Why go: While these big dining rooms are impersonal, the cooking transports you to a cozy Indian home, where only an experienced hand could produce such excellent tandoor-cooked meats and complex curries.
What to get: Methu vada, deep-fried lentil doughnuts served with vegetable soup; rava (semolina) onion masala dosa, a lentil crepe stuffed with potatoes, peas, and corn; Chicken 65, neon-red bites of chicken tossed with fried curry leaves; lamb vindaloo, sweat-inducing curry with potatoes; lamb korma, creamy, coconut-rich curry perfumed with cardamom.
Best for: Big groups who like to share and who have similar tolerances for heat; a lunchtime feast—the midday buffets are the area’s most expansive.
Insider tip: Order an entrée as a “dinner” and you get two ramekins of soup, naan or rice, two vegetable sides, yogurt sauce, and dessert for only $2 more.
Open daily for lunch and dinner.
>> See all 2009 Cheap Eats restaurants here
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
