Dhaniya Drums Indian Food

I can’t explain how bad this experience has been. 30 min wait when the restaurant was empty, we order two different dishes they brought out identical buckets of slop, and then they made us wait 40 minutes to pay. I couldn’t get out of this purgatory! Please NEVER eat here. Can’t do negative stars so just a ONE star for our friendly nine-​year-​old waitress.

My husband and I stopped for an early dinner in January on our way back home to Naples. This might explain why @ 5:00pm the restaurant was nearly empty, which in of itself I don’t take as a negative given so many Indian restaurants in the USF vicinity. This was one reason why I chose it and the other because of a Groupon. The food is typical Indian (American) and good value for portions and quality. My 3 star review reflects seasoning and flavor. The waiting system of how spicy you want your food isn’t comparable to the dozens of other Indian restaurants I’ve eaten at, most notably in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Best Indian food in the U.S.) If you want Spicy, like a 5 (on a 1 – 5 scale) ask for Indian Spicy. My husband would have been happy with a 5!
We ordered several items and nothing was a particular standout except for the Mysore Dosa from the South India (limited sadly menu). This is classic breakfast (yes please!) in the Karnataka state of SW India, Mysore or Mysuru is one of its cities. Crêpe made with rice & lentil flour, stuffed with potatoes (mustard seed, ginger, curry leaves) and topped with red chili chutney.

At first, the restaurant had an impression of being nice and large, rather than overly cramped like many that attempt to fit too many tables into too small a space. The décor also was pleasing and not too busy. But as we were seated, I couldn’t help but notice that the glass table we were sitting in had two rather large chips in the edges that I think we could have cut ourselves badly on. Our servers were pleasant and gracious, but despite only seeing a few other people in the restaurant the food took longer than expected to arrive.
We’d ordered the Vindaloo Voodoo with goat as well as Tikka Masala with lamb. The Vindaloo was very tasty with a nice heat when I ordered the «medium» that didn’t detract from its flavors, but the goat still had bones attached to the goat meat and so you had to be careful while eating it. The Tikka Masala had nice flavors as well, but was much too salty. We were served with a large bowl of basmati rice that was cooked well, and the server on seeing that we were planning on bringing much of our meal home for left overs was kind enough to bring us a second bowl of rice to mix in with the portions we were taking home.
For desert, I think there was some confusion as I believe my friend ordering for both of us had intended to ask for kooky kulfis, when what we got was pista ice cream. The pistachio ice cream had a very odd texture — not creamy at all, and low in sweetness. Definitely not worth the $ 3.50 a portion.

Not atall good food. a lot to improve in taste. Worst buffet. Ambience is good but food needs to be good in taste as well

Very poor food. They need to improve a lot in taste. Worst Indian food i had in usa till date. They have a good ambience though which i feel is secondary to the food. I hope they will work on improving the taste

Excellent pizza, their sauce is one of my favorite in Tampa! Love the atmosphere and décor!

Well dint think my first review on Unilocal would be for an Indian restaurant and that too it would be a negative one. So I guess u can understand my fru*****. The weekend buffet at Dhaniya drums is the worst Indian buffet ever. It’s absolutely not appetizing please avoid it for buffet. Can’t comment on regular ala Carte though

I finally came in to eat here instead of ordering for pick up.
The atmosphere is AMAZING! Lots of art and draperies and the floor is creaky wood. I felt like I had been transported to another place!
The food was equally refreshing and delicious.
The staff was extremely helpful and, when I asked for suggestions, helped me pick the perfect meal for me! There are several people serving guests and all of them were exceedingly polite and professional. I loved that the hostess called me «lady». It made me feel more like a posh customer than just a teacher looking for good food!
I ordered the Panner Pakodas for an appetizer. It is lightly fried cheese and I asked for them to mix the appetizer (the menu has either fried veggies or fried cheese) and both the veggies and cheese were great. Just your basic breaded and fried cheese and veggies.
For my entrée I ordered Chicken Neelgirl Korma and a bowl of Coconut Rice (I like to mix my curry with rice). The chicken was cooked perfectly and fell apart in my mouth. The curry was full of flavor and had spice only as an after bite. I order everything mild because I don’t handle spice well. Even mild it still has a bite so be careful if you are particularly sensitive.
The coconut rice was cooked perfectly and was bursting with coconut flavor. I believe they use basmati rice and it was perfectly cooked.
I also ordered dessert! Who could resist with food this amazing!
I ordered both the Peshawari Naan and the Razzy Rasmalai. The naan was brought out with my entrée as, I believe, it is meant to be eaten with the email.
It was delicious with just a hint of sweetness that I believe comes from honey.
The Razzy Rasmalai was served cool and is a dessert cheese with a clean and sweet flavor. The sauce used had hints of coconut and was an extremely pleasant end to the meal.
All in all I would absolutely recommend this restaurant to friends and family. I even ordered the egg curry (Egg Bhurji) to try for lunch tomorrow with my leftover coconut rice and Peshawari Naan!
A lot of my order was not vegetarian but they offer PLENTY of vegetarian and vegan options and will even change any dish to suit your tastes!
If you come here I recommend you step out of your comfort zone and try something new!

I liked it. It was good food. The service was great, I was the only one there but the waiter was waiting eagerly to help anyway he could. It was a little odd, I’ve never been attended to like that, but I’m not complaining. I will be back.

Great cuisine and fair prices.
Portions are good.
Taste is good.
Staff very helpful.
Quality of cuisine.
I will highly recommend!

Food was very good but if you reserved on open table they won’t confirm your reservation for your points! !!

I went this place couple of times. Good Indian Restaurant. Service is okay. Food is awesome. Good ambiance. They always run some deals like 50% Groupons or buy 2 curries and get the third free. I liked their Chicken Biryani and Butter Chicken curry with Naan.

Why 4 stars? Because I didn’t dislike anything!
— — —
Full disclosure: this review will be one of my most useless of all-​time. But I want to offer this local business the props that they deserve.
–I have eaten Indian food less than half a dozen times in my life, but everything I tried here was solid.
–I could not tell you the name of a single thing I ate, outside of the Naan bread. I probably sampled 6 – 8 things, but because it was a buffet, and I’d never heard of any of the items, I have no recollection on what was what.
–I was here for a meeting with someone, and spent the majority of my time in deep conversation. That never results in the production of a detailed and thorough review.
–The service was noticeably friendly and attentive.
–The building could certainly use a facelift. The décor is much closer to the era I was born in, more so than present day.
One day I’ll know enough about Indian food to write helpful reviews on such businesses, but that day is not today.

Thank you for making my daughter and I feel like this was a home away from home. We were greeted upon arrival and seated immediately. Our drink orders were taken and we were checked on frequently. The service was outstanding and I will be sure to visit the next time I am in town. All the dishes were amazing and you also had my favorite.

I was a fan of the place before the name change, and decided to give it a try after the name change. They had a Unilocal deal (30 for 18) so I bought it, showed the waitress when I received my check, and was told it would be honored, but once my credit card bill came, I saw that I paid full price for my meal! They did not honor my Unilocal deal. I tried to contact management about it but no success.
As far as food goes, I give it 4 stars. The free naan Wednesday is a really good deal, and the food is also good! I usually get the Paneer kurchaan (medium spicy) and it is perfect for my palette. It’s not my mom’s indian food, but a GREAT substitute as a college student living away from home.

The moment we entered the restaurant, my husband and I were welcomed with great aroma
of Indian Spices. My husband and I went to this restaurant for dinner on a friday date night and we were very pleased. The servers were nice and the food was EXCELLENT. Everything we ordered
were delicious. It was my first time to eat authentic indian dishes, and it is sure, it won’t be my last.

Let me start with the best part and if that was the only part to rate on, I will give 5. That is the service and the nice staff. They were courteous and super attentive and asked many times if anything was needed.
Now that main part
This is my first time here and perhaps the last (unless I am too hungry and in the area with nothing else to eat)
That tells you about food. I was here for buffet — Sambar tasted of .ummm. Salt
Chicken tandoori was. At the best boiled before dropped in tandoor for crust on skin, goat curry … Ummm. Goat meat was missing had all other ingredients and esp bones, and did I tell of Kheer — I mean even I can boil rice, add cold milk and lots and lots of Kewda
If that’s not enough bashing — I am not a cleanliness freak but there were one or two dead ants in the eating bowl — oh wait there was some meat
Owners you have a nice location and good place — make your food better — don’t let India down

I love Indian food! I’m so happy to find good Indian food not too far from South Tampa. I hadn’t been when the name was Cilantro but I’ve been a couple of times since their name/​menu change. The food and the service are both great! They’ve also been offering a great Living Social deal which is an app, 2 entrees and 2 naans for $ 30.
Their butter chicken is super flavorful and creamy. It isn’t necessarily spicy, but if you do request spice, make sure you specify American spicy or Indian spicy because they can make it crazy hot if you want! We enjoyed the garlic naan which had great texture and just enough garlic to not overpower the food. We also tried the chicken wings which are a new addition to the menu. Wings aren’t my favorite but the chicken was really moist and my husband loved them.
I love mango lassi (a yogurt drink) and they also have strawberry and another flavor (can’t remember), which I haven’t seen before and look forward to trying.
Dhaniya Drums even posts a recipe of the month on their website. This month it’s my favorite, butter chicken. I made it and it was good. I don’t have a tandoori oven so I couldn’t quite recreate it, but the sauce was delicious.
They haven’t been busy the 2 times we’ve been for weekend dinner, so I hope they stay open.

This restaurant previously name Cilantro. It has changed its name to Dhaniya Drums Indian food. The new management started 2 months ago. The setting is the same but food has change a bit. They do have some chicken dish.
For the buffet, they have served the lollipop chicken and tandoori chicken. They also serve butter curry tofu, red curry with eggplants; their nan is getting better since they bring it to your table. They also have a lot selection on veggie dish. It also has soup, desert, salad, additional chili paste to increase spiciness. The cooking is more to American Tolerance. The taste is a bit sweet instead of spicy. The tandoori chicken has it flavor enter into the deeper part of the chicken. The lollipop chicken is great, but the hot plate only keeps it warm instead of hot. I like the curry eggplants. It go well with nan and the rice. The cost is under $ 10 for the buffet is considering good value.
I like their soup of the day. I could not make up the ingredient for the soup but it is good. I like the food to be spicier. At the chili paste to make it spicy is not the same to cook it spicy. This restaurant did not give me a return immediately for more. It is just a list for lunch if we have too many people in party that need to finish quicker then we will consider.

This is my first time back here since they changed their name from Cilantro. I came for their lunch buffet. I got seated really quickly. Got their mango lassi which is always nice. I immediately went to the buffet and got my plates since I was here during my lunch break. I liked all the curries and the tandoori chicken. There were two types of rice– basmati and a lemon basmati. There was so much food– salad, fried options, vegetables, sauces, relishes– and I enjoyed everything! There seemed to be more meat this time also along with all the vegetarian options. The sauces were a little spicier than the usual mild so it you might want to test things out first. Spice level was perfect for me though.
One thing I did like was that there was a sign posted that said you can ask for anything to be made fresh. Another diner asked for naan since there was only a little bit left on the buffet atm. The server said he would bring fresh naan to his table. When it was brought out, they actually offered the fresh naan to every table! Fresh, warm naan is always welcome!
For dessert, I was slightly sad that they didn’t have rice pudding that day but they had gulab jamun which were like fried round dough balls soaked in syrup. It was my first time having these and they were amazing! I went back and got two servings!
Overall, Cilantro, now known as Dhaniya Drums is and has always been my favorite Indian restaurant in Tampa Bay. Although, I prefer coming for dinner over their lunch buffet. Especially since they have chicken tikka dosa (it’s hard to find dosa)! I’ll probably only go to lunch occasionally since I get itis after and have to go back to work!