Their combo plate is still the best deal in town. Awesome authentic Punjabi food. When you order mooli parantha they grate it to order. Sabzi on point. Roti amazing. Just pretend they don't have a bathroom because behind that door lies horror.

Places like Doaba Deli make my heart go pitter patter. It's a hole in the wall with grimy, papered-over windows that serves a completely vegetarian menu for a pittance ($10 for three options as of April 2024). When you enter, you'll find yourself in to a tiny, narrow room with three sticky tables for eating in. Through a doorway to the right, you'll see a steam table with several options on offer and the small, connected kitchen in the back. On my visit, options on offer included aloo baingan, channa dal and matar paneer. To be completely truthful, I did not love the preparations I tried. The aloo baingan was overly soupy, with eggplants and potatoes cut into huge, unwieldy pieces. Channa dal had been soaked from dried (good!) and boiled with some salt, but had not been noticeably seasoned in any other way. (I have to wonder if the very sweet young man working the counter perhaps misunderstood its readiness level and served the channa dal before it'd been incorporated into a dish! It was from the back of the kitchen, not in the steam table.) The matar paneer was the best of the bunch -- a little too liquidy, but the paneer and peas were in good balance, the dish flavorful. (Unfortunately, in my mind, I can hear my Pardner's 80-year-old Indian aunt complaining about the food tasting like it was made by a man... and it was. ;) I did quite enjoy the samosas filled with potatoes and peas, which were somehow held warm, but not dried out and stale. And I'm a total sucker for chaats, so will likely return to sample that section of the menu -- as well as the aloo kulcha, which Alan S., one of my favorite Yelpers whose tastebuds I trust 300%, has praised. (Presumably the tandoor has been fixed since 2018?!) I also loved the mixture of patrons on my visit: polite, young, Desi college students; grizzled white hippies; Nepalese Americans, etc... Doaba doesn't serve the best Punjabi / Pakistani / Bangladeshi food to be had in NYC to be certain -- but the friendly, warm, welcoming feel of the place, the low-brow, sticky charm... and maybe the memories it evokes for me of friends, travel, street food... it all twangs my heartstrings.

You often seek refuge in restaurants that serve good food at an affordable price with a disarming smile--they remind you of home in a broader sense. Doaba checks off those boxes spectacularly well. The parathas and dal are freshly made. The chai is piping hot. All their food is vegetarian. And the ambience is the New York version of a hole-in-the-wall Punjabi restaurant in Delhi. While farther away for me relative to Punjabi Deli downtown, Doaba has more seating and is fairly easy to access with public transportation. It is a convenient stop for cab drivers looking for a quick bite or cup of coffee. I wish their restrooms were limited to use by paying customers, but the friendly disposition of the owners might come in the way of enforcement. Hard to believe I only tried them recently although they have been around for 15 years. I look forward to returning to Doaba when I am in the neighborhood again.

Love the paranthas and rotli here and they're super affordable too! The perfect spot to get some chai and samosas. This is a cab driver favorite spot which make sense since it's super quick and reliable. Dahi here is also made fresh every day and it's one of my favorite things. The sabzis definitely lean oilier so they're not my favorite.

Cheap and delicious no frills vegetarian Indian food. For $8 you get a big container of rice/bread with a choice 3 items. I went with cauliflower, spinach and chick peas. Cauliflower was my favorite but all were seasoned well without being salty or oily. We also got samosas. Potatoes were seasoned really nicely and dough had a slight chewiness. That might be my favorite item. Service was also great.

Great food at a great price point! Doaba's combo lets you try three dishes and two roti (or rice) for $8. The portions are quite filling and tasty, and the food tastes comforting and homey. I would say it's less salty than some other restaurant food (but still plenty flavorful). The roti is made to order and is great! One thing is, it seems like not all dishes are always available (like naan). Also, the combo wasn't listed on the menu (and apparently there is a smaller, single dish size for $4 which I was also offered?), which was a little confusing for a first-time visitor. But overall, I'd recommend coming here for cheap, tasty, and filling food! Also, the hours are great--they only close for half an hour a day!

This had been on my list for maybe 2 years, with a decided Indian feel in the middle of Harlem. It had a voice. Lime colored walls and a large wall menu that looks like it's from the 70s. Of course the food smells great and you always see Indians eating there, It's a small place - hole in the wall for real. It's almost kind of hard to figure out where the door is, which fixes this Alice in Wonderland through the looking glass feel. Place is clean but maybe a little dusty and worn. In this day I popped in to look at the menu and check on office hours. A lone man, worker, cook sat in the small empty dining area with old wood chairs it was comfortable, although bright. The walls displayed abstract art, a dripped on mix of muted pastels. 'No menu'. He said, but in a friendly open way then added, "go inside". I walked up the step to the other area which was essentially the kitchen, where you choose your food selection from a hot bar. There were deserts too, pans of different colored balls and so on. A kind older man told me about what was for offer: cauliflower, potatoes, spinach, peas w ghee. I was stumped happy and told him I'd be back (after a few drinks at Bobs your Uncle down the way). ' 3 vegetables for $8" he said. He was sincere and humble and maybe 92 - makin the donuts. Hell yeah. So after a few drinks at Bobs, I came back and was surprised they took Apple Pay. I got a piece of this white stuff w almonds for dessert for $1. I devoured it when I got home. The cauliflower was spicy, the ghee? (Cheese cubes)was delish and the dessert yummy. Good cheap food by sweet people what more can you ask for. Side note ; everything's vegetarian.