| Address | 3110 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA 22305 |
|---|---|
| Hours | Mon-Thu,Sun 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-9:30pm; Fri-Sat 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm |
| Phone | (703) 836-6363 |
| Fax | (703) 684-1089 |
Every restaurant has a signature dish and for me, I think this restaurant has two stand out dishes. the Bhel Puri appetizers and the Chicken Khadai. As for the other dishes, I find most of them to be average, although, my 3 Indian friends liked all of their dishes ( I am Asian ). I found their veal dish to be boring although the veal was tender. The chicken kabob was moist, but also plain with regards to the combination put together for it. Overall, it's a cheap eats worthy of having on file, and as mentioned above, the 2 signature dishes are ridiculously good. NOTE : the chicken khadai is VERY SPICY. They'd sell more of it if they'd tone down on spiceyness.
This is a tiny but beautifully decorated place in a nondescript strip mall. The service was extremely slow & there was a bit of a language barrier. The prices are lower than the average Indian restaurant & the portions are comparable in size. I was disappointed that they do not offer any chutney other than mango. We got chicken korma, butter chicken, chicken kadai, & chicken curry. The chicken was tender in all of them, but the korma & kadai had the best flavors. The gulab jamun was very good. Beware that they charge for every soda they bring to the table - no free refills. It doesn't say that on the menu & they don't tell you either. We were surprised when we got the check.
Went for Sunday brunch, since it is one of only a few local Indian restaurants serving a chaat appetizer, and I had a craving. While the chaat was good, it wasn't very authentic (seemed to be the best that could be improvised using American ingredients). On the other hand, the food in the buffet was excellent. All you can eat Tandoori chicken, curries, daals, nan, and things I couldn't possibly prounounce but loved nonetheless. The check was surprisingly low for the quality of the food. I definitely recommend a visit!
Good, but not outstanding. The chicken tandoori was very tender, but not nearly as tasty as other places. We got there just before the kitchen was closing, and the nan we got was all dried out. It should have been much fresher. Still, a very solid meal.
Surprisingly airy and pleasant space in a depressing strip mall and surprisingly subtle and delicate. We've only had one meal there, but it was outstanding. Sometimes the conventional wisdom is right (this place has been on the Washingtonian's 100 Best Bargain list for years) and I'm glad to have finally tried it.
It was kind of busy when we arrived and there were two servers to take care of diners plus also handle the takeaway. We thought that it might hamper service but were we wrong. We were greeted immidiatly and offered a choice of tables. Its a small place and we picked the round table at the back which is great for conversation and the food spreads very nicely if you plan to eat family style.
The mango lassis $ 2.75 were great and generous servings too. I have been to fancier places and paid upward of four bucks for tiny servings in fancy glasses. They carried an Indian beer Maharaja, it was light in body and went very well with the meal. There was a wine list with interesting selections which we did not try.
The Bhel puri, a crunchy salad like starter with puffed rice mixed with chutneys was a great hit, one is enough for four.
Got to have the Vindaloo the hot spicy curry and theirs was hot but it packed good flavor too. Even though not on the menu the kitchen made a chicken tikka masalla for us which was outstanding, very different from the other places where I find it hard to differentiate it from a butter chicken, their version had a different creamy sauce with dices of onion, peppers and tomato. The saag paneer also tasted very fresh and not the pureed spinach in many Indian places. Another dish which I had not seen in other Indian restaurants was their fish curry, chunks of cod in a creamish curry sauce with some seeds and leaves which I thought were lime but my server told me were curry leaves.
There seemed to be a steady stream of takeaway customers, the servers seemed to know most of them as also the diners which gave the place a wonderful neighborhood feel. The place got a bit noisy though which did not bother us but if you are looking for a quiet nook would recommend dining late.
We splurged and ordered way more food than we should have. The samosas were really good. The puffed rice appetizer wasn't my thing. The lamb vindaloo was crazy hot, but the butter chicken was perfect. And the saag paneer was good as well.
