Indian food on a student budget

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Danni D’Angio never ate Indian food before coming to Syracuse. But one night while searching the Marshall Street dining area for a meal, she came across Samrat Indian Restaurant. She was intrigued.

“It’s kind of like it’s hidden,” said senior management and marketing major D’Angio. “Not a lot of people know about it because of where it is.”

Samrat Indian Restaurant is located at 701 S. Crouse Ave., a block north of Varsity Pizza and across from CVS Pharmacy. The restaurant offers a $9 lunch buffet seven days a week and a $13 dinner buffet on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Buffet offerings include a variety of fruits, soups, chicken and lamb dishes, and Indian desserts such as rice and mango puddings. Naan bread and salads are also available.

Samrat is busiest at lunchtime, according to employee Herman Kaur. The dinner buffet was recently added to accommodate customer interest. The lunchtime clientele is mostly students, but the dinner clientele extends to include other local residents, Kaur said.

Students note that Kaur seems to be working at the restaurant all the time, and they appreciate that she remembers them. Senior marketing and entrepreneurship major Nick Dauch discovered the restaurant during his freshman year and has been coming back ever since.

“The lady (Kaur) is great,” Dauch said. “Always friendly, always does everything she can to help us. It’s almost like we go back to see her.”

Samrat was founded about 20 years ago and was purchased 10 years ago by Kaur’s brother, Gurjit Singh. The restaurant shares the building with the Syracuse Corner Market, which Singh owns as well.