Hot Clay Oven

I love their food especially the jerk chicken and the rice. Too bad the place is closed down

This is one of my favorite lunch spots near work!:) this is like a chipotle version of indian food and I love it!!!;)
I always get one thing! Tandoori chicken salad bowl with a scoop of rice with tomato and cheese with the spicy red sauce! :) malasa potato chips are really good too!

I used to frequent Hot Clay Oven when I lived at Fulton Street. It was great at the time– the Jamaican Steak Rice Bowl was not only something I loved, but something I could reliably impress friends with.
Then Hurricane Sandy happened.
I’m not sure if they’re trying to pull in more profits by changing their strategy, but ever since they replaced their signs with static monitors displaying exactly what the signs displayed (what? why are you doing that? what a waste of money), they’ve started charging half a dollar for toppings past three. This means you might end up paying half a dollar for lettuce.
Pair that with the fact that they are giving less and less rice and meat, and you have yourself the reason I haven’t been but once in the past few months. Supposing it used to be a weekly trip, they’re doing something wrong.

I just saw this on another person’s review, but it’s completely accurate. This is an Indian chipotle. But, I’d say I definitely prefer Chipotle, and Chipotle is definitely fresher than this place.
The food wasn’t bad, but I also went around dinner time, and it seems more like a lunch place. They had run out of a ton of their toppings that are offered by that point, and so my boyfriend and I had to keep altering our order in order to figure out something we might enjoy eating. I got the tandoori chicken rice bowl with onions, chickpeas, and corn. Also, a huge MUST is to add the green mint sauce and the yogurt sauce. It exponentially makes the dish taste better. My boyfriend who didn’t get those sauces, but got the vinaigrette instead, regretted it.
Also, it could have been the time of day as well, but the naan was very meh.

This is basically an Indian Chipotle, the flavors were pretty good my biggest complaint was the tandoori chicken was not the pink kind you normally see but rather a shredded kind which was good but not what I wanted.

This place has gone down the drains since I’ve last been there. It must have been a good 6+months due to Sandy and being relocated. This used to be a place that co-​workers and I would occasionally visit for lunch, you can make whatever concoction you wish. The flavors used to be good and portion sizes used to be generous.
I returned today and made myself a nasty combination. Perhaps its also the server’s fault for drenching everything in sauce. They used to give out really good chutney, today they had sauce bottles instead. Eww… all I could say is my dish was weird.
There also used to be lines, now lines are at other places but not here.

Wasn’t blown away by this place. Their bread and samosas were ok. Everything else was meh.

I am giving this place a 1 star because that is the minimum Unilocal!allows. Not to preach what the other reviewers have already mentioned, but this place is definitely «wannabe» Chipotle and not a very good at that — specially when Chipotle is right across the street.
Being an Indian and having brought up around great indian food all my life, I think of myself as somewhat of a connoisseur when it comes to Indian food. I have crossed this place so many times and was always tempted to try it. So I finally decided to order a very dissatisfying lunch from Hot Clay Oven today.
I ordered a Rice Bowl, with two different chicken options — Tandoori Chicken and Chicken Kebab. While I could see the 2 pieces of Chicken Kebab mixed in the bowl, there was hardly any Tandoori chicken. In the name of Tandoori chicken there were a few tiny crumbles of chicken (I am not kidding, there were literally tiny crumbles). I knew that the mix of shredded carrots, garbanzo beans, and corn wont go together with the indian chicken in a salad but decided to give it a try anyway.
All in all the salad had no taste what-​so-​ever. It seemed like they had forgotten to season the herbed rice or the chicken. It was just bleh! — a whole bowl full of bland mixture with dry reheated chicken. Speaking of which, how is that there are 2 chicken options in the bowl but there are barely couple pieces of it? Make it one option but at least give a decent quantity of it. But this salad didn’t have either quantity or quality of chicken.
I also ordered Garlic Naan, hoping to have some bread with my meal. It was warm, not too hot and was bland.
I also ordered Chai Latte, which was hot when it arrived. I was excited about that cup of chai. but It tasted a lot like Vanilla extract, though. Please dont claim to serve indian chai if thats not what you are serving in reality.
For my sauces, I ordered Mint and Coriander Chutney dressing, which had some taste to it. Also ordered Spicy Red Chutney dressing, which was really a spicy liquid with no taste, just heat. I mixed both the sauces in the salad but it just worsened the texture and taste of the salad. Just thinking about it leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
Only pro was that they delivered my order on time. Everything else — such a waste. Save your money and if you want Chipotle-​type salad, order from Chipotle itself.

Yay! This place finally re-​opened after Sandy!
I had heard about this place when I came to the city and it was directly across the street from my beloved Chipotle. After reading the reviews I could not wait for it to re-​open. I popped in the first day I noticed signs of life and am pleased to report the food was delicious and you’d never know a storm hit and had it closed down for months. It looks as good as new. I’m happy they chose to wait until it was in tip-​top shape before opening it in some ramshackle condition like some other places in the area.
I went on a weekend and it was only me and a few people so I can’t speak to the lunchtime crowds I read about, but boy is this place awesome outside of the lunch rush! I have a new food joint!

The food here was OK. Perhaps just mediocre. Nothing spectacular. It’s pretty much the Indian version of Chipotle, as many of the reviews below mine have stated. I ordered a rice bowl with tandoori chicken and spicy red hot chutney sauce, topped with generic toppings like lettuce and diced tomatoes.
It really didn’t taste very authentic to me. I’ve had Indian fast food before and this place just seemed like a cheapened version of Indian fast food. The lettuce and tomatoes just made it seem like they threw anything in there. The quality of the food itself was nothing to write home about.
The person at the cash register was pretty rude to me, and my only water option was a $ 3 bottle of water. Um, no thank you.
I think I will skip this place in the future.

Would you believe that this is actually the first AND ONLY Hot Clay Oven location? Apparently it’s a small company (selling point: «healthy Indian») with Chipotle aspirations. But the space already has such a corporate, standardized feel that «Chipotle of Indian food» is the exact way to describe it.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In what world should the words «construct your own» EVER bode well for the authenticity of a particular food? The same way I don’t turn my nose down at Chipotle for not being REAL MEXICAN FOOD (um, it’s irresistible), I wouldn’t hold Hot Clay Oven to any sort of Indian culinary standard.
…It’s not a good sign that I’ve started my review with «leave your standards at the door,» but there it is.
Ordering a «rice bowl» ($ 8) at an «Indian place,» you anticipate something carb-​y and sauce-​y and heavy. After adding all my veg toppings, it ended up being more like a giant salad — well played, HCO. Next time I’m getting a deep fried samosa ($ 1.15) just to counteract that.
My protein of choice was the tandoori chicken. It was not like tandoori chicken in the slightest. For a place called Hot Clay Oven (i.e. a TANDOOR), that’s just a bit ironic. The «herbed rice» was not even slightly basmati-​like. It was yellow and. unherby. Fluffy, though.
There are plugs all along the wall so it’s laptop friendly, and I imagine there’s free wifi. The youngish guy at the counter gave me a free drink, totally unprompted, because he had misheard me and added the wrong topping originally. Thanks! A nice gesture.
The food was not bad, and a nice option if you’re in the mood for a more interesting salad. If given the choice I would probably go for real Indian (not much pricier). Or Chipotle across the street. If you’ve been having a bad day and require some lunchtime redemption, they also serve beer.

Super cool idea but horrible execution.
To sum it up, Hot Clay Oven is a Chipotle version of Indian, Turkish, and Carribean food. You pick your meat, rice or veggies, toppings, and sauce. Pretty simple and easy right? And should be tasty. Not exactly…
I decided to order chicken kebab bowl with lettuce. I was immediately turned off when they gave me only 3 puny chicken kebabs and the rest in vegetables. The chicken kebab portions were so small that it wouldn’t whet your appetite. And the quality of the chicken kebab was horrible. It tasted fake and not authentic. I was so hungry coming in that I was going to order another dish of a different variety but their chicken kebab and how little that they gave turned me off and I didn’t order more.
Hot Clay Oven I hope you read these reviews and improve yourselves. It’s a great idea but bad execution.

An ingenious idea but poor execution.
An Indian-​build your own meal fast food chain is what New York really need to satisfy spice addicts.
I had a naan wrap with tandoori chicken and paneer.
I added Basmati rice, golden raisins, chopped almonds, carrots, and topped it off with yogurt-​raita sauce, tamarind, the mint-​chutney, and the red cayenne based sauce.
The naan wasn’t bad. However, the chicken was flavorless and dry. The paneer was too firm, maybe because it was sitting there all day long. The cayenne sauce was way too salty. I had to get some more tamarind to try to negate the saltiness with the sweetness of the tamarind.
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by high quality Indian food in Jackson Heights. Hot Clay Oven should find a way to keep their proteins moist and try to tweak their sauces. How do they not have a tikka masala option? Tikka Masala is a crowd pleaser, especially effective for Indian food virgins.
Step it up Hot Clay Oven cause the competition will burn you to a crisp.

It literally is the chipotle version for Indian food.
The selection isn’t much where you can choose from some meat options with veggies and sauce. I got the tandoori chicken rice bowl with all the toppings and mint &coriander chutney was so delicious! It was spicy not overwhelming but rather refreshing but I didn’t like the golden raisins with it, so that I took out. With a check-​in offer I got a free samosa! that was delicious as well but small.
The seating is okay, nothing special just a few tables. Also has explanations of the ingredients they use which was cool.
Plus, free water!
All in all, I enjoyed it and would come back.

I LOVE Chipotle! After I tried this place… I STILL LOVE Chipotle. Oh good for me, Chipotle is next door!
Had a nann wrap and mango lassi here, but I can only say: yeah, it is Indian Chipotle, it is something new, the nann is pretty good, but I would still prefer the real Chipotle.

Overall it’s a 1.5 but I can’t bring myself to round up. We were looking forward to using the Groupon, but even with the good deal/​good will couldn’t rescue this place. Granted we went for dinner and FiDi places aren’t generally known for dinner, but this was bad. The naan was dry and tasteless. The tamarind chutney was sweet red liquid. The pork vindaloo was mushy. Who knows what was in the samosa (only took one bite as it was re-​heated to inedibleness).
As we ate, we looked out the window at the Chipotle across the street and thought «damn, we should have gone there instead for glop.»

I am forced to give this eatery one star because Unilocal does not allow a lower rating.
I totally agree with Hector, this place is the Chipotle of Indian food and it’s an absolute disgrace.
The food here is absolutely GROSS. I will never ever eat here again. This is the worst «Indian» food I have ever had. I got the «naan wrap» with channa masala. The second my server threw the wrap on one of those hot plate things, I knew that I had made a mistake. Had I mistakenly walked into Chipotle (which just so happens to be right across the street)? I mean, they practically have all of the same ingredients… some kind of citrus rice, that grilled onion and pepper mix… weird sauces that taste nothing like their description connotates…
I felt so robbed after eating lunch here, along with a little bit ill.
I spent 13 dollars for a simosa, my «wrap» and a mango lassi. The mango lassi was pretty tasty… but I can get one for $ 1.50 down the street. I’m not saying that this place is overpriced, but for the worst mock-​Indian food ever, it’s certainly not worth the price!

Indian fusion is nothing new to me*, so the combination of Chipotle-​style ordering with Indian-​inspired ingredients worked well here. The naan «wrap» with tandoori chicken was made filling and flavorful (if not a little juicy) with rice, raita, hot sauce and mint chutney (plus tomatoes). So I had to try it again with the pork vindaloo and was a fan of that, too. It’s not as easy to eat as a fully wrapped burrito but I’ve managed to make it work with minimum damage each time (too scared to eat it at my desk, though). The paneer looks a little bland so while I normally would jump for the chance to have cheese topped with more cheese and chutney, I’ll stick to the meats designated with a pepper. (plus a dab of their hot sauce).
I wouldn’t come here every week since there are actual Indian restaurants and several Chipotle locations nearby, but the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. Also, they are lightning fast. They only give you a few napkins in the bag so I recommend having paper towels on standby, or maybe some handi-​wipes.
All in all, not a bad deal for $ 8 or so.
*You see, I once ran out of normal taco/​burrito filling ingredients (i.e. meat) and had the brilliant idea to dump in a package of Trader Joe’s microwaveable Jaipur vegetables into my already-​prepared tortilla that I had coated with Mexican style shredded cheese, lettuce, and chipotle ranch dressing. It was… edible, if not a little too mushy.

I would not consider myself the leading connoisseur on Indian cuisine, however I do know when something tastes genuinely bad… that was Hot Clay Oven.
The menu takes a few minutes to figure out (since its build your own Indian food) and I had lots of questions on the items. The employees were very friendly and helpful. However, I wasn’t happy with the extra costs. I am a cheese lover and it cost me 2 Dollars for extra toppings. I heard the food was a fusion of Indian and Mexican (not a match made in heaven) and I expected the food to be spicy, but it was so spicy I couldn’t taste anything and everything else in the dish was soggy… However, the «sogginess» didn’t stop the chicken from being dry.
Basically a big, soggy, spicy, mess.
The saving points were the staff and the Mango Lassi drink that was delicious!

I think Hot Clay Oven is a great new addition to FiDi! I tried it today with a co-​worker for lunch and had a very pleasant experience. It’s a decent sized location with several tables and counter seating. However, we came during the lunch rush so there weren’t any seats and had to bring it back to the office instead. The place has a nice, modern feel to it. There’s clear windows to display the Hot Clay Oven that makes the Naan.
Not even 5 minutes on the line, we were approached by someone who was explaining the menu to first-​timers:
— Pick your Entrée: Wrap, Naan Wrap, Rice Bowl, Salad Bowl, Queso-​Fusion
— Pick your Protein: Malai Chicken, Tandoori Chicken, Jamaican Steak, Pork Vindaloo, Chicken Kebab, Channa Masala, Tandoori Paneer
— Pick your Toppings (as many): Herbed Rice, Sauteed Peppers & Onions, Shredded Cheese Blend, Golden Raisins, Roasted Nuts, Romaine Lettuce, Diced Tomatoes, Shredded Carrots, Sweet Red Onions
— Pick your Dressings (as many): Caribbean Salsa, Yogurt Chutney, Mint & Coriander Chutney, Tamarind Chutney, Spicy Red Chutney, Lime Vinaigrette, Creamy Ranch.
He even gave us suggestions as to what to order, in terms of our spice preference. For someone who can’t take spice, he suggested the Malai Chicken, Kebabs, or the Channa Masala. For the dressings for no spice, Cairbbean Salsa, Yogurt Chutney, and Tamarind Chutney. This helped a lot!
I decided to get the Rice Bowl with Malai Chicken (marinated in Cream and Spices). The toppings I chose were Romaine Lettuce, Diced Tomatoes, and Sweet Red Onions. I then had the Yogurt Chutney. Lunch cost me $ 8.50. The Malai Chicken was delicious but I will def try the Tandoori Chicken next time since the Malai had no spice whatsoever. The Chicken was juicy and they gave a lot of it. The Rice had great flavor to it and was perfectly cooked. The ingredients were very fresh. According to their menu, their food is always fresh, never frozen, and preservative free — this can easily be seen/​tasted once you start tasting your food. I devoured my lunch within 15 minutes needless to say I’ll be back!