Godavari Indian Restaurant

We ordered the «best menu» & the «small menu». Both were amazing. The food quality was incredible, thanks to the quality of the spices and other ingredients used. The quantity was more than enough to eat.
Both the above dishes had soup/​starters/​main course and desert. For starters we had gobi 65 and chicken 555. Both went well with good spicy. Then came the spring dosa. The sambar served with the dosa was authentic to the core. The chiken chettinadu with a dash of corriander was heavenly. For main course we had both fish as well as chicken. I preferred the fish gravy. The mini idly served with the chutneys was so fresh and soft, that it was a real melt in the mouth idly. The servers are very friendly with us i like them.
Hands off GODAVARI…

This place is a hidden gem for authentic south Indian food. I’ve never been disappointed here. They have some unique offerings that are a welcome change from the typical cream heavy“curry“dishes served at most Indian restaurants. There fish kakinada is my personal fav and is served as a whole fish on a bed of salad. Their goat meat app is also another fav. Joys the server, is very knowledgeable and has never failed in his recommendations. The good food and attentive service is what makes me keep coming back!

Checked In late Tuesday night and surprised to see the restaurant was almost full @9:30pm. Very good food I had in the recent times. If you like spicy food try Gobi 65 and Dal Tadka, awesome… going back today.

Food is good but the service is terrible. We were kept waiting for drinks/​water for 20 minutes and then somebody came to ask for water. The waiters would walk by our table but didn’t ask for anything even the water jar on our table was empty. Other than that, Biryani was tasty. The signboard was broken when I went there so found it tricky to locate the entrance. Not sure if I’ll dine in, maybe pickup or delivery for Biryani.

Very courteous staff, delicious food, very wide variety of non-​veg and vegetarian options. Only gripe is that the wait for a table could be a long one on the weekend.

Courteous staff, authentic and great tasting food, and efficient delivery make this the best Indian restaurant in the New England area.
Authentic Andhra/​Telangana cuisine is a rare find in the US as most Indian restaurants tone down spice levels and hotness and simplify the menu to cater to a wider audience. Godavari, thankfully, is a welcome exception! They offer special Andhra/​Telangana dishes such as Gongura Mutton, Nellore Fish Curry, and Chicken 65, making their menu a south Indian food lover’s delight.
I tried their Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani, Gongura Mutton, and Rayalseema Chicken Fry in my first order. In subsequent visits, I’ve also tried Kodi Vepudu (chicken fry), Andhra Biryani, and Chicken 65. Each item was superbly prepared and was reminiscent of food back home in Hyderabad. Moreover, the service levels were excellent with polite staff and timely delivery.
I highly recommend this restaurant for an authentic south Indian food experience!

My Fiancé and I love chicken tikka marsala and this is the place that offers the best that i have had. It has peppers and onions in it which makes the taste unique with the perfect heat.
We dine here ever month or so if we can as one of our weekly dining out adventures, every time we go we have a wonderful experience the entire staff is friendly. Our server Joys Khan that takes care of us often is awesome. He loves to chat with all the guest which makes it so welcoming to be there.
Great job and great food!

I remember when this place was Ambassador– oh the lunch buffets we had! Anyway, the family has ordered here several times since opening and I have the following to review:
First time ordering after they changed name, the delivery was an hour wait due to food prep, business, etc. That was fine and dandy– no issues there. The delivery guy sat there telling me how «Foodler takes most of the money including my tip. I only work part time and I need the money.» Nice story my friend, here’s your signed slip. I’m closing the door now! I called the restaurant the following Monday and lodged a complaint. Haven’t seen that guy since… hmm!
Second– most recent time ordering have been good, be it an insanely long wait for food each time. The dosas are always soggy, ordered them twice and never again. Butter chicken, and Tikka Masala are touchy– it depends on who is cooking that night. Some nights they are bursting with flavor and other nights they’re not. The Palak Paneer is good, and that’s what I generally order. It’s expensive food so we don’t order often, but generally it’s good and the delivery people are quite pleasant.

Waiters are sweet and attentive, food is cooked to perfection, atmosphere is bright and funny with plenty of Indian music videos to keep you entertained. My new favorite date night spot.

Second time in a row, so it required a review. First time, the delivery arrived over an hour late. Plus, the delivery guy called me, and was trying to negotiate on the phone to have me come across the street in my pajamas to his car. Seriously?
Second time, tonight. Only 15 minutes late (but that was 1.5 hours from when we ordered) but failed to include the rice. Didn’t feel like calling them to ask for the basics. The food may be ok, but the service S.U.C.K.S.

Like most Indians in the outskirts-​of-​Boston area, I’m familiar with Godavari. For an area so densely packed with South Asian restaurants, it’s hard to come by cuisine that doesn’t taste like it’s pandering to American foodies (read: most Indian restaurants in Boston/​Cambridge.) Godavari offered the kind of no-​nonsense, straight-​from-​India fare that makes me weak in the knees and I brought my family there in the hopes that they would be similarly debilitated… but oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Rava dosa:
We specified that we prefer crispy dosa and the server confirmed that he would have them prepare this crispy, laughing in agreement that soggy dosas are on par with moldy bread and Guy Fieri on the spectrum of culinary disappointments. Guess what kind of dosa arrived (hint: this is a 2 star review.) In addition to being soggy, the dosa had onions piled on top of it instead of mixed into the batter, as is standard with rava dosa. Maybe this is an iteration of rava dosa I’m unfamiliar with, but I prefer not to sift through a landfill of raw onion to get to my food.
Uttapam:
This, along with the rava dosa, was the ONLY dish that arrived in a timely fashion. I wish I had more to say on it taste-​wise, but I’m personally not a fan of uttampam. The person who ordered it seemed satisfied; however it was nothing mind-​blowing.
Chicken Biryani:
I’ll give credit where credit is due — this dish was AWESOME. It’s technically the ‘Special Biryani’ they had this month. From my understanding, the standard chicken biryani has bones, and this one was boneless. Unlike most of the dishes, it was well-​plated — piled high with yellow rice and decorated with rings of onions and halved eggs. The chicken was tender and well-​spiced and restored some of my faltering faith in Godavari. Of course, it would have been better if it had arrived, say, less than 30 minutes after everyone else finished their meals.
Dosa Debacle:
OH BOY.
We ordered two sada paper dosa and close to an hour later, received one masala dosa. Clearly, there was something lost in translation, which would have been excusable, had the server conducted himself with any shred of decency when explaining the problem to us. Rather than accepting that he’d misheard the order, he insisted that we never ordered more than one dosa and kept mentioning how now the chefs were yelling at him too… as if their frustration should have mitigated ours? When we asked whether it was possible to add the dosa to the order now, he said it would be a minimum of 90 minutes before we would receive it. Ultimately, one of the guests never received his dosa and had to order something else, and none of us received an apology from our waiter for the inexcusably rude service.
Customer Service:
I’m not the type of reviewer to dock stars because a waiter is busy or inattentive — but these people were rude, stubborn, and cared much more about deferring the blame than remedying their error. The original waiter never so much as offered an apology, and the majority of the staff who spoke with us were shockingly insulting. One waiter was considerate and offered apologies on the part of his colleagues, but at that point, it did little for the sour taste in our mouths.
Overall Impression:
There was a time when Godavari was my go-​to for good food and reliable service, but it seems to have dropped its standards on both fronts. I’ll be approaching it with much more apprehension in the future. If you do decide to go, be prepared for a long wait, particularly on the weekends… and have your waiter repeat your order back to you. Twice.

I went on a Sunday for their lunch buffet. It was PACKED, but despite the large crowds we were able to get a seat quickly. The food was extremely good, but very spicy. We inquired about less spicy options in the buffet line, but were told that on the weekend, they kick up the spice level. Weekdays are a bit more tame, we were informed. I would love to go back on a weekday and see if I was better able to tolerate the spices! (For the record, I do not have the best spice tolerance, so others may be able to handle the food better than I).
The staff was phenomenal though! We were plowing through water, and they refilled our glasses the minute they emptied. A great experience overall.

Ah… a south Indian restaurant serving spicy but delicious food! So loved it.
We went here at 8:30PM on a wednesday evening, and we had a good 20 minute wait. After we got seated the service was pretty good. We went all in, and ordered paneer chilli, chilli chicken and gobi manchurian as appetizers. I loved them all!
For entrees we got the chitoor noodles, malai kofta and chicken biryani ! They were all very good. My friend got the mini idlys’s too and said the sambhar was great. My only complaint was that the rasmalai was just ok, and it was 5 $ for a small cup.
Overall, a good Indian restaurant to try if you are in mood for some spicy but delicious food.

Food has gotten much better recently. The appetizers along with chilled Kingfisher means some good times. Service has also been pretty decent.
Still peeved with mirchi bajji though. Come on! You’re a telugu restaurant.

Great food. Loved the medu vadas. The chicken starters and main course are good too. Good variety of spices and refreshing taste.
Indo Chinese dishes are great too.
Definitely recommend.

We have eaten take out from here multiple times and the food has always been consistently good.
This past weekend, we ordered take-​out from Godavari via Unilocal’s Eat 24 delivery. Our food was no where to be found after 2 hours and Eat 24 was no help trying to track down our order. We finally called the restaurant and were told that their kitchen was backed up and it would take another hour for delivery.
So, word of caution– if ordering take out, call them directly, don’t go through Unilocal EAT 24.

Open at 12 on weekends. $ 14 with tax for the weekend buffet. Authentic south Indian food with at least 3 types of briyani and a pilaf. You’ll be spoiled with all the variety they put out.
Plenty of vegetarian options n for the carnivores too. Heat level of food is spicy. They are catering for the South Indian community in the North Shore, so if you like your food mild-​you are not going to enjoy the food here. But come anyways to try the authentic spice of South Indian cuisine.
Service is good. some waitstaff are very attentive n helpful while others are not so. Highly recommended

South Indian buffet. Love it. Very fresh, tasty and clean. They had duck curry which is not something I usually see at Indian places. Plenty of briyanis and vegetarian options. The red wings are very good! You’ll pay just $ 15 per person. Worth it for the quality of food offered here.
If you’re finding this place with GPS just note the place faces the Main Street, across from dunkin donuts. Just look for the crowd of Indians waiting to get a table.

Went here for dinner by myself, while traveling on business. The location is pretty convenient, just off of I-​90. Dining by ones self at any Indian restaurant means you will be taking things home, the portions are meant for sharing.
I had my two favorite dishes, the Lamb Vindaloo and Aloo Gobi. One vegetarian dish and one non. Plus some butter naan. Dishes were served with rice. I basically had enough for two, so I took half home for my lunch. Both dishes were excellent. I ordered the medium heat since I haven’t tried this place before, and the heat was perfect.
Atmosphere was relaxed with some nice music playing. The place started to get crowded at about 7:30pm. They have a buffet for lunch but not for dinner.

Umm, well if this place is packed on the regular with Indian patrons. you know it’s the only place you’ll ever go again. Am I right or am I right?
Hands down. delicious. I can’t say much more, the staff is incredible and the food is just — no words.
I generally get take out now but I have sat down to eat once. That was the first time I came here.
I LOVE this place!

Hair in my rice, «no sir, we dont have that», «look at the menu» and food poisoning. That pretty much sums it up.
Hair in my rice — This is what we found and the response: Yeah, I will tell the manager and get back. No one got back. Instead they pack it in a to-​go bag. The hair was damn long!
we dont have that — That’s the response to every item we’d ask. Really???
look at the menu — Yes, thats the response to a question we’d have. Is the idli immersed in sambhar, well look at the menu
food poisoning — Yes, my sister got food poisoned and was throwing up 3 hours later.
So, there you have it friends. Not worth it.
The food: very oily, spicy, and super salty. The Gobi Manchurian — We only tasted the salt.

Tried Godavari’s weekend Buffet for the first time. We hit the jackpot as it was an Indian festival celebration, Pongal, and the restaurant went all out with their buffet lineup. The special new year buffet was $ 17+ per person.
At my count, there were 5 different types of briyani, 3 vegetarians, 1 chicken and 1 goat. 5 appetizers, plenty of vegetables curry but the standard vegetable kurma and palak paneer were no where to be found. I had the dal makhani, which was wonderful, and eggplant curry.
For the non vegetarian version, the chicken sambar was very spicy. Taste wise, it was wonderful, but the pieces of chicken were all dark meat and they were hard and chewy. They also served a fried fish, and a fish curry with anchovies in it. The Punjabi chicken (I think that’s what it calls), was alright. Nothing spectacular. Many patrons had their chicken fry, which I had to avoid unfortunately, but it did look good.
3 types of dessert, gulab jamun, a fruit cocktail custard, and a rice pudding. Masala Chai is free as part of the meal. Very flavorful, I can taste the strong ginger and cardamom in it.
Overall food is spicy, very authentic, and a lot of options. Will definitely return for their regular weekend buffet.

Great Indian food South Indian style. Some what spicey. Highly recommend. There is usually a wait so go early.

Absolutely the best indian food I’ve had in years. I got the lamb achari extra spicy, and it blew my mind. I love achari, and it’s hard to find as the primary taste at most indian restaurants. The spice level was definitely hotter than expected, and the sauce was thick and well balanced. I ordered pickup and it took a while, but when I got there I saw that there were about 20 people waiting inside for tables, and another 5 – 10 waiting outside, so it was completely understandable. After eating, I can absolutely see why people were willing to wait so long to get in.

The service was utterly slow and the food was below par.
Mirchi bajji was a huge let down from a restaurant that overtly claims its Telugu pride. To add to the irony, the best item we had was the Malabar fish curry and the supposedly traditional Telugu dishes — Rayalaseema chicken, Maamsam koora, Chicken with cashews were as good as you’d expect from a North Indian restaurant.
We ordered the Haywards 5000 beer and it was not chilled. The management needs to make some effort and not hope that the restaurant will run itself.

Hands down one of the best Indian restaurant to have South Indian style buffet. They have many options in buffet and their chicken and mutton biryani’s are really flavorful and tasty. They also have 2 – 3 desserts and many other curry options. Have never ordered directly from menu. Would love to go there again.

Excellent buffet (on weekends). The food is very authentic south Indian. I was glad to find an authentic south Indian restaurant in the Boston area that is actually good. Unlike most other Indian restaurants, the buffet menu changes every day.
The A la carte is pretty good too. Don’t get the standard tikka masala or other curries that you see in every Indian restaurant. They offer some authentic dishes that I haven’t come across outside of India — so give those a try. You won’t be disappointed.

We were visiting Boston saw the reviews on Unilocal and decided to dine in at Godavari.
This place is horrible and absolutely disorganized. The
Owner in the cash register did not have any sense of
Urgency.
Place was crowded and they did not even take time
To refill Food items in the Buffet .we had to wait for almost 1 hour to be seated with barely any food to eat.
I must say the wait staff were very polite and courteous.
I was very disappointed and will never visit this place again.

Great food. Truly authentic South Indian food.
Tried Babai Idly one of the best, mamsam roast is great
We booked Godavari for catering services too, they were very accommodating. Everybody loved the food. Biryani, Dal, Kadapa Chicken, Gongura Mutton are amazing! Koushik the owner is great and his team are very supportive and ready to help.
Will definitely recommend this place to everyone who crave authentic South Indian food. Go Godavari!

Godavari caters to the north Boston and Boston metro crowd who craves for typical (close to authentic) south Indian food. Oh boy! When I moved to Boston four years ago I was frustrated with a lack of South Indian food options in Boston area. Used to go to Kebab and tandoor in Waltham whose dum briyani is the best in the town. Pongal is another south Indian option we have, but their offerings are not that great.
My friends used to go to mirchi in Westborough from Boston for the South Indian food over the weekend.
When godavari was open, it was like opening the gates of a flooded water dam. Crazy mad rush largely attributed to their offerings which are crowd favorite. All kinds of briyani, chettinad chicken, mirchi bhajji you name it. Most of them are very well made too.
My only problem with them is spicy, they add way too much red chilly powder just to make it
, every time you need to tell them explicitly you need less spicy.
I do understand food business is tough, you need to have good cook for Indian items or else it will be a total disaster.
Their weekend buffett are super crowded. I hope they maintain this taste and attitude forever. Keep up the good work Godavari.
Never ordered any home delivery, can’t speak for that.

Went there for dinner tonight with my husband. Ordered a lot of food which included the biryani, tawa fish, and chilli chicken. We asked the server to make it spicy. The food was very very spicy. I didnt like the fact that the server kept food on the table, like we were eating for free. It was literally like throwing food on the table. Also, the complimentary papad were uncooked, when i brought that to the notice of the waiter, he took those away and then returned to say that they dont have any papad anymore. Food is good, but service is pathetic, also short of papad not done.

We went to this place thinking of the former restaurant in that spot– Ambassador. then we realized it was a new restaurant but the food smelled really good, and it was packed with Indian folks. That was a great sign!
My fiancé wasn’t too happy with the food, but it’s not because it was bad, but because he’s not fond of south Indian cuisine. He wanted your typical American-​Indian food. ya know, Chicken Tikka Masala and Lamb Korma, etc.
I thought this food was delicious, spicy but packed with tons of flavor! We went on a Sunday afternoon and they had buffet. I checked-​in with Unilocal and got $ 2 off our check! In total, it was $ 30+ with tip included and water for drinks.

I live in Charlestown, but this is my go to place for Indian food. Easy access from I-​93, and fantastic food that is equal to or better than any I have had in Boston. It is better than Ambassador Indian that used to be in this location. LOVE IT!

Godavari replaced Ambassador. The buffet is still great, and includes more options than Ambassador’s buffet did. I’ve been twice now, and both times I was there one of the employees brought fresh, hot dosas (basically Indian crepes) to my table. The offerings here are slightly different than Ambassador’s as the new owners offer a lot more South Indian dishes. Service is very friendly and the food is good.
I ordered delivery once (via Foodler), and it took almost two hours (and several phone calls to the restaurant) for it to arrive. It was still hot when I got it though, so I guess I can’t complain TOO much.

I went there for lunch buffet. The place was bustling with people. They have a large selection of menu. The food in buffet was just OK. There was too much of spices in most of the dishes. The lamb curry did stood out but rest of them was just OK.
The ambiance is OK. The service is also just OK. It was just like any other Indian buffet place. Nothing great about it.

This place is truly amazing in terms of food (if you are into spicy food) and hospitality.
Its lively with vibrant staff and management. I happened to order food for a surprise party I had at my place and the Godavari team made sure that the surprise was indeed intact (they agreed to deliver the food exactly when I called them). The food was just the way I wanted, all the minute changes mentioned to the menu were taken care of and all the items were delicious.
A favorite for everyone of my guests is ‘rajugari chicken’ .Each one of them made it a point to visit this place again

Order for delivery on two separate occasions. Both times the food took over 1.5 hrs to arrive, I had to call (several times to just get them to pick up and not go to answering machine) and almost remind them of my order. And then the kicker… when the food arrived the driver sat for a few minutes on his phone out in the street while I wait at the door. What? Sure I’ll wait while you finish talking and let my 1.5 hr delivery get colder. Don’t let me rush you.
I’d give one star if it were not for the fact that the food upon arrival has been pretty darn good. But not good enough to wait at least 1.5 hrs. Ambassador may not have been as good, but damn they were quick and made customer service and delivery a priority.
Either address your delivery woes or simply don’t offer delivery.
Disclosure: order placed on a Saturday night at 8 pm via Foodler and arrived at 9:30. One appetizer and two curry dishes. Not really a large order.

My first visit to Godavari — the successor to Ambassador — was for their lunch buffet. The only similarities are that they continue to have a really large variety of dishes on the buffet (even more now), and that they kept the tandoori chicken and chicken tikka masala. The majority of the dishes are Southern Indian in nature. I was not a fan of as many of these dishes personally, but that was only as a matter of taste. There’s no denying the quantity of dishes on the buffet, and the quality is there as well. Many of the dishes were new to me, and the dishes I liked, I really liked. The tandoori chicken was perhaps the most tender I have ever had, with the meat just about falling off the bone. I also enjoyed the beet dish and the fried chicken and peppers. There is a wide variety of rices and rice dishes. They also include chai on the buffet table, something Ambassador did not offer.
There were not 1 but 3 different desserts, a rice pudding, a fruit custard/​pudding, and carrot halwa. The halwa was my favorite among the desserts; it had a rich flavor and was nowhere near as sweet as I’ve had it elsewhere. The rice pudding was savory instead of sweet, and I believe it actually had some peppers in it. The fruit custard felt a bit industrial, almost like a vanilla custard with a deep mango flavor added (too strong to be made from actual mangoes).
I would have liked to see a few additions. The first would be knives at your table. The majority of the meat dishes feature meat still on the bone, and a knife would have helped immensely. I also would have like to have my water glass filled a little more frequently. But overall, I thought they did a very good job with their lunch buffet.

This place used to be the old ambassador rest. Which was not really good. So when this opened me and couple co workers went for a buffet at lunch time
The atmosphere and the décor and set up is exactly the same as before. The menu was mix of north indian and south indian food.
So lets start with north indian food review. The naan was worst i had in a while… crisp and thin like cracker no softness at all. Did not like it. I had the boneless chicken kebabs which were dried out but the taste was really good and spiced nicely but it was dry and hard. The butter chicken curry was pretty good. I dont remember any other thing that i had that was north indian. The dal was as usual as everywhere. The veggiew biryani was pretty good. The chicken biryani i did not try as it did not look appetizing
Now for south indian food. Rasam was decent
Sambhar is what. make the sputh indian food and smabhar taste was good but was too thick needs to loosen a little. Now the dosas. They said fresh made to order during buffet but tue first batch came really really soft so i asked waiter to make it crisp next time. No change. again soft dosas. I believe they
ready and just warmed up to keep upwith crowds if any gathered but the owner said they are made to order. The coconut chutney was really good. There was some vegetable south india dish i did not try ddi not look any thing special abd there was a chicken curry which was with bone so trued a little and preetty decent taste. The yogurt rice was really bad to be honest.
There were good amt of side dishes like chutneys, papdums, salad etc. and fruit punch (wierd i know).
Overall the taste is good and not bland. Everythimg is. very well spiced. the buffet was very dirty so need a way to keep it clean. The service is good though one waiter kept asking where me and a frienf of mine were from. I dont xare about thins things but some ppl might take offense to it. The owner is awesome and very nice. Young guy talked to us and ask for suggestions etc. Nice guy. Will give. them a shot again maybe once everything gets settled down from new opening and see how it is then.