Jacksonville Indian Community Guide: Temples, Food, Culture, Activities & Local Life
If you are searching for the Indian community in Jacksonville, Florida, this guide is a starting point for discovering local connections, resources and everyday community life.
Indian and South Asian families live throughout Jacksonville, St. Johns County, Saint Augustine and Northeast Florida, and there is no single neighborhood or organization that defines the community. People connect through temples, cultural organizations, restaurants, grocery stores, festivals, cricket and chess, children's activities, music and dance, hobbies, friendships and many other shared interests.
NamasteJAX was created to make useful local information easier to find and to help people around Greater Jacksonville feel more informed and connected.
This guide brings several Jacksonville Indian-community resources together in one place. It is not a ranking of businesses or organizations, and details can change. For current schedules, programs, menus and operating information, always check directly with the organization or business.
Have useful Jacksonville knowledge of your own? NamasteJAX also lets registered users submit a Community Update or article for free, subject to Admin review. NamasteJAX's public Community Updates page already provides this free-submission invitation.
Where can you connect with the Indian community in Jacksonville?
For newcomers especially, finding community may begin with a cultural event, religious gathering, children's program, sports activity or introduction from another family.
The Indian Cultural Society of Jacksonville (ICS) is one established local organization focused on preserving and sharing Indian culture in Northeast Florida. ICS programming includes cultural celebrations and community activities, including events associated with Holi, Diwali and sports such as cricket.
Because event dates change, this Evergreen guide should not try to maintain a permanent festival calendar. Instead, use NamasteJAX Events and the Community Calendar for current activities around Greater Jacksonville. Both are existing public NamasteJAX sections.
Where are the Hindu temples and Indian spiritual communities in Jacksonville?
Places of worship are important gathering places for many members of Jacksonville's Indian and South Asian community.
Hindu Society of Northeast Florida (HSNEF) / Jacksonville Hindu Temple
4968 Greenland Road, Jacksonville, FL 32258
HSNEF operates the Jacksonville Hindu Temple at this Greenland Road location and welcomes the community for worship and related activities.
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Jacksonville
7500 Merrill Road, Jacksonville, FL 32277
BAPS has an established Jacksonville presence at this Merrill Road address and publishes information about its Jacksonville activities.
Jacksonville and Northeast Florida also have other Hindu, Sikh and Indian-origin spiritual communities. NamasteJAX's Places of Worship section includes additional local listings. For the broader list and individual details, visit Places of Worship rather than relying only on this guide.
Where can you find Indian restaurants in Jacksonville?
Indian food is another way Jacksonville residents discover different regions, traditions and flavors.
Two examples are:
JaxSpice — Gate Parkway
5016 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256
JaxSpice serves Indian and Nepali cuisine and also has locations in Jacksonville Beach and St. Johns County.Maa Kitchen
8206 Philips Highway, Suite 25, Jacksonville, FL 32256
Maa Kitchen serves Indian cuisine including North and South Indian dishes.
These are examples, not a "best restaurants" ranking. Jacksonville has additional Indian dining choices, and each family develops its own favorites.
That is where local experience becomes valuable. Which dosa do you order repeatedly? Where did you discover a dish you had never tried before? Where do you take visiting relatives?
A genuine Jacksonville restaurant experience can make an excellent future Community Update without turning this Evergreen guide into a collection of unverified reviews.
Where are the Indian grocery stores in Jacksonville and St. Augustine?
Indian grocery shopping is available across the Greater Jacksonville area, including Jacksonville and St. Augustine.
Patel Brothers Jacksonville
9551 Baymeadows Road, Unit 12-17, Jacksonville, FL 32256
Patel Brothers' official location information identifies this Jacksonville store and lists Asian groceries, fresh produce and festival items among its services.Desi Pantry
206 Ashourian Ave, Ste 109, St. Augustine, FL 32092
Desi Pantry is an Indian and South Asian grocery store serving the St. Augustine area, with groceries, fresh produce and halal meat among the products it promotes.
For someone moving to Jacksonville or St. Johns County, locating familiar ingredients can be a surprisingly important part of settling in. Shoppers may be searching for rice, lentils, atta, spices, Indian vegetables, curry leaves, sweets, frozen foods or ingredients used for festivals and family recipes.
Local experience can add another layer of useful information: which store carries a hard-to-find ingredient, where you discovered a favorite sweet, or what you learned while shopping for a festival or family recipe.
Cricket, chess, sports and children's activities in Jacksonville
Indian-community life is much broader than temples, restaurants and grocery stores.
Cricket is one obvious example. ICS includes cricket among activities connected with its community sports programming. A newcomer might want to know where people play weekend cricket, how to find a team, whether children can participate, or where to find tennis-ball or leather-ball cricket.
Jacksonville also has an established chess community. The Jacksonville Chess Club promotes regular local play, tournaments and opportunities for younger players.
Other interests that may help Jacksonville families meet people and build friendships include tennis, badminton, table tennis, pickleball, spelling bees, geography bees, math and science competitions, robotics, coding, music, Indian classical dance, reading, gardening, photography, cooking, running, cycling, travel and volunteering.
A community article does not have to be about a temple or Indian restaurant. Someone's experience preparing a child for a spelling bee, finding a chess tournament, growing Indian vegetables in Northeast Florida or joining a tennis group can also be useful local knowledge.
If you know something another Jacksonville resident would benefit from, consider sharing that experience.
New to Jacksonville, St. Johns County or Northeast Florida?
Moving to a new city often means rebuilding familiar routines.
You may be trying to find an Indian grocery store, a temple, children's activities, cultural celebrations, cricket or chess, restaurants your family enjoys, or simply people with whom you can build friendships.
NamasteJAX has a separate New to Jacksonville guide for newcomer information and an Explore Jacksonville guide for discovering the broader First Coast. The existing New to Jacksonville page already has a substantial South Asian and Indian Community section, so this Evergreen article should complement it rather than repeat the entire newcomer guide.
This Evergreen article has a different purpose: to provide one useful starting point for understanding and connecting with the Jacksonville Indian and South Asian community.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I find the Indian community in Jacksonville?
There is no single Indian neighborhood or organization that represents everyone. Indian and South Asian residents connect through temples, cultural organizations, festivals, restaurants, grocery stores, sports, children's activities and social networks throughout Jacksonville, St. Johns County and Northeast Florida.
Where can I find Indian grocery stores in Jacksonville and St. Augustine?
Patel Brothers at 9551 Baymeadows Road, Unit 12-17 in Jacksonville is one option. Desi Pantry at 206 Ashourian Ave, Ste 109 in St. Augustine is another option for Indian and South Asian groceries.
Are there Hindu temples in Jacksonville?
Yes. Examples include Hindu Society of Northeast Florida at 4968 Greenland Road and BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at 7500 Merrill Road. NamasteJAX's Places of Worship section lists additional spiritual communities around Jacksonville and Northeast Florida.
How can I find Indian events in Jacksonville?
Use NamasteJAX Events and the Community Calendar for current events rather than depending on dates in an Evergreen guide. Cultural organizations such as ICS also publish their own event information.
Share Your Jacksonville Story — Posting an Article Is Free
You may already know something another Jacksonville resident is searching for.
Maybe you know where people play cricket. Maybe your child enjoys chess, tennis, spelling bees or robotics. Maybe you discovered a favorite restaurant dish or an ingredient that was difficult to find. Maybe you have experience with a local temple, gardening in Florida, books, photography, family outings or weekend travel around Saint Augustine and Northeast Florida.
You do not have to be a professional writer.
If you have a genuine local experience, useful information or story that could help someone else, sign in to NamasteJAX and submit a Community Update or article for free. Submissions are reviewed before publication.
NamasteJAX helps people discover the community. Local experiences can make that community knowledge even stronger.