The Needle: Saravana Palace (December 2007)

Reviewed by Todd Kliman , Cynthia Hacinli , Ann Limpert

Saravana Palace

11725 Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703.218.4182
Fax: 703.218.4183

Cuisines:
Indian, Vegetarian/Vegan

Opening Hours:

Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes

Nearby Metro Stops:
Vienna/Fairfax-GMU

Price Range:
Inexpensive

Dress:
Informal

Noise Level:
Intimate

Reservations:
Not needed

Special Features:
Weekend Brunch, Kid Friendly

Website:
Click here to open in new window.

Best Dishes
Idli; channa batura; medhu vada; potato bonda; poori bhaji; Jaipuri paneer dosa; coconut rice; gutti vankaya; carrot halwa; papri chat; crepe topped with ginger and chilies; chili-and-onion-topped uttapam; lemon rice.

Price Details:
Appetizers, $3 to $7.50; entrees, $5 to $12.


After a brilliant debut last fall, this strip-mall purveyor of South Indian cooking seems to have slipped precipitously. The range and depth of its 160-item menu, along with its impressive consistency, landed the Fairfax restaurant among the top 25 of our 100 Best Restaurants list last January, but a recent visit revealed a multitude of sins. Frying was careless, resulting in a couple of disks of poori slicked with oil. A dish of coconut rice, one of the glories of the menu, no longer sported thick curls of fresh coconut—what once was fluffy and fragrant was oily and dull. And the curries that had impressed us with their punch and clarity were lacking in both.

-This appeared in the December, 2007 issue of The Washingtonian.