Earthen Oven

Good if you like spicy and pricey. I liked that you have the option of the waiter serving you (as in dishing your food out for you).

Been here a number of times. I think it is excellent straightforward Indian food, focused on north India.
The onion kulcha is amazing and I highly recommend the malai kofta. Good portions and decent service. Prices are also reasonable.

After catching a movie in the evening, my friend and I were hungry and wanted to grab late dinner. My friend has never tried Indian food before, so I decided to let him have a test run in here. He ordered the hazari chicken tikka and I got the chicken tikka masala. However, the rice seemed drier than normal and the dishes were a tad bland. Also, I felt the dishes were overpriced. I’ve had better Indian food elsewhere that was less expensive.
Overall, the food was okay. The wait staff were friendly and efficient, so I had no complaints there. I love the naan though, since it tasted and smelled fresh.

My husband and I came here for the lunch buffet the other day. We enjoy Indian food and had high hopes; however, we were deeply disappointed.
The food was a bit bland for Indian food, it was not well spiced and the flavor did not take over the entire dish as much as it does at other Indian restaurants.
We are not foodies, not picky eaters, and not normally hard to please, but we have had far better Indian food in the neighborhood.

Awesome restaurant for a vegetarian! My roommate (who is almost a vegan) dines/​orders from here at least 2 – 3 times per week.
I’ve been here a couple of times. Once for dinner and once for lunch. The food is good and is very consistent. They have a daily lunch buffet, which is a good variety of their regular menu and changes daily. It gives you a chance to try a lot of different things for a reasonable price (I believe it’s around $ 12/​per person). Go for the entrees and the desserts, the salads are not noteworthy.
Staff is very attentive and professional.

Very delicious garlic naan. Great service, quick water refills. My bf and I got our favorite, chicken saag. It wasn’t the best we ever had, but it was good enough. We also had a delicious dessert that tasted like oatmeal but it had thin rice noodles and cinnamon. It was scrumptious!
The only downside — and a major one — is that it’s expensive! We did not expect the total price to be so high.
It makes me miss our favorite Indian restaurant in Cambridge Mass –delectable and affordable. This has simply not been the case in the UWS, sadly…

I always love a good indian buffet, and this just wasn’t it. Selection is decent, dal, aloo, channa, gobi saag, chicken tika masala, chicken tandoori, and lamb curry. The salads were just very sad looking.
What was really disappointing actually was the naan. The first portion of naan we got didn’t feel like it was freshly made. It’s something I could probably buy frozen and reheat. It didn’t have the big, fluffy, just out of the tandoor feel. The second basket was even worse. The naan was undercooked. I could smell the dough. I don’t even know how they could bring that out. I could see it as it was coming to the table the color was wrong. If you serve naan day and night, you can’t tell when the naan isn’t done?

«Am I really on the Upper West Side?»
With great trepidation, and the help of my fellow Unilocalers, I decided to try this place. It seems like I have only come to this part of the UWS like 5 times in my life and I have already run out of restaurants. I could never live on the UWS. But that’s a another subject.
My dinner companion and I generally enjoyed it here. This is a Honda of restaurants. It doesn’t do anything exceptionally well, but it is all pretty good.
— The décor is clean, attractive, yet not unqiue.
— Prices are reasonable, but not cheap.
— The Garlic Naan was pretty darn good. But carby, buttery, garlickly goodness is tempting at most places.
I had the Lamb Vindaloo, which is my «go-​to» dish. It was pretty good. The spice was the right level, but lamb could have been a little more tender. My friend had tandoori chicken derivative dish which she was pretty satisfied with dining on that evening.
Unexpected: The wine list wasn’t terrible, especially for an Indian restaurant.

Good atmosphere, wait staff was very friendly.
The food was OK, to me, since I am Indian and usually prefer Indian food with a lot of spices. It seemed a little watered down for an american pallet.
I had gotten the Malai Kofta, Bhindi, and Garlic Naan. The garlic naan could have had more garlic on it. This place is known for its tandoori, and if I come back to this place I will be sure to try some of it out.

The winter got a little too cold for exploring the city so I decided to order in. My husband is out of town and I consider that the best time to eat all the food he doesn’t like. Yay Indian food!
What appealed to me is their online ordering system. You just punch some entrees and enter your credit card number. I love that. I also loved an affordable pre-​fixed menu. Vegetarian is $ 12.95, meat is 14.95 and it comes with an appetizer, lentil, nan, basmati rice & dessert. You can choose between two, so there’s even variety in the pre-​fixed. This is working out great! I ordered Alu Gobhi pre-​fixed and some extra nan.
Well, the food got here and I guess I was too excited to check to see if all was there. It’s just one meal and an extra bread. That was my first mistake. No extra nan. $ 3 wasted. Well, mistakes happen and my own fault for not checking when the delivery guy was here.
The food is delivered in separate plastic containers. My dinner was in five plastic containers. Is that more or less green than styrofoam? One had a mild leak, but it did beat that horrible leak styrofoam often has. My feelings are a little mixed about this, but if you order for delivery and happen to be very particular in how it’s packed you will love or hate it.
But hey, none of that matters if it’s good food! Alas, second mistake. I didn’t heed some of the previous reviews and order extra seasoning and sauces. I love Indian food for all the flavor. This was bland. I was scooping the last drop of even the sauces I don’t use just to get some flavor in.
Last thing, the meal was filling, but I wouldn’t call it a huge serving. I got more lentil than entrée. I’m a small eater and had very little left over. This could be because it was pre-​fixed. But overall, I’d call it a solid serving for the price.

I’ve eaten here a few times and ordered in several times. This is solid, consistant Indian fare. Their service– in house and delivery– is fast and friendly and their prices are reasonable. I’m a big fan of their prix fixe lunch and dinner take-​out/​delivery specials, which are cheap and come with an appetizer, side of lentils, naan or roti, entrée and rice.
As far as specific dishes go, I’m a fan of the samosas, chicken tikka masala and paneer tikka dilbar. They also have really great naan. Definitely check them out if you’re craving Indian on the UWS.

I’ve tried about a dozen different dishes from Earthen Oven. In my opinion this really isn’t good authentic Indian food, because it’s rather flavorless and indistinct, sort of like a dry martini made with vodka rather than gin.
What I do like quite a bit about this place, though, is that they use really decent and generous cuts of meat. Rather than everything being fatty or gristly, the meat dishes are regularly soft and tender. But still rather bland.

picture this: cold, wet, fall evening — its starting to rain again and you don’t have a jacket. AND you have 4 hours to kill between films at the NYFF. AND you’re starving. and you’re picky (ie. i’d rather spend $ 100 on really delicious food over $ 50 on okay food. and am always satisfied with gray’s papaya and/​or halal).
anyway, long story short, i was being picky as usual as we walked up columbus from lincoln center. indian was the perfect solution for the weather… ordered the aloo naan and regular naan and lamb vindaloo and dal house special. all delicious, especially the vindaloo and the aloo nan.
i haven’t had indian in a really long time because i never want to be disappointed by ethnic food. kind of wish they had saag (my favorite), but i wouldn’t mind coming here and ordering lamb vindaloo every time :)
the food is a bit expensive for for a moderate-​casual indian restaurant– under $ 15 for veg, over $ 15 for non-​veg. but great service, great food, AND a hot oshibori post meal really helps to lessen the sting of the bill.

My friend and I were on our way to Dallas BBQ when we passed a nice spread of Indian food in an enclosed patio and a sign that said $ 13.95 buffet!!! Despite coming from kayaking in the Hudson and smelling like, well, the Hudson… we went in and got seated. The staff was so gracious and although we were at the tail end of the allotted time for the buffet, we were able to eat to our heart’s content. After warning us that they were cleaning the buffet (and after we got our last plate), the owner even made a plate of «dessert» for us so we wouldn’t miss out on it.
Nice people, great price, great atmosphere.

(Really, like 3.5 stars)
Wandered over to Earthen Oven after looking for a good place to go after a happy hour on the rooftop of the Empire Hotel. It was pretty empty as it was about an hour or so out from closing time on a Friday night. Service was mostly good, a few moments we were waiting a bit for water, which was funny cause it was empty as I said, but nothing too egregious. The food was pretty good. Can’t say it tops Haveli (one of the few other Indian restaurants I’ve been to in NYC; so take it with a grain of salt), but it seemed to have it owns perks. Collectively, we ordered the saffron chicken tikka, lamb biriyani, chicken samosas, and the lamb vindaloo. Everyone seemed to really enjoy their meals and the bits they tasted of others. There wasn’t one dud. It also was my first time finally trying Kashmiri naan and it was pretty bomb.
Definitely worth checking out.

For the relatively steep price, I expected much more. The lamb was tough and fatty, the sauces lacked dimension and spice, and the portions were insufficient.
Plus, an hour for delivery, when we’re 2 blocks away? Unacceptable.

Best Garlic Naan I’ve ever had! Yum!
I enjoyed this place very much. The puri left something to be desired, but the malai kufta was fantastic.
The chicken curry was done well, but not flavorful enough for me.
Overall, it was a good dining experience, and not too expensive for what it was. I will come back again!
:)

This is an Indian restaurant frequented by my family who live within walking distance. Usually we order in, so I’d actually never been there. The restaurant site is nothing special, but then that is never a great indicator of an above average experience.
There menu has all of the same offerings you’d find in any other Indian restaurant. There were a few notable dishes which I recommend.
Kashmiri Nan-​An earthen oven specialty bread filled with almonds, cashew nuts, pistachios, coconut, dried apricots & cherries
Palak Paneer – Fresh baby spinach & cubes of cottage cheese simmered with onions, ginger & garlic
If you’re around the Upper West Side or staying there, check out Earthen Oven. You can even byob!

I had lunch here this weekend and was quite impressed. They had a $ 13 buffet on a Saturday, with very good selections. I wish they had a rice option other than lemon basmati, it was too overpowering and didn’t sit well with the other flavors, but it was good. We even had 3 desserts included in the buffet!
My only other complaint is the cups they serve the water in. They are tin like and it tasted funny to me, I couldn’t drink my water because the taste was strong.
Overall, the service was good, and the food was great.

Yum. The Kadai Gosth (Lamb Curry) was awesome. Not so spicy it burns your mouth off and you have to take a break from eating, but totally flavorful and had a substantial kick regardless. And seriously tender and not at all fatty, which are always issues with lamb. The garlic nan was great, but nothing incredible. A pretty good wine list too.
The waitstaff was very accommodating and friendly, and for manhattan the prices weren’t as bad as I was expecting (though not as good as I might have hoped) — entrees less than 20. Pretty great.