Godavari

Their updates menu have so many authentic dishes from Andra Pradesh! Servers are really nice and food is very tasty. Their weekend buffet are pretty good too

Beware of ordering Biryani in the dinner time (80% times it is not freshly made — I believe they serve the left overs). Chicken is very hard/​dry/​blackish color and the rice is also dry. Pricey dinner menu also. I would suggest to go for lunch buffet if in case 1 or 2 items are bad, you still have other options to choose.

Best Indian in Manhattan.
Sambhar and Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani very tasty and satisfying.
Great complimentary sauces.
Good service, portions and prices.

Food and selection is great! I used to go to Kiran Palace but they offered half of what Godavari has. I usually get the tikka masala, biriyani, tandoori chicken, and paneer. They offer some stews and soups as well. Great value from the lunch buffet. Everything is flavorful and most dishes have some kick due to spicy style of Indian food. Desserts are tasty as well. There is usually the fruit pudding and gulab jamun (Fried dough balls soaked in syrup). My coworkers go here for lunch at least every other week. Try it out for yourself!

Get ready to sweat at this Southern Indian buffet in Hicksville. They have an extensive selection of dishes from aloo to kebobs to an array of different biryani and dosas. All very tasty and extremely spicy. Luckily they have mango lassi to ease the pain. The food was well prepared and tasted fresh and packed with intense flavor and heat. The place was packed with local Indian families so they must be doing something right. Service is a bit cold and huffy but it’s a busy place. It’s a very good place to come and recommended. Just be prepared to wait for a table on weekends.

Great food. Loved the tandoori chicken and Hydrabadi dum biriyani was excellent. Friendly staff.

Came here this past Sunday for the lunch buffet with a party of about 9 people. The place was popping; mad people were eating the lunch buffet. We were greeted warmly and were accommodated with care when we came in. The dude with the blue polo (I’m sorry we didn’t get your name sir) was mad friendly and offered us an additional table. All the smells made me hungry and I was excited to dive in.
I’m no expert on Indian food; I’ve only been to a few Indian buffets and places in the Hicksville area. I’m a big fan of Kiran Palace down the road near Taco Bell. This place definitely had a lot more selection comparably, with different rice dishes, desserts, rose milk, etc…
Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan of my meal. Everything was overpoweringly spicy and I was sweating bullets as I was eating. I guess that is a characteristic of South Indian cuisine in general perhaps? If that’s the case, perhaps my palate is unable to appreciate it very well. In addition, there weren’t very many meat dishes and all the sauces /​curry dishes didn’t have any meat in it. The chicken that I had was aiigghhtttt, but not fantastic.
Adding to this was the price; it was $ 15 per person without tax and tip included. I guess I’m spoiled by cheaper lunch buffets like Kiran Palace and Diwan, but $ 15 is pretty steep in my opinion.
I have to end this review by thanking that dude in the blue polo again. He was so nice and accommodating to our whole party. When we were having trouble with our check, he was very nice and chill about it as well. The dude had a smile on his face and made our dining experience there as pleasant as possible.
In conclusion, I wasn’t a huge fan. I would consider trying it again, maybe on a weekday when the prices are lower.

I went there with a friend for dinner after shopping at Patel. What wonderful friendly service
To go along with the very very good and flavorful food. We ordered the garlic nan which was flavored with sweet garlic and herbs. The nan was thin and crispy soft. I know it doesn’t make sense but the bubbles on the bread were crispy and rest was soft and chewy. Soooo yummy. We shared the malabar fish that came with rice, there was plenty of fish in a nice spicy sauce. The server asked how spicy we wanted the dish and it met our request. Our water glasses were filled and refilled without asking. The server explained the dish in detail. Can’t wait to try other dishes! Definitely go back.

I went there with my dad since we had never tried this place. All I can say is that the food was delicious and the service was excellent! Everything was perfectly flavored and they incredibly attentive. Will definitely be back!

Having passed the door to this new venue when going to Diwan next door, I ventured in twice before checked the food and no goat (weekends only)…so went next door to Diwan that has it everyday… Well, yesterday daughter Jenn Bah asked to try it because she saw ad saying it had the largest Indian Buffet on LI… Glad we did…
Upon entering you get a waft of Indian spices wetting your appetite for whats to come. I cant say that this is the biggest buffet, but the food they did have was really tasty and had Southern Indian spiciness which was exciting to try. They even had dispensers for Chai Tea, which I refilled my small cup many times and also an Orange Tango drink which was refreshing. At $ 9.99 price point this place is defenitly worth visiting. Jenn commented on the burn she got from the sauces and was in a lite sweat during lunch. I too noticed the nuances of the spices and appreciated the cooking style of the restaurant. This place is our new favorite Indian Buffet in Hicksville until further notice. I’ve been to all the rest and this one has the taste I crave in ethnic foods! And, dont forget to check in as there is a $ 2 discount for Unilocalers!

Love, love, love Godavari! It seems that I’m starting to find more Indian restaurants that cater to the home style cooking of Indian food, and that has me excited. I came here for a celebration lunch this week and though they took a while to clear up an 11 seat table for us, the food more than made up for that fact.
For the lunch buffet you have two large rows of food to choose from. One being strictly vegetarian options (as most South Indian cuisine is based on a vegetarian lifestyle) and the other offering different chicken options. My two favorite parts of this meal were the Sambar and the Masala chai dispenser. The chai dispenser makes me so happy that it’s there as self serve for the lunch buffet. It was delicious.
The food here as I said is not like industrial Indian food which Hicksville seems to be full of now. The Flavors and quality of food is far above the rest. I’m excited to say I found my new go to Indian buffet place in Hicksville. Keep up the good work!

I came here on Sunday for the lunch buffet. Before coming in, I noticed the 3-​star rating but seeing so many local Indians dining there kinda reassured me that the food is likely authentic and good. The Sunday buffet was $ 12.95 which was a little higher (by $ 2.00) than the competition next door. However, Godavari offered a HUGE buffet selection consisting of vegetarian, chicken, goat curry, (chicken/​goat/​veget) biriyanis, 2 soups, traditional breakfast foods, 2 desserts, chutneys etc… Hence, I could see why they charged a little more than the average buffets in the area. All the food items looked fresh and 3 different biriyanis to cater to meat lovers & vegetarians. Seriously! That is thoughtful and a lot of work.
I selected this place mainly to cater to my food allergies as the restaurant next door uses nuts & dairy in all their dishes. I don’t know why this place is so underrated and all the negative comments on the service. The staff was very friendly and informative as I had to inquire about the ingredients in all the dishes. Most dishes had dairy in the meat marinades (i.e. tikkas, biriyanis) or paneer/​cream so I was only able to choose the Goat Gongura, yellow dal, & soups. However, that suited me fine as the goat was simply AWESOME! I loved the extra kick of spice in the goat curry. My friend sampled most of the buffet items and said everything was good with the goat being the standout dish. The other popular item was the fried chilli cauliflower. The tikka chicken looked good (tho I couldn’t eat it) but not sure if it was fried instead of grill or oven cooked. The mango dal & the Sambar/​Rasam soups were very tasty. The flavors were evenly balanced with the spices and lentils.
I would like to say that I received wonderful service at Godavari’s from the host at the door to the table servers. Service was friendly and fast. My dirty plates were quickly taken away after each dining round. Thank you Reddy for patiently answering all my food questions! :) Btw, Reddy says the goat recipe is a secret and the Chef mixes all his own spices… so no premade garam masalas here… hahaha…LOL
Buffet area is all along the right side of the wall as you walk in and keeps extending to the next room. It’s wide enough for foot traffic and patrons maneuvering to different stations. The buffet stations were clean and maintained during the time I dined there. I also liked that the food was in chafing dishes instead of aluminum trays and serving utensils were placed on a plate. Additionally, ladies room was clean! :)
Overall, I felt very welcomed here even though I was a non-​Indian or regular. So 5-​Stars all the way for the Goat Gongura, great service, and clean atmosphere! Woohoo! I’m looking forward to coming back soon! Btw, I hope they can add more dairy/​nut– free dishes on the buffet selection so I can eat even more food… LOL :)
Keep up the awesome job!

Very delicious south Indian food. Feel like having food at Home. Best place to hang out with friends and family. Yummy food & best service ever.

Came a few months ago and it was okay. Today I was very dissatisfied. Brought some friends to try and was embarrassed at the quality of service and quality of food. It’s very difficult to find an Indian restaurant that has consistent good service and quality of food. Clearly I will continue to look… but would not recommend this restaurant ever.

This place in one word is OBNOXIOUS. We stopped here for lunch one day to give them a shot (we normally go to the place across the street and love it).
As we walked in we realized they only offer the buffet during lunch, and we only wanted dosa so as we were about to walk out the hostess talked us into staying and told us the chef would make the dosa we wanted. Ok, we thought that was fair. We ordered our usual and waited for what seemed way longer than the place across the street but figured it would be worth it since we were starving. We ordered the masala rava dosa, half of mine was still uncooked from the inside and the chutney’s they provide all tasted a little off. I couldn’t place it but something just didn’t taste right with all three of them. The sambar was fine.
Here’s where it gets really exciting though, when the bill comes it was a little higher than we expected so we grabbed the menu to double check and confirmed that they charged us a few bucks more per dosa. We mentioned this to our waitress and she contested it for a minute saying the prices have changed. Huh?! we had three menu’s on our table given to us by HER and she’s saying the prices have changed? We told her that it seems a bit odd to not charge what the menu has printed on it and she left to go talk to the manager/​chef? The guy comes out of the kitchen and I can literally hear them going back and forth and he tells her that the «original» menu has the right price and since the higher price is what’s in their system it is what it is. She comes back to tell us exactly that and we tell her it’s not acceptable. She then just decides to leave, and another waiter comes to our table with the «original» menu with the higher price. At this point it’s all about the principle and customer service and we tell him we will not pay the higher price. He then proceeds to tell us that he’ll pay the remainder of the bill out of his own pocket. Are you kidding me? How insulting! It’s never about the money and always about the customer service. Granted we are perhaps spoiled from all the fancy restaurants we dine at in Manhattan and their Michelin rated statuses, but customer service is just that. We were expecting an apology for their MIS-​Printed menu’s and to be charged the right price. That was most restaurants would do especially if it’s their mistake. Not only that, for a place that has just opened and has some Severe competition across the street, this was the wrong move. They were not successful in gaining us as customers, and I’ll see to it that nobody we know becomes a customer of theirs either.
My advice would be to stay away from this place, unless being overcharged and then insulted for bringing attention to it is your idea of good customer service. The food certainly did not compensate for their lackluster customer service either.

Genuine Indian food. The cuisine was predominantly andhra but there were dishes from other parts of India as well. Probably the only genuine Indian buffet I have had in and around Manhattan. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes Indian food

Im not a big fan of buffet. But I like the buffet here. Lot of variety and tastes good. You even have dosas as part of buffet. They change buffet menu, not sure if its weekly or monthly. There’s chai and lemonade too.
Hope they maintain the standard.

Went for the buffet, they have different chicken options, most are good, but the tikka masala, the most important thing for me in Indian buffets, wasn’t that good. The chicken is made well, but the sauce isn’t good. Other than that it’s a great place. Nice selection, lots of desert options, vegetarian menu…

This is one of my favorite Indian place at Hicksville. Dishes were authentic and the ambience was pretty good. The place is clean and hygienic

We went here on 10/​11, the day after they opened, initially unaware that the restaurant had changed from when we were there exactly 2 weeks earlier, and were shocked at how packed it was. They offered delicious free samosas and dhosas outside to people waiting (which could almost be meals in and of themselves), and when we did get seated we were delighted to see the range of vegetarian and non-​vegetarian dishes they had at the buffet. The food was fresh and tasty and even with the crowds the service was excellent. The variety of dishes is great for those who are not familiar with Indian cuisine and are not sure what they may like or not.