Sonali

My love for Sonali is dwindling. The quality of their food and consistency of recipes has been sub-​par lately. I have now begun to frequent basmati table.

The service is pretty poor, and the food is very inconsistent – sometimes good and sometimes bad. And if you’re lucky, you’ll end up with your entire dinner at the bottom of your to-​go bag, like me tonight!

UPDATE: The food fell off and now I think they’re closed.
I’ve been about 4 times (ate in only once).
This place has good food with good flavors. The prices are cheap. The breads, especially the Onion Kulcha, are very good.
They have some opportunities to improve a lot though. The only time I ordered for delivery it took a solid hour. The place is less than two blocks away. They put the appetizers on top of ugly chopped lettuce. The décor could use some help.
But… you get what you pay for regarding the ‘frills’ but the food is solid. I hope they improve a little and become more popular.

I am not the biggest Indian foodie but I decided to give this place a chance. First I must say that this is ‘Bangladeshi’ and not 100% ‘Indian’. I’ve had the chicken tandoori and this chicken in a cream sauce. Both were good but didn’t set the world on fire.
I’ve noticed that some Unilocalers and reviewers on ChowHound have raved over this little eatery because its about the only ‘Indian’ restaurant closeby, outside of Jackson Heights. Personally I think it could have done better.

Another simple Bangladeshi Restaurant serving Gharoa (home) Style food, whats great are the authentic Bangla dishes with the lighter curry sauces without the extra butter and cream which Bangla food is famous for. Try the Butter Chicken or Morg Makhani for those in the know! The Classic Bengali Goat, The Fab Bhindi Bhaji (okra) with Jeera (cumin) and Of course all the classic Fish dishes of Bengal, Rui (rohu), Ayer (no bones), Ilish (hilsa), and Pomfret… curries some cooked n Mustard sauce… Yummmmmy!

Ok, this place has some overwhelmingly bad dishes. And the décor sucks. AND it’s right next to a very smelly fish shop. The odor permeates Sonali and I find it nauseating. I simply won’t eat at Sonali. HOWEVER, I have had a few good dishes there that I found really worth going back for several times. First, their vegetable samosas, while standard, are very good. Nice little kick in them and the green sauce and tamarind sauce served with them are good as well. The best dish, however, has to be the chickent tikka. Very tender and flavorful. Typically the order has 5 pieces — very generous. An order of the tikka and an order of vegetable samosa (2 in an order) ran me a total of $ 10.86 including tax. I’ll definitely order this on a semi-​regular basis and leave the rest of Sonali’s menu to the dogs.

i went back once again because i really wanted indian food. i was willing to try the briyani house which is on 43^rd but i opted to try sonali again. i ordered the chicken tikka misala and it came with a hefty portion of chicken and rice. im getting used to this place. i read the other reviews here and i havent experienced any bones in my chicken. cant wait to try the other entrees.

I checked Sonali out while looking for a quick bite to eat and killing some time. They were friendly, though not overbearingly attentive — it was a good balance. I was surprised to get my Diet Coke in a 20 oz bottle, though happy as is better in a bottle than in a can.
I had the Chicken Seekh Kabab, which was quite good and a bit spicy. I had the Chicken Tikka Masala and had a number of pieces of chicken (maybe nine?) — it wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it was satisfying and good.
It’s a nice addition to Queens Boulevard.

While it’s nice to finally have an Indian spot around the corner, I will only go here if I’m extremely, incredibly desperate. I’ve done takeout twice now (the delivery minimum is $ 15), and I’ve been underwhelmed each time. The Chicken Tikka Masala was okay, but there were only three or four small chunks of meat and very little sauce; the rice was fine. The vegetable samosas were kind of moist and doughy on the outside, chewy even. I got Lamb Curry the other night, and there was so much orange grease pooling on top of the (meager portion of) curry, it was almost inedible. I think there was more grease than sauce. The lamb wasn’t particularly tender. The Tandoori Tikka appetizer was decent, but again, small. And I too have noticed the microwave usage. It’s depressing, really.

Oh, the bad, it has it! We went in and, for a fairly new place, it sure looks dingy and shabby inside. Bare walls, a dirty deli counter. One other person seated and we still had to ask to order, ask for salad dressing, ask for the check, etc. Not once were we asked how the food was and it took over 20 minutes to get it.
The food – yuck. Seriously awful. My husband ordered the lunch special of tandoori chicken. Flavorless – there’s no way they cooked in in a clay oven. It tasted more like they had brushed some tandoori sauce on it and stuck it in the microwave. They forgot to bring the sauces until we asked for them.
I had a gyro in pita wrap and it was unspeakable bad. I honestly think it wouldn’t qualify as actual food. The «lamb» was, I swear, CRUNCHY! As if it had been petrified. It was the consistency of a very stale dog biscuit, but tasted worse. The pita was drowning in a lake of yoghurt sauce that smothered the tiny bits of lettuce and some other unidentified scraps of veggies. The pita was burnt. Two bites and no more. Why two bites? The second bite was to confirm how awful it was because my taste buds were saying, «Can this really be as bad as it seems?» Oh, yeah, it can and it is. The waiter, for lack of a better word for the poor, clueless chap, saw that I had not eaten my food but did not ask about it. I paid for it because I didn’t want drama for $ 4.00 when I knew we’d never go back. And those two bites came back to haunt me hours later. You don’t want to know.
Like another reviewer, I also wish I could give no stars. Vile, awful food.

Not a good experience. The place was empty but I still had to wait around for my server. When I received my food it was stone cold and even after having the staff reheat it, I was less than impressed.

Hey, what’s with all the hate? Seriously, have I just been lucky or what? I like the food here. I’ve picked up take out a few times, and it’s really been pretty darn good. The saag and the samosas are my favorites, and the portions are generous (I had enough left for a second meal). They definitely are generous with the tamarind and coriander chutneys for samosas, and the food comes out quick and piping hot.
Of course there is better Indian food in Jackson Heights (but it is definitely more than $ 5 an entrée), but this place is cheap, open super late, and eager to please. Don’t hate on the new kid on the block, just give them a little time to sort their stuff out. I’ll be back til I am proven otherwise!

Let’s be honest, the food is not top notch, but it’s not that disgusting either.
I mean, you pay 5 – 6 dollars for entrees delivered to your door! What do you expect? That said, I’d definitely go to Jackson Heights for good Indian food.
I have to admit that I did avoid ordering the meat dishes (same reasons as I’d avoid meat from Chinese take-​outs). I was sticking with the vegetarian dishes. For a late night delivery other than Chinese or Thai, it’s a some-​what viable option. Rice was not basmati but long grain, so no flavor or fragrance there. Generally the dishes tasted bland and lacked spices, let alone any «kick».
They told me that the delivery would take 30 minutes and they arrived on time. Everything might have looked cheap when arrived, because almost everything came in aluminum containers with paper tops and tin foil (yes, I know they are really made out of aluminum but we continue to call them tin foil). But it’s a good thing! Really! I definitely felt less guilty of creating non-​recyclable junk — I hate plastic containers that I have a hard time throwing away…

I started this review with 2 stars but I just realized I’m still hungry so I ding’d them for that. Back to 1.
Here are some of my issues. First of all, its obviously a family run operation but I don’t think you need 4 family members and the delivery guy bumping into each other behind the counter when only 2 of them are really doing anything. I sensed confusion in the air so I fortunately checked my bag before I left and noticed they had forgotten to give me my Naan.
I’ll post a picture of my chicken tikka masala a little later but you’ll see that it was literally four little pieces of chicken and 2 of the pieces were mostly bone. The gravy barely covered the bottom the tray. I mean come on what am I supposed to do with that. The naan was ehh, the rice was stupid, and my order of vegetable samosas was decent but the outer crust was soft and chewy.
Also, everything was cold. I saw one of crew put my samosas in the microwave along with some aluminum foil… I always thought that a was a bad idea, no? I’m sure it’ll go horribly wrong one day soon and they’ll be in the market for a new microwave. Please please please improve on everything, I’d really like an Indian /​Bangladeshi restaurant to go to in Sunnyside.
I’m gonna go have a bowl of cereal.

This place is INSANELY bad. My roommate and I love the 74^th st spots and think Biriyani House on 43^rd is OK, but this is literally the worst Indian food I’ve ever had. I know this is the first review, but the food all tastes frozen and canned (really! it’s weird), is lukewarm, and doesn’t really resemble Indian food at all. It’s kinda creepy. The curry tastes like Top Ramen water mixed with gravy. The rice was bland and looked like confetti. The curries had no spice at all. The roti was burnt, the meat and veggies were sparse within the watery gravy, and the garlic naan somehow tasted like nothing… The naan had an OK texture, but I think that was just luck on their part.
I’m actually getting upset as I write this about what an insult this place is to all the other great Indian food in Queens. It’s like they’re trying to screw with their customers… I mean, they are Indian – they know this is bad.
Someone else please go there just to CONFIRM the SUCKINESS.
(PS. I wish I could give it no stars…)