Zaroka Bar And Restaurant

Great desi food and great service!

The Chili Chicken is my favorite. It came with rice, though I wish the menu would clarify that for delivery purposes.

Such a great menu. Their combo of styles really works. Favorite dishes include the black lentils (a revelation), the veggie kebab, a very spicy lentil soup, and the off-​menu carrot halva.
I can’t believe such a good restaurant delivers, but it does. That’s how we found it – right when we moved to new haven and didn’t have our stuff yet. We were shocked this place was so good. We’ve been fans ever since.

This is my favorite traditional Indian restaurant in New Haven. The flavors are rich and the food is clearly prepared with care. The service is excellent as the waiters are both patient and helpful with their suggestions. My table had the lamb kebab and chicken tikka masala with garlic naan. Absolutely delicious.

New favorite Indian restaurant. I can’t speak for the service since I got take out but the two men I interacted with when picking up seemed friendly and professional. We ordered aloo tiki, boondi chat, kuchumber salad, chicken tikka masala, naan and aloo paratha. Very pleased with the quality and how much food received for the price. Will be ordering again soon.

I ordered delivery from Zaroka and I found a metal staple in my food. I could have been seriously injured had I swallowed it.
This kind of negligence poses a real danger to customers and I will not trust Zaroka again.

My wife and I have been here a couple times, and both times the food was absolutely delicious and the staff was incredibly helpful and friendly; they recommended specific items on the menu because I’m a vegetarian and even took the time to explain the differences between the various morsels of food on the vegetarian platter when they overheard us discussing. This is the best Indian food restaurant I’ve been to, hands down.

Apart from having DELICIOUS Indian food, what really stood out to me about Zaroka was the service. The staff is incredibly friendly and accommodating. They seem to know what we want before we even ask for it! Mr. Ram bhandari is so sweet and always has a smile on and Sagun always kept tabs on how we enjoyed our food. It feels like going home to my own Indian parents! I’ve gone here several times and my favorites are the palak paneer and malai kofta. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend.

My favorite Indian restaurant in New Haven!
The lunch buffet is an amazing deal and is always well stocked.
I’ve been here for dinner as well and it’s a bit expensive. However, the food is very rich, filling and worth the price.

Best Indian/​Nepalese food in New Haven! Their lunch buffet is well-​stocked and fresh every day. Their «Zaroka Delight» dessert is outstanding.

Saw a LivingSocial deal & decided to try it out.
Definitely was the right decision.
We went on a Friday night with the husband so it was moderately packed. Loud but we could still have a conversation.
The deal allowed us a considerable amount off the check so we sprung for the non-​vegetarian appetizer platter to share while I sipped on a mango lassi.
It was really good! We quickly ate the whole thing & it was enough food that for a moment we thought we might not have room for the actual meal.
He got chicken vindaloo while I stuck with the lamb curry. Both were delicious as well. We packed up the little we had left for later & got FroyoWorld for dessert. Overall, great night.
The only reason for the 4 stars was the wait.
They must have been really backed up in the kitchen since we saw tables that were there before us still waiting for their food. Otherwise service was really attentive & they all seemed very apologetic to everyone for the long wait. Would go back again & pay full price next time.

First of all, this is the restaurant where wife&I had our wedding reception, so that should say a bit about how much we like the restaurant :).
The restaurant has a mixture of standard Indian restaurant fare as well as a mixture of Indian and Nepalese food, which is pretty interesting, and it represents the area where the owners are from. Generally, the food is really good and I’d go with the stuff that is specific to the region it represents, as well as the tandoori chicken which is the best tandoori chicken I’ve had, period. Crispy outside, moist and nearly fall of the bone inside (unlike most places that dry it out) and well seasoned.
Second, organizing our wedding reception here was amazing so if you have any events, go for it. One of the owners was amazing, opened the restaurant early just so we could organize everything, went way out of his way to help us out, and was very friendly to our families; not to mention the prices were by far the best in town for such a large event and our immediate family had a small lounge upstairs to get to know each other better.

First time at Zaroka was a little disappointing. First of all, while the service was fast, the waiter ignored me and only acknowledged my husband (repeatedly answered with yes, sir or thank you, sir, even if I had said something also to him — a bit weird). The food was average, nothing special. Pretty expensive as well. We will continue our search for the local «go to» Indian restaurant; for now, Star of India in orange remains in first place.

I came for the lunch buffet, so I shouldn’t be too picky. But it was essentially what you would expect from an indian lunch buffet. Tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, etc. Exactly what I would want — nothing too fancy on the spices. I’d have liked a few more options.
The mood was a little weird. Maybe some music or a little more privacy between tables, because I could literally hear everything anyone else in the room was saying at any time. I swear I’m not creepy.

Beyond excellent service. We had a huge group on Christmas, and it was a delight to sit on the top floor under a tree.
To give you an example of the attention to detail, I ordered my food spicy, so the staff made sure everything I was served, including my Mango Lassi was spiced. I like my water warm, no ice, and the staff remembered that throughout the meal. They also remembers I liked spice, so Even my water had cardamom in it. (To remember one persons preference in a group of ten, for the course of a long complicated meal is amazing)
I had Lamb Pasada: Sweet creamy and nice tender lamb, (I asked for it spicy, and glad I did) Surprised that even my husband, a lamb hater, enjoyed it. Everything our table ordered was good from Paneers to Spinach to Chicken and even the Okra (and I hate that veggie with a vengeance) it’s hard to understand how they made Okra so tasty? Indian Magic? Secret spices? The only off notes were the Chicken Tiki Masala was a little «safe/​plain/​lackluster» and the veggie kabobs were dry, but out of 20 or so items we ordered two slight misses can’t diminish everything else which was excellent.

Had a nice meal there with the family after wandering around looking at art and doing some advance holiday shopping. I wasn’t overly blown away by the the food but it was decent and priced right. I guess that there are other Indian restaurants I like better.
This place is ok and they have momo, which is actually Nepalese, (most of the local «Indian» restaurants are in fact staffed by Nepalese nationals, a truly gracious people), few of the other «Indian» restaurants have momo. Momo is one of my favorite Nepalese foods. If momo is on the menu and is fresh, I am obligated to sample it.

Zaroka is a great choice for Indian in downtown NH. Their lunch buffet is decent, but I prefer coming for dinner. It can get deafeningly loud inside, but everyone working there always seems to be in a good mood, they have a wide variety of Indian dishes to choose from, and the food itself is never disappointing.
I typically go for their lamb vindaloo or tandoori chicken, both of which are excellent. On the vegetarian side the malai kofta, dal makhani, saag paneer, and bhindi masala are all great choices. The basmati rice is well-​spiced and never dry or dense. I’m also a fan of their samosas and mango lassi.
As negatives go, there aren’t too many, but some of the sauces can be really heavy (more geared toward American palates, I’m sure) and I still have trouble getting them to make my vindaloo as spicy as I’d prefer. Certainly nothing that I would consider a dealbreaker.

So, it’s my first night in New Haven. I rolled into town at dinner time, having not eaten since breakfast. I check into my hotel, and head out the door for food. Aaaaaaand it’s raining.
Zaroka became a choice of necessity, as I was tired of getting water droplets all over me and was ready to JUST EAT ALREADY.
What a happy accident.
I was greeted by wonderfully kind staff members who joked with me and took me upstairs where I was basically alone in the restaurant, save one student studying with headphones in a corner.
I ordered chicken broccoli balti — which came out promptly with some of the best basmati rice ever.
When I left, having cleaned my plate, the rain was pouring from the sky. The staff gave me a plastic bag for my phone and my head (the second of which I declined) and wished me well as I ran the half mile back to my hotel.
Should the weather cooperate, I’m going to drop by before I leave and thank them again for great food and even better service.

This is my favorite Indian restaurant in a town with many great Indian options… it just has the best mix of good traditional Indian food, fair prices, charm and service. My husband and I almost always order the Thali platters because we’re bad at making decisions in restaurants and the Thalis mean you don’t have to! There’s a vegetarian Thali and a meat Thali, and both include a couple of curry options, a meat or veg samosa, rice, dal (lentils), raita, kheer, and naan, served on a big silver platter. The meat Thali includes tandoori chicken and the veg has an extra curry dish. We usually just order 1 each of those, some extra naan, and we’re good! It’s a TON of food, and everything is always delicious.
Zaroka also boasts excellent service, and I love the Indian décor and music (I hate when you go to an ethnic restaurant and they’re playing a top 40 radio station or something… it ruins the vibe!). The naan always comes fresh out of the oven. We went for about the 10^th time last night, and it was as good as ever — but the place was nearly empty! Don’t forget about your favorite downtown restaurants in the summer… that’s when they need us the most! :-)
P. S. — Their lunchtime buffet (open on weekends!!) is also great, and a very good deal.

Zaroka beats some of the bigger name Indian restaurants around. What it may lack in name recognition, it makes up for it in delicious food and helpful service.
A great way to try several items on the menu is to order a thali platter. Thali means plate and it really is a taste of several different foods. The meat thali included chicken and beef dishes along with lentils, excellent naan, and kheer, or rice pudding. The vegetable thali features a potato dish, eggplant, and lentils along with the naan and kheer.
The décor at Zakora really is different than most restaurants with a great attention to detail and an authentic Indian feel.