Spice Nation

This business is closed. They are currently looking for a new home. If you miss them they also have a restaurant called dhaba indy. In noblesville, in.

Took the recommendation to try and was not disappointed. The place was full of local Indians, Sikh and a Muslim family… all a good sign that it is authentic and will be sustainable. Excellent vegetarian dishes with fresh Naan and Dosa brought to the table. They also have Chai Tea that comes with the buffet. The resturant has a quieter atmospher that allows you to talk. Friendly service was quick and reaponsive.

Visited Spice Nation for their Indo-​Chinese dinner buffet. It was amazing! My husband and I prefer the spicy Southern Indian cuisine, so this was a hit with us.. The buffet comes with a choice of 6 different dosas and three naan options brought to your table. It also comes with delicious, self-​serve chai masala. Highly recommend! We plan to come back for the regular all-​Indian buffet soon!

Food was good. They took time to serve the dosas. But otherwise the service was good. The background tamil songs were pleasant to hear

Staff is attentive and the food is delicious. It could be spicier but that’s a personal reference. The buffet is definitely worth it!

BRING IT ON! I am possibly a semi-​pro indian buffet eater, and this ranked amongst the best I’ve had. This veggie-​only restaurant is tucked away next to the not-​so-​glamorous Lafayette Mall. Do not let that detract you! The food is crazy good – flavorful, fresh and crazy cheap (lunch buffet is like $ 8). Like most buffets, the heat level is kept in check so don’t fear the spice!

You would not expect to find such tasty food inside a strip mall in a less-​upscale part of town, but this is a little gem. Very friendly staff who were happy to tell me all about each dish (after I asked) — ingredients, spice level, where it is from (like which part of India– or on the first night I went, if they were more Chinese-​influenced etc.). Apparently on different days they have different buffets. Friday was supposedly more spicy than usual but I don’t really like very hot-​spicy and most of the dishes were fine– although they were quick to note they woudl be happy to whip up something fabulous for me very quickly if I found the majority of the dishes too spicy.
Have not tried the vegan nights yet (Thursday) but on all the other nights, all the food is vegetarian, not vegan — didn’t even tell my non-​vegetarian husband this, and he was still very satisfied with the food — I don’t think he realized until we were about finished with the meal that he’d had a veggie meal! There was a little less variety on the buffet than I expected, but I still came away very satisfied.
Naan, chai tea, and delicious desserts included with the buffet. Very acceptable price– I have since called and ordered take-​out and not been disappointed. Over the phone the staff were not shy in helping me when I was indecisive, asking me what qualities I liked and telling me which dishes they preferred and why (even if they were the less expensive of the two I could not decide between).
Note that the restaurant is located kind of inside another store, which contains a large Indian grocery (also quite fun to peruse). Parking is ample. Atmosphere is quiet enough to carry conversation. For dessert, I suggest the rice dish if they have it out. It’s my favorite. They also have fried dough balls in a syrup. Usually I really like these but at this location they were extremely buttery– still really good, but so rich I could not eat more than 2. Also in case it matters to you, I don’t think they have alcoholic beverages (or maybe I just did not see them on the menu) but you’ll be too busy enjoying the tea anyway.
My next trip will probably be on a Saturday — I have been told this is the day that the employees cook the dishes that are from the area to which they are native, so I look forward to tasting (and hearing about) these dishes. The staff are very polite –I enjoy asking a ton of questions to learn more about their dishes and etc, and they are happy to tell me! When dining in, I have never ever felt rushed, which is nice.
If you want good Indian food, or a wonderful variety of vegetarian options, you’ve found your place. The folks here genuinely enjoy sharing their food and chatting in detail about the food (if you’re so inclined). I am so happy to have found this place. Hospitality, taste, and price is a winning combo hands-​down, even if the variety is a wee bit less than what I expected on the Thursday night buffet. Husband and I had a delicious date night for appx $ 20 (plus ample tip) — can’t beat that. This is my go-​to restaurant now.

Very nice food. Great service too.
Mango lassi– ⁴⁄₅
Gobi 65 — 3.5÷5
Dahi puri — 4.5÷5
Uthapam −4.5÷5
Sambhar −4÷5
Spice nation thali– 4.5÷5
Veg chetinad — 3.5÷5
Garlic naan– ⁵⁄₅
Chilli naan −4.5÷5
Overall great experience, looking forward for buffet nights between Thursday and Sunday.

Exemplary hospitality & delicious food. A lively crowd enjoyed tonight’s Sunday Evening buffet, with a great vibe among the mix of families and hipster couples.
SpiceNation is located in a small strip mall that features a cluster of Indian businesses, including another restaurant. Look for the SpiceNation sign. You’ll think you’re lost when you enter the door to a corridor… Keep going, and you’ll find a homey, well-​appointed restaurant with an attentive and gracious staff. Well worth your trek to the west side!

My first trip to an all Vegan/​Veggie place. (I was scared.)
BUT.all red meat aside – this place was AMAZING.
The Naan. OMG. Garlicy and perfect. The buffet was clean, hot and full of yummy options.
The owner helped when It came to identifying different dishes and brought out lots of different sauce (because it’s all about the dips) So accommodating and helpful.
I honestly felt like I was walking into a different country being there.
So glad I kept my inner carnivore quiet and tried this amazing little Gem on my westside.

This is where I first fell in love with Indian cuisine. Their lunch buffet is not only very reasonably priced, but is a comprehensive tour of many different dishes. Their menu is vegetarian and many dishes are also vegan. They brought us fresh naan and chai tea was available and included in the buffet. I loved trying out many sweet treats as well.
There is a market located behind the restaurant with an accessory store located in it that has beautiful scarves and earrings, too!

Went for the Thursday night vegan buffet because I had heard great things about it. It was pretty good, but not the life-​changing experience (I happen to enjoy my place at the top of the food chain) people had been telling about. The buffet was smaller than usual (according to my friend who is a regular there) on this night, and that may have been because of the small crowd (there were only about 4 or 5 parties of 2).
The food tasted pretty good, but was very similar and had the same mushy consistency (the lack of turnover probably didn’t help in that regard).
It was also very hot in the dining room so that may have suppressed my appetite for spicy Indian food.
The price is right and the food was OK. It’s something (the vegan buffet) I could do every now and then, but I wouldn’t make it a regular occurrence. Next time I think I’ll just order from the menu to have a little more variety of flavor and texture.

Exceptional customer service. The host guided us through the menu and pairing options, which was super helpful. All the dishes had great flavor and traditional Indian spices. Chia tea and unlimited naan were a plus! We heard they have extra spicy options on Fridays and all-​vegan Thursday suppers.

Super disappointed with the lunch buffet.
I don’t venture out much with an infant and if I do it’s usually within a 15 min drive home. I really wanted to take my dad who is a vegetarian to try this buffet out. It was such a waste of a trip.
The South Indian food was sub par — sambar, idly, dosa was ok and rasam was decent.
The samosa chat was good. Ragda patties was average and all the vegetable dishes were OK. They had a weird combo of vegetables kidney beans with okra and green peppers umm ok not a dish to be made in any Indian kitchen at home! I’m all for experimenting but this combo is a fail!
The dessert was decent — good gulab jamun, gajar halwa was ok.
My dad enquired if the chai has sugar in it. After one sip he said — no sugar and no tea leaves either. It was like hot flavored brown color milk.
Probably not going to come back anytime soon.

I’ve been to Spice Nation a couple times for lunch with some work friends. It is awesome! It’s a vegetarian/​vegan buffet, and the food is always good. Nice variety, too!
When four of us went the other day, we were asked right off the bat if any of us would be sticking to the vegan options. We all were, and the waiter walked us through the buffet to make sure we knew which dishes were vegan. He even brought us special vegan chai and a delicious almond milk dessert. That’s service!
The lunch buffet is a very reasonable price. Love this place so much!

Beware: Buffet dinner only. No ala-​carte. We went on a Friday night and we’re expecting to order some of our fave Indian dishes but were told it was buffet only. This was disappointing but we still had an overall good experience.
So I am a vegetarian, and my boyfriend is not. We both loved the buffet although the choices were close to slim. Theres only about 10 items to choose from — none of which contained meat so he was a little bummed. However, the food was delicious and the price was reasonable. Our service was slow but we would probably return on a day that offer something besides buffet.
Pros: Taste/​Vegetarian options
Cons: Buffet only/​poor service

Had a sub par experience. Went to have dinner with a friend. As we were being seated we were asked whether we’d like the naan or dosa. We were rather flummoxed and upon inquiry learnt that they were having a DINNER BUFFET — no Ala Carte (sad)!!
After some initial confusion whether we would be served only one dosa per person or some naan as well we anyway sat down to eat. There were very few choices for indian vegeterian food — note there were still about 10 options but that is quiet low for an indian buffet. The food was cold and we speculated if they just had too much left over from the lunch buffet! The taste of food were good which is why this gets 2 star. The service was sloppy and the waiter had to be called out to provide an extra naan. The deserts were highly diluted versions of rice pudding and fruit custard.
I would strongly advise to stay away from it. We had thought after learning about the dinner buffet and looking at the food quality whether we should just go across the road to India Sizzling. In retrospect we should have put our thoughts to action!
BIG THUMBS DOWN! Don’t get taken in my 5 star reviews from non-​Indians opining about Indian food, this is the worst I have ever had in US across 5 states and 8 years.

I’ve been out of the Indy food scene lately, but to no exception Spice Nation was a real lunch treat. Yes, I’m literally in carb coma lying on the couch at home as I write this. Mind you… I loaded up on 2 ½ delicious plates from the buffet, dosa & garlic naan, a sampling of every single dessert, and a cup of lovely chai to wash it down. Normally I don’t like chai, but this was an exception — no overpowering aromas.
I sampled a bit of everything and I liked that there was a mingle of different textures and flavors. Coconutty, spicy, savory, rich, crunchy, creamy. Even a grid of plastic and brown paper bag scrap that must’ve dropped in while they were whipping it together — I’ll let it pass since the food is quite delish. I wish I could give you a more accurate description of what I devoured, but I’ll let pictures tell the tale only because I’m completely illiterate on this new vegetarian Indian adventure. I’ll definitely return in the near future to become more educated on these wonderful selections!

Indianapolis is beginning to stand out as a city that has wonderful Indian restaurants. Spice Nation, one of the city’s newer additions, certainly serves that reputation well. I first heard of the restaurant when they hosted a Unilocal Elite event that I was not able to attend. While I eat at Spice Nation’s neighboring Indian restaurants several times per month, I simply seemed to ignore it. Ignorance isn’t always bliss.
I may have subconsciously avoided Spice Nation because they do not serve meat. I’m the quintessential omnivore. I like meat; I like vegetables, and I especially like a mixture of the two. Spice Nation is a vegetarian establishment with a large selection of vegan options. I thought that I would be dissatisfied with a meatless meal; I was worried that I would be craving protein, and I figured that I would still be hungry once I finished eating. Wrong, wrong, and wrong. The buffet at Spice Nation is plentiful, and there was certainly no shortage of food. My worries about not being full? Nixed. Sure, there isn’t any meat, but there are plenty of protein-​packed lentils, chickpeas, and paneer. Another worry abrogated. At the end of my meal, I was sinfully stuffed.
Spice Nation is a buffet with an interesting twist: they change their daily offerings based on different Indian themes. On my visit, I sampled Southern Indian dishes. However, the night previous to my visit, the restaurant featured Indochinese cuisine. The night following my visit was an Indian street-​food theme. With this kind of variety, one could eat at this restaurant daily – and their wallets wouldn’t suffer. Spice Nation is very reasonably priced.
I adored nearly everything I tasted at Spice Nation. However, although simple, the cabbage and mixed vegetable poriyal was my favorite. It was light, full of taste, and quite healthy. The channa saag was excellent and was properly spiced. Once of my other favorite dishes was the pongal, which is a mixture of lentils and rice. It looks like mashed potatoes, but tastes even better. The garlic naan and the dosa that arrive freshly prepared on your table were phenomenal! Don’t be a wuss. Order the dosa Indian hot. When dining at Spice Nation, be sure to save room for dessert; there is plenty of it. My personal favorites were the mohantaag and the rice kheer. As a big fan of these desserts, I declare that Spice Nation’s versions are the best that I have yet to try.
The service at Spice Nation was fantastic. We were seated immediately, and had two waiters who catered to our every need. I was also pleased that the staff was enthusiastic about explaining the menu and the methods their chefs use in preparing the food.
Well done, Spice Nation. Very, very, very well done.

As I sit here thinking about the Spice Nation lunch I am about to eat in the next hour, I felt I must remind you how much I adore this place.
5 Reasons that stand out today regarding my SN adoration:
–coconut rice: be it on the buffet or not — order it.
–unlimited chai
–friendly staff
–hot and fresh galub jamon
–little corn fried and spiced as an appetizer (must try!)