India Palace

I gave them four stars-​it should probably be five– because I had ridden my motorcycle in from South Carolina that day to look for houses as we were moving. I wanted Indian food and got there before they opened. The owner was there and opened just for me. The food was good; it was Indian food like every other Indian place in the US. I got the lamb and naan bread. There was a lot of it and it was spicey like like I like it.
Not much
.say. I’ll go back.

I love India Palace .
The lunch buffet has a great selection of food to choose from.
I love there chicken curry masala.
The service is very friendly
If you like Indian food… you need try this place!

Great food! Very, very authentic, and the best onion chutney in the whole world. The lunch buffet is the best deal in the entire city. Sometimes understaffed, but they sure try to keep up. Hope this place never closes.

Found India Palace on Unilocal while driving to Nashville. Who knew that a little town like Cookeville, TN, could have good Indian food. We had the buffet which was about $ 10 each. The food was very good, the proprietress friendly. She even explained that her restaurant was closed for awhile when she took her late husband back to India. I’d stop there again!

This nice Indian restaurant is located down the street and around the corner in downtown Cookeville, TN. Eating here was a nice experience, not bad and not great, just nice.
The shared parking lot is small, which matches the interior of this establishment. Several booths and tables greet the customers as they enter the restaurant. The tables are slightly larger than the size one would expect. This makes for a nice change, as the plates are not as crowded as they might normally be on a standard size table.
The food came out on the sweet side. Tasty, for sure, but too sweet compared to the Indian cuisine I’m familiar with. Still, this is a place I would visit again.

We used to live in Cookville nearly 10 years ago, I’m so sad this place wasn’t around! We came for lunch, and I was worried about eating at the buffet because I’m gluten free and vegetarian.
The owner, an older women with a very friendly smile, walked me through each dish on the buffet to tell me what was safe. Her sister in law is gluten free and she knew exactly what I could have.
And she was so nice, it was almost like she was my grandma! She even nicely reprimanded me for not trying one of her favorite dishes (Which was great!).
Because it was the buffet the flavors weren’t spicy enough for me, so most likely when I come to visit again in October, I’ll update my review if I order off the menu. She said I gotta try her okra!

Nice place. The owner is really friendly. Good quality food. This place was closed in between for sometime but they are back to business again.

So there was a tiny language barrier, service attentive and very personal but a weee bit slow but you go somewhere to eat and this little family
run place is VERY good. Closed for a while and father/​owner passed and now mom and daughter running it and it is superb! I LOVE Indian food and this place is for real.

Closed for some time for remodeling, but rumor has that one of the owners has not been well. Hoping this year will find them happy, well, and back in action! This is one of my absolute favorite places to eat. Best Indian food I have ever had. Delicious! The owners are super sweet people and will help you choose something amazing if you are unfamiliar. Buffet is an unbelievable deal. Every time we drive to Cookeville, we drive past to see if they are home. We miss you!

Has been closed for remodeling for about 6+ months now without doing any work. I believe that they are closed for good. The few times I did eat there the food was great, but the service was horrible. Their kids are always running around the restaurant and they are extremely slow.
The last time I ate here, I got a to go order. When I called to place my order they told me it would be about 45 minutes before it was ready. I showed up about an hour later to pick up the food and they were confused as to what my order was. Finally they figured out my order and told me to wait a few minutes before it was ready so that they could put it in boxes. I waited an hour for them to bring out the food (I don’t think they even started to make it until I came to pick it up). While waiting their kid played YouTube videos as loud as his computer could go. Later his friend came in and they ran around throwing stuff over the tables. When they finally brought out my order, it was someone else’s. I had to wait an additional 30 minutes before they had my food ready. As I stated previously the food is great but the service is horrible.

Closed for remodel until further notice. Drove all the way here to find this out. Ugh.

Absolutely amazing. It was like eating with my parents. Lovely family atmosphere with amazing food. Don’t be put off by the area its on its TOTALLY worth it.

It’s nice to have the variety of another ethnic restaurant here in Cookeville, but I don’t think this place is that special. It’s kind of like Indian cafeteria food.
We’ve had very inconsistent service. Our family has some dietary restrictions, and on more than one occasion our server was not able to communicate with us regarding the ingredients in a dish.
Yes, the owners are friendly, which involved having one of their kids/​grand-​kids basically become a part of our dinner group on one occasion.

This truly is a hidden gem. Our group of 5 stumbled upon this humble establishment with the help of Unilocal.At first, things didn’t look well as we sat around 10 – 15 without even seeing anyone who worked at the restaurant. Finally we just helped ourselves to some drinks and I went back to the kitchen to see only a husband and wife working. That explained everything. The smell emanating from that kitchen made me decide that we should wait and be patient. It was going to be worth it. Well we were not in a hurry and enjoyed our own company although it was around 1.5 hours for the food. My advice– order ahead.
We ordered shahi lamb, Kadai lamb, lentil beans in a sauce I can’t remember, baigan barta (excuse my spelling) and for a first tandoori swordfish. And there was also a delicious lentil soup and very fine naan that had just the right amount of crispness.
Everything was excellent and all the flavored had distinction and depth. I’m not an Indian food connoisseur but I did find the swordfish a little dry and the tandoori sauce in the sweet side. But I truly enjoyed everything.
Don’t know when I will ever be back to Cookeville but I will certainly be back here if I ever return.

I always enjoy eating here. Food is always fresh & tasty. The owners are soo nice & accommodating. Plus, I am a vegetarian & they always have great options for me.

Great food and personable service. The owner remembered us from our last visit a year ago. Dishes are made to order but well worth the wait.

The food here is great! The husband and wife that run it are very kind and welcoming, stopping by the table to chat. They are also great at giving recommendations and you’d be crazy not to listen to them!
I wish the interior were fixed up a bit more… some ambient lighting and Indian textiles and finishes. A wall of Indian chotchkies just doesn’t do it for me. This is why I gave them 4 stars instead of 5. Bring the décor up to the level of the food and you’d have a true destination restaurant in Cookeville.
The food took about 45 minutes to come out because they begin cooking from scratch when you place the order, which is great, but it is a long time to wait. I am going to try the lunch buffet next time, sounds like a deal!

The mango lassi here is phenomenal. If you get nothing else, get the mango lassi. It’s such a deep orange color… they use a ton more mango than most Indian places and I love, love, love it.
The owner and his wife are very friendly. Our meal kind of took forever to cook… almost an hour before our food came out and we were there on a quiet Monday night. Having said that, everything was really great. I have no complaints… We ordered mostly vegetarian dishes and they were really delicious. Ordered two baskets of naan and went home with most of it because the naan baskets are very generous.
Very relaxed atmosphere… mellow Indian music and the air smells a little like incense.
Bottom line: great place for Indian food in Cookeville.

We went here for our first visit this last weekend. We have eaten at a lot of Indian places over the year and have never been a fan of buffet served Indian food.
That being said we were quite happy with our meals and tasted most of the items on the line. The owners were wonderful and we do plan future visits to this business.
Thanks for a wonderful meal

I like this place. Ok… I kinda have to as its the only Indian restaurant that I know in Cookeville. The food is good and its a decent price for the food. I went on a sunday evening and there were not many people there. Its kinda tucked away on 1^st street.
The family that owns this place is very friendly as other reviewers have mentioned. The service is pretty quick. Being Indian I am very picky about Indian restaurants but I was very pleased with this. I have not tried the buffet and so I do not know how it is. I will update my review once I do that.
As a date place I think this would be great. The atmosphere is very mellow with indian music playing in the background. But as you know Indian restaurants are not places to go smoochy smoochy. So you need to get your groove on some place else.