Dawat Indian Restaurant

Dawat is fantastic! Not only is the food great, but the people who work there are very friendly and helpful! I typically don’t have the option to go out for lunch during the week, since I teach elementary school, but I go to Dawat at least a few times during my track outs! A coworker told me about it almost a year ago and it has quickly become my favorite place to eat. It is a good place to go for vegetarians and vegans, as well! They have options to accommodate us!

I have been to Dawaat couple of times. It’s a nice restaurant. I like to go there because I enjoy eating aloo saag there. Also, the first time I visited Dawaat, loved their cauliflower manchurian.
However, our last visit was horrible. After praising too much about their dishes, me and my husband took our parents there on our anniversary. What a mistake! We ordered 2 appetizers– cauliflower manchurian and chilly chicken. Both looked same and tasted exactly same. Quantity was much much less than before. The worst part about both the appetizers was, they were burnt from outside and raw from inside. Now, no one came and asked us how our food was, so when manager was passing by our table I told him that our appetizers are burnt. He said ‘he will let the chef know’. What? Won’t you act on it? We paid full prize for both the appetizers. We were not offered refund. They didn’t change our dishes. Well! Thanks for not even trying to make up for your mistake.
1 star is for aloo sag!
I will not recommend this restaurant to any of my friends or family. Won’t be returning here.

Best Indian buffet I had in US. All the dishes were perfect and delicious. There were plenty of vegetarian options for starter, main course and dessert. Paneer dishes were really delicious, paneer was really soft in it. Would highly recommend this for Indian buffet
PS: we are vegetarian so above mentioned comments are only for vegetarian dishes

Good Indian food! My usual is chicken tikka masala (who’s isn’t) and onion naan for takeout. It’s a pretty quick prep time most nights and you can even order through Unilocal now and get notified when it is ready. I’ve gotten their other veggie dishes and they’ve all been really good. Haven’t dined inside the restaurant before so no comments on vibe or ambiance or service. A good spot for takeout if you live near by!

The Saturday lunch buffet managed to please everyone in the family– from a 5 year old to a 65 year old. We reached at around 2:30 and they close at 3. The buffet table undoubtedly was almost empty but they refilled happily. Our server did a great job even when we could sense that he was being pushed by the manage/​head-​server to quicken things up since it was almost the closing time for them.
The one item that failed to please anybody’s taste buds was Tandoori Chicken. Though it looked good, it lacked flavor big time.

I love Indian food anyway but this restaurant truly tickles my palate. The lunch bar offerings for vegetarians are the best in the triangle, hands down. I can’t speak to the dinner menu as I am accustomed to going for the lunch but I can tell you THIS restaurant is wonderful. Lovely ambiance and presentation plus fab food makes a winner for me. I highly recommend it. So my Unilocal for the month: If you like Indian food, go to this one.

Service is horrible! I placed an order by phone and they told me 25 – 30 min but when I got there they said another 10 – 15 min. No apology… nothing. They act as if you’re a bother… not getting my business again.

Great Indian food! The lunch buffet is the winner. Only $ 11 and so many options, especially vegetarian. The paneer pot actually had a lot of paneer in it, unlike many other restaurants. Creamed spinach had a ton of flavor.
Great variety of spicy and mild dishes, something for every palate.
The little donut balls in syrup (forgot the actual name) were the best I’ve ever had: soft, warm and fresh.
I’ll definitely be back here for lunch and dinner.

Dawat is a good place for taking someone out to dinner. Nice ambiance, the service is prompt and friendly. I came first time because I had a coupon — buy one meal, get one free. Had the bhengan bhartha, which was good, but different from any other restaurant I had it, very creamy and heavy and light in the color. I think their cooking style is mainly Punjabi. The Naan was baked just right, not too oily like some places. Nelson the waiter was very courteous, amazing actually! gave us a free sample of their lassi, which was delicious.
My wife went without me once with some friends and told me the free papadum was very soft, which was surprising… if you had papadum before, you know it’s not supposed to be soft. And they had no onion bhajis! Very disappointing, the group had chosen Dawat mainly to have that.
Prices are a bit higher than average. The rest room is clean. White table cloths. Nice music playing in the background. There is an Indian grocery store next door if you crave more Indian food on your way home.

I’ve come here both for the lunch buffet and the dinner service and Dawat stands out amongst the heavy competition in the Morrisville/​Cary area. At dinner, the menu is pretty pricey, so I like coming here for the lunch buffet more, especially since their lunch buffet is top-​notch: I’ve never seen such an expansive spread for an indian lunch buffet before. They have plenty of vegetarian options, as well as all the staples (tikka masala, tandoori chicken). Dawat even offers veggie pakoras, samosas, and naan at the buffet! The did take 1 star off because the naan is brought directly to your table in a basket, and we had to ask the servers a total of 4 times to bring us naan. I understand it was busy during buffet hours but still… FOUR!?! Anyways, the naan was worth the wait: fresh, hot, flavorful.
The price is also very appropriate for lunch buffet and considering how much I ate here, it’s quite a steal.

This has been my go to indian buffet place in the triangle for punjabi food. Betel was my favorite lunch buffet overall but they no longer do buffets. The other option in the area is Saffron which I avoid due to their atrocious service. In my opinion Dawat is now the best lunch buffet in Morrisville.
They always have a large variety of quality items. My vegetarian wife was also very happy with the many options she had. Their chaat corner is also great, my kids love eating from there.

I don’t eat Indian food all that often, but I have been to Dawat a few times now and have enjoyed my meals there. It’s a fairly small place, nicely decorated very well staffed. If you go in the evenings it probably won’t be too crowded as I think they do most of their business in the weekday lunch with the Morrisville/​Cary/​RTP work crowd (both times I have been were for dinner). I have had their lamb vindaloo and prawns (AKA skrimps) in spicy tomato sauce (can’t remember the actual name). The dishes come with rice, but naan will cost you extra. I think their naan is very good though, so worth it.
I would day this is a 3.5 place to me. Rounding up to 4 stars for the food and upscale décor. Service can be spotty as other reviews mention, and they have trouble with large groups. Also dinner is a bit pricey (around $ 30 with a King Fisher beer on my last visit).

Worst customer service we got there 30
Mints before they closed for lunch we were in town for business. As soon as we hit there the man sounded like he wasn’t happy to see us. Sounded like he was in a hurry to close. We had no option but to eat there because we didn’t have time to go to another Indian restaurant because all the restaurant close around 2:30−3pm. Food was cold WORST WORST WORST

Rating for their lunch buffet.
Service was a bit lethargic to start with. I wouldn’t complain too much about the buffet spread. The usual fillers (chole, dhaal) are their regulars. I found their dishes oily and some were very creamy which in turn drowned the spices. They provide both garlic and plain naan.
Desserts are a plus in their buffet.
Bottom line: Meh.

This place continues to disappoint. I won’t give it another chance and waste my money. There are plenty of great Indian restaurants in the area and around.
We arrived late afternoon but before the posted lunch hours and were denied service. We were told very rudely that we could either order takeout or eat our food in 5 minutes.
There was absolutely no shred of courtesy or hospitality which is the cornerstone of an Indian restaurant and culture. Very disappointing.
For the owner — You’re going to continue to loose customers this way. Unfortunately your place needs an overhaul in service personnel who know and practice restaurant etiquettes.

My new favorite for for a taste of India. I’m not Indian so I can’t tell you if it’s like mom makes back home but from an American who loves ethnic flavors of many cultures, this is great food.
We ordered the Pallack Paneer (spinach base with cheese), Chana Masala (chickpea dish as I recall), Okra (can’t remember the name), chicken tikka and everything was great.
Ambiance is elegant yet casual. We’ll be back again and again.
Gave it a 4 star for the service which was typical but nothing over the top.

Poor service continues to be a problem. Once again, I ordered my dish Indian spicy and got something medium spiced at best. My waiter also smirked at me when I ordered my food indian hot. yeah I’m sure there are some people who order really hot food and send it back but that doesnt mean everyone does. let me be the judge of what i can and cant handle seeing that im the customer and im the one paying. after i complained about the food not being hot, i was brought out this weird sweetish hot sauce to put on my food. it didnt look like anything ive ever had at an indian restaurant and it did not help my dish at all. Once again, I ordered a drink that never came. Unacceptable. my waiter disappeared for forty five minutes after dropping off my very disappointing meal.
its a shame this place cant get their act together because the food actually is good when they actually give you what you order. the one time i did receive really spicy food, it was excellent (though even then I had to complain and send it back to get it how I wanted). this place has definitely lost a customer and ill look elsewhere for my go to indian restaurant.

I don’t feel like many places deserve one star, but I have given this place multiple chances to enchant me, and it has failed miserably.
I’ll start with getting into the restaurant… the restaurant is not easily accessible from Davis Drive or the road running perpendicular to the restaurant on the other end (if you’re approaching from the Cary direction). Is this really their fault? No. But it’s not ideal, and the dining experience that followed was NOT worth the U-​turn.
The next thing I will say is that the service leaves MUCH to be desired. Multiple times now I have had a terrible experience at Indian restaurants in the Morrisville area with service. Saffron is definitely a step up in the way of service, Cilantro in Apex/​Cary has OUTSTANDING service. Dawat, not so much. Our order was taken late, our food was brought late, our food was picked up late (in exchange for something that was actually spicy, like we asked for), and our bill was brought, picked up, and returned late. Terrible. Which brings me to my next point…
Our food was appallingly bad. The portions are incredibly small by comparison to Saffron & Cilantro, especially for the price you pay ($$$), and our food was more disappointing than a bad McDouble from McDonald’s (ya’ll know what I’m talking about). My older brother described the two chicken dishes we ordered perfectly when he said «it tasted like Kirkland’s chicken re-​heated in a microwave… straight rubber.» The texture was terrible. The flavour was bland. And to make matters worse, our stuff wasn’t even a hint spicy (when we asked for it full blown). My brother and I are both from an Indian background and really love our food to be very spicy.
All I can say is, I am a huge fan of Indian food, so I’m easy to impress in this genre. I even enjoy the occasional microwave «butter chicken» from Trader Joe’s. But this place, is just something you should skip. If you are trying to decide between Saffron & Dawat. Choose Saffron. If you don’t mind a bit of a journey, go to CILANTRO. It is the absolute best. The service, the portions, and the quality are all outstanding at Cilantro. I am just looking out for all you fans of quality Indian cuisine! (And no, I am not affiliated w/​Cilantro, I just love them lol).
Side note: While the décor was actually one of the best I have ever been to, I am not sure why Ellie Goulding was blaring on the sound system?

Been here twice in two days in Raleigh.
Must eat: non veg platter and chilly paneer with Scotch.

Hopefully this review is as objective as possible, considering my friend and I are two grad students, 600 miles away from home, in desperate need of comfort food.
All in all, I was happy with the food for a buffet.
The pros:
–They have a little «assemble your own» chaat area which was a pleasant surprise.
–I thought both their green chutney and red chutney were really good.
–Their naan was perfect, and not overly dripping with oil/​butter.
–THE SHAHI PANEER WAS SO GOOD! I loved the flavors, too bad it wasn’t spicy.
–Their onion chutney was really good too.
–Great ambience/​location
–Even selection of meat/​vegetarian options
The Cons:
–The selection is no where near as extensive as Udupi Café or other lunch buffets I have been to.
–Price was a little higher than advertised. They apparently hike up the price by 4 dollars on weekends.
–Awkward service, but not so bad that I would knock off a star
–Besides the Shahi Paneer and the onion chutney, everything else was mediocre. The samosas were dry and the navratan korma was very potato heavy.
–No spicy options!
I would probably want to scope out the other Indian buffets before returning here to see if they match in quality!