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Categories: Indian, Pakistani, Vegetarian
Neighborhoods: Flatiron, Kips BayWe are happy to inform you that we are open on thanksgiving day and don't forget to try our South Indian Thali.
Announced 1 week ago28th St-Park Ave S (6)
23rd St-Broadway (R, W)
Mon-Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Mon-Fri. 5:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.
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Almost as good as Saravana Bhavan in madras (Chennai), India. The service and the food presentation are the same as the original ones in India.felt like home. Also, they fill every single chair, so you may have unknown people sit with you. This is really cool and it happens a lot in India too (in restaurants that are not pricey). I felt that the food was expensive here. But, it was worth it. I ate an onion uthappam and masala dosa. Both were outstanding and well done. Will visit NYC just for Saravana Bhavan.
Lines can get long. But service is very very quick they expect you to eat, pay and get out. No romancing here. So, you wont wait long. I couldnt believe they charge extra for chutney / sambhar.
Absolutely spectacular! Even though I recently indulged in an all-I-could-eat tour of dosa joints in Singapore, I was floored by the freshness, and variety of flavors at Saravanas. Go with a friend and be sure one of you orders the thali. The thali probably includes a dozen items, and I was sure at least one would be so-so, but they were all amazing.
SO much better than Chennai Garden up the block in Murray Hill.
It gets busy, so go early. Pleasantly informative and very efficient service. Surprised that so many others seem to gripe about this.
Horrible Service. Good Food. Bitter Sweet Experience.
The problem with Saravana Bhavan in Manhattan is that it is a hugely respected and recognized brand back in India, especially in the state of Tamil Nadu. So they don't care about customer service because of their arrogance: they know droves of people come to them everyday. The food is wonderful though. It is very authentically (south) Indian. There are not many Indian restaurants in the US that can claim to be very authentic, they mostly adapt to the US palate.
We were a group of three and we got a horrible table deep inside the restaurant beside the manager's counter. It was pretty warm in there and I asked a waiter if he could do something about the air. Of all the things he could have said and done he, not even looking at me, said, "You have just come from outside, wait a few minutes and you'll feel better."
Another waiter did get us a better table. So that was great.
Then we ordered a starter and main course each and they kept sending the orders depending on how much ever space there was on the table. This meant that each one of us took turns at waiting for our dishes while the others were having theirs.
When I was about done with my dish, a dude held the dish and started to take it away while his "Can I take this" came in quite a few seconds after he had already started taking it away.
Then they gave us the check before we even asked for it, before we had even ordered some coffee.
At the end you know the food was good, but you feel horrible about the service. It just seems like the management does not train its people to communicate well with the customers. I did see at another table, when someone complained about their order, the waiter willingly took it away to bring a new one.
The service is functional, but don't expect them to be nice to you.
Check out the Parotta, Onion Tomato Uttapam
(Anybody else wonder why they have Rajasthani dolls for decor?)
Definitely my favorite "tiffin" place in nyc :)...
Why I love Saravanas:
- it's like being back in Chennai, where I lived for a few months
- the food is yummy, my favorites are the idli and the parottas
- they make real masala chai (not a "chai tea")
For those of you who have been to any of the saravanas, or have been to India before, you should know that you're not supposed to go here for amazing service - its a tiffin room! It's a place where hot tasty food is served with amazing speed and precision. That said, I've always had friendly waiters.
Not sure if its obvious, but I love South Indian food, and its the one place in the city that I trust to make it!
I honestly prefer Washington Sq Park's NY Dosas. I had the Parotta ("fluffy" whole wheat bread with two curries that was flat, not fluffy at all, and one of the "curries" was masala potato), which was mediocre, but i liked the robust flavor of the second curry, which had mushrooms. I also had the Paper Masala Dosa (yes, i wanted to compare it with NY Dosas' Thiru's Masala Dosa), and was largely disappointed. The dosa batter was too salty, there was too much oil sprinkled on the inner side (the side that faces upward when cooking), and parts of it were burnt. The texture was too hard for me, and i suspect it's because they use a higher rice-to-lentil ratio in their batter than Thiru does (or maybe it's just because they overcooked it). The lentil is what gives dosas a slightly grainy, potato-crisp like texture, whereas the rice gives the solidity and hardness. The masala filling was definitely better than Thiru's, though. Better spiced and mashed into a soft, fluffy mixture. The sambhar was the best i've ever had, but be sure to have it while it's piping hot, because as soon as it cools down, it gets thicker and doesn't taste as good. As for the chutneys, i was disappointed by all of them. The coconut chutney was too much like a purée for me (Thiru does a better job of retaining the texture of the coconut flesh) and didn't taste coconut-y enough, the red chutney (sorry, don't know what it was) was too sweet (to be fair, i generally don't like sweet foods/condiments), and i was hoping for dairy-less mint chutney. I like my mint chutney bright green and sharp.
Service is slow, but not particularly bad. It's hard to get a waiter's attention even if not even half the dining room is full.
Still loving it. I did notice that the service here is a little clueless.
I asked for a diet coke and they looked pretty confused. You know. Diet Coke. They make it in cans now.
On the whole though, I'm a fan.
It's striking how different the restaurant selection is downtown compared to midtown. Instead of… Read more »
I always find myself coming back to this place for some super yummy South Indian cuisine. I always order the masala dosa and South Indian Thali. I also prefer the mango lassi over the regular one. Love this place!
Just awesome... been there with around 10 of my friends and ended up ordering almost everything on the menu.. this place is usually packed so you will have to wait a bit to get in .. the service is pretty quick and the order just keep on coming.. to my surprise the food was very authentic felt like eating in some restaurant is south India.. the sambar rice and the coffee is must have..
Took my mom here for an early dinner Friday night. We ordered the mini ghee idly and sambar, the onion rava dosa served with mint, coconut, and mango chutneys, an order of poori served with kurma and curried potatoes, and the South Indian Thali (basically a sampler platter for lack of a better description). The food was exceptional -- just like my South Indian roommate's mom used to make for us! We were stuffed, but I wanted to sample a variety of menu items. Next time, I'll most likely opt for a dosa and and order of poori to split.
This is the best South Indian in Curry Hill (known by outsiders as Murray Hill). Everything is good - go with many people and get different thalis (think Indian Bento boxes), so that you can try everything.
If you have never had South Indian food, do know that it is vegan and heavily fried.
I had fond memories of Saravanaa Bhavan from India. I went to one in Chennai and one in Delhi (on the recommendation of a well-traveled Indian friend, so that must count for something). I was pretty excited when I found out NYC had a branch (though less surprised), and I have to say, it lives up. Great South Indian vegetarian food at great prices (not as great as India, but what're ya gonna do?). Let's be honest: most Indian food outside of India is look-alike, taste-alike Punjabi crap. You're lucky if you can find a few South Indian items (the best regional cuisine, in my opinion), and luckier still if it's even reasonably authentic. So, the service notwithstanding, this place is a godsend. The only way to do better is to make it yourself.
My wife is from South India and with her I have have eaten a lot of South Indian food given that is her favorite food in the whole world. Having said that I can attest that the food at Saravanaas is amongst the best South Indian food I have had.
First of all we had their Idli (Rice cake) with four different dipping sauces, including the ghee with spices which was very good. Next up we had the Mysore Masala Dosa which had the best masala I have ever had in this kind of dosa, the only downside is that due to higher masala content the dosa itself loses its crispiness and is softer.
I also had the Channa Batura (Chickpea with Fluffy fried bread) which was excellent. The Poori that is served with this dish was fluffy... really fluffy!
To top it off we had the Madras coffee, which was served in the traditional steel cup inside a steel pan that you can use to pour into and back into your cup to cool the coffee down.
To sum it up... if you are looking to have excellent Vegetarian food this is the place to visit. In a neighborhood with so many good food options this one is definitely in a league of its own.
Kicking and screaming, I was dragged a couple of blocks from Chennai Garden to try something slightly different. You'd think I was being thrown off a cliff, such a fuss I made. A friend who used to live in NYC and really appreciates good Indian (esp. S. Indian food) had heard about Saravanaas and we agreed that we were in a Chennai Garden rut, a rut that really needed derailing.
I'm really loving how Curry Hill is overrun with S. Indian food now and so much of it really, really good....Saravanaas is no exception, not even close. In the sprit of full disclosure the other S. Indian places that I go, and to which I am comparing are Chennai Garden and Vatan in Curry Hill and Dosa Diner (called something else now) and Rajbog in Jackson Heights. That said, I think Saravanaas is probably the best of the bunch.
My friend and I went for lunch and ordered their thali lunch special, hoping to get a good cross section of what they have on offer. I wanted to have tasted other things like the dosa and the iddly but I'll have to go back for that and other offerings. What we had with the thali was really wonderful. It was a delightful experience to experience each dish as a distinct entity with its own texture and flavor. So many times with bad Indian food I feel that they just ramp up the chili pepper and call it by a different name. At Saravanaas, each dish was beautifully spiced and balanced, creating a very interesting and delicious trip around the plate. For $11.50 it was way more than I could eat for lunch. I think there were about 8 or 9 dishes, plus a big bowl of rice, a chapati and a pappadum, plus some mango pickle.
Decor was cute, service was efficient and a good 80-90% of the diners were S. Asian. I can't believe I ate at a chain and liked it. I'm pretty sure I should not extrapolate that experience to all chains. Can't wait to go back!
This place came highly recommended by a friend. This was one of two restaurants I wanted to go to before I left the city. It was great. Definitely not the traditional indian meal I'm used to, but it was a nice change with the dosas and all the different bread combinations.
I ordered a rice dish with vegetables, but it was more like a mush of rice and chopped vegetables. Though it had a great taste, it wasn't what I was looking for. My husband got an onion dosas and let me have part of his. It was really good. The sauces were actually my favorite though. I could have had a bowl of the chutney alone (it wasn't sweet). Yum.
Being married to an Indian man (whose mother is a great cook), it is practically impossible to find an Indian restaurant that he likes.
I insisted we go to Saravana because I LOVE dosas...and was delighted when he deemed it good. And, it is good. The place serves up really nice south Indian food (I have never seen such an extensive dosa menu - they even have one with dried fruit and nuts, which sounds very odd but is surprisingly delicious).
The place is pretty reasonably priced (we spent $24 per person and had appetizers, entrees, and shared a dessert) and has a quick turn-over of tables (it does get crowded and does not take reservations).
I try a new dosa every time and they are great, large, tasty, but after a while they all look and taste the same. Some are spicier, some have more onions, and all have the same tray of sauces come out with every dish. So I leave here full and happy, but not overwhelmed by what I just had.
Service can go from great to bad within one meal. In fact I had wished that the guy who took the check (the third waiter of the night) had been my first and only (geez did I just sound like I pulled that out of a teenage girl's diary?).
A line for the bathrooms for men too?! The women's was so bad that ladies who had paid the check wee still waiting, the rest of their group(s) waiting outside for them. Bathrooms are clean though.
Yeah I would go back, especially with vegetarian friends.
Taste is same as we get in Chennai(Madras) in South India. Yummy, spicy, mouth watering.
Every thing like Dosa, Meals, Payasam, Chilli parotta.
Though pricey then what you get in Chennai but its tasty.
Oooh... yum yum. Very very tasty dosas. I ordered the kara dosa which was super spicy, potatoes and curry in there. Yum. Three sauces come with it, one coconut, one green chile, and one tangy tomato. I've had dosas before, but don't ever remember them tasting this good.
The place is decorated cute, and very reasonably priced, plus it won't over fill you up like typical indian food with all the ghee. The dosas are vegetarian, but tend to be vegan so much much less butter to be found here.
I guess I may be biased as a vegetarian, but hey my second veggie only place in a week, so I feel rather lucky!
I travel back to NYC just to eat here. This is by far the best South Indian food I have ever had. The restaurant is super cramped - be prepared to bump elbows with everyone sitting near you. The service is a royal pain, but that's not why you come here. Come for the excellent food, expect your server to be rude, and you won't be disappointed. The kaima idly is to die for, and the masala dosa is a classic.
Saravanaa Bhavan is living proof of "function over form". Amazing food.The place looks like a canteen - although I do appreciate that they once attempted to create some sort of ambiance (cho chweet), but all those decorations look decrepit now as worn cotton sunflowers sadly hang from pink silk on the walls.
1. Be sure to wear your elbow pads, you'll need it in all that elbow wrestling that you'll need to engage to actually be able to eat your food. I kid you not - those tables are dangerously close to each other. I even occasionally take a bite from our neighbours' plates when they aren't looking.
2. Be prepared to wait at least 15 minutes! To shorten your wait, I recommend staring longingly at people's food from outside the glass windows. It always works - they look at you funny and wrap up their food to go - wonder why.
3. Don't get a seat close to the glass windows if you intend to spend considerable time here. See point #2.
Having grown up on south-indian food for the larger part of my life, I take pride in my recommendations.
What to order:
The mini-tiffin/business meal/ south indian platter are always good choices for someone who hasn't tasted this type of cuisine yet, because it allows you to taste a little bit of everything.
I also like the mixed parotha - chopped indian bread tossed with a spicy sauce, veggies and onions. yumm.
For the dessert, I usually get the Badam Halwa - Almond paste cooked in ghee. These days however, this dish isn't what it used to be.
Finish it all up with a glass of piping hot filter coffee!
So the food at this place actually deserves a 4 star rating, but I knocked it down one because service was mediocre at best. They did not come by once to re-fill water, I had to ask a nearby table if I could borrow their water pitcher. This was kind of annoying as I 1) always drink like 10 gallons of water with every meal and 2) the food was SPICY!
Onto the food. I ordered the mysore masala dosa and a chai. OMFG this dosa was SPICY. This is coming from the girl who orders spicy salsa at chipotle and puts the smoked tabasco on top of the burrito after that. I always lick my plate clean if I like the food - but this dosa was SO spicy I left more than 1/2 of it. Regardless of heat, which I thought I could handle, it was delicious. Next time I will get the sada dosa (plain dosa) or the paper masala dosa (which may not be as spicy). Unfortunately, the spice overwhelmed the taste of the dosa, which was kind of a turn off. That or my taste buds are failing me.
My friend ordered the channa batura. For those of you who aren't familiar - it is this puffy dough like bread that deflates after a while, served with a chickpea curry. This was also very tasty, and not as spicy. We split the bill, which came to about $13 each. Roughly $9 for the dosa, $2 for the chai, and the rest was tip/tax/etc.
I will certainly come back - and probably bring my parents (my mom is south indian, home of the dosa and idli sambar).
I was incredibly disappointed with my take-out order. I ordered a masala dosa to go, and for about $9, it was small, barely stuffed, and without much flavor. The sambar was too thick for my taste as well.
I obviously can't judge the dining-in experience, other than to say that the ambiance looked unimpressive (not that I expected more for a place which is "family dining" oriented) and the host didn't seem to know how to handle the giant crowd of people waiting outside.
The only reason why I'm not giving Saravanaas one star is because, after all, I only ordered one dish. Still, I won't be coming back to try anything else when there are so many other South Indian options in the area. Tiffin Wallah, a few blocks away, has this place beat by a mile.
This is the place if you like South Indian food. And, apparently, I don't like South Indian food as much as I suspected- my dosa was good, but the crepe itself was a bit overcooked, almost too much like a cracker, and the proportion of filling to crepe was entirely off so I was left with a huge pile of crispy cracker-esque crepe. The idly was standard (and I kept thinking of the rhyme 'don't be fiddly, eat an idly...') and enjoyable. Agreed with everyone abut service-- don't think of Saravana as a restaurant- think of it as a nicer fast food place. When we went, there were hordes of people waiting outside, so the waiters were definitely rushing us along, and there's absolutely no ambience to speak of.
Went here last night. Yummy food but the service was horrible. I don't understand why Indian people are never good for service. We ordered a dosa, chole bature (eh it was okay...too fried), kaima idly (so good) and badam milk (YUM). But the service was blah.
What are the negative reviews all about? Clearly those people, no offense, don't know what… Read more »
Yum! I looooove South Indian food- this place was so yummy! Three of us went, got 3 lunches and 1 appetizer- the bill was under $40 for amazing food. Now, this price seems really good, but if you got the same food in NJ, it would've been 1/2 the price....dosas in Edison, NJ are REALLY cheap, but paying about 150% the cost to avoid the drive south? WELL worth it...
When we asked if everything was vegetarian and dairy free, they said "yes"; however, when our food arrived, a lot of the salsa/sides looked like they were yogurt-based. We asked our server and he kindly brought us out sides that were dairy-free and told us to "not eat" certain sides. How nice! And the side he brought out? A deelish cauliflower curry sauce..ohmygosh!
A great find, great spot - found just biking by..... Good food, def return visit!
3.5 stars
I wandered in here thinking I'll finally try this place after all the rave about it (as the best Indian restaurant) that I've read on Zagat, Yelp and even from my friends. Years ago, I dragged my then beau here with the intention of trying out this place. However upon learning that it's vegetarian, I backed off and went with another non-veg place instead.
After continuing to hear good things about this place since then, I finallly decided that today would be a great opportunity to try this place out. Actually it was a toss up between Chennai Garden and here but since I remember this place having a higher rating on Zagat (from years ago), I decided to head here. (Also, Chennai Garden was dead empty whereas Saravana was bustling).
I was here for some dosa but actually not too sure what to order. Upon the waiter's recommendation, I went with the veg dosa. I didn't go with the vada because I only wanted one of it rather than an entire meal with accompaniments. There was NO way that I would finish both and I didn't want to pack the leftovers because some of the items weren't suitable for later consumption.
The veg dosa was alright. Light, clean taste. I love the spices within (which made me realize that I would not be able to be satisfied with a plain dosa). The table beside me ordered the vada meal and I was glad I decided against it. The vada was not really the south indian vadai that I had in mind. I guess I was thinking of something more authentic and served with a stem of green chili with its dough fried with shrimp.
Another table by me ordered a huge assortment of curries and the likes. Upon enquiring I found out that that's the "talli" - sort of like the tasting menu of what's available here. I would probably attempt to order that the next time.
One thing to point out, since this is a vegetarian restaurant, and most of the ingredients either involve something served out of a huge pot of sauce/ curry or flour made item with a sprinkle of sliced veg within, I'm pretty stumped by the prices. It was close to $14 / pax here which IMO really should have been a $7 meal even for the quality this place espouses.
Not sure about the sanitary conditions of Indian restaurants... I tend to picture the chefs cooking the pots of curry and placing them on the floor etc (think Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares when they did an episode of a failing Indian establishment originally named Dillons and later renamed "Purnima" located along Times Square). Anyway, not sure if it was the food here or the cinnamon bun I consumed along the way home after.... something didn't go too well with my tummy :(
Awesome!!!
Nothing more to say...
I went here originally after my Tamil teacher, who is from Madurai, told me it was his favorite in Manhattan. I guess, being a chain, it reminds him of home! The food is excellent. The service I have found to be only mediocre. The dosas and thali are both very tasty--good idli! Most of the diners are South Indian on a typical day. It's pretty affordable. I think the decor is a little tacky but it's fine. Definitely worth trying, and might be a good first for someone new to South Indian food.
4.25
If the Indiana Jones in you hasn't sprung you to try South Indian cusine I recommend all to take the jump into Saravana Bhavan. I've had South Indian food in a number of fancy and street-side restaurants and authentic households in the US and India and I'd like to say Saravana Bhavan wins. "But Varun, what does that mean Wins?" It means I don't care how cool your mom is she can't compete with my boys over at the Bhavan....
Jumping into the meal, I usually am not a big fan of the Sambhar but i love it here. I've ordered the same thing both times i've had the chance to check this place out.
Mini-Idili to start off
Rava Dosa as the main meal.
The bite sized idili's melt in your mouth with the warm spice infused lentils, absolutely delicious.
The Rava Dosa is a buttery rice crepe that is cooked slightly more than an original dosa, making it crispy on one side and soft on the other, Served with more lentil and a number of chutneys varying from mint to coconut it is just a great light meal that leaves you very satisfied.
The best part is it's good food, in a clean, inexpensive restaurant.
I can't imagine how good the authentic version is in Chenni....
Looking forward to eating more in the "curry hill" district on my next visit to NYC.
I really don't understand the huff and the puff about this place. It's very subdued and medium standard south indian food. We ordered a variety of dishes - dosas, uttapams and idlis. For appetizers, we ordered some vada's. The appetizers were moderately tasty, however, the main dishes did not live up to the hype. The service was extremely poor and slow - very unorganized and seldom - missing.
I will not go back.
Saravana Bhavan, alternately known as Saravaanas, is one of several high quality, inexpensive vegertarian, South Indian themed eateries in Curry Hill and arguably one of the best.
The atmosphere is no frills, and the menu is typical South Indian, loaded with dosas, uttapums, rice dishes and various fried vadas. Do try the medhu vada, which is a such a savory donut made of lentil flour. Its served with a couple of different types of coconut chutney and an excellent bowl of sambhar, a lentil soup/condiment that is the ultimate complement to every South Indian dish. They do an excellent rendition here- thicker, heartier and more subtle than most places. Heck, I've been known to pass on the sambhar at other places and I devoured it here.
The same sambhar and chutneys appear with your main courses along with one other companion- a spicy tomato and onion chutney that I likened to a spicer version of the onions and sauce you can get on your dirty water Sabretts. They are an awesome dipping sauce for dosa- which is a dish in which Saravana Bhavan excels in, with several varieties. I enjoyed the Kara Dosa- which is something I don't recall seeing at the other places in the area. Essentially- its a dosa folded in a square filled with a spicy paste of tomato, onion, potato and cauliflower. It's a very similar filling to what you might see in the Gujarati street food specialty Pau Bhaji- and its spicy and delicious.
The onion and tomato Uttapum is also a star. Uttapum uses the same flower as dosa and mixes it in with things like Onion, Tomato, bell peppers etc. It's like a spicy pancake. The version here is terrific, and is more topping than dough. Very tasty.
Another favorite is the Rava Masala Dosa, a crispy well prepared version with an excellent potato filling. Rava Masala mixes a couple of different kinds of flower and lends the crepe a swiss cheese quality (its got a bunch of holes!). Not quite as good as Pongal up the street, but very good.
All in all, you won't spend more than $10-$11 for an entree in most cases, and you'll be quite satisfied. One of the few places I can take my parents to without getting a massive headache for paying to much or getting low quality food aftewards (but mostly for the former)....
Excellent dosas.
Pros: Dosas. Get the dosas. Idlis and utthapam is also very good, but this place is superlative for dosas. Filling has a nice mix of potatoes, peas, spices and cashews. The Bhattura is huge and excellent, but the channa..
Cons: ...channa has great flavor but is missing the chickpeas. It is a glorious, thick curry of chikpeas, but could stand to have some more solids.
I'm nit picking, because this place is great and its perpetually filled with FOB indians (including me) who don't want to trek out to Jersey City for their dosas.
Managing Expectations - Chapter 1 - Saravana Bhavan:
Sure you will wait for eternity to order and eat
Sure your order will be messed up in some capacity
Sure your clothes, hair and anything else porous you brought into the restaurant will reek for an inestimable amount of time after leaving
You are going for a chance at filling your panging craving for the greasy, finger-lickin goodness that is THE DOSA.
Bonus: The classy touch is that they serve Brooklyn Brewery's "East India Pale Ale" hain??
I didn't realize how much of a treat I was in for when my friend recommended this place. It's a really unique menu with lots of exotic tastes and lots of options. It's not a good place for the non-food-adventurous.
I would have given this place five stars if the service had been better. The servers couldn't remember about five different items, namely who ordered what. It was not a big deal but sort of frustrating and seemingly basic, given that the restaurant wasn't too crowded.
One of the best dosa spots on the block, even if it is a chain. Always packed and always delicious Saravanaa's delivers. I havent expanded much into the menu but paper masala dosa is the way to go for me. Have had very good luck here meeting some very nice people at the communal tables.
My girlfriend and I came here with some friends and enjoyed the meal. However, when I first sat down and looked at the menu, it really didn't look like much to me. I guess maybe I'm just not used to a pure South Indian restaurant, but the majority of the menu was dosas. I thought I remember there being more variety of other main dishes in other restaurants (even South Indian ones.)
We ordered some Dosas, Idli, Vada, and split a Thali meal. Although everything was very tasty, most things tasted very similar without too much variety.
The restaurant was crowded, even on a Sunday night, but the service was pretty good and food definitely worthy of making a return trip.
For those who don't know, Saravana Bhavan is from Madras, India and is a chain. When I go to Madras, my brothers, parents, friends etc., go to Saravana's to get some idlis or dosas or vadas. It's the quintessential Madrasi restaurant.
I go to this restaurant because I can't go to my mom's house for south Indian food - I am South Indian from Madras. The idlis are perhaps the healthiest items on the menu - fluffy fermented rice cakes. Careful now, it's easy to overeat with such a great selection.
My biggest problem is the vast amount of Dalda used in their cooking. Dalda is basically trans fat. It's used extensively in Indian food - because it's become customary to do so, and the bad effects of trans fat is only now becoming apparent in the US, much less in India. However, outside that little fact, their sambars, chutneys, dosas, and just about all their dishes are spot on tasty, hot, flavorful, and will leave a nice yellow stain on your finger nails (if you actually ate the food correctly).
Ok enough of this review - I'm going to drive the 110 miles to NYC to get me some good home mummy's food. You can join me there.
I have a feeling that this is the most authentic South Indian food I have ever eaten, and will ever eat, outside India. A friend who had spent time in Chennai came home raving about Saravana Bhavan, and I remembered passing by the place in NYC. So I took a day trip yesterday and was sure to have lunch here.
I had the lunch special thali, which seemed as good an option as any though I am still left craving a dosa. It was delicious, and I am happy to say I had no idea what anything was, aside from the pickle, rice, and dessert. Every dish tasted completely different and lent itself to a different way of eating, some I poured over the rice, some I did not, some I ate with yoghurt, etc. it was a true thali experience unlike any I have had at other restaurants, and it was way more food than I could possibly eat. My friend and I apologized to the waiter for not finishing it all!
The service was fine, no idea why people seem to get up in arms about it... Sure, if you're expecting a dedicated wait-person who is going to introduce himself and explain the whole menu, you'll be disappointed, but if you don't require that kind of service, you'll be fine. They got the job done and were pleasant and available when we needed them.
I've had dosas a few times now, and I've come to conclude that I will never finish an entire dosa. They are ginormous!
Anyhow, I was excited to meet up here with NY yelpers famous for their ASCII reviews Srini V and Pedro K. Luckily, we had beaten the rush at 7pm. There were about 20 people waiting outside when we left.
It was great dining here with Srini, who is an expert when it comes to South Indian food, and I tried things that I would have never thought to order. I really enjoyed the adai, which is a lentil pancake eaten along with jaggery (Indian raw sugar). Apparently it's a South Indian delicacy that is rarely found in restaurants. We also had various preparations of idli, which are rice and lentil patties. I especially liked the fried lentil donut.
This is a great cheap eats spot, especially for vegetarians. For those of you who can't finish an entire dosa either, I'd recommend getting the adai. Thanks Srini!
After reading many reviews and being told by my Indian roommate that this place is some of the best South Indian food in New York, I decided it was time to check this place out. I have been back several times since that day, and every time I have experienced a completely new dish. The servers are incredibly helpful, and the food comes out quick and hot. The uttapam was amazing and the chutneys worked perfectly with it. The reason I don't give Saravannaas five stars is because I feel like a lot of the food tastes similar. I am not extremely knowledgeable on South Indian food, but the things that I have ordered have all come with the same four sauces and taste very similar. Although it is a great taste, I am sure it can get old after a while. Overall, this is some of the best Indian that I have ever had, and if you have a craving this is the place to go.
Neighborhood: Flatiron
Category: Indian
Neighborhood: Flatiron
Category: Indian
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Indian
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Category: Indian
Neighborhood: Flatiron
Category: Indian
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