Cicero, N.Y. — With its array of curries, salads, meats, fried treats, fresh breads and desserts, all warm and comforting and available in endless quantities at a low price, the promise of the humble Indian buffet seems almost too good to be true. I’m a longtime believer that Indian cuisine is among the best equipped for a buffet. Not only does it allow for diners to sample many different dishes and gain an education for a cuisine that may be novel for many diners, but also a pan of chicken tikka masala kept warm in a chafing dish holds up a whole lot better than a pizza withering under a heat lamp, or a platter of fried chicken growing dryer and more leathery with each passing moment. As happy as I was to see Masala Heaven open this January, adding to a growing list of Indian restaurants that have opened across Central New York over the last year, I was even happier to see the attention they give to the humble lunch buffet. Each morning, Masala Heaven posts a video showing each day’s buffet selections on the restaurant’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. With a full salad bar, as well as about a dozen different curries; rice cookers full of basmati rice and chicken biryani; Indo-Chinese hakka noodles; samosa chaat, aloo tikki and other fried snacks; fries and chicken nuggets for the kids, and a rotating selection of fresh fruit and desserts, it’s likely the largest Indian buffet I’ve visited in Central New York. While the buffet is predictably heavy on chicken, paneer and vegetable dishes due to the low price point ($13.99 when we dined, though it has since increased to $15.99), I was glad to see other protein options, including goat and lamb, make appearances. The goat curry offered during our lunch visit was fall-off-the-bone tender, with a gamey flavor akin to lamb that’s mild, yet assertive enough to stand up to the vibrantly spiced sauce in which it was braised. Thankfully, variety isn’t the only spice to life. By its nature, cooking for a buffet generally means sacrificing individual taste preferences in favor of what will suit the largest group of people. While most other Indian buffets I’ve dined at default to a mild spice level for everything, Masala Heaven states that its buffet is prepared at a medium spice level. (A la carte entrees are available in four spice levels: mild, medium, hot and “Indian hot.”) It sounds like a small difference, but fill a plate with different mild curries and they’ll blend together, the restrained hand in the kitchen capping the individual characteristics of each dish. The spice level was most apparent in the goat curry and the chicken kadai, a ginger- and garlic-heavy tomato-based curry that packed a surprising amount of heat, especially for a buffet. The chicken tikka masala and its creamier, milder cousin, butter chicken, were well-executed versions of the takeout classics, with tender white meat chicken (and vegetables, for the tikka masala) in a pool of wonderfully creamy sauce crying out for a piece of naan to wipe it from the plate. While the chickpea curry was good, of the two bean-based curries available during our visit, the kidney-bean-based rajma masala was my favorite, with a richness and depth of flavor that rivals any meat curry. Same goes for the vegetarian matar paneer, which didn’t skimp on the cubes of the firm, mild cheese. You might see a large bowl of crispy hollow dough spheres alongside a drink dispenser holding a warm, green liquid and have questions. It’s pani puri, one of India’s most popular street foods, and while it is a multi-step process, it’s not too difficult. Grab one of the crispy shells (the puri), poke a hole in it with your finger, fill the inside with the potato-onion stuffing, and then fill it with the mint-based water (the pani) until it looks like the fragile shell is on the verge of collapse. Seconds before calamity, you pop the whole bite into your mouth. If there’s one Indian dish I crave more than butter chicken, it’s gulab jamun, the little fried milk balls swimming in a warm pool of sweet syrup flavored with rose and cardamom. So you can imagine my grief when I discovered that we visited on a gulab jamun off-day. Thankfully, any disappointment was short-lived, as that day’s featured dessert, kheer, a rice pudding studded with sweet golden raisins, proved to be a perfect cap to the meal. Kheer can be served warm or cold. Here it’s served warm — my personal preference — which makes the thick, rich pudding feel even more comforting. It’s one of the better rice puddings I’ve ever had. This may seem counterintuitive and bad advice for most other things in life, but when it comes to dining at a buffet, visit when it’s the busiest. The restaurant was fairly quiet during our weekday lunch, which meant less turnover of the buffet items. For the most part, that was OK, as the stews held up just fine with the heat of the buffet steam table keeping everything warm. On the other hand, the stir-fried hakka noodles and French fries had probably seen better days. The space was previously home to the Cicero Eatery, which combined Modern Malt, Cicero Pizza, Clinton Street Pub and Sal’s Birdland wings under one roof. Signs of the former restaurant still remain, including the blue and orange tiled bar, orange pendant lights at each booth and the orange-striped padded booths that feel undoubtedly Modern Malt. Except now there is a motif of the Taj Mahal by the main entrance and cricket playing on the dining room’s several TVs. From its corner spot in a shopping plaza anchored by an Ollie’s discount store and a trampoline park, across the street from the mall-turned-car dealership behemoth Drivers Village that undoubtedly accounts for the bulk of the traffic to this little pocket of Cicero, Masala Heaven is working hard to make a name for itself. The Details The Restaurant: Masala Heaven, 7785C Frontage Road, Cicero. Takeout/Delivery? Yes, takeout and delivery orders are available online, or by calling (315) 299-5999. Reservations? Available, though likely not necessary. Call (315) 299-5999. Credit cards? Yes, with no added surcharge. Noise level: Quiet during our visit. Accessibility: Accessible street-level front entrance and ample room to move throughout the dining room. Parking: Free shared parking lot. Special diets? Plenty of meat-free dishes are available on the buffet and a la carte. Many dishes are naturally gluten-free. Children’s menu? Yes, both on buffet and a la carte. A la carte options include chicken nuggets, chicken wings, French fries, penne alfredo, mac and cheese and vegetable hakka noodles. Kids’ buffet is half-priced. Hours: Buffet served Tuesday to Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A la carte dinner served from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Closed Monday. Cost: Lunch for two, including buffet, mango lassi ($3.99), kulfi ice cream ($2.99), tax and 20% tip was $45.31. Jacob Pucci is a food and restaurant critic for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. You can reach him at puccijacob@gmail.com and follow him on Facebook, Instagram or BlueSky. Sign up for our free weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here.