(713) 953-1388

  (713) 953-0188 fax

  Full halal menu

  Alcohol-free

  $$ out of $$$$

   accepted

  Available to-go

  Designated prayer area

  Clean restrooms

  Parking available

  Mass transit nearby

  Child-friendly premises

  Wheelchair accessible

Share via Twitter

★☆☆☆☆ Junk food , no value, you will find butter & oil which is only fat. They did good job 3-4 years ago. Now, they are only money making, not caring anyone. Posted on August 20, 2016

★★★★★ Awesome brain masala!!! Posted on July 30, 2016

★☆☆☆☆ For the full review, please click here. Posted on October 26, 2014

★★★★☆ Food was good for the price you pay for Buffet. Its was not bad at all. Posted on October 6, 2014

★★★★☆ I never used to like shehnai food and ate here on over a hundred occasion. The food is getting better especially since they incorporated the persian food. Posted on October 15, 2013

NR This place was my favorite but now it is awful and taste junk will not go again Posted on November 19, 2012

★☆☆☆☆ There are other better places to eat in Hillcroft area. Food is sub standard. They charge full price even for small kids. Tables, chairs and cutleries are very old and tables are placed close to each other. Posted on October 28, 2012

★☆☆☆☆ I was travelling and just bought some food to take home. Terrible Biryani with bones, strange taste and smell. Chicken makhani was loaded with red papper, overly spicy and not fresh at all, so we had to throw it away. Unfortunately a total disappointment. Of course the food gave me stomach upset for 2 dys. Posted on October 4, 2012

★☆☆☆☆ The buffet was horrible.Many of the dishes didnt look fresh but still ate few "fresh " dishes and had been diarrhetic the next day.Even the salads,pasta tasted like rotten(Maybe they had mold or bacteria).Becareful to even feed your kids in these kind of restaurants.Thank God,i didnt let my kid eat these things.And Ill make sure that i wont ever go to that place.I dont know what i was thinking to go there. Posted on August 27, 2012

★★★☆☆ [No review submitted] Posted on March 29, 2012

★★★☆☆ The food is only good when catered. Otherwise, it is not fresh for buffet. My family and I had stomaches after eating here. I didn't even have to taste the food at the restaurant to know if it was fresh, I could tell just by looking at it. Posted on December 1, 2011

★☆☆☆☆ I had fly in soup once. Food in buffet is not fresh. Today, I had catering food at a dinner which was simply a disaster. Rice was undercooked and chicken was almost non existent in biryani. The goat qorma had mostly ribs meat (cheapest) and no chops or nice meat part could be found. They charged the full price. Kheer was ok. Today's catering order supply was simply fraud. Posted on October 30, 2011

NR Food is very greasy...too much Shan masala dishes which give you heartburn.. Posted on September 13, 2011

★★★★☆ Went to open fast. Buffet was very good with a good variety. Loved their "Chicken 65". Staff was very friendly. I'll be coming back. Posted on August 18, 2011

★★★★★ The Lassi is excellent. Definitely try that. The weekend buffet is very good. However, I recommend not eating fast there. Cuz sometimes they replace their dishes with new items. After eating and getting stuffed, they brought out Lamb Biryani which I just missed. However, their items are really good. I strongly recommend it. Posted on July 26, 2011

★★★☆☆ I frequently visit this restaurant for lunch especially when I have co-workers visiting from India. They have nice vegetable variety along with plenty of meat variety. Posted on June 27, 2011

★★★★☆ Excellent Buffet Choice. Good Selection of Salads and Dessert. Posted on March 9, 2011

★☆☆☆☆ [No review submitted] Posted on January 28, 2011

★★★★★ I came to Houston after a gap of almost seven years. The restaurant has kept its high standards. I would recommend it highly. Posted on December 28, 2010

★☆☆☆☆ I hate shanai now. The food is horrible. The naan is the only good thing about this restaurant. They also try to rip you off when you go with a large group thinking you won't notice the bill. Posted on December 24, 2010

★★★★☆ We had the lunch buffet and thought the variety was wonderful. The food itself was also very delicious with just the right amount of spice. The lunch buffet includes drinks and unlimited naan, whch is great. The service was also pretty quick and courteous. I didn't give this restaurant a perfect 5 stars because we went on the day of Eid yesterday. When we got there, there was a note saying the buffet was $7.99. However, halfway through our meal, they put a new sign saying, "Eid Mubarak, Lunch buffet $8.99"!!! I thought that was definitely shady. Posted on November 18, 2010

★★★☆☆ We attended an event at Shahnai a few months back. The buffet had an enormous variety of food. My hubby especially loved their mango lassi/milkshake. Their pista kulfi was decent too. Posted on October 19, 2010

NR Food was ok but the lady at cash register was very rude and had no manners we had been going to RESTURANT for over 4 years. Our family will not go there again. Posted on April 16, 2010

★★★★★ I really loved this restaurant. Food was delicious, plenty of space inside, nice and clean ambiance and very friendly service. Would highly recommend it. Posted on July 9, 2009

★★★★☆ I love the food here but I don't like eating in the restaurant. Posted on May 30, 2009

★★☆☆☆ buffet is horrible. paya wasn't fresh. Posted on March 27, 2009

★★★★★ One of the best in Houston. They have two kinds of platters both are 7 or 8 $, I forgot the price. But I have gone there 4 times in my first month in houston and tried both platters two times. They give sufficient quantity for two and taste of everything in the platter is very good. Two people can eat one platter, if you do not want to overeat. They also have dinner buffet, which I do not recomend as overeating in dinner is not good, so stay away from dinner buffet. Posted on March 9, 2009

★★★☆☆ Excellent for catering, and having events in their hall. Recently I attended a Wedding that occured in Shahnai Hall, the food was fantastic! They do a great job for events and parties. Posted on January 3, 2009

★☆☆☆☆ public service announcement: I recently ate a to-go box full of the shahnai buffet over 2 days. If messy, violent, bloody pleas of desperation to God to please please not let you die in the bathroom are not your thing, then avoid this restaurant. Very tasty butter chicken, just probably not worth the few months of my life I lose every time I eat here. Posted on November 22, 2008

★★★☆☆ Inconsistent. Be sure and smell the biryani before you eat it. Sometimes it's actually rancid. They have steadily gone up in price every year or so for the buffet. Nice staff...but...again, inconsistent. The only thing decent in the buffet are the tikka pieces of chicken. Posted on November 17, 2008

★☆☆☆☆ Very honest staff if you ask about halal meat ???? answer is we dont no we only care about our tip. Posted on August 18, 2008

★★★☆☆ The food was of average quality but the service was very friendly . Although we reached their so late and they were closing , they still managed to provide us wth food and not only that they also gave us 4 tikka free . wth it . A nice gesture . Posted on November 15, 2007

★★☆☆☆ I'm NEW to Houston and listen to Sangeet radio FM1560 quite frequently while driving around. Apparently Shahnai has been spending a lot more money on desi radio commercials than any other Pakistani restaurant in town, they have their add played at least a few dozen times a day. This forced me to finally visit the place and see what's the hype about. I seriously believe that they are so over-rated. I'm not extremely picky about Pakistani food, but the buffet meal I had there really wasn't that impressive. My roommates back in college days used to be able to cook better than that, not exhagerating! If you must go there, consider ordering a meal as opposed to jumping on the buffet like I did on my visits and perhaps the regular meal quality may not suck as bad as the buffet. The waitresses are really sweet and sensible. The place seems clean but definitely needs a touch of interior decoration. Posted on January 26, 2007

★★★★★ When I first came to Houston, I tried several Indian restaurants, simply trying to find similar taste of food that I had in Singapore. The biryani they serve here are not as good as the one we have in Singapore. One evening, I was invited to Shahnai for a wedding. When I saw the Biryani, I got so excited that I was speechless by the time I left the restaurant. I force my husband to take me there almost every weekend. After 2 1/2 years being here, no restaurants can beat the delicious biryani like the one they serve at Shahnai. It does stops me from feeling homesick! Posted on April 22, 2006

★★★★★ good and delicious food.. Posted on November 20, 2005

★★★☆☆ How do you say overrated in Urdu? Posted on October 10, 2005

★★★☆☆ Great buffet, good tasting food. Bathroom is filthy though. Posted on June 17, 2005

★★★★★ cheap and good lunch buffet and the best chicken rolls in town. Posted on June 6, 2005

★★☆☆☆ Spicy and Greasy. Take your pepcid Posted on April 4, 2005

★★★★☆ shahnai food is good esp. buffet are tasty eat-out. Posted on March 9, 2005

★★★★★ Personally I don't mind paying more for the good food. but here, you can have an excellent food with a reasonable price. try it today..and you won't feel regret. Posted on November 5, 2004

★★★☆☆ Free nehari for Ramazaan is a good gesture but its atrocious.The meat in it low quality. Place is OK not friendly and food very greasy. Posted on October 18, 2004

★★★★★ the best restureant in town food is good owners r very freindly price is reasenable Posted on October 17, 2004

★★★☆☆ greasy, too spicey, not very friendly. Guy spent all the time talkin on the phone rather than tending to the customer. Posted on October 4, 2004

★★★★★ A very clean and well-kept place with excellent food at resonable prices. Highly recommended. Posted on August 18, 2004

★★★★★ A very clean, well-kept place with excellent food at reasonable prices...The only good Pakistani restaurant in town...I recommend all my non-desi friends to this place and they all like it. Posted on July 3, 2004

★★★★☆ We recently have Aqiqa party. They serve very delicious food at reasonable prices. They also keep excellent hall. I'd recommend for parties, marriages etc. Posted on April 23, 2004

★★★★★ the very best Posted on March 18, 2004