This is the BEST.... BEST....BEST place to eat in Boston. If you like Pakistani-Indian dishes... You would love DARBAR. Its real home made cooking. There used to be a place like this in Queens NY, but it closed down. Now when I need authentic home cooked-tasting food, I go to Darbar. read more

I haven't had a bad meal here, yet. My favorite is the Goat Briyani. The lunch and dinner buffet are great ways to try a variety of different dishes. The Chicken Tandour was delicious and well cooked. Service is pretty friendly and the restaurant is very clean. I saw that someone added a picture of a rock in their food. THAT WASNT A ROCK! it's a spice. It's a hard pod that has a bunch of flavored sends inside. It's not to be eaten--kind of like a bay leaf. During Ramadan (around July), they have the dinner buffet every night. I thoroughly enjoy every meal I have here and would definitely recommend! Enjoy! read more

Yes, it's Halal. Darbar is exactly what Boston's desi scene needed: A full-fledged Pakistani Dining Kitchen. I can't quite call it a restaurant. Just didn't feel like the kind of place one would go for a good evening out. Just scrumptuous food like your mom made it if she ordered it from a high volume behemoth takeaway from back home like Lasani, Karachi Darbar, or Dehli Nihari. The atmosphere is very casual, which is just as well: I don't think they'd be able to pull of a "dining experience" if you will. You might wonder why I rate this place 4 stars then. One look at the menu will tell you why (note there isn't a menu on the website yet). An array of awesome dishes extending as far as the eye can see an please flip over for more! This place holds a lot of potential if they can deliver on the promise the menu makes. I personally went for the Iftar buffet last night, and found it to my liking. The pakoras were good (B+), the Keema Tawa(?) was really good (A), and the chicken salan i tried (couldn't identify it) was average (B). My only complaints with the Nihari (B+) were that they didn't serve it with the fixings (ginger, green chillis, cilantro, etc.), an oversight which deserves some demerit. However, I'm happy to report that the after meal chai (A+) had me overlooking some of the minor quips i had. At $10-$15 an entree, the place is moderately priced but the food is worth it, and I found the staff cheerful. Next time around I'll try the Chicken Achari or the Maghaz-Masala, a dish I'm very picky about. read more

Darbar restaurant - Pakistani Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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If not named darbar it would be named Jannat.. The best, authentic mughlai cuisine one can have.. I'm sort of edicted to this place. Shami kabab, seekh kabab, tandoori chicken, nihari, halem, doodh pati, chicken briyani are a few of my favorites.. Shami kabab are amazing they just melt in mouth. Halem and Nihari: They taste exactly the same they way the need to taste. The meat is tender and melts in mouth. Roti(tandoori) is awesome.. It is soft and amazing.. Chicken/lamb Biriyani: Darbar is the only place in MA which makes biriyani the way it should be; rest all make curde form of chicken/lamb fried rice. If you really wanna taste biriyani this is the place. It is hard for me to decide what to eat and what to leave.. I saw some reviews stating that the food is too buttery.. Well if you want to enjoy mughlai cuisine then one should forget about butter/clarified butter or oil.. With it there is no mughlai cuisine.. Love the food.. Value for money... They offer home delivery and the guy speaks awesome Punjabi, sort of like it.. And the food always comes hot.. 20/10.. read more

What a lovely experience! We went for the iftar buffet everything was wonderful. Food was delicious and we would definitely go again.

Please please dont go this restaurent, we stopped by to this restaurent to have lunch but food was stale(previous day foods) and smelling bad and no Indian/pakistani food taste(why they kept the name "Darbar") trying to misguide people. I went to peak lunch time and there were only one customer apart from us. I never seen any indian/paksitani restaurent serving brown rice. I just wanted to let people know dont go by its name "Darbar", there is nothing to eat literally. read more

Authentic North Indian/Mughlai taste. Must have if you are looking for Mughlai food. Decent price. I loved the chicken tikka

The ambience is decent, but food isn't great. The chicken karahi didn't really taste like karahi, big tomatoe pieces and peppers floating around in a curry like paste - this isn't karahi. The chicken tikka was decent, and naan was good. I also made the mistake of ordering lamb chops which I wouldn't recommend. Meat wasn't tender at all, not chewable. read more

I haven't eaten here, but I attended a recent event at Harvard and was told they had catered the food. Was excellent.

We had 25 ppl went food was not fresh we booked early and told them its Eid dinner customer service was not good either

The food here is amazing. We came on Eid Day (incredibly busy) and despite the crazy rush, the staff was very accommodating and welcoming. The biryani and goat qorma in the buffet were good, but the real star of the meal was the haleem (which we ordered off the menu). It is by far one of the best haleem dishes we have ever eaten... I don't understand how this restaurant does not have 5 stars. They are a bit smaller... maybe that creates some space/service issues for some folks. In any case, I recommend this place whole heartedly! read more

Excellent food, excellent service and excellent people. Wish there was another location of Darbar, up north like Andover. True authentic food and just great and friendly place to visit. Prices are good too and food is always good quality and fresh. Will always recommend this place to family and friends. read more

Great, home-made style Pakistani and Indian food. Its a great place to grab an authentic Pakistani meal to go, or to dine. I love the chicken seekh kababs, and the chicken tikkah masala is amazing! The naans (bread) are fresh out of the tandoor, and oh so yummy! It is a family owned restaurant, the service is great. The chef comes out to check on the customers too. Definitely give it a try! read more

Yum Yum Yum! I order delivery from them and it is a tad pricey but worth every penny!!! The flavors are so delicious. The delivery guy is always super friendly too. You must treat yourself! read more

Excellent Pakistani food. Delicious nihari and brain masala. Everything is sumptuous and finger licking good.

Came last night for the Ramadan Iftar buffet. Was not disappointed. Began with a nice appetizer of a fruit salad, chaat and samosas. After a short prayer dinner was served buffet style with lots of different and tasty options. The restaurants managers and owners would swing by every so often and were were friendly and welcoming. Staff was very good and accommodating. Will absolutely be coming back to try the entire menu read more

Best Desi food in Boston iv tried so far... Been to alot of places this has been by far the best place iv had food in.. The staff is really friendly.. The ambience is amazing.. Felt like i was back home seeing the desi crowd. Food was awesome.. Easy on the pocket.. Money well spent.. Kudos.. Keep it up. read more

I tried Darbar for the first time tonight. I ordered carryout, and decided to try two items I haven't had anywhere before, and three that I have (maybe I'm a bit of a fatty, but I also like leftovers from carryout). The items I haven't had before: The Dahi Bhalla was tasty, although the actual patties seems a bit too saturated with sauce, and having the dish served cold was unexpected (that may be how it's normally served). Despite these factors, I found that it tasted fresh, had lots of flavor, and none of the flavors overpowered the others. The Haleem was delicious! I got it spicy, and was pleased that it was spicy enough for my tastes. I often find that Indian or south-Asian places around here say "spicy" but don't load as much spice into the dish as I'd like. This was just right--a good amount of kick, but not overpowering. The only issue I had with the Haleem was that the beef and lentils were minced a bit too finely. It was almost a sauce instead of a pasty stew. Perhaps it would be better with rice, but had ordered Naan as my carb with this meal. Nonetheless, it was tasty enough to tolerate the texture, and I will certainly order it again. The items I've had at other places: Cheese Naan/Onion Kulcha- Both were excellent. Not raw or doughy in the middle, and just a bit of crispness around the edges. The onions were cooked throughout, as was the cheese. I want to try the Haleem with rice in the future, but these breads were too good to not order again. The meat samosas were good, but not great. Then again, I haven't ever had a samosa I was over the moon about, so I'm a bit biased. The pastry was perfectly cooked, and the samosas were stuffed full (unlike some places where it's half air). I think the were well made, but not enough to turn me into a samosa-regular. The service was great. My order took about 5-10 minutes longer than they estimated on the phone, but that's not a big deal when it means my food came out very hot and fresh. I'd rather wait in the restaurant for five minutes for hot food than have them overestimate the time and serve me cold food. All of the staff was very friendly as I waited, and were able to tell me about some of the dishes I was unfamiliar with. Though not perfect, it's the best Pakistani/Indian food I've had in quite a while. Highly recommended, and I'll definitely be back. read more

I have been here twice in the last month. If you continue west on Commonwealth past BU, and go to the kind of beatup area of Brighton with the auto shops, you will find it on your lefthand side. The restaurant is homestyle; the first time I went, the owner was walking around with his baby while some other family members were celebrating a birthday. Service was friendly and attentive. The dinner buffet menu was plain rice, pie (not fruit pie, this 'pie' means FEET), chicken kofte (meatballs), chicken karhi, beef korma, channay (chickpeas), shaljum (turnip), and bhaingan aalu (eggplant with potato). Fresh naan and dessert were included. We followed up with Kashmiri chai (milky pink tea) and gulab jamun. This meal was a winner, especially with the gulab jamun syrup added to chai. The second time I came here was on New Year's Day. I had a group of ten Pakistani friends, and we wanted to have a traditional "halwa puri" breakfast. They had buffet at the same time so we were advised to order the buffet and have one shared order of halwa/puri/cholay for the table. It ended up being $20 a head (buffet $15+halwa, tax and 18% automatically included tip for party of 6+ $5). I was like o_O!!! The buffet was rice, okra, zucchini, turnips, chicken, feet, and rice pudding. It was all decent food, but compared to other desi restaurants, the price was a lot higher. For example, at Maharaja, the buffet is $10 on weekdays and much more extensive. Many of my friends were not so impressed; however, I think it's worth a try especially if you strictly eat zabiha halal. read more

Ohh Darbar, all this time I didn't even know you were a restaurant, even though I go right next door to the motorcycle shop to get my bike tuned often. I honestly thought it was an Irish pub haha I mean brighton has a few of them, plus all the green kinda threw me off. Anyways with our recent discovery of Indian food, the gf and I have been on some type of curry craze, searching for the best Indian food we can find, no matter what the place looks like. We were excited to come try the buffet at this place, but as soon as we got there and took a peek at the food, we decided to order off the menu. The buffet food looked like a cardio surgeon's worst nightmare, I mean all the food either had an inch thick of oil on the top layer, or a shiny coat of grease on it, just to ensure you that you will indeed have a heart attack that night or in the near future. So we thought that we would pay a little more money and skip the buffet. Well the way we order, we might as well have a heart attack between the the gf and I and my friend, we managed to order a chicken curry (white meat), chicken qorma (dark meat), lamb curry, roti, paratha, onion naan, and 2 cheese naan. Ohh yes and 3 mango lassis, which were by far the best lassi I've had in Boston. So why the 2 stars? Let's start off with the good. Let me say nothing against the people there because the service was great, very accommodating. The mango lassi was not watery, it had the thick consistency and it wasn't overly sweet (very refreshing haha had to order 2). The roti and the paratha was essentially the same thing, thin and crispy, no complaints there, btw we ordered all the bread with no butter. Onion naan was thick and filled with onions, fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. The cheese naan was surprisingly good with same consistency of the onion naan, but with house made cheese and little jalapeños in it for the added kick (it was so good we ordered it twice). Onto the main course, the chicken curry was asked for white meat and surprisingly the chicken wasn't dry, as for the curry it was very salty and a bit spicy which ruined it for the gf. My friend ordered the lamb curry, which for most part was the same curry, but his was very greasy (he forgot to ask for less oil). The lamb was good, tender and juicy. Lastly, I ordered the chicken qorma with dark meat chicken, sad to say my dish was the worst, although the chicken wasn't bad. If the grease won't kill you, the curry will. It was by far the saltiest thing I have ever had. I couldn't even eat it. Another rookie move of us, we neglected to ask for less salt when ordering because we didn't want to be a hassle (we already changed up the orders a few times). Also, rice doesn't come with the curry! We had to order two sides. Another bad experience with Indian food. It's too bad service was good and people were nice. Salty food and warm water is not a good combo. Thinking back on it, we probably should have just done the buffet since our bill was least five times as much as the buffet before tip. Probably will only be back for the drink when I'm in the area waiting for my bike to get tuned. read more

Darbar restaurant - Mango lassi - Pakistani Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Food from the subcontinent has been a steady disappointment in the Boston area and I did not have high expectations from Darbar, however I was pleasantly surprised to find such authentic and delicious Pakistani cuisine in our midst. My husband and I went in around 8:30PM on Friday night and the dinner buffet was wrapping up. We ordered from the menu instead of the buffet. We ordered Nihari and "Maghaz-Masala" with Naan. Both dishes were excellent, Nihari had tender meat and slow cooked flavor, although it could have been a tad spicier. The Magaz-Masala (brain) was savory and slightly sweet and absolutely delicious! The Naan was freshly made. I ordered mine without butter and it was excellent as is. This place is in its infancy and the owner was on hand to serve us and talk to us about the food. The Menu is extensive but not yet online. One can choose to stick to the usual fare including Kebab, Tikka, and Curry but there are plenty of exotic options. We will definitely be back to sample more of the delicacies! read more

Got takeout this evening to have with friends while watching the Pats...food is still great...the portions are not what they used to be. Half of one of the curry was oil...I know Pakistani food is suppose to be oily...infact floating in it. But, this was a bit too much and I felt the portions were not justified by the price. I hope they take care of this matter. read more

Excellent food! I've tried every kind of desi food from California to London and this was up there with the best. Must visit!

I wish I had trusted my intuition here. We called to ask if they had a lunch buffet and the answer was, "Ummmm... yeah, we have a buffet." This was a weekday and we were the only ones dining the entire time. The buffet looked large when we walked in, however only around half of the buffet actually had food in the trays and we had to wait for the rice to come out. The rest of the bins were empty and kept closed the whole time. Now I'm all for quality over quantity but there was no quality to be had here. There were no appetizers on the buffet and no variety to the flavors. Every curry was the same yellowish orange color and basically tasted the same. Just three curried veggies and two curried chicken dishes--one with bones and one without. The naan was dry and flavorless. It was honestly the worst Indian/Pakistani buffet I have ever been to and I will never return. The staff was nice, but the restaurant as a whole was a sad experience and I felt bad for bringing friends here. read more

Not impressed. I've lived in Boston for 12 years and eat Indian food on average once every two weeks. I ordered take-out, Chicken Tikka Masalla and some aloo naan. They asked me if I wanted rice. Rice? Of course, doesn't that come with the food at Indian places in the United States? Apparently not...and apparently it costs $2.99 for a small container of rice. My meal cost me over $20. Was it good? No. It was way below average. The Chicken Tikka Masalla was mostly sauce with 6 chunks of dry overcooked chicken. The chunks were too big and had very little flavor. The sauce itself was watery and wasn't even good for dipping the naan into. I have no plans to ever visit Darbar again. read more

Ordered take out here with a friend and was disappointed. She only ordered samosas which were decent but I've had better Lacha Paratha and my Aloo Ghobi was super oily, and overshare, gave me a quite a stomache afterwards. As many have mentioned, it was also frustrating that they do not provide rice with their dishes. You have to purchase it for $2. I'd be open to trying this again but I don't have high hopes. read more

We had a very bad experience food was so bad and there was no meat in buryani no appetizers haleem was a joke While people eat they check their plates Horrible experience read more

After waiting for 35 minutes for our food, I asked if someone could check if the food was ready. I was told "you would wait for food at legal seafood for 2 hours, why not here", this was said with a condescending tone and loud enough for guests sitting in tables next to us to hear, stop their conversations and turn around to see what was going on. I didn't have a yelp profile, but felt it was necessary to report the way me and my family were treated here. If you are the owner of the restaurant reading this review, I hope this is an opportunity for you to understand the behavior of your staff and take corrective measures to prevent such incidents in the future. read more

Finally a good Pakistani place in the boston area - had the location been somewhat better I would have given it five stars but given that its a bit out of the way I thought 4 would be fair. We have now been there twice and the food and service both times has been exceptional. We tried the chicken seekh kebabs and chicken tikka from the menu last time and the nihari once before all of which were great. The dinner buffet is pretty extensive and hasn't disappointed us both times. They also make great mango lassi and hot chai (perfect after a filling meal). If you're looking for good Pakistani/Indian food I highly recommend Darbar. read more

Darbar restaurant - Pakistani Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Hardly anybody else eating here tonight, maybe because of a caustic review or two, but oh my goodness, such a wonderful meal! The service was very good, and the dishes... authentic and masterfully done. We'll be back. read more

Let me preface: I'm a limo bus driver. Tonight I had clients in the area but was parked while the clients did their thing. So I'm sitting in my bus and all I can smell is Indian food and since I'm practically drooling at this point, I popped over here to find the closest Indian joint. Found it, came back here to use the ordering thing (all went smoothly), and waited for a bit. At 15mins I called in to check when I should come to the restaurant to collect my food. The lady on the phone was very pleasant and told me to come on over. I walked in (here's where we lose a few points- everything seemed clean but old and dingy) and was met by some very nice folks who promptly got my food for me. Since I had not seen lassi on the takeout menu I asked if they had it and if so I would like a cup. They do have lassi, and when I went to pay, the lady asked for cash. I didn't have any but offered my card (lost points- wouldn't take the card). She wouldn't take it, but I didn't see any "minimum credit card amount" signage anywhere. Anyway, she was able to contact Yelp and just get the additional item settled with them. I walked back to my bus and tucked in to the food that smelled delicious. Well... Apparently my idea of "mild" doesn't jive with theirs, because not too long into the very yummy food, I was sweating from the level of spiciness!! So overall, decent service but I guess they don't take credit cards under a certain dollar amount (the lassi was $3.99), the food is a bit spicier than I expected, and the general impression of the building itself is that it could use a good scrubbing or maybe some updating. read more

I've never been an adventurous eater, but came in with my husband got the lunch buffet, figuring that authentic Pakastani food would be worth a try. If all else failed, I could eat naan, right? Anyway, it was dead when we came in, so we were asked if we wanted rice, naan or both. We chose both and it was made fresh to order, which was nice. The chicken jelfrezi was really, really good. So spicy and it had a heat that snuck up on you, but I had plenty of naan and the mixed veggies to cool down a bit. Speaking of the mixed veggies, I'm not a huge veggie eater, but they were really quite good, too; soft with a ton of flavor. My husband really loved the mixed vegetables, too, and couldn't stop raving about the oddly compelling turnip side dish. All in all, really tasty food. read more

My husband and I went there on a saturday for the lunch buffet. Given I don't know much about Pakistani food, this is what I can say: Meat was hard, not tender Few vegetable options Very few options... The tikka masala that I have come to expect from almost any buffet style Pakistani or Indian cuisine was missing. Too spicy and salty Bread was good Service was... ok? They filled our water and brought us the check, but nothing else. When we entered, nobody really told us what to do: should we sit, can we order separate dishes, or do we have to go with the buffet? How much does it cost? There were no signs and no staff was around for us to ask. And when we finally saw one, they just waved us to a table. I thought they would follow and then talk to us, but nothing happened and they went back into the kitchen. So after a few minutes we finally got up and went to the buffet. I wasn't excited about the food I saw, but thought I would give it all a try. Moments later, having decided that I didn't like the food much, I saw another table get an order of Tikka Masala that looked pretty good, which is all I really wanted. We spent about $35 with no drinks. Maybe this place is good if you know what to order and how to navigate it, but I just have to rate based on my experience. read more

TERRIBLE customer service, DIRTY food handlers, good food. I will never go there again. Last Sunday I went to Darbar for the first time after reading that it offers a wider range of North Indian/Pakistani menu than other restaurants in the Boston area. I ordered a specific entree from their menu and requested that it be made without onions and tomatoes. They said they can't make it, and that next time I should call at least a day in advance if I want that entree without onions and tomatoes. Yesterday I called them around noon time and told them that I will be coming today at 11 am for that particular entree. I talked to the chef and he said he will have it ready for me. I went today at 11 am and requested it, and they said the chef forgot to make it and is now busy with 2 catering orders. I also saw the woman who works there coughing into her hands and then touching the food without gloves on. She also told me that the restaurant opens at 11:30 am even though the website says it opens at 11 am. Very disappointed. The people who say the restaurant has great food, say that because it's more authentic than a lot of other Desi restaurants in the Boston area. Other than that, the food is OK and the service is terrible. Never going there again. read more

Terrible food we tried the buffet the food was stale it wasn't fresh it look like it was pulled together from other people leftover from days before. if they plan to stay open they need to serve fresh food or shut their doors we will not be returning to this restaurant and will be advising family and friends to do the same read more

I have been visiting this place for quite a long time. Recently I visited this place coming from very far just to eat here, and they didn't treat me well. They treated me very bad, asking rude question and then telling me and my friend, our buffet starts an hour later, and then we said ok we will walk here and will come back. We came back an hour later and had to wait for a while again they didn't even ask what you want or if our buffet is opened now. Me and my friend felt awful since we wasted so much time commuting and then waiting for them, just to eat here and we were so hungry, and they treated us badly. Will never every visit this place again. Will never ever recommend it to anyone especially in my community. Extremely disappointed! After that we just left without eating anything and they didn't even ask, and we went to Punjab Palace it was really nice. read more

Good Pakistani/Indian cuisine as compared to the other ones I have been around in this neighborhood

Tried this place for lunch today while my car was being repaired. The food was decent but overpriced - Especially considering the portion size. I ordered a spicy beef kebab, which was just a few chunks beef with undressed iceberg lettuce and cucumbers on the side, and garlic naan. The total came to over $17. The worst part about the meal was the service. There were more employees around than customers in the building, yet the service was slow. To top it off, the server gave me attitude throughout the entire meal. When I asked for the check she rolled her eyes and grunted, then I said "thank you" and got no response. I will definitely not be returning here. read more

Went there with family at around 8:30 pm for the dinner buffet. The rice was smelly and expired. I complained to the staff and they told me that they would get me a fresh plate. I waited for 20 minutes and asked again. I was told that there is no rice left. I asked to speak to a manager but there was no manager available. The staff rudely told me that rice is fine and i was the only one who complained. I managed to call the manager and he told me that he doesn't eat rice but by coincidence he had eaten it today and it was fine. No one apologized to me and told me i was wrong. I went to the Cambridge health department to complain and they told me that this restaurant has been fined 3 times in 2015 for being unhygenic and using expired food. If you love your family and want to stay healthy then just stay away from this place. read more

The buffet was only $10, but at 2:45pm, it did not look appetizing. We ordered Chapli kebabs - they were super spicy, so if you have a low tolerance for food, I would avoid them. My friend enjoyed the Haleem, which is a special here. The breads like naans are pretty big in size. read more