Sundarban Restaurant & Sweets

They sell a good brand of Indian sweets/​mithai here. The sweets seems to be from there but the sticker shows a different name for some reason. Woman was confused but nice.
Of what they had there, it seemed to be Kala Jam which I got (which is basically a darkened larger Gulab Jamun as Kala means Dark) and White Cham Cham (a sweet made from saffron, coconut, lemon, flour, cream, and sugar)
Both desserts are Bengali in origin it seems.

Zero stars.
An hour after placing the order when I call to check they claim that they don’t see any orders placed. Apparently they have their sh** together.

This place is very convenient for those evenings when I’m not up for food preparation. Indian (style) food is one of my favorite cuisines, so I’m pretty happy to finally have a source nearby. I’ve never had their Chinese for this reason, plus it’s very obviously Bengali owned, so I don’t really understand why they put it in the menu (there are other Chinese options very close by).
The positives:
The price is VERY right — $ 5 for one dish, which comes with a ton of rice, free daal (which is fantastic), and a little bit of salad.
The staff is very polite. I’ve never eaten there, but when I get take-​out they are very attentive and always make a point to offer me a seat, sometimes tea, while I wait. It’s usually about a 10 minute wait while they prepare my dish.
The mediocre:
The food is decent for the price, but very inconsistent. I often order the same thing since vegan options are limited. Sometimes it is WAY too oily, sometimes it is bland. Sometimes steaming hot, sometimes lukewarm. The free daal it comes with is always amazing, but the free salad isn’t even worth mentioning — iceberg lettuce with unripe pink tomato and cucumber. I come back because the prices are cheap, but when I want truly good Indian food I go elsewhere.
There are no labels on the menu for dairy, etc. I really wish they would change this and add more food options without both meat and dairy.
The only «appetizer» options are fried and/​or have some kind of meat. The only «dessert» options are dairy.
Ambiance is something to be desired here with a tiled floor and flourescent lighting. The tv is always on, which I don’t mind while I’m waiting (I especially enjoy the Bengali music videos), but would find disruptive and annoying if I ate there.
The person at the counter typically speaks very limited English. They are very very friendly, but often don’t understand more complicated requests.

I did not have a good experience here at all. I was there on my lunch break. It seemed to me that, though the guy who was trying to take my order was sweet, he didn’t understand a word I spoke. It took a while for us to come to terms that I wanted Darjeeling Tea, for starters.
I ordered Saag Paneer as clearly as I could, and he seemed to understand. 35 minutes later, others were being served around me, but not me. A lady walked over to ask me what I ordered again, in plain English (I’m not entirely sure why she didn’t take it in the first place), and brought out a dish I didn’t order. She told me it was Saag Posala (or something), which was not what I ordered — and to be honest, I’m not even sure they had that on the menu. She was sweet and ordered me a few pieces of chicken, but I was already running late for work. The food was alright, I guess, but not great… then again, that might be the disappointment talking from not getting what I ordered.
I waited another while for a bill I had asked for, and finally came over to their front table to pay and run back to work. Though it says they take credit cards on the door, she asked if I could come in the day after (?!) to pay in cash because their card machine wasn’t working.
I am bewildered, and very disappointed by the whole experience.

I am very glad to be the first to review Sundarban because it is an incredible addition to the already very ethnic, diverse, and incredible food culture we have here in Astoria.
Let’s just start with, this place is so understated from the outside, you will question why you’re going. My friends and I were planning on going to Arepas Café across the street, but the wait was too long. So we decided to try Sundarban on a whim. We were SUPER glad we did.
Chicken Tikka — BOMB
Beef Biriyani — BOMB
Goat Biriyani — BOMB
Aloo Gobi — BOMB
Naan — BOMB
All of this included a salad for the table for $ 37. And we were full. Value, absolutely off the charts. The staff were super friendly. We were the only non-​indian patrons there. And they just had their grand opening today!
I want to go back to try their halal Chinese food. It seemed weird on the menu, but judging from the other food, I’m sure it tastes AWESOME.