Tandoor The Clay Oven

$17.95 lunch buffet! Yay! Tandoor chicken, tikka masala, chicken madras, goat curry, saag paneer, a couple vegetable curries, rice, chicken biryani, a fried onion patty, soup, naan, and then rice pudding, the sweet round dessert (sorry I'm not well versed in Indian fare), and a salad bar with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber.
A humble neighborhood restaurant set bewilderingly in a double-wide classic diner building, with retro curved chrome walls and bar stools and such. The servers are nice.

MUST MUST MUST TRY!

This has been a place I've seen many times . I've gone to neighboring restaurants that were good but this is a hidden gem in plain sight. Now, it looks off putting because it was an old diner and doesn't have the flair other Indian restaurants have in New Haven, however, look past all of that and go. Staff is nice and attentive.

They do have parking in the back but didn't see that sign until walking up to it but there is street parking. Their menus are placed on table under glass so you can start looking at all the goodness right away.

Now for the food. I've had mango Lassi before but never this amazing. It tastes very fresh. We ordered ginger ale and were given cans so I believe all of their sodas are cans which is fine. They do have beer and wine only so if you are looking for craft cocktails i suggest you eat here and get those drinks elsewhere. The vegetable samosas are a nice size and very tasteful. You get two so if you have more than 2 people in your party you want to order more. The lamb kebab, basmati rice, chicken curry and garlic naan were so good and fresh. Next time we have to try the cheese naan. The prices are very reasonable and we even brought food home which I am sure tastes even better the next day. I will be back!

The food here is AMAZING!!!! I had the lunch specials... chicken tikka Marsala & Garlic Naan with the Mango Lassi!!!! I swear I would come here once a week just for the Mango Lassi. Absolutely delicious- reminds me of the mango drink from my country. The aesthetic is cute it's in an old mobile trailer. Service is great and fast. Thank you!

Buyer beware, my order was hijacked by another restaurant, do nor buy from yelp site go to the Tandoor the clay oven website directly. I ordered from what I thought was tandoor in New Haven which has excellent food. When I placed the order I did not get a confirmation. I waited a bit but nothing came. I called the restaurant directly and they said they did not have my order. I realized I was scammed and ordered directly. Food showed up from the yelp order, it was terrible and there was no business name on the receipt. Somehow another restaurant stole the order. I paid with pay pal which makes it impossible to get your money back. SCAM ALERT!

Place was in an old diner which was cool. Walter said this used to be a diner town so a bunch of restaurants is in old diner setups.

They had mild, medium, med-hot, hot, v-hot, vv-hot, vvv-hot as their spice options. And let me tell you ..... hot is HOTTTT so be careful with your spice level!

- Lamb Samosas 2 pieces $6.95 more lamb than filling
- Okra Bhindi Masala $14.95 usually don't get okra but this was really good. Didn't have the stickiness okra usually has
- Chicken Biryanis $16.95 "hot" was soooo spicy
- Garlic Naan $4.95 thicker than usual but still good
- Mango Lassi $4.95 watery but the flavor was there

The service is terrible. We had to wait an hour for our food and they got the order wrong.

Also, when the food finally came, it was cold. I give them an F.

FAIL

Nooooo!!!
I'm sorry to say this about Tandoor -- because this was my favorite spot -- but this is just a health hazard.

I ordered 2 onion naan, saag with an extra container of rice. I normally love their rice so much that I always wish I got a second container.

Not this time. The rice was incredibly old and soggy, like soft and wet. So I went ahead and prepared rice at home. I thought, no worries, I'll make rice and I'll just eat the naan while I wait for the rice to be cooked, then I could happily eat my rice with their saag.

I happily munched on my naan and until I saw I saw tiny hair-like fibers on it. It stopped me in my tracks. I'm unsure if it was hair, fur, or fiber glass, but there were tons of it on the naan. I took a closer look and the hairs seem to glisten when light reflected on them. Am I going crazy?

Out of politeness, I called Tandoor to let them know what I found. I thought, well, if I was the owner and someone found something like this in my food, I'd want to know. There could be a begrudged cook back there!

I told the guy on the phone my findings and I said perhaps the naan fell on the floor and someone still put it in the bag. His response about the hairy naan: "That can't be, our floors are very clean."

So, Tandoor, this is my last visit to your establishment. If it was a stray hair, I would have thrown it aside and kept on eating, but this? This is something else.

If anyone knows if something like these fiber-glass hairs on naan are normal, and I'm just losing my shit, then let me know because I really like tandoor and I'll remove this review. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it!

stopped here the night before the harvard-yale game, surprisingly one of the only places with open tables. the place looks a typical diner from the outside and might throw you off with the windows inside, but this place has great indian food. loved the lamb saag and the biryani was very yummy, but the mango lassi stole the show for me. BEST I'VE TRIED SO FAR. if you're in the new haven area, this place is definitely worth a look

We hd gone to the Indian place down the street previously but they were full and my daughters friend had recommended tandoor. So we went in with low expectations due to the emptiness and the worn down look outside.

Naan and paneer tikka masala were excellent. Probably best naan we've ever had. Lamb biryani was ok but not quite the flavor im used to.

Overall we really liked it and are going back tonight for the naan and paneer.

92. Garlic Naan Chicken Tikka Masala
Food was great serving size was also pretty decent!The service was also very nice kept friendly conversation... I will definitely be back !