Saravana Bhavan

Love the dosas here — it’s my go-​to cheap food on the UWS! The thalis are also really good and have a really good variety of curries and chutneys and pickles that come with it. I’ve been here 3 – 5 times and I keep coming back!

I can’t believe that I am actually giving a 5 star recommendation to a vegetarian restaurant. My family and I love the food here.

Outstanding vegetarian Indian fare: uncanny uttapam, dosa to die for, killer curries, (at very reasonable prices).

Good food, excellent Madras Coffee. I’ve always been to the one on Lexus and 26^th, tried this one the other day. It was a little cramped, but hey, that’s not a real gripe, that’s all I got for the negatives. I had the idli vada combo and the ghee masala dosa, both we good. The best compliment I can give this restaurant is the fact that their food is pretty damn authentic.

Came specifically to this place on our visit to NYC and sorely disappointed. Firstly there is no one to get you seated and the folks who were working there (later realized one was a waiter while the other possibly cook) were looking at us but did not help. The dosa’s are okay but the chutney and sambar lacked the flavor which is most essential. For the price that they charge this place does not provide the service, ambience or the food quality. It’s just running on its past legacy.

Love this place. The Adai Avial is the best.

This is my first time expirience in this place and food was not familier to me but ever never i didnt had like
This tasty indian food the severs are very kind and
Give me a good service i decide to go sarvana bavan every weekend i had there tali or its osam and
Mango lassi too its like a mango smoothy i tll who ever
Go there plz try it

1. highly overpriced
2. they picked up some random people from the street as their staff. 0 training
3. food is good but not excellent
I went to the restaurant last week, ordered a pickup and they forgot the main item in a Tali meal which i think is rice. Its normal to make a mistake but requires courtesy training to make up for it. the guy had no idea of the latter. Wouldn’t go back

I lived in South India for four months (I know, it’s not a lifetime, but it’s enough to get acquainted with the food) and this place reminds me of my time in Tamil Nadu. I love it. The parotta is out of control good and authentic. The service has always been great, both at this location and the downtown location (and I can’t even count the number of times I have been to this restaurant, it’s that many times).
I read a New York Times article about the owner of this chain in 2014 which was sad (he’s an awful person supposedly) but the very friendly service and great food keep us coming back. I don’t understand the bad reviews here — this place is delicious and authentic. Service has only been great for us and any time they’ve screwed up they’ve been really apologetic about it. A Manhattan favorite, even if it is a chain!

I’ve been here twice… the first time was fine, the second time felt like an episode of Punked.
Maybe it was just an off night, maybe the waiters were just not that into me, maybe I was seated in the Bermuda Triangle of service. I have no idea.
What I do know is:
— I had to ask for water after 20 minutes of watching the tables around me get served, then again and hour in
— I had to ask for my wine twice, was finally either given the wrong wine or something from a corked bottle (no one came back to the table during the meal so never had the opportunity to correct this), I overhead someone else sending it back a few tables over so know this wasn’t just a matter of preference
— The person bussing tables didn’t speak English so I couldn’t order or communicate anything through him (hence the need to order wine twice)
— Not a single plate was cleared from the table and no share plates provided (which made sharing an entrée challenging)
— Food was good but my boyfriend and I were so frustrated during the whole experience it was far overshadowed by the abysmal service
We didn’t end up paying for the bad wine but wish I hadn’t paid anything at all. Won’t be back.

The photos don’t do this place justice.
Personally, I’m not a fan of Indian cuisine, but this place was just so good!
The staff wasn’t very available, but it seemed like it was because they were understaffed (they were nice when they had the chance to come around). All that didn’t matter because this place is just so delicious you can overlook any of those minor flaws.
My favorite was the palak paneer!

2 stars sounds about right for Saravana Bhavan. The dosas are large, but the quality is merely okay for the price. Additionally, they didn’t allow refills on chutney or sambar, which is a ridiculously low-​grade move for an internationally acclaimed South Indian chain. The service wasn’t great, nor was the overall ambience of the restaurant. For the price, I was really expecting a fantastic, India-​level dosa, but instead, I got a very mediocre dosa without the slightest semblance of good service or good restaurant practices (seriously — no refills on chutney or sambar would be a cardinal sin anywhere else, I’m wholly unsure why it’s okay here). I’m still on the lookout for great South Indian food in the city. I sure as hell didn’t find it here.

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!

This is such an horrible place, since my palate clearly knows the authentic taste of indian food that too knowing Saravana Bhavan very well. I was shocked & surprised to experience a Highly over priced, pathetic & a horrible service.
I feel the Lex Ave is much better but still they also lack service, but from a taste stand point all they do is just refrigerated & reheated food…
This is definitely not a good Indian restaurant for Indians who really crave for authentic South Indian tiffin & rice.

Pretty bad. I was thinking of ordering dosa, but the waiter told me they weren’t available. About 10 minutes later, two tables next to us ordered them. I would have waited.
The waiters were kind of rude, you felt like they just wanted you to pay and leave as soon as possible. The bathroom was really dirty. The curries were very mild and very oily.

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.

HORRIBLE!
Half the menu items are ’ unavailable’ per the staff. Food below average, nothing to write home about.
The servers have an air of ’ You are unimportant and welcome to take your custom elsewhere’. They clearly need some training in good customer interaction.
Moreover, a hefty tip, significantly more than decency demands comes added to your bill and you are forced to pay it as it is a ‘corporate decision’ per the manager.
HORRIBLE! WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN!

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.

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!