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Swagath
Ashburn, VA
(Scroll down to read the review)
Virginia Indian Restaurants
Address & Telephone No:
Swagath
43761 Parkhurst Plaza
Ashburn, VA 20147
Ph: 703-723-0108
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Swagath
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Reviewer's Summary: Sick SOBs, Good Food
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In a world where you can be certain of few things, you can be certain of one thing - if food at an Indian restaurant in the U.S. is good, then you can be
sure these SOBs are resorting to some chicanery to ruin the dining experience.
The other day we dropped anchor at Swagath in Ashburn, Virginia.
Our initial experience of Swagath (located in Parkhurst Plaza in Ashburn, Virginia) was favorable but soured later following the restaurant's cheap tactics.
We will tell you later the cheap tricks Swagat plays on its diners.
When we walked into Swagath vegetarian restaurant around 12:30 pm on a weekend, the restaurant had only a few diners and was mostly empty.
We were warmly greeted with a smile (a rarity at an Indian restaurant) and quickly shown to a table. We were even asked whether we wanted to have the weekend
buffet or order a la carte. Since we are cheap desi SOBs, we opted for the buffet.
The buffet had a good spread and included Bhel Puri, Pav Bhaji, Mixed Vegetable Pakoras, Idli, Rasam, Sambar, Coconut Chutney, Hakka Noodles, Vegetable
Manchurian, Channa Masala, Palak Paneer, Cabbage Poriyal, Vegetable Kurma, Vegetable Pulao, Dal, Plain Rice, Curd Rice, Naan, Stuffed fried chilly, Gulab
Jamun, Payasa and Fruit Custard.
Flavorful Onion Sambar, Pungent Rasam, Fluffy Idli
Rasam was hot and sour with a nice pungent flavor and yummy.
Sambar was medium thick and very flavorful. The fluffy, soft and tasty Idlis melted in the mouth when dipped in that flavorful onion sambar. But we cannot
say the same for the Coconut Chutney. Swagath's coconut chutney was a bland cold mess and robbed us of the some of the joy of the Idli.
So So Indian Chinese Fare
Hakka Noodles was hot but way too oily and flavorless. It tasted as if boiled noodles were tossed into boiled vegetables. Our other favorite Indian Chinese
item Vegetable Manchurian was also disappointing. Vegetable Manchurian (the gravy kind) is usually served in medium thick tangy gravy. Alas, Swagath's
Vegetable Manchurian was low on gravy, had too much of onion and capsicum making it a tasteless mess.
Overall Tasty Curries and Pulao
The medium thick Palak Paneer with cubes of cottage chese was neither bland nor too spicy and tasted nice with both rice and Naan bread.
Cabbage Poriyal with coconut and green chillies was another vegetarian curry that we enjoyed with both Naan bread and plain rice.
But Swagath's vegetable Korma prepared with cauliflower, carrot, potato and beans was slightly low on salt and tasted more like Avial than korma.
Channa Masala was slighlty sour and lacked the spicy masala flavor that we love.
Vegetable Pulao prepared with pulao masala and green beans was a delight. Dal with tomatoes and onion was a tasteless yellow mess and not even the tasty,
must-not-miss stuffed fried chillies as side dish gave us any pleasure.
Yogurt/curd rice was a cold white mess devoid of any flavor.
Good Deserts
Gulab Jamun was soft and tasty in warm sugar syrup.
Fruit custard and Vermicelli Sabudana Payasam with cashews and dry grapes were as pleasing.
Cheap SOBs
Both our waiters (one from Malkajgiri area of Hyderabad and the other from Udipi, Karnataka) were polite, removed the plates promptly, checked with us before
removing the plates each time.
But what got our goat was we saw them serving dosa to other buffet diners. So we asked one of the waiters whether Dosa was part of the lunch buffet.
Responding in the afformative, the waiter from Hyderabad said that the restaurant serves Dosa if diners ask for it. But the point is how would new diners
know that they have to ask for Dosa when they do not know that it is served in the first place. The waiter looked embarrassed and offered to get us the Dosa.
We politely declined his offer as we were already into our desserts and ordered a Madras Coffee.
This is the kind of Cheap and Sick behavior we hate and one that only Indians would resort to.
While we were waiting for Madras Coffee, a short thin waiter wearing a black stripes shirt sprang from nowhere and presented us the bill. This waiter had no
clue about our Madras Coffee order. When we politely told him that we were waiting for our Madras Coffee he took the bill back.
Madras Coffee was hot and freshly prepared not the flask version that some Indian restaurants dish out.
But for the cheap tactics of the Swagath swines with the Dosa, our experience at this Ashburn Indian vegetarian restaurant would have been positive. - © Rekha Inc.
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