Dera Restaurant

I would not come here again. I love Indian food, but I am also extremely critical of it. The food is not quality and the location is dirty. The service is not good here and they are rude. Punjabi food could be great, but not from here.

Good food, not the best ambiance

Changed owners. The current owner is horrible. No good customer service skills. They literally took 20 minutes to heat up the food that’s already ready. The old owners were extremely fast! Will not be going here anymore

Dera has changed form what it was. It has started slipping since the change in ownership.

Tried this over the weekend– the mutton biryani rice was over cooked but the flavors were awesome, the chicken biriyani was tasty as well.
Really enjoyed the minced chicken samosas, and the kebabs were tasty0 mint sauce was delicious!

This restaurant is rather non-​descript. They have a lunch buffet. I didn’t not have the buffet but it looked fresh and tasty.
I order the Chicken Tikka Maasala and the Naan. The Naan is the size of a small country. That’s what’s up. The chicken was very tasty. And I was satisfied with the quality of the meat, the spices and the overall richness of the creamy tomato based sauce.
I’d return. Not bad for Rockland County.

Tandoori chicken leg/​thigh appetizer good.
Chicken roll like a hotdog in flatbread.
Chicken Tikka Masala was good.
Do not order the Chicken Biriyani.
Breads were all good; naan and garlic naan, and Roti.

Another bad experience for me at Dera so I figured I’d make another post and review. I found a tooth in my food. I’m not kidding. I went to the manager to show him and he pretended he didn’t speak English. It was tiny but it definitely was at least a piece of a tooth. I could tell by the ridges. I’m definitely calling the health department!

So I’ve been to Dera about 80 times over the last year and a half. I live about 15 minutes away and its pretty cheap so I can come often. Unfortunately, it took a really poor experience at Dera today to finally write a review. I figure I will list all the good and all the bad that comes with eating at Dera.
The good:
–Authentic
–Food tastes great when eaten freshly made (out of the oven)
–Only $ 10 for dine-​in buffet
–Best chicken tikka masala around (when fresh)
–They use good quality goat with a lot of meat (not rough and chewy like most indian places)
–Great chana masala (when fresh)
–Great palak chicken (when fresh)
–Great saag (when fresh)
–Great chicken keema and chicken akhari (both when fresh)
The Bad:
–Food tends to be extremely oily
–If you order off the «menu» instead of the buffet you are limited mostly to the batches of already prepared food in the windows. The food is already cooked but its cold and they microwave it (kinda gross). This is only $ 7 though. And comes with rice or naan
–Buffet is served at 12 pm and 5 pm. In between that period, half of the food just sits in the buffet tins. If the food isn’t eaten they don’t cook fresh stuff to throw over it or replace it. If the food (such as goat curry or chicken tikka masala) is finished at the buffet they will microwave some from the cold food window area and put it in the buffet (kinda gross).
–Once 6 PM hits, you can expect the food to drastically go downhill. Many people eat dinner around 6 – 7, but if you get there by then the food will not be fresh. The finished food will be microwaved from the cold already prepared food and the unfinished food will just keep on sitting there (I even spoke to the owner about this and he said he would «look into it,» it is still same).
The Naan at the buffet is rarely fresh. Naan gets bad within 5 – 10 minutes of it being made. So the naan that sits in the buffet area is usually not good outside of the first few minutes that they put a fresh one in. Which is quite rare. Most other Indian places give you fresh unlimited naan for their buffets, not at Dera.
–Food can be inconsistent (even when fresh). Sometimes the goat curry is incredible, sometimes it tastes decent. Sometimes the reshmi chicken is incredible, sometimes it is made a different way which is way worse. I don’t know for certain but i think they may use uneaten cold already prepared food from the previous night and use it at the following day’s lunch buffet. I am not claiming that or accusing them, it’s just something I’ve pondered…
–This final point is from my experience today: I wanted Dera today but couldn’t eat-​in. So I got the «takeout buffet.» The «takeout buffet» is also $ 10, same as the dine-​in buffet. Most Indian buffets charge less money for their takeout buffet, which makes a ton of sense because you can’t eat as much. You are limited to the containers they give you, which if you’re a buffet person will not be as much as you can usually eat for the dine-​in buffet. One of the other local Indian places charges $ 8 for their takeout buffet and $ 10 for their dine-​in buffet (plus they give fresh naan). I don’t recommend that place since their food isn’t as good. However, their business practices are correct by charging less for the take out buffet. In addition, they provide a container which has various compartments to easily separate different dishes in case you want more than one meat (which seems likely since it is a takeout buffet you are ordering). Dera, unfortunately, gives you two containers, one big one for rice and naan (from buffet so not fresh) and a much smaller one for any meats, veggies, other hot food. The small container has no compartments, therefore you have to mix all your various food together. I don’t like doing that so I only took one thing from the buffet. When i asked the owner if i could put one spoonful of chana masala onto my rice because I didn’t want to mix my sauces he said no. I guess coming as much as I do doesn’t warrant me a free spoonful of chana masala (well technically it would have been a $ 2 spoonful of chana masala because the takeout buffet should be $ 8).
So that’s Dera in a nutshell. A few more things: Dera is mostly self serve (good if you don’t want to tip). Bathroom is well kept. The cooks don’t speak much English, but are super friendly. The manager doesn’t know any English besides hello, thank you brother, thank you dear, and rice into this container meat into this container. The owner is a flat out phony. I’ve told him about some of the issues but he hasn’t changed anything. He once called me out on wasting too much food at the buffet, which I did. Since then I haven’t wasted anything. He, however, has not changed his ways. I will keep coming back though because the food can be sooo good.
Tip: Go for the dine-​in lunch buffet at 12 PM. Food is the freshest and you won’t have to worry about most of the bad things I wrote above!

We tried to get dinner here after all the reviewers raved about it. We got there to find the buffet food sitting there still from lunch and a limited number of dishes behind the glass already prepared. The person behind the glass enclosed counter could not speak English or understand our question when we tried to order off the menu posted on the wall. He indicated with a sweep of his hand the only food available were those dishes in front of him behind the glass. It was clear this place was not Indian but Pakistani/​halal. We left in exasperation and disgust. The place is dingy and the food sitting around questionable. We ended up at the Mexican place next door.

Stopped by yesterday for take-​out curry, veg, and rice. Everything delicious, and the price is very reasonable. Authentic tandoori roti! Clean, home made type food right off NYS Thruway, Rte. ⁸⁷⁄₂₈₇ exit 14.
I will definitely return every chance I get.

Do not judge a book by its cover!
This place is in a dingy shopping mall across the street from a mobile gas station. The storefront is rather unassuming, and when you walk in, it looks like the type of place you’d walk right out of… DON’T!
I ordered the lunch buffet and it was delicious. Definitely in the top 2 of Indian restaurants I have been to. The selection was never-​ending, and the flavor was simply authentic. The only thing I found lacking was that their vegetarian selection was minimal. I enjoy meat, but the reason why I Iove Indian food so much is the vegetarian options. I recall their being about 12 selections, 7 – 8 of which were meat. All good, but I was hoping for some saag or something.
The buffet was $ 10, an excellent price, especially with the meat options. I don’t come to Spring Valley often, but now I have a reason to come a lot more.

Good buffet.

Dera is the other route 59 Indo/​Pak homemade grub joint! Authentic and good! Some of the stuff is better here and some is better at Haandi Roti. Either way you cannot go wrong. They are about 200 yards away from each other on the same side of rt. 59. Dera has its own parking lot. Good service. Good prices. Good spot to chow down! Very clean establishment.

Hole the wall place on RT-​59. Spicy Indian /​pakistani food done right. Goat curry, kebabs, garlic naan, Haleem are worth trying. I will go back and try some more. Would love to try their buffet

Good buffet of authentic indian and pakistani cuisine. Spicy as well never catered. Just Authentic.