Tandoori Nights

The most amazing paneer and chicken makhani I’ve ever had. Everything we have ever ordered has been very good but we never miss the paneer makhani.

Best Indian I have ever had in the DMV. Highly recommend the buffet from 11 – 5 on weekdays. The manager and the workers are all very nice. The food selection is great and well priced.

Love this place (and the one in Gaithersburg). They have great service, and the setting is very intimate, but most of all they have THE BEST BUTTER CHICKEN (Murg «Chicken» Makhani) recipe EVER!!! It’s perfect for cold winter nights.

Not bad but the breads are mediocre and the dum aloo (one of their signature dishes) has a very pre-​cooked feel that made me wonder how many days it had been languishing in the fridge/​freezer before they pulled it out and banged it in the curry sauce.

I always order take-​out from this place! One of the best Indian places I’ve been to. The staff is super nice and efficient. And the food is ALWAYS delicious! My personal favorites are the Chicken Tikka Masala & Garlic Naan combo, if you’ve never tried them together PLEASE DO!!! So yummy!

Late lunch not bad. Shared generous appetizer assortment then shared tasty chicken tiki masala. Plenty for two with yummy warm not too garlicky garlic nan. Service and ambience good.

I was in Bethesda with some family and we were looking forward to hitting up Raku only to find that there was a 25 minute wait. There was no way I was going to wait that long to get a seat, the food is good but it’s not good enough to have me wait 25 minutes.
That’s when Tandoori Nights walked in to the picture. We spotted this place right next-​door to Raku and were a tad bit apprehensive to go inside as there were not many people seated for dinner. After looking at the menu we decided to give it a try, and I am so glad we did.
The food was delicious, I’ve been to more Indian restaurants than I can recount and Tandoori Nights surprisingly left a positive impression on my mind. Obviously it’s not as good as authentic home-​cooked Indian food, but for a restaurant it does a far better job than most places I have been to, not all but most! Everyone at my table thoroughly enjoyed their food, it is flavored well, portions are large and will fill you, and service was polite and attentive.
By the time we finished our meal the restaurant was full of patrons and there weren’t many empty seats in the place. It is only a matter of time until I go back, and I know exactly what I will be getting!

I am indian, so when it comes to indain food I expect the best. This is my go to place for the food. Paneer, tandoori chicken, the Chatt, are all great and things I get. Great beer, also the customer service is great when I go. This place is a must try

I am not keen on lunch buffet, but I was hungry for indian food and short of time, so I decided to try Tandoori Nights’s. For 11 dollars, this is a wonderful deal. The white basmati rice and the Naan bread, two indian traditional dishes that tell a lot about the kitchen and the chef, in my opinion, were perfectly made. The vegetable pakora and the main dishes (dall, curry chicken and lamb and tandoori chicken were amazing. And the rice pudim, waw…
There was nothing that I didn’t like and I tried everything, twice. Surprisingly for someone that does not eat a lot. But who can resist?

My second time at this restaurant was just as great as the first time. Food is amazing, service is amazing. I got the Jalfrezzi chicken and asked them to make it spicy. Woooo it was spicy and I loved it. I didn’t finish it on purpose so I could have some the next day. lol I will be back. Im a fan.

While our first experience with their Gaithersburg branch was unremarkable, Tandoori Nights in Bethesda has become our new favorite place to enjoy South Asian-​style roasted meats thanks to their delicious preparations served on a sizzling plate.
My dining companion and I have enjoyed various meats from the Tandoor but never our favorite fish. Hearing that TN prepared their signature Tandoori Whole Fish using Red Snapper, we followed our curious taste buds to Bethesda Row for dinner. On our first visit, the anticipation rose with each passing tandoori chicken dish steaming with seductive roasted aroma. Finally, when our snapper arrived, we savored the fish’s charred ends, from jaw to tail, and the savory tender meat in between. The accompanying onions and carrot slices beautifully caramelized while we devoured the fish. The accompanying rice was nice and plain to keep the focus on the snapper, while the Black Dal was reminiscent of Passage to India’s superior version.
We also ordered a decent Goat Curry. The taste was like that of a tomatoey tart Roganjosh with meat a bit too firm. It was a nice foil but could not hold a candle to the superb fish.
For our next visit, we ordered the a Spinach-​Strawberry Salad and Tandoori Chicken Tikka in addition to the Snapper. The salad was bright with berry rivaling flavor and freshness better than many pricier fine dining restaurants. The chicken was five sizable pieces, each the size of an adult’s palm, with a zesty flavor and accompanied by refreshing mint-​cilantro and sweet tamarind chutneys. Though mild, the chicken was moist and full of flavor as with the mint-​cilantro chutney. The sizzling onions and hot carrot added pleasantly sweet notes.
As for the Snapper, it was even better than before: bigger with less marinade to accent more of the fish’s inherent flavors. Even after the heartier-​than-​expected portion of Chicken Tikka, we devoured the Snapper and its dazzling flavors right down to the bones.
In short, Tandoori Nights delivers outstanding succulent roasted fish and chicken with pleasant service and perky modern digs. While its curry may not be close to those of Passage to India’s, their tandoori rocks and is better than our previous favorite kabob joints like Ravi’s. Can’t wait to go back and try more of their tandoori varieties!

This review is for the lunch buffet only. I have the lunch buffet on a fairly regular basis, finding it consistently good. With the exception of the butter chicken, I find the vegetable dishes tend to be the stand-​outs. The daal, no matter how prepared, is delicious.

Full disclosure: the food was pretty good, worth more than the 2-​stars I have to give Tandoori Nights.
However, I can’t give this place a higher rating for one simple fact: they serve bottled beer (which is great) — BUT they only pour enough to fill your cup and then they keep the bottle and the remaining ½ of the beer! Are you serious?! It doesn’t even make sense — you’ve already opened the bottle. The remainder can’t be served later. The only rationale I can imagine is they want you to buy another one after you drink the tiny amount they poured for you.
I’ve never witnessed that kind of gimmick anywhere before. Surely a location that bills itself as ‘fine dining’ need not be so cheap.
If you serve bottled beer, give the customer the bottle and let them do the pouring. Anything else just comes off as cheap and unprofessionally desperate.

My wife and I often go here when we are craving good Indian food. Although their appetizers are not that great, we are big fans of their lunch buffet menu. For dinner, Paneer Kadhai and Fish Goani are highly recommended. Among bread options, I wasn’t impressed by aloo parathas, but their naans are quite soft and delicious to eat.
Service during lunch is pretty slow and during dinner isn’t impressive either but it’s not too bad for the delicious food you get here.

Food is 3 stars, service is worse than 1 star!
A report from Tandoori nights — Our waitress was a young woman who seemed OK enough on the surface, after all we were hungry. We ordered several dishes, appetizers, and drinks. The bill totaled around $ 100. When it came time to send back the dishes including the rice we hadn’t finished, we decided to simply have the kitchen send us some more fresh rice in a to-​go container because many times before we have asked for this and received it as a courtesy. The waitress was encouraging us to get it.
When the bill came, it was $ 6 heavier for … rice! The waitress refused to remove it despite not mentioning the additional charge and that we had already sent back all of our half-​finished rice, so we asked for a manager. The clueless manager also refused to remove it and started arguing with us over why we should pay for the rice. Eventually we sent it back, giving them the to-​go containers back.
I was dining with a good friend of mine and her kids and she went to discuss the situation with the manager. While she was talking to the manager about the service, the waitress tried to butt in to the manager’s discussion in a very loud and obnoxious tone, not helping things. Then when the manager gestured for her to stay out of it, she went to my friend’s children and told them that their mother was being rude! Unbelievable!
Later when we were driving back, we realized that this was the same waitress that we had encountered a few years ago, who we believe keyed my friend’s car after we dared complain about her. We are surprised she hasn’t been fired yet, but it appears she is related to someone who works there.

We went on a Saturday and they don’t take reservations on the weekends, so we put our names in around ten to 7 and we were told it would it would be a 30 – 35 minute wait. We went to Barnes and Noble to pass the time and after 50 or so minutes had passed we decided to check in with the hostess and since she was pretty swamped, another host asked her about our table and she told him she had called us a couple of times, which definitely wasn’t true because my phone was on, with a strong signal. I was slightly annoyed, but we had a Groupon and in all fairness, the restaurant was packed and she was really busy. They need a better system to manage their waiting list– they were using a small notebook and the list was really disorganized.
The host took us to a table, but the hostess was seating another party of two at that table. Fortunately, another table was also available, the nice host apologized for the long wait and a very nice waiter greeted us shortly after.
We started with lychee cocktails, which were decent and fairly strong. For an appetizer we shared the honey grilled shrimp and found it to be too sweet and overcooked. For my entrée I chose the chicken jalfrezi and my partner ordered lamb rogan josh, we shared garlic and jalapeño cheese naans. We both loved our dishes and the naan.
While the food was great (aside from the appetizer) there are many other excellent Indian restaurants in DC, so I’m not in a huge rush to go back. If we do go back, it will be on a week day because I believe they take reservations on week nights.

I met a good friend for lunch in Bethesda and we decided to try this place in a whim. The service was pretty good and the atmosphere was nice. It wasn’t packed on a Saturday afternoon and we were able to sit and chat over our meal casually, without being rushed. Overall the food was pretty good and the portion sizes were generous enough for leftovers. I had the veggie curry and she had chicken in this wonderful tomato based sauce.
The only downfall of our experience was the overly dry samosas. I love samosas so I was extremely disappointed in the appetizer.

This review is just for the take-​out. I ordered the samosa, chicken tikka masala and naan. It could be because it was take-​out but the samosa were pretty greasy. I also found the filling to be fairly bland and overly blended. I like it when I can still tell what vegetables make up the filling. The chicken tikka masala was good. The sauce was creamy without being too heavy, the chicken was tender, and the vegetables still had a bit of a bite to them. There wasn’t enough rice for my liking but I’m sure if I had dined in the restaurant they would have gladly given me more. The naan wasn’t nearly as crispy and buttery as I am accustomed to, but it still worked well to scoop up the extra masala sauce.
Since I’ve only had the take-​out and one main dish off the menu, I will most certainly try Tandoori Nights again. Maybe for the lunch buffet because it still looked fresh and well stocked at 2PM when I went in to pick up my order.

I’ve been here twice now. This place is in a great location, has good ambiance, and decent food.
On this trip, for appetizer we had the raj kachori and for the main course, paneer tikka masala and malai kofta. The raj kachori is tasty and visually very appealing. Both entires were very tasty and well prepared. My favorite here though is thr jalapeño cheese naan. It’s not to spicy and very flavorful… almost like a popper.
A friend of mine had a groupon, and we got a great deal. I’ve seen them many times do you might want to check for that before you go.
This is a solid traditional Indian restaurant with an authentic menu and authentic tasting food.

Service was pretty decent (3 stars) food taste was ok (1.5−2 stars) but for cost more like 1.5 star. But cleanliness was… disappointing. There was a disgusting hair in the rice. We pointed it out, they were apologetic and replaced the rice but didn’t bother with either 1) comping that dish or 2) assuring us that was a solitary incident and/​or they replaced that batch of rice. Which, part of me gets, it’s a pain, things happen yadda yadda but that’s also why we have food safety certifications, etc. Coupled with a disgusting trash littered bathroom and I was a bit concerned about the food.
Friend and I were famished. But not so famished that we were able to overlook the sinewy lamb or oddly textured chicken (almost tough and rubbery in some bites), or the low protein to sauce ratio.
When I got home, I also was sick to at stomach within 2 hrs… so yeah… I just knocked this down to 1 star. No returnsies for me. Too bad bc some of the flavors were pretty solid.