Five Star Banquet and Restaurant

I will definitely by throwing my sister’s wedding reception at this party hall. It is located in the center of LIC right by the 59^th St bridge making it very accessible. Ok, so from the start the valet parking service was very polite and professional. The setup was beautiful with a decorated stage and unique centerpieces that went with the elegant candelabra style chandeliers. It seems to be big enough to hold around 500 – 600 guests at a time. The service was well dressed, attentive to our needs and courteously. Above all, the continental dishes served were scrumptious, to name a few, Fettuccine Alfredo, Chicken Francese, Lamb Chops, and the buttery warm bread was fresh. I’m sure you will love this place so don’t hesitate to throw your own party here!

Service was basically non-​existent an hour into the event, we had to go into the kitchen to get drinks ourselves. Venue itself is okay, but cannot redeem other faults.

It’s big place to throw a party but I wasn’t impressed with service and food was cold. Girl at Bar was lost…

I absolutely love this place. Love the tikka masala, spinach, everything — especially the fresh baked bread that is brought out after you sit down. Always a good lunch spot with many cab drivers so you know it’s got to be good. Friendly waitress for years. Price is always good too.

Needless to say this place is Ur typical run of the mill indian Banquet hall. I was there for a baby shower. The appetizers were not that bad. The paneer butter masala was very watery. It seemed like the kid running the place is the owner’s son. Very to himself. No Hi or hello when he passes by. One of the biggest turn off was the condition of the bathrooms. The men’s one to be exact. Soo basically I had to use the bathroom. When I walked in it smelled and the toilets had piss all over them as well as sh*t. I walked over to the owners son and asked him if someone was Cleaning the water. He looked at me and asked me what I meant?! Haha prototypical Indian response. So I let him know that there is piss and sh*t all over the toilets. He looks at me with this stare. I did the same. After what seemed like a staring contest that I won, he brushes me off and says I’ll take care of it. Well he didn’t do anything! Use the toilet at your own risk!

Although dwarfed by the catering side of the business’s building, the inside of Five Star is surprisingly large. One waitress to assist all tables, even though we were sitting for brunch proved to be inadequate.
Nan came out at the halfway point, water cups remained empty for too long. However, the buffet made up for the shortcomings.
All the typical meat dishes were kept warm within their trays, part of a non flame, but liquid driven temperature control system, keeping items hot and moist.
The goat chunks were so large, they could be misconstrued as beef, minus the taste and sharp bones.
Street parking was quite a chore.

Awesome food! The dal makhni was out of this world! The place is not much too look at but then who cares when the food is this good!

Only $ 10 for the lunch buffet. dishes were good, weren’t too heavy. only had 4 different dishes during lunch and the appetizers were very limited.
the décor and feel of this restaurant could be a lot better, not a good choice for a date or important dinner

The food is sub par and the waitress is lazy… I will not eat here ever again! She makes you want to throw the food on the floor, spit on her sandals and leave. Cant stand that woman!

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE DINER/​RESTAURANT PART NOT THE BANQUET
I strolled in here on a Friday afternoon and I’m glad I did. One bit of advise do not sit in the second set of single booth seats, the AC leaks. During the noon to 4pm hour they offer a $ 10 all you can eat buffet. The selection is reasonable for the cost. I only have one issue with the food. When I was putting peppers on my plate I noticed that they forgot to take the sticker off and cooked the peppers with the sticker. I politely took the sticker off and put the pepper to the side. The food was so tasty and delicious and wasn’t as spicy as I thought it was going to be. It was a very hot day and I was glad that our pitcher of water kept on getting refilled every-​time that we were finished. I was a little surprised that this place was not packed. You might get a little confused when you come here because there is a big hall next to this place which gives the illusion that your walking in the wrong way. Make sure you go to the diner part or else your walking into a hall. The small little diner looks like it can hold 40 to 60 people. The buffet section wasn’t that big it was placed on two long tables in the shape of an L. If you do not ask for anything to drink they automatically put water on your table and no offer of beverage is brought upon you. I didn’t get to check out the bathroom when I go back I will. One might be scared of the décor but it felt like a whole different atmosphere as if we were in India with an american style looking restaurant, its really hard to explain. The art on the walls were rather interesting, I wanted to take a closer look but was in a bit of a rush because of the prior plans after eating. My reason for the 3 stars is because I did not get to see the bathroom, the leaky ac and the sticker on my green pepper. Other then that there is no complaints.

So the deal with service– if the nice lady is there, you will get good service. If she is not and the younger guy is there… be prepared to wait awhile.
The nice lady usually leaves earlier in the evening, it seems from my many times going.

It’s really not the best indian food or even great for that matter, but it gets the job done. In an otherwise desert this is an oasis in LIC. Indian food, delivered to our offices on Thompson in an almost timely fashion, and extremely reasonably priced.
The vegetarian dishes are much better than the non-​veg ones and the naan is quite good as well.
Long Island City doesn’t have much to offer food wise, this place fills a much needed niche!

Excellent Indian food. They don’t cater to American expectations or dietary preferences. That’s nice if you like real northern Indian food.
The butter chicken and chicken tikka masala are out of this world. (I don’t like dark meat personally, so I go for the tikka masala.) Excellent samosas. Fabulous breads.
The downside: the customer service doesn’t cater to American expectations either.
This is particularly so when it comes to delivery. For example, if you order something and they don’t have it, they will substitute, without calling you to ask if this is okay. You might ask for the amazing samosas and get so-​so pakoras. It’s a crap shoot.
And that’s if they have delivery service at all. They won’t deliver after 7 pm if you call, and then not every day. Don’t order online. Call them directly so you know they’re delivering that day.
(I once ordered via an online service and an hour later, called to check in. The service called Five Star and said they weren’t delivering that day. I see someone here had a similar experience. They refunded my meal, of course, and gave me a nice gift certificate for my trouble. But still.)
All that said, they still get 4 stars. The new place Jassi’s down the block is okay, but Five Star is the shizizzle. There’s a reason myself and others reviewing here order from them DESPITE the sometimes lousy service. The food really is that good.

I don’t get this place honestly.
The food is really good and it’s one of the few places that someone can order Indian food in LIC, but for some reason they offer delivery when half the time they don’t actually deliver; or if they do, it takes an hour and a half.
I have never ordered from here for delivery or pick and had it go smoothly. By smoothly I mean I ordered the food, it showed up in less than an hour, I paid and tipped, and then ate my food. Every order has been met with some some sort issue. It’s just not meant to be.
First time they hung up on me twice out of frustration of me not being able to understand them over the phone because it sounded like they were screaming in an empty warehouse. Second time it took an hour and a half and a lot of phone calls to find out «the delivery guy didn’t show up until 8».
We ordered online once and the guy never showed up, called to find out they didn’t have delivery that night.
Since then I moved onto just picking it up. I’ve done this once and when I showed to pay with my card the machine didn’t work.
This all being said, I really don’t care. The food is always really good, I’ve never had a bad meal here. We eat in the diner once in awhile and I like that they haven’t done much updating. I really do recommend eating here if for some reason you are by the bridge. The delivery just sucks, but they aren’t mean about it at least.

Very strange location but if you can get yourself here you won’t be disappointed. It’s a small Indian diner and next door is a huge banquet hall that can hold up to 600 people. I can’t comment on how authentic this place is but I was pretty happy.
There were 7 of us in total and we ordered a nice assortment of food. There was a nice serving of beer, samosa chatt (which wasn’t on the menu) and lots and lots of entrees, nan and rice. I ordered the vegatrian kofta in curry sauce. It’s a nice helping of curry with vegetable meatballs. Served with rice for the table it was creamy and the spices were just right. I’m so glad someone ordered the samosa chatt because it was really fantastic. It’s samosas with a bunch of stuff on top including onions, chickpeas and an assortment of spices. It was a nice deep fried crunch along with the toppings. I had a bit of the butter curry which was really great as well, a tad different from the kofta sauce. Also, the chicken tikki was good but a bit dry. Do come if you are in the area! Due to the location it definitely attracts a very diverse crowd!

After reading all the stellar reviews on this place, I guess I had super high standards. It was only a 10 minute walk from my place, so I made the effort considering I rarely go for Indian food in the city!
The décor/​environment is definitely subpar. It looks like a re-​done diner, which really, is fine. Cuz you’re not there for the place, but the food!
It’s self-​serve, buffet style. Really food it bland, all the curries. There wasn’t much to choose from. I think about 5 or 6? They also had a salad bar sort of deal and fried chicken thighs that tasted like rubber.
Hm, redeeming quality? The rice wasn’t bad.
So I guess you get what you pay for. The $ 9 certain was suffice but a waste of a buffet and i’ll never be back!

The only Indian dish that I can eat here is Butter Chicken. It is the best food that I can only think about India. Their butter chicken is what rice and beans is to Dominicans. Delicious butter chicken in a mild spicy sauce comes with some kind of Pita bread.

Rich, delicious Indian food + cheap + huge portions + open until 6 AM + Bollywood movies + South Jersey diner décor + bowls of fighting fish on the counter = GREAT SUCCESS!
Mango lassi was huge and very tasty. I ordered a «large» Kingfisher beer and was presented with a ginormous bottle (20 oz?) which I complained about being too big and then proceeded to finish before I was done with my meal. The bread is hot and so tasty, and our entrees (matar paneer, saag paneer) were spicy and flavorful without being way too spicy (and I am pretty sensitive to spice). The entrees are huge — either split one with someone or be prepared to have lunch for tomorrow. I can’t comment on the «authenticity» of the food, but there was a large group of Indian people celebrating a special occasion when we Shae C. and I were there. The waiter didn’t seem particularly happy to be serving us, but the food came pretty quickly.
So happy to have Five Star within walking distance of my apartment, even if the location is pretty random.
(Tip: they don’t charge tax if you pay in cash!)

Okay, now, I basically never out to Jackson Heights or Flushing to get Indian food, so I’m going to state that I’m not necessarily comparing this restaurant to places in that area. And I know a lot more about what South Indian food should taste like than about Punjabi food.
That being said, this place made me really, really happy. It’s an old diner space that is kind of trippy. The counter has a bunch of bowls of fighter fish on it. There’s a TV playing Indian movies, and Sikh cabbies hanging out and chatting at the counter.
The menu is fairly small, and I think that’s a good thing. I’m not sure we ordered as well as we could have (didn’t try any biryani or regional specialties, I don’t think). We got aloo paratha (which was really good), mango lassis (which were good), and samosa chaat, which was freaking delicious. But surprisingly, not spicy, which was a little strange.
The saag paneer and malai kofta were such a step above your average Indian restaurant in Manhattan. I have almost given up ordering malai kofta because they are so often these dense, dry balls that were obviously frozen. These were soft and tasted fresh. So much of the Indian food in the city tastes just like a mono-​flavor mush. I could actually taste different spices, dates, sweet vs. sour, etc. They also give green chutney/​date sauce… maybe for the chaat, maybe they just give it out in general. My roommate got an enormous Kingfisher.
The service definitely wasn’t friendly, but it was fast enough. They gave the check to us in a timely manner. Most of the people here were either cabbies or immigrants (or both) just hanging out and having a good time. It’s great you could go to this place at any hour.
It’s in a bizarre location, and I’m very happy that I can walk there from Hunters Point, where the dining options are limited. Bring cash. Hai Five Star!

This VERY inaccessible and oddly located place has some of the best Indian food I’ve had in New York City. The waitstaff seemed very surprised to have guests, I think they make their money from formal parties in the banquet hall, but once you get your order you’ll have some of the tastiest stuff you’ve ever had.
My guess is that they are major caterers to the weddings that get hosted here, so you are having food that is normally made to make people happy on their very special day. Make your way out here and try it.