Saravana Bhavan
“I have eaten lunch here twice, and truly believe they have the best Dosas I have ever tasted.”
“The masala dosa is a great choice if you are new to this style of Indian food.”
“Service was good , food is good , almost as good as the one in Chennai .”
Saravana Bhavan
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Slight hiccup before Eat24 pickup – restaurant pushed delivery time back 30 minutes. Regardless, the besi bele bath was delightful. Because of my yoga teacher I've been doing research on balancing my doshas. Since Ayurvedic teaching strongly promotes this thing called kitchari which is a blend of rice and lentils, I got the spicy besi bele bath as a way to pacify my kapha for spring. I was pretty much floored by the intense spices in that dish. Also comes with papad which I probably shouldn't have finished since ghee made it really oily. In the end I chased down the meal with a madras coffee. Fast forward an hour later my body actually had quite strong reactions to this meal, not in terms of you-know-what-happens-after-an-Indian-meal-in-the-bathroom, but more like – body got sweaty and throat cleared of mucus – kind of way. Next I'm going to try the ghee pongal, which is also a kitchari but has a totally opposite flavor profile – less spicy, pungent and wet but more salty, dry and sweet. Totally good for pittas (it me).
Anyways, hope I don't sound insane. I recommend you look into the three doshas to improve general health. Works way better than that paleo BS. I also recommend this place for takeout southern Indian food.
I love the food here – especially the Mini Tiffin (Rava Kichadi, Mini Ghee Idly, Mini Masala Dosa & Sweet) is my ultimate favorite – the idlis will melt in your mouth and the three chutneys that come in the platter are so delicious, especially the green bottle gourd one.
You can't go wrong with Masala Dosa or the South Indian thali either. The thali is big enough for two people to share, though it's spicy. And the husband can't get enough of the Rava Dosa – crispy goodness!
So why three stars? Because the services is abysmal. They are marginally better with non-Indians, but hey if you're brown, be prepared to be ignored, make sure to wave to get the server's attention and ask water, spoons, the menu….and anything else you need. They also randomly stop serving dosas after 3 pm whenever they are not in the mood to make them! Fair Warning!
Saravana Bhavan is an international chain offering South Indian vegetarian food. It's said to have the consistency of McDonald's despite its every location reputedly making everything from scratch.
This place is legitimately authentic: the chain imports all its chefs from India, so whether you're eating in NYC or Singapore, the chef has passed SB muster. The food here is said to be identical to what you'd get in, for example, Chennai. I can't speak to that personally, but I've had signature South Indian dishes in India, and homemade in the US, and what I ate at SB seemed just right.
The ambiance is nothing to travel for–you walk in and see seats whose faux leather upholstery is half worn off and looking pretty ragged. And service is perfunctory (though not unfriendly–our servers were attentive and even cracked a smile here and there.)
If you're curious but don't want to head to the UWS, there's a midtown location too.
Fun facts:
* The owner and founder of this chain is a convicted murderer, yet is said to command a nearly God-like regard from his workforce.
* The parrota comes with a potato curry (basically, mashed potatoes w/ onions, lightly spiced), and the two together taste *exactly* like a NY knish.
Food details:
* The onion rava masala dosa — dosas are a must-have here. This one's a massive (two by two feet, maybe?) and slightly crispy sheet of bread (wheat and lentil dough, I think), smeared with potato and onion mash, and then folded over. Accompanied by sambar (yellow lentil curry) and a few chutnies/sauces.
* Idli — an idli is a kind of saucer-shaped bread, plain and nearly flavorless, served with sambar (again, yellow lentil curry) and a few chutnies/sauces. I don't love idli, but it's a very South Indian dish, so I was curious. It's good, and worthwhile to try if you've never had it, if only out of some kind of anthropological curiosity. But if you've had it before and don't love it… save room for the rest, maybe?
* Parrota (aka parantha) — this is a whole-wheat flaky flat bread, kind of like naan by appearance, but denser, made with different dough, and multi-layered (hence the flakiness). Served with two curries. (Ours were a potato mash and a mushroom-veg curry. Not sure if this changes from order to order.)
(You'll notice this all's very heavy on the bread. You can avoid this by ordering just curries and other dishes, but the breads, I think, are the thing people come to SB for.)
* Pao bhaji — This isn't a southern dish, I think it's originally from Mumbai. It's a sort of refried vegetable curry, served with toasted, buttered loaves for dipping. I first had this dish in Mumbai a long time ago and remembered imagining its preparation went something like this:
— Take a bunch of vegetables. Fry them.
— Refry them.
— Fry them again.
— Repeat this until all nutrition has been fried out of them and then fry them again, or to taste.
— Now get some bread. Toast it. Put some ghee on it.
— Put some more ghee on it.
— Do you have more ghee? If so, put more ghee on it. If not, go to the store, get some ghee, then put some more ghee on the bread.
— Refry the vegetables again.
— Congratulations, you have made pao bhaji. Make sure your customers sign a waiver.
But in fairness to Saravana Bhavan, their version of pao bhaji seemed to skip some of these steps. It didn't seem too unusual, health-wise. It's served with some raw onion for crispy freshness.
This was excellent take out; my bread paratha was lovely, the mushroom rogan was very hardy and just right for a very cold night. Delivery was just a touch longer but worth it.
Will be a go to place; next time dosa!
Guys this is a warning- dont come here if you have a choice. The food is mediocre at best, service terrible, doesnt even meet Saravana standards. I have given this place 3 chances- they failed EVERY single time. Oil drenched dosa which they refused to switch, disld not serve any chutneys bec they ran our of them- Literally!!!! Terrible experience everytime.
Tip- run as fast as you can, away from this place. The food and this restaurant suck!
U want real south indian? – go to Anand Adyar Bhawan- east side and I assure u – u will lick your fingers.
Love this place. Took a bunch of friends and assured them this is how food tastes back home. It lived up to the standard. Fabulous food and kind staff.
We had chole batura, South Indian thali, masala chai, madras coffee, bisi beli baath, medu vada and 4 different types of dosas.
Love this place! It's my go to when I'm missing a home cooked meal. Also like that this place has outdoor seating. The dosa and the pav bhaji dishes are great but really anything here is worth trying!
Recently heard some strange rumors about the guy that owns this place…something to look into.
That said, this place is a solid 3.5. It hits the spot when I'm craving Indian food and has healthier options than the typical North Indian cream fare. I usually get a variety of the paper dosa – ie paneer or masala – and they're good. The sambar steals the show, though, as does the coconut chutney. I've also had the pav bhaji and that was decent, though nothing spectacular compared to homemade.
Pretty small and service can be weird. But all around a good bet.