had soya chaap on the menu, which I love but can't find on the menu at any restaurants where I'm currently living. We ordered takeout from them a few years ago during COVID, but this was our first time dining in. The restaurant was tidy and I liked their music (I think mostly older Bollywood music), but there was an alarm in the kitchen that was beeping continuously the entire time we were there, and since we were sitting near the kitchen entrance it felt like it was right in my ear, which was a little irritating. The waiter was very polite though, which made it a pleasant experience being there.
I ordered the soya vindaloo, had a bit of vegetable biryani, and we got a bread basket for the table which included plain and garlic naans, onion kulcha, and roti. The soya vindaloo was okay. I don't want to say it was bland, but it was less intense than I was expecting. I ordered it with medium spice and I wonder if it would've been better at "hot" or even "very hot". I would've described the spice level that I got as medium-mild. The veggie biryani was tasty, but oily for my taste. This dish was ordered mild, but there was enough depth and warmth in the other spices of the dish that I didn't miss the heat. There were lots of vegetables in the dish that were cooked perfectly to provide a little texture and enhance the flavour of the rice. The breads were great. They were all also a little more buttery than I usually prefer but were cooked so well, and the naans were just thick enough to be fluffy. The onion kulcha had a great flavour with lots of slightly caramelized onion. I got kheer from dessert which I loved. Lots of cardamom, but not overpowering, and perfect texture - not watery.
I remember that when we got takeout here, I ordered curry kofta, peshawari naan, gajar ka halwa, and plain lassi. I don't remember the naan at all, but I remember I really enjoyed the kofta, lassi, and naan. I actually remember the gajar ka halva so well because it was so good that I was tempted to order it again when we visited this time even though I ultimately decided to try something different. When we picked up, they apparently never got our order because of some weirdness with the online platform (I assume this is now resolved because their current online ordering uses a different site) so they had to start it when we arrived, but they were very hospitable to us while we waited, letting us sit in a booth and bringing water.
I wouldn't put it among the best Indian restaurants I've been to, and I even think there's better in the Binghamton area, but some things do stand out as particularly good, so I'd be happy to come here again, and would just order spicier next time.