"Very friendly staff & excellent food.Stumbled upon this place by mistake,cause from outside did not look much,but once we were seated upstairs,everything was nice.Tried their Restaurant week menu & for $35 a piece it was really worth it.Heard they have a buffet during lunch & somebody at the office mentioned it was fabulous.Will try that next time & keep you'll updated."
August 16, 2004
NEW YORK Magazine
"Opening to New Heights
Slowly but surely, the owners of Jackson Heights' popular Indian Taj have branched out, to Greenwich Village and on Long Island. Darbar, their latest and most elegant venture, occupies the east-midtown duplex recently vacated by D'Artagnan, and foie gras fanatics still in mourning can take some measure of comfort in Darbar's thoughtful, hospitable service and extensive menu (not to mention its $9.95 lunch buffet). In addition to standard korma and tandoori preparations, the kitchen experiments with fusion fare like "trans-ethnic" Maine crab cakes and Indian-spiced potato croquettes stuffed with goat cheese--both of which can be paired with trans-ethnic drinks like Taj Mahal beer and North Fork Chardonnay."
(from AOL cityguide)
Rhonda Markowitz
"This This bi-level Indian eatery offers a gracious welcome, dark wood paneling, a skylight ceiling upstairs, and one of the most amazing bargains in town with its $9.95 lunch buffet: a dozen choices of fragrant main courses and accompaniments, all help-yourself style, turned out by a chef direct from Bombay. During the day, Darbar draws tourists and nearby office workers, while at night the scene settles down with a sophisticated clientele mostly drawn from local residents -- although anyone more accustomed to dining on Sixth Street should certainly consider making a trek uptown for the wide-ranging menu (goat-cheese croquettes; garlic venison chops; 'trans-ethnic' Maine crab cakes with curry and ginger; cilantro-pesto tandoori shrimp; rosemary naan) as well as the most serene setting."
New York Post newspaper
Andrea Strong
"The snug duplex space that was D'Artagnan is now home to a chic Indian spot from the owners of Jackson Height's Taj. This elegant Midtown eatery offers traditional tandoori dishes as well as contemporary plates like Indian-spiced goat cheese and potato croquettes. There's also an unbeatable $9.95 lunch buffet."
India in New York newspaper October 8, 2004
Arthur J Pais
"Creative chefs don't fade out,...At Kishti, Apu Gomez's delicately spiced dishes that drew inspiration from different corners of India attracted a faithful band of customers. Kishti closed down about a year ago but Gomez has not been idle. He helped the owners of Indian Taj, one of the best buffet places in Queens, open an opulent restaurant on Long Island and a restaurant on the ever-busy Bleecker Street. The Taj group has also opened Darbar In the east Midtown duplex...Gomez offers many tasteful and eye-catching dishes, especially the Trans-Ethnic Maine Crab Cake ($10) at Darbar. When the menu says the dish is made of chunks of crab flavored with ginger and curry leaves, it is not mincing words. Rarely have I eaten crab cakes that are so flavorsome and filled with genuine crab meat...Another winner among the starters is the humble but ever-so-abused Vegetable Samosa ($4). The potato and pea filling is tastier than the Samosas found at most New York restaurants. The dish has very little oil too...I am intrigued by Beetroot Malai Kofta ($11). But more than any of the above dishes, I would want to investigate the lunch buffet. At Kishti, chef Gomez used to whip up an amazing buffet for $11. Here, the weeklong buffet costs $9.50. Every time I have passed by Darbar, I have seen a full house - it seats about 80 people for the buffet - between noon and 2pm. Soon to be introduced is a taster's menu, $80 for non-vegetarian and $60 for vegetarian. The price is a bit stiff for Indian taster's menus but the dinner comes with wine. Beguiling items include the Appam Roll, which was a big hit at Kishti, and which isn't available on the regular menu as yet. The non-vegetarian menu includes Garlic Venison Chops and Lobster Balchow, the vinegary Goan classic. In the vegetarian section, I am intrigued by the Jack Fruit Pakoras and the Methi Corn Tikki. Onion and Black Pepper Kulcha comes with vegetarian and non-vegetarian taster's menus. What makes the dining experience a bigger pleasure is that there is no Indian vocal music or recorded sitar music. Instead, there are lovely instrumental numbers from some of the most melodic Hindi films. Manager and part-owner Manek has a sense of humor. When he saw the chef greeting a customer, Manek refused to charge the man, without realizing he was a food writer. 'If the chef knows you so well, how can I charge you?' Manek asked, adding the customer was dining at Darbar for the first time. 'Its our office policy,' the writer said, 'to always pay for the food.' Manek hesitated for a moment. 'In that case, I think I should charge you double,' he said with a smile."
