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Saravana Palace
Fairfax, VA
(Scroll down to read the review)
Virginia Indian Restaurants
Address & Telephone No:
Saravana Palace
11725 Lee Highway, #A15
Lee Plaza
Fairfax, VA 22030
Ph: 703-218-4182
Accepts Credit Cards
Hours:
Lunch
11:30 AM - 03:00 PM
Dinner
05:00 PM - 10:00 PM (Mon-Fri)
03:00 PM - 10:00 PM (Sat)
03:00 PM - 09:30 PM (Sun)
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Reviewer's Summary: Good Food; Careless Service
Nirvana is Rasam at Saravana Palace in Fairfax, Virginia.
To describe this delicious Indian soup as good would do it mighty injustice. You see, Rasam at this Fairfax Indian restaurant is just awesome.
Tangy and spicy at the same time, Saravana Palace's Rasam is what the French would call non pareil. In several decades of eating out at Indian restaurants, we've rarely had Rasam of this high quality.
Like the delicious Rasam, much of the food at this spacious South Indian vegetarian restaurant on Lee Highway in Fairfax is above par.
We had no complaints with the soft Idlis and the spicy Sambar as well as the Mixed Vegetable Pakoras. Throwing caution to the winds, we fell upon our plate of Pakoras and Mysore Bonda like beasts at a kill.
Vegetable Biryani had such a wonderful flavor that the mere thought of it sends us in a drooling fit.
Besides the standard South Indian fare such as Idli, Vada and Dosa, Saravana Palace also offers a variety of North Indian curries as well as Indian-Chinese items like Gobi Manchurian, Vegetable Fried Rice and Chilli Paneer.
Alas, all is not perfect at this vegetarian haven. There were a few misses like the Rajma and Malai Kofta. Rajma curry was lukewarm and had no flavor at all unlike the delicious Rajma Masala we had at Punjab Dhaba. As for the Malai Kofta, the Kofta balls were too hard and came in a tasteless gravy.
But the delicious Long-Squash Poriyal and Vegetable Korma amply compensated for the disappointing Rajma and Malai Kofta.
Saravana Palace serves 15 varietes of Dosas ranging from the humble Sada Dosa to the Masala Dosa and Jaipuri Paneer Dosa. On the menu, we also found six varieties of Uthappams.
We opted for the Masala Dosa. While the Masala Dosa came crisp and hot with nice potato/onion filling, the accompanying Coconut Chutney was bland and cold suggesting it was not fresh. It's a shame that most Indian restaurants in the U.S. serve cold and pathetic Chutney.
For desserts we tried Carrot Halwa and Gulab Jamoon. Carrot Halwa was very good while the Gulab Jamoon was passable. Far too often, Indian restaurants serve Carrot Halwa that has the raw taste of carrots. But the folks at Saravana Palace know their Carrot Halwa. Unmindful of our diabetes, we devored Saravana Palace's delicious Carrot Halwa. Sweet delight indeed!
By the way, Saravana Palace offers yummy Indian Chaat like Bhel Puri and Dahi Papri. Don't miss them.
A fitting finale to our fine meal at Saravana Palace was a cup of the restaurant's Madras Coffee. One sip of this coffee and we were nostalgically transported to our idyllic times in India.
With vegetarian food this good, who needs meat.
However, it's a pity that the service in Saravana Palace's dining room fails to keep pace with the quality of its kitchen. It was hard to catch the attention of the passing waiters who would disappear somwhere in the back. Our waiter Sandeep, a student from Hyderabad, was careless with our bill in charging us only for the coffee but not for the food until we gently pointed out the omission. - © Rekha Inc.
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