After a quick trip to the zoo, my family and I decided to get some lunch near Clifton and the University of Cincinnati. We quickly remembered the large number of Indian restaurants in the area and decided to give one of them a try. We settled on Dusmesh, which just might be the highest rated Indian in the city.

Outside Dusmesh

Dusmesh isn’t as close to campus as other Indian places, but would it be worth the extra drive? It does sit across the street from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. The building itself appears to be an old house that has been modified into a rather large dining area when compared to other Indian restaurants we have visited. Google maps shows a different outside color, so it seems that the outside was painted somewhat recently.

Inside Dusmesh

There are two main dining rooms, and we were sat in the street side room, which was relatively empty compared to the other room. The other room also contained the lunch buffet, the main reason for our visit. We were quickly offered water by our server and he asked if we would like anything else to drink. The restaurant does not serve alcohol, but you can bring your own.

My Buffet Plate

I started with a large serving of chicken tikka masala, chicken & broccoli, and some mixed vegetable pakora (clockwise from bottom). First of all the pakora were delicious, easily the best I’ve had. This was my first experience with an Indian style chicken and broccoli dish and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit sweet at first taste, but comes through with a nice kick of spice at the end. The sweetness was a little much on my second plate, so I don’t know if I would order it as an entrée, but I did enjoy it at first. The chicken tikka masala was also good, but I wish it was a bit spicier. I would definitely consider ordering it as an entrée and spicing it up a notch.

Wife's Buffet Plate

My wife sampled a lot more of the food than I did with her first plate. From what I can remember the real standout of her choices was the mushroom saag (at the top of her plate). We’ve had other saag dishes before, but the mushroom was new to us and it was very tasty. This was easily the favorite of our toddler son. The buffet itself cost just $8.50 each, which I feel is a great price for a lot of excellent quality food. We will be back.