I'm sick today so I decided to do a little takeout. I'm in the mood for Indian food. This restaurant is located at 1250 Burnside Ave in East Hartford at the former Marco Polo's. I'm starting it out with sambar. Sambar is a flavorful, lentil-based stew that's a cornerstone of South Indian cuisine. It's typically made with pigeon pea lentils (toor dal), tamarind, vegetables, and a fragrant spice blend known as sambar powder. The dish is often tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaves, and dried red chilies. Sambar is known for its rich, aromatic flavors and diverse variations across different regions. This is a bit spicy and very salty but I one it! Next up, I'm having a [vegetarian] samosa. A samosa is a crispy, fried pastry that originated in the Middle East and is popular in South Asian and West Asian cuisine. The savory snack is made with a pastry-like crust and can be filled with spiced potatoes, peas, onions, meat, or fish. The filling can be spicy or sweet, and the shape varies by region, sometimes triangular, crescent, or cone-shaped. It is often served with a couple sauces. These are good! The light green one is called a green chutney. Green chutney is the most common sauce served with samosas, which is made with a combination of cilantro and mint. Other options include mango chutney, tamarind chutney, tomato chutney, or raita, which is a yogurt-based sauce. This can be a bit spicy. The brown one is a tamarind sauce. Tamarind sauce, often used in Thai and Indian cuisines, is a condiment made from the pulp of the tamarind fruit, known for its unique tangy, sweet, and slightly sour flavor profile. This is less spicy and very tasty. For my appetizer, I'm having the Baby Corn Pepper Fry. These are battered baby corns that ate stir fried. It is quite good and nicely garnished. For my entree, I'm having the Gongura Chicken Kabab tandoor. Gongura, also known as sorrel or roselle, is a leafy green vegetable with a tangy flavor, commonly used in South Indian cuisine, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, to make chutneys, pickles, and curries. It's boneless, well seasoned and mixed in with purple onions and green bell peppers. Be sure to add the lemon! This is fantastic! Easy to eat and very light. For dessert, I'm the Carrot Halwa. Gajar ka halwa, also known as gajar halwa, is a beloved North Indian dessert of grated carrots cooked down into a pudding-like consistency with milk, sugar, cardamom, and sometimes ghee. The word gajar means "carrot" in Hindi, and halwa refers to the porridge-like texture. This sweet treat is often made during the winter months when red carrots are plentiful, and can be served warm or cold as a snack or dessert. This is a low cholesterol, delicious dessert! I love these guys! read more

Godavari - Indian Near Me - East Hartford, Connecticut

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Godavari has consistently delicious food! I ordered my usual dal tadka with garlic naan. Our server was the only one for the whole restaurant I think on a Friday night so he was overworked. Service was a bit slow due to this but he was friendly and got everything right. There was a South Indian Bollywood movie playing on the big screen tv. It was so colorful and fun that it distracted me from the conversation every once in a while. We ordered a cauliflower appetizer which was incredible! We also ordered a yogurt dessert but the consistency was odd. My Indian friend said it wasn't prepared quite correctly but still ate it all! read more

Love the Sunday brunch. They have a huge variety of dishes. It's kind of spicy. But delicious

I am old enough to remember the old Marco Polo and Godavari has done a wonderful job at taking over! Ambiance was clean, warm and inviting. Kind staff and beautiful table settings. Now, let's get to the REAL reason that Godavari is amazing...THE FOOD! I have had Indian food alot and the quality of the ingredients and the spices and flavors made me want to HURRY to get some more CURRY! There were so many options to choose from and everything from the grilled wings to the tiki masala were so delicious. read more

Great food. Not so great service but not terrible. And good ambiance. The taste of the food alone is enough to make me recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves food. read more

This place is our local favorite Indian restaurant, been here many times and also ordered catering from this place. I would like to review based on my recent visit. Came with family for some Biriyani and Appetizers Started off with a chicken lollipop, the size seems to have become smaller from last time, but this time it tasted little sour, We then ordered three Biriyanis specials - Rajugari Kodi pulao, Thalapalatti Chicken and Mutton. The raju gari kodi pulav did look more like a Biriyani with fried onions, asked for extra spicy but it was not up to the spice level, but tasted good. The thalapakatti Biriyanis are good as they are and as expected. We also got some south central combo which comes with two idles and a Vada with 3 different chutneys and some Sambar. The tomato chutney is the best of all three. Coming to service they are a bit slow, food took time to come out, but came out correctly. The inside of the restaurant needs some improvements, we found mosquitoes flying around us, may be they need some repellent. They usually have a lot of good items to try out, recommend this place for good Biriyanis as for double masala and you will love it. read more

Not all the dishes are good. Especially the vegetarian dishes needs some work. However all the non-vegetarian are excellent. Very reasonable priced southern Indian cuisine. read more

I tend to be very critical of Indian food, as I grew up eating South Asian cuisine. Naturally i think my mother's cooking is the best, and everyone else thinks theirs is too (in fact, we are all correct). This place comes close though. Their street food menu is authentic and extremely tasty. Ive only had their chicken biryani but it was so moist and tender (which is a large feat, as biryani is an exhaustive dish to get right). It was so good that i got it twice in one week! Chili chicken was also great, and he manchurian noodles were tasty as well My only complaint is that the dosa we got was not as crispy; however, that could largely have been because we did take out and the dosa sat in a styrofoam bin. Seems like an excuse to go back and try it in person! read more

I ordered for delivery and the food was ready in time. I tried - - malai kofta: medium spicy was great the taste was flavorful but I wish this was creamier - garlic naan: this was delicious but also needed more garlic but overall naan was well cooked. read more

Godavari - Indian Near Me - East Hartford, Connecticut

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The service was ok and the food was ok too. Nothing out of ordinary. The place is slightly old though and doesn't look very well maintained. We tried the chicken drumsticks for appetizers which tasted good, the chicken was a bit cold though...not properly reheated. The veg kuttu paratha was ok. Could have been a bit more spicier. The chitoor Chinese noodles was ok, quite spicy. Unfortunately our sever did not ask for the spice level...so each of our entrees ended up with different levels of spice. Ok choice if you are hungry for some Indian food, else would maybe skip. Not sure if there are other good ones around...not been in the area much. read more

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I went for Uber Eats delivery. Everything I ordered was spicy. Avakkaya chicken dum biryani was chicken biryani cooked with some (not a lot of) mango avakkaya pickles. Chicken chitoor chinese noodles was good and spicy as well. Mamsam roast was mentioned as an appetizer, but I would say it was better as a side for some bread like garlic naan. I went for the spicy version, and for me that suited the best (as i generally eat spicy food). Quantity was good. For ordering above $40, I got a complimentary payasam, which was just alright. read more

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Food safety issue, I brought this my favorite snack called "murukulu" which also said organic on the label. It was pretty bad and foul smell and old. How come these stores allow such old things, this store need definitely thorough inspection and also along with my Biriyani raitha had foul smell too. I would definitely rate negative for my disappointment. They charge so much for un quality food. read more

Godavari - Indian Snack - Indian Near Me - East Hartford, Connecticut

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Did you know that Marco Polo traveled to India in 1292? Did you know that the old Marco Polo restaurant in East Hartford closed and reopened as a spiffy new South Indian restaurant named Godavari? Did you know that Godavari is a restaurant chain with 14 locations in eleven states? Did you know that Godavari serves the very best Indian buffet lunch I've ever had for eleven bucks? Did you know that the lunch spread featured twelve buffet trays (many of which contained two dishes), three desserts, and three beverages (juice, punch and hot chai). Did you know that a Yelp check -in knocks 5% off your lunch buffet bill? What a fantastic lunch I had. The food was hot, fresh, delicious, and had a real nice zip factor on the old spice scale. I loved the coconut rice and gobi, but everything I tried was very good. I'm the first to admit that I don't know a lot about Indian food, and the names of the dishes printed at the buffet trays might as well have been written in Venusian, so I'm not really sure what they were. But be they vegetarian or chicken or lamb or whatever - they were all delicious. No doubt, Marco would be pleased. read more

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Love their food! We started using them during covid and they were working so hard to reach us and stay afloat! Free delivery (and pretty far) and great food! We love the butter chicken and Marsala! Naan is really great! Biryanis is hubby's fave! Try it and you won't be disappointed. read more

I just ordered food from this place on Uber, and it's absolutely the best Indian food I've ever had in my life. Makes me wish I were local! Everything was spot on. The dosa was delicious with flavorful accompaniments and a generous portion. The chicken tikka masala had the most wonderful sauce and was fresh and delicious. The naan bread was generously sized and perfectly cooked. What an exquisite meal. My wife and I found this to be the best Indian food we've had in our lives, possibly making this one of the best overall restaurants we've eaten at in years. Five stars! Highly recommend read more

Not good. Never again. I know good Indian food and this isn't it. A watery Dal Makhani and tasteless curry. The Mutton Biryani had no flavor. I'm not talking flavor as in heat. I mean literally the only thing you could taste was the excessive cardamom pods thrown in it. It was not good. The Aloo Gobi was terrible. Cauliflower was crunchy and the potatoes were still hard. The chunks of lifeless tomatoes floating around in the tasteless sauce was unappetizing and uninspiring. The frozen samosas were the best part.... and that's sad. Sorry but I wouldn't bother a second time. There are other restaurants that are Much Better. read more

I have eaten here many times and with Covid I started ordering take out. I get the same thing every time and keep telling myself to try something else on the menu, but their goat vindaloo and garlic naan is just so delicious. They are so quick with delivery and deliver themselves to make sure the food arrives piping hot. This is the only Indian restaurant I frequent lately. Their flavors are top notch! read more

I know everybody has been waiting a long time for Godavari to open and all that crowd, the past one week is coz of the hype that's been created. Will they live up to the standards is a question that only time can answer. This was my second visit ( after the first being on the day they opened) we came here for the lunch buffet $14.99 pp ... I hated it both the times so not worth 15 bucks maybe 1-2 items on the menu are good... But not worth waiting in line for....don't take my word for it, coz my opinion is biased. They said the weekend buffet had 45 items on the menu... But I didn't see that many. That said, most of my friends seemed to enjoy the food ... They also have a live dosa and chat counter outside. read more

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My friends and I were returning home from New York and wanted to have a decent Indian meal on the way. This was the only place open at that time with dine in option available and so, we gave this place a try. We were famished and as soon as the food was served, we sprung on it. We were a party of 6 and had ordered - Goat mamsam, Goat dum biryani, Chicken chittenad, Rayalaseema Kodi Venpudu and Paneer biryani. The names sound confusing but trust me, the food was delicious. Everything was yum, flavorful and authentic Indian spicy. I'd recommend this place to anyone who wants to enjoy a delicious Indian meal. read more

We have ordered takeout a few times and have been happy. Noticed they had a weekend buffet so thought I'd give it a shot. Wish I didn't. They had a very large selection of items, but everything was cold and old. Zero service as well. The kicker was it cost something like $26 for me and $17 for my 6 yr old who had maybe a quarter plate of food. I felt obligated to leave a tip, because the computer recommended at least 15%, and it was over $50 for a lunch buffet for me and my 6 yr old. Enjoy the tip because we won't be back. read more

This is most authentic Indian food place in Harford ( in fact in the state of CT), the place is amazing, from interior decor to food- everything is 10/10. The staff is welcoming, respectful, courteous. The quality of food is awesome, you will like each and every item. We went for lunch buffet and blown away. I am from NY and we have its branch in Long Island, but this branch is way ahead of other branches. Strongly recommended- try dum biryani, Bar Bq, and mutton. read more

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Amazing authentic indian food! They have really good variety of veg as well as nonveg dishes. The buffet on the weekends is a must try! read more

Give me for dinner on Sunday night around 5 PM. They still have Covid dated restrictions on ordering food from a QR code. However there was a lady who was able to take out order but it was kind of weird at first. The food was very tasty although my soft DOSA came crispy. Food was very tasty and quick I recommend this place for quality of food not for ambience read more

Worst experience, I ordered idly and vada combo in 12$, there were only two idly and one vada and way too less sambhar. Very bad taste and quality. Also customer care was very rude when we called. Total disappointment I don't recommend it to anyone. read more

I would probably say this star is given just generously as we were so frustrated with the food ordered through Uber eats . Firstly the dosa box was stinking with some kind of weird smell and the dosas were unbearably sour ( actually it was stale ) . Luckily I wanted to check the taste first so took a bite and then stopped from eating further otherwise I would have ended up having indigestion and stomach upset . The rotten smell was all over the dining area and went away only after I threw all the boxes . Next , the idlis were soggy and started breaking as I just touched it . And the idlis also tasted just like dosa and not at all fresh . The biriyani was just eatable but definitely not up to the standards and quite salty too . I regret having spoiled my lunch because of this terrible experience. read more

Cockroach infected place! Went to this restaurant on 07/09/2022 with my family for their buffet. It was all good untill I found a dead coackroach in their yogurt rice. When I called up the incharge to show the roach, I was told sorry and was given bill to pay. Lol I would never go to this place again and would a suggest anyone not to as well!! read more

People eat here? Willingly? And they pay for it? After experiencing the buffet, I'm clueless as to why. Please, someone make it make sense.... read more

Don't judge a book by its cover. Came here from out-of-town for a friend's birthday. The place looked kinda sketchy from the outside. The decor is odd and kinda ugly... So before we ordered, I turned to my friend and suggested we pick out a "PlanB" choice if this place didn't work out. We ordered an shortly after the food started rolling out. EVERYTHING WAS DELICIOUS!!! we ordered Chai, Lassi, Dosa, Sambar, idli, multiple curries, Kofta, Birini, Chicken tikka masala, vindaloo+++ So delicious! And one of the best meals (in general) that I've had in a while. Try this place, you will be happy you did. read more

Um...go to indigo or Priya or Utsav...this is too big with a kind of chaotic service that you suffer through when you visit someone who was absolute not prepared for any visitors. Think it's just too big to handle with the current staff. Snail paced service seldom Around when you need them. Maybe if they start opening up section by section in this huge seating area that was once Marco Polo...they will be able to manage the crowd that gets in to try out the new Indian place that's apparently a big chain of restaurants. Ordered a variety of preparations from the menu...giving them enough opportunity to impress us...nada! Tandoori platter - only the shrimp worth it Chicken lolly pop - absolute no no no Goat Biriyani - dry Schezwan noodles - stay away Gongura chicken - too spicy even for medium spicy. read more

This restaurant is a pathetic excuse for Indian food. We went there for weekend buffet and the food was so cold and soggy as if it had been prepared the previous day or had been repurposed. I don't think I've had worse Indian food at a restaurant. read more

This is a new establishment opened a month ago. My first ever visit ! Considering a newly opened place, I was expecting a huge effort by the staff to make a first impression. We went on a saturday night. It was not very crowded as I would expect - probably because "the buffet" is only served during lunch time. Their 'truly south indian' menu is unique with wide variety of Andhra/TN dishes. Menu also has a 'future citizen (kids special)' section, which puzzled me a bit. Not sure what that really means. Apart from Biryanis and non-veg entrees, they have wide collection of dosas. We ordered the following : Papad with Mint chutney (complimentary) Loved the fact that they serve this as complementary. I hope this is not something temporary! Chicken Pepper fry: This did not taste like an actual Chicken pepper fry. Salt was very less. Overall an average recipe. Goat Dum Biryani Biryani was good. Meat was well cooked. Spice level was okay, could be improved. I like the biryani with a sour flavor. Although that was missing, but a very good attempt at the recipe! Mango Lassi No complaints, this was our savior! - Perfectly made with proper amount of sweetness! Wow! Service was excellent and quick. But the real test would be to visit during rush hours. Cheerful, hard working and attentive staff impressed me. I would advise the management to focus more on the food and also hygiene level of the restrooms. I will try their buffet to get an overall picture of how they fare with the other Indian restaurants. read more

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Never stop by for buffet here.None of the items are fresh or even hot which qualifies for the minimum requirements of food to eat. Terrible service even after informing multiple times to provide hot food. read more

Their service suck big time. They take your order and keep putting you on wait. I placed an order for pickup. When I got there after 35 mins, they kept adding 10 mins each time. After waiting for 30 mins, I just left without my order. A few other customers did the same. Manager appeared that he didn't really care. He was hanging around without putting on his mask properly. The mask on him was only for a name sake. I'm glad I did not eventually end up buying the food from this restaurant because I highly doubt if they even serve the hygienic food. read more

Terrible wait times wouldn't recommend it if in hurry but food is fantastic , may be it's worth the wait !

Just got the uncooked food delivered. Ordered South central combo and got UNCOOKED Vada. It literally has the batter inside. Threw it off. Never gonna order again from Godavari. It used to be good, not anymore. Delivering uncooked food is irresponsible. read more

Godavari - South Central Combo ( Two Idli Two Vada ) - Indian Near Me - East Hartford, Connecticut

This place is everything to rave about! Their food is so good and tastes so authentic AND the menu is huge! They also deliver to Andover which is awesome for me because I am so far away from civilization! I hope you please continue to deliver to me because you will continue to be my number one Indian spot to go to! Hopefully some day we'll actually stop in and try it in store. I wish there was an Indian restaurant with a full bar, that would be cool!! And I recommend the Tikka Chicken Masala, and the naan, and the samosas, and the byriani! read more

I appreciate what they have to offer and that they provide free delivery, but the quality of food is really poor. There was so much oil in our curry and Tikka masala we couldn't eat it. This is a shame because in the past they used to be so good. Hoping they can recover....this is a really hard time for restaurants and we know they have to bring high quality of food to stay in business. read more

I orderd a chicken 65, butter chicken and a Butter Naan. Chicken 65 was very salty and not prepared propely. Butter chicken was also not good. I am not going back to this place. read more

The food here is usually spot on. However delivery needs some serious work. I ordered from them about 8 months ago for delivery, I ordered about 45 minutes before they closed for lunch. I didn't get my order until they reopened for dinner, even though they said delivery time was 30-45 minutes. It was literally 3 hours later after I expected delivery. Tonight I ordered again through a food delivery app. I ordered around 8:00, channa masala and naan. Delivery was predicted around 8:40-8:50. At 9:10 I called asking if it had been picked up and they said it had. At 9:30, no sign of the food so I contacted the app for help. The app stated the restaurant has their own delivery drivers through the app, so I'm struggling to find a reason for continuing 2-3+ hours for delivery The food finally showed up at 9:45. read more

Delicious!!! I haven't sat in here as I haven't had time but my absolute favorite take away