My father, friend and I went to this place for a takeout today and we feel cheated. Lamb Nargis ($14.50) and Lamb Korma ($13.95) each had 8 to 10 pieces of meat the size of pennies lost in a sea of gravy (in the photos, check out the size of the pieces of meat relative to other objects). This is daylight robbery. One of the worst Indian restaurants Ive been to, outside India.

Feels like family at Shahi Pakwan, and tastes as delicious as a home meal (maybe more like your special birthday meal because it’s so good)! Raaj, together with his wife and father keep the kitchen open all day, making off-hour dining possible if you have a hankering for Indian food. Located in the Gateway Commons area, there’s also easy access to free, off-street parking which helps parents (like me) get the kiddos out of and into the car worry free.

I had Shahi Pakwan for the first time tonight. I love Indian food and the Matar Mushroom dish I had was extremely delicious. The rice is very light but hearty. I had a sweet Lassi for dessert and it was the perfect meal. Highly recommended!

You guys rock! You know theSpice! Amazing, new favorite restaurant. Amazing food, people, and service. Blessings

Really friendly staff and delicious naan bread. The lunch buffet is a real steal and the selection is fantastic. Shahi Pakwan is definitely worth giving a try over the other options in Collegetown and The Commons.

Best local spot for Indian! Actually spicy if you ask for it. Solid Naan as well

Great food, call ahead for a better idea on the wait for pick up pr you might end up waiting, would recommend

I ordered veggie samosas, garlic nan, and lamb vindaloo.The samosas were very tasty and perfectly prepared.The garlic nan was garlicky and delicious.The lamb vindaloo had a bright, vibrant flavor.I also loved the pickles.It was my first time and I’ll definitely be back for more.

Chicken tikka masala was so creamy and delicious. The naan is also amazing. My favorite Indian food in Ithaca by far.

They make dosas! The filling was very tasty, included chutneys and mild sambar/vegetable soup, and our vegetable korma had great spice and flavor. We will come again.

Best Indian food in Ithaca as far as Im concerned. Ive been happy every time Ive been there. Its my go to take out spot. Strong recommend for the Sag Mushroom and samosas!

Superb experience. Loved the food. Chicken curry and the korma are must try.Very accommodating and nice hosts.

Excellent service, great owner and good home food. Loved the buffet @ 8.99$ will be back. My fav : Dal, Rice, Cucumber Raita ! Tea was included too and was a pleasant surprise.

The food here was all tasteless, being an Indian I know what Indian food is. The food I ate was not even close to Indian food. You charge 11$ and make frozen vegetables that too half cooked.even so called rice kheer was not even 1% sweet just mixing rice with milk you call it a kheer? And from where do you get this fake good reviews? Please dont serve fake food in the name of Indian food stop fooling people. I would highly not recommend this restaurant. Only visit this place if you have extra money and you want to waste it. I am sad that I cant give ratings in minus

This restaurant just opened recently. It complements the other Indian options available in Ithaca. It is convenient and has a buffet for lunch. The owner is really friendly and happy to customize orders to suit your tastes and needs. It is hard to see from the street but worth looking for.

Very good authentic Indian Food I love it.

I feel what Sen has expressed the same feeling I share , the lamb Biryani turned out to be Veg Biryani with Mutter ( Green Peas ) too & meat pieces were like Candies 🍬 size 😆😆😆

Small portions. Terrible atmosphere. Okay food.

Kofta Curry, basmati rice and tandoori chicken were all amazing!!!

Literally the best Indian food in town. Hands down. Great customer service, very friendly owner. The food is fantastic. I will walk the snow and rain just to get good from here.

The best tasting Indian food in town. Freshly cooked and tasted like homemade.

Wonderfully delicious food, warm and attentive service. They were able to adjust dishes to allergies and preferences in our party. Everything was so good, I went back the next day! You should do the same!

Wife and I went on a Sunday for the lunch buffet.The restaurant is in the back of the shopping center, which may be difficult for some people to find. The interior was humble, yet clean and the proprietor was eager to ensure the temperature was to the liking of the customers.The servers were very prompt and eager to pick up our plates and brought us a pitcher so we could top off our own glasses. Pretty good for a buffet.Unfortunately, the food itself was not very flavorful, which is extremely disappointing as South Indian cuisine is that which I am most familiar with and fond of. The dishes that were spicy were one dimensional and lacked the robustness of flavor we were had hoped to find. The vegetarian dishes tended to be better, but besides the passable chicken tandori, the meat offerings were abysmal and for the most part they looked and tasted as if they had been over-boiled in water and then had a light sprinkling seasoning added.I really hope that these are new restaurant jitters and this place becomes a good addition to Ithaca, but as is I do not believe it justifies even the $10 price.

Best Indian food in Ithaca by far and my new favorite lunch spot. Fresh and delicious food. The owners are friendly, the place is very clean, and the selection is fantastic. I work a block from a competitor, and choose to go much farther for the superior selection and flavor.

Masala chai was not spicy enough for me. I couldn’t taste the cardamom or any other spices. The Dahl was ok but needed more cumin and coriander seeds. The basmati rice was a bit dry. The garlic naan was ok, but I was bummed that I couldn’t taste any garlic. I ordered “mild” for the Dahl, but Then everything I ordered came out mild or bland! To me mild is reference to the chili pepper only. Was there a misunderstanding?

Ordered chicken biryani ... don’t knw where the cook was from but definitely didn’t taste like biryani .... no taste no flavor... felt I was eating chicken n rice. Very disappointed ☹️ never coming back.could have give 0 if I could. I know what biryani tastes like so plz don’t fool your clients

Great food! Great service! The food was like homely. We visited this place as part of our trip from buffalo and was worth it!!!

Best Indian food I have had in Ithaca! The food was flavorful, perfectly spiced, and authentic. Will come back for sure!

Nice little hole in the wall place. I had the mango yogurt drink, the mushroom Saab(?), Naan, and mango ice cream. All were great.

I highly recommend this restaurant to everyone. Some great punjabi food there. One of the best customer service provided by the owner himself, a very down to earth guy.

Worst food ever. I ordered Chicken Biryani. It tasted as if it was not at all cooked. The turmeric tasted raw.

This place is very good , better then all the other Indian restaurants in Ithaca in my opinion , They’re friendly and the place is clean

Authetic home-style Indian.Large portions, really great!

Good desi food in town

Small buffet lunch, small place. Dad is the cook and does a great job. Today Mom handed me a naan hot off the stove. Good prices.

Lovely service and the food is really delicious. They are great at moderating the spice level, so you can get it at the hotness you want. And thier naan breads are really out of this world

We were just passing by and had a dinner here. Its soooooooo delicious...it reminded us the original Indian taste. I would highly recommend it.. please visit and let your taste buds enjoy the wonderful taste

Best Indian food for the money in Ithaca. ~$30 for an appetizer, 2 garlic naans, and 2 entrees. Food is great and the owners are very nice. Always feel welcome there.

They food is wonderful!! And they service and atmosphere is really friendly.

Kind of surprised at the 5 star reviews. Lunch buffet had limited choices, sauces were quite watery, chicken tandoori was dry and tough, serving temps not particularly hot, rice was quite dry, sweet rice was flavorless, although vividly colored. Price was not commensurate with quality or choices. There are much better places to enjoy Indian food in Ithaca.

Couldnt wait to leave the restaurant to write this review. I am happily stuffed and satisfied! Food is great and this newly opened spot is cozy. Thanks you Raaj! Such a sweet host.

The food was terrible! The chicken pieces were frozen, the gravy was watery and tasteless. Dosa was completely off the mark.We were traveling to Baltimore and stopped here for dinner seeing the very high ratings. It’s a complete disaster. I won’t choose to eat this food even if I was paid to do so

The food and service was very nice. Very friendly staff

Small and family owned. Very delicious! So many different flavors of the Indian spice. A must try...

Cute little startup excellent food and the price was awesome. Saw some very iconic people eating there as well the biggest names in Ithaca. Try it youll definitely like it

Best Indian food in Ithaca imo, good prices, great service and amazing food

Lunch buffet is on point. Very authentic, with unique options. Owner and family are very friendly and accommodating.

Just finished my meal. Fantastic food. Get the bread basket. Has every kind of naan you could want. Best dosa in Ithaca. Prices best bargain for Indian food in Ithaca.

My favorite Indian restaurant in town. Really nice family run spot, dont let the decor detur you, the food is delicious.

Very nice Indian food ... spicy as per your liking. Very nice family owned restaurant.

This is a great, secret Indian spot in Ithaca. The mango lassi is superb, as are the Myrrh Korma and the dal! The people here are also incredibly nice.

Great food, wonderful family-run restaurant serving authentic Indian. Check this place out!

It’s a great place with great food. The buffet food looks different than American food but tastes good.

Delicious food, great service, clean premises, and very memorable naan!

Delicious food, friendly service—“medium” was quite spicy for me, but not too much. Will be back!

Ordered food for pick up. Food was very bad. No taste. Gravy for all the items were very watery & tasted the same. Paneer in the Shahi Paneer was cut into small peas size pieces. Will definitely not recommend.

The chai, complimentary with a lunch buffet, is just like in India. They walk around with freshly fried pakoras and naan, and the desserts seem unique and homemade. Because it is smaller, you get closer to the taste of a real Indian kitchen.

Nice place. The service is good and friendly

The hospitality was great. Thanks for the innumerable times you served Chai with lots of warmth :)

I feel bad for Ithacans because there really was a lack of good Indian food. But lo and behold: Shahi Pakwan is the best! This small, humble resturaunt will have you feeling right at home, with tasty foods and snacks! They are so accommodating. The food may not always taste the same, but that is because it is and mtruly freshade daily! Ive never been disappointed here, except when I dont order enough samosas!a Eating in is definitely the way to go, but if you order delivery or pick up youll still be happy :) also, this family run business is so kind. They care about the food they serve and all of their customers.

Food was great service was also very good

Yesterday we had the best time at lunch, food was delicious and homely, family owned.

Most horrific, horrible and horrendous Indian food Ive had in my whole life. The owner and his way of talking to customer is the worst Ive ever had in my life. We were a group of 10 + 2 kids. Officials, take note- They only had one high chair. I think this violation of law right there.We ordered few appetizers, 4 biryanis and a few breads and some veggie curries. The Samosas were okay to start with. The biryanis arrived slowly thereafter. We had a huge discussion to figure out which of them were chicken vs vegetarian. First time in my life we had this discussion. They added carrots, green beans, chole to the chicken biryani. That says it all. We asked for medium spicy. This one was atrociously spicy. When we informed the owner, he tried to be the rudest he could be. He yelled stating that we asked for medium and that was medium spicy. He followed by yelling to other tables asking them to reconsider medium as that was their spice levels. He went saying that North Indians eat the most spiciest food in India and therefore these levels. North Indians living across the world.. I leave it to you guys.We informed him that we were not going to eat the biryanis. He did not have any empathy and just wrote the cheque. We did not care to tip, and I would urge everyone the same. If you can avoid this place, that will be one good deed completed in your life.I see people write horrible reviews about this place on yelp, google etc, except for those paid reviews they have generated. I also see the owner reply to those reviews in the most in-appropriate way. Change yourself and show empathy and fix your restaurant rather write replies like that on social media.University folks, if you are eating this yucky food in this town, its time you save some embarrassment for the Indian community.If you are hungry and dont find any food and this is the only restaurant open, just consider starving and saving your health.If the owners claim that I was not at this restaurant as they have in other reviews, Ive added the photos of the close-to-garbage biryani and the wonderful receipt on their yelp page. Don’t know why I am not able to add those pictures to this review here. You cant figure what you bought unless you remember things you ordered. Look at the receipt and see for yourself. We ordered 29 items at this Pakwan and were cheated. Officials, I would urge you to audit these folks and take a look at their receipts. It does not look legit to me.

Great food and service! The lamb nargis was delicious.

I ordered chicken biryani from here on Door dash. The biryani does not taste anything like biryani. It is by the worst biryani I have ever had. Its like a few chicken pieces were added to veg pulao.

We ordered food here for dinner. Food was horrible, the Chana Masala was just boiled chana in some gravy that did not have any taste. It was super expensive. I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Why dont other places think of having free chai with the buffet?

This is my favorite restaurant in Ithaca. Great food and friendly service!

Closed now.

Delicious food at an affordable price with friendly staff. Love that chai tea is included on the buffet!

Have eaten there twice and both times food had very little flavor.

Owner is nice guy , I come here all the time it’s very good , my opinion it’s best in Ithaca

We ordered around 10-12 dishes and taste and quantity wasnt upto the mark. Both Samosa and Tikki chat were prepared dry without proper spices and chutneys.

Outstanding tikki masala, beautifully spiced, cooked in a timely manner, outstanding table service

Had Biriyani, trust me it is NOT biriyani. It is just Pulao rice with meat (chicken/lamb). On top of that, it is super sticky (muddy), and taste is utterly disgusting. Biriyani lovers, be aware!!

Good quality food, owner is chef, very accommodating

I agree with everything Rob said. I tried the lunch buffet. Limited in choices and flavors. Watery sauces. Dried out chicken and rice. Service was friendly. Buffet was 10.00.

Nice buffet, good value for money.

Decent food, good service!

Great food, generous portions, ill definately be going back, so nice to have another indian option in ithaca!

Ive gotten take out from here several times, each was delicious and I keep coming back.Staff us professional and friendly, always willing to engage with their customers.

The food taste is below average

Good halal food

Very good buffet option and genuinely good service.

This place is a joke

Unappetizing food served in a modest setting

Good food, friendly service, and wheelchair accessible !

Excellent Indian food.

Good value.

Microwaved tea was damn expensive

Excellent food !

Great food and variety!

Good food

Food was amazing!

Gourmet Indian in Ithaca! Rejoice!!