Swagat

Don’t even get me started with this place. If you know Indian Food, you’ll know exactly what I mean. If they cared, it would have been decent.

Went to this place out of out of convenience because we live in Tarrytown. It’s not worth the convenience!!! For starters, the Vegetable Pakora was very greasy as in soaked — bathed with grease and served distastefully! The Naan Bread was burnt showing they didn’t care when heating it, and the Yellow Daal was way too think and bland. The Chicken Curry was okay but the pieces of meat was cut too big. The Onion in the Onion Chutney was rotten and just really disappointed with overall presentation of food with a lack of care!!!
From now on, we will forego the convenience and head to Yorktown to the Jewel of Himalaya. Such a better experience and the food puts Swagat to shame in every way. Everything at Himalaya is on point, even the owners replaced my beer he recommended after I wasn’t crazy about it at no cost and it’s actually a bit cheaper to my surprise.
Bottom line is Swagat is not worth people’s hard earned Money! For the cost they charge, I expect my meal to be decent at minimum!
Servers are friendly but food was a joke served with lack of care. Such a shame!

If you have Celiac disease, do not chance ordering from here. I did. I ordered in advance and the person over the phone stated that the restaurant was entirely gluten free except for the breads. I had the Lamb Pasanda and felt the effects right after. I called back after I had the dish and the person still insisted that everything was gluten free except the breads and potatoes. Something in the curry was what probably bothered me. The man over the phone kept screaming, «No! No gluten!» I’m positive he was wrong.

Mediocre at best. Buffet lunch was not great and thy were rushing us out 5 minutes inro the foot

Simply, it’s a good experience for me having authentic Indian food. The meat is tender and perfectly cooked. The curries were accurately balanced in flavors. The beryani rice is cooked to perfection. The most delicious appetizer is samosa meat.
Nice place quite romantic environment!
MUST GO

The food was excellent and the service was even better! Muhammad our server was very attentive and friendly. I will recommend this place to everyone! Great time at Swagat. :))

I highly recommend this restaurant. I had a wonderful experience and great service! Food was excellent– chicken tikka masala, chicken vindaloo (spicy but very good), vegetarian samosas, rosemary naan and a complimentary mixed pakora which was so tasty! Also tried the tin ranga– very tasty but make sure to mix it well before you drink it– mango purée with cranberry juice and seltzer. Mohamed was our server and he was very attentive and pleasant. First experience eating Indian food and I was very satisfied!

In summary — average indian food, horrible service (top 3 worse experiences ive had)
Food was average/​acceptable. Pretty solid indian buffet. The fish curry and mushroom curry and garlic naan were good. Chicken tikki masala and goat were rough/​not good.
On to the horrible service. We werent tended to like the other tables. No one asked us how the food was, even though it was apparent they asked the tables around us. Felt a bit racist.
Next they were so slow at repleting the naan. If you advertise this as a BUFFET, please actually stock this basic item. When the crowd died down and it was mostly just me and my friend left (around 2pm) they just didnt bring out anymore naan.
FURTHERMORE, me and my friend go to buffets for a reason — to eat! During my friends 5^th plate, one if the waiters (the one with hair parted to the side) started pointing his finger at my friend and asked «are you done eating? You go use the same plate then. Dont take anymore new plate. If everyone use so many plates thats too much a day» I was pretty shocked by how rude/​condescending the service was. Later i called him back and said I dont like him pointing his finger at my friend, and if he wanted us to re-​use our plates then he shouldve told us in the beginning instead of b*tching at us and making us sound like idiots. Ive been to a ton of buffets in my life and never before did someone come up to us near the end and force us to use the same plate. It was too aggressive imo. Then he kept trying to argue with us, but i made it clear that the way he tried to intimidate my friend was not acceptable to me and that id gladly follow his arbitrary plate limit if he told us in the beginning.
It looked more promising when two of the other co-​managers came out and apologized on his behalf, but looks can be deceiving! So then i was like ok fine lets still tip (even though most ppl probably wouldnt at this point) since the other two were ok. They tried to make small talk and i answered that i was going to be a doctor and worked at the health department and did restaurant inspections… Maybe thatll teach him to not assume that young goodlooking guys are just ppl they think they can talk down to
Anyways so my friend wrote a note on our check (see picture) and then…
The bald indian guy (who tried to be nice to us) was telling my friend «smile. I want you to smile.» He was pretty aggressive with his demand that my friend smiled, to the point where my friend told him to f’ off. I intervened because the bald guy was like «im trying to be nice to him and he has angry face that i dont like. He should smile if i am nice to him». What kind of stupid logic is that? I kindly explained to him that it wasnt personal to him, that my friend was upset from the whole situation and that one nice person wouldnt get rid of that. Plus who are you to tell someone to smile and that you dont like their facial expressions? Then he left before i could get the last word in about how it is rude of YOU as well to be saying all of this, especially since we still tipped for your horrible service.
Overall, I felt like i (in my mid 20s) had to be the bigger person to these 40 something year olds.
If i could do it again, id demand an apology from the guy who was trying to intimidate us before leaving a tip

Had the mushroom curry – fantastic flavors! Earthy and savory, and the chef got the spice down perfectly. Very good service as well.

It was okay until we found an unidentified object in the food. It wasnt a bone, it was ceramic. Food tastes good but i dont know about the hygiene

Very good Indian food (Mughal Palace in Valhalla is better), but based on my most recent experience, I now can’t help but define this place by only two words (blatant alliteration included): «masala & misogyny».
What exactly do I mean? Fellas, just bring a date here, ask them to pick up the tab (just this one time, of course), then pay attention to what the server says when he drops off the receipt. Trust me on this one…

I’ve been here twice with my husband, we really love Indian food, and just moved from Manhattan so we figured we’d give it a shot. Food is very good, and the staff is incredibly friendly and kind. The only thing that’s a bummer about this place is that it’s BYOB, so you have to stop by the ⁷⁄₁₁ down the block first.
So far I’ve tried the Navrattan Korma, which is an excellent vegetable dish made with an nut based curry. It was very good. My husband tried the tikka masala and the chicken saag. He enjoyed both.
We’ve also enjoyed the veggie samosas as an appetizer and they make a delicious lassi.
I would definitely recommend this restaurant! Enjoy!

I really like the food here, but I am very disappointed in their delivery.
We ordered chicken tikka masala (I can’t handle spicy) and a spicy lamb vindaloo. When our order arrived it was two lamb vindaloo. We called and told them about the mix up, but they refused to make it right claiming that they don’t exchange dinners. I don’t really understand how it is an exchange if it was made incorrectly in the first place.
I’ll be ordering elsewhere in the future!

The BEST lunch buffet nearby! It’s inexpensive and the food is wonderful, with a good selection.
Their take-​out and normal menu prices are a bit high in my opinion, but it’s entirely worth paying for because the food is great!
If you like your food with more authentic spice, ask them to be generous on the spices!

Food was ok – was actually pleased that it wasn’t too spicy (although the chicken tikka was too sweet, palak paneer too watery and goat had more bones than meat). But SERVICE was SO horrible. They were loud and kept telling us to eat faster because they were about to close.
My cousin went to go use the bathroom and they stopped him and handed him the bill. WTF?!
Never again.

SO MUCH NOMS (or should I say NOMSaste?)
My roommate was having Swagat leftovers earlier this week from a catered event, and it smelled sooo good I just knew that I had to try it soon! Good thing we were all feeling lazy on a rainy Saturday and decided to order in! :9
I tried the Chana Masala and a little bit of the Aloo Gobi + the Saak Paneer. The food is nothing spectacular, but considering the ethnic food choices out here in Valhalla are quite lacking, Swagat satisfies the cravings.
An order of naan is large, so… you probably won’t be needing one order of naan per person (we learned that lesson the hard way).
The delivery came so quickly!!! I got off the phone with Swagat at 5:55PM and the food was at our door at 6:27PM. That was pretty damn impressive!

I really wanted to love this place, but it was really just OK.
The staff was lovely and BYOB is a plus. But the food was sort of bland – nothing special. I had the chicken shahi and shared some samosas.
Prices are reasonable.
I’d give it an extra ½ star if I could.
But, i’ll continue to look for other Indian options before I go back.

Here’s how it broke down for me at Sawgat:
Plus points:
+1 Curry ordered spicy, actually was spicy and the flavor was great!
+1 Delivery arrived much faster than promised
+1 My entrée was full of chicken and it was good quality meat.
+1 Huge portions — my entrée would easily have been splittable.
+1 Very reasonable pricing considering the quantity and quality
Neutral points:
\ Dal was fairly oily & naan was more of a pita bread texture
Negative points:
–2 Pretty much immediate onset of food poisoning. Not going to go into details but let’s just say it wasn’t good…
Bottom line — my food tasted great and the value is definitely there. My recommend is to skip dining in and go for take out because TRUST me you want to be near your «home base» when the «afterparty» starts.

The staff really seems to take pride in the creation and enjoyment of their food. They serve compliementary papadam which I call Indian tortilla chips. It comes with an onion chutney, plum sauce and a green sauce. My favorite is the plum sauce. I had the Chicken Shahi Korma (requested medium spicy) «chicken in a light creamy sauce garnished with raisins and almonds.»
My friend had the vegetarian Navrattan Korma,” a combination of fresh vegetables cooked in a rich gravy of nuts.” We also split a side of garlic naan. The dishes come with their own bowls of long grain, fragrant, white rice.
Our waiter checked on us many times and made sure we constantly had water refills and liked our food. When we asked for our remaining food to be packed to go he asked if we’d like more rice. I love when restaurants do that, it makes you feel like you’re at friend or family members house.
My korma was one of the best Indian dishes I’ve ever had. It was so good I ate it cold for breakfast in the hotel room a day later.

The quest for incredible Indian cuisine is often rife with the gristle and anuses of overripe mystery creatures doused in a baffling array of spice in a frightening attempt to turn a higher profit.
Therefore, it is a delight when one runs across high quality Indian artfully prepared with top grade ingredients and perfectly balanced spices. Swagat is such a place. The foodie in you will delight in the authenticity of the dishes and flavors. The spoiled, a-​hole American in you will cheer aloud the absence of third-​world standards for meat quality. No hooves, cheeks, tails or genitals here, friends– though I suppose you could request them. These guys are so friendly I’m sure they would oblige your sick food fetish.
The nan is perfectly cooked with a slight coaly tandoor char. The Jasmine rice is fluffy and subtly seasoned. Both the chicken tikka masala and vindaloo were nicely flavored with big, fork-​tender chunks of quality white meat. If I wanted to be picky, I’d add that the vindaloo, while complex in flavor, lacked a bit of the heat I’m used to– so if you like it to melt your face like I do, you may choose to request a little extra pepper. Otherwise, a wonderfully surprising restaurant the equal (or better) of any to be found in Jackson Heights. I will be a regular here for sure.