Sri’s Corner

This place is great. The chicken tikka masala is my favorite. Friends that love Indian food as well have always been happy after trying this hidden gem. I will definitely be a frequent customer.

Now closed.

We came back and found that they have closed … permanently. It’s now dark and empty inside. Goodbye, delicious goat curry and Indian street food.
Thank you to the owners for doing to their best and leaving us with great memories.

My Tika Masala tasted like tomato paste and the rice was just meh. I was really excited to try this place, but was very disappointed. I’ll stick with Curry Corner.

Love this place! They have a great lunch buffet on the weekdays (I wish it was also on the weekends). My family and I adventured out to try dinner here a few weeks ago. I ordered the chicken tikka masala and the new waiter wrote down ‘chicken tikka’. So what I got was not what I expected. It was missing the masala sauce. They where so gracious and brought me the correct entrée without any grief, and they didn’t charge us for the mistake.
This restaurant is ran by a very nice family. You can tell they take joy in what the provide and want your experience to be the best. They explain everything and made great suggestions. If your new to Indian cuisine I would suggest the lunch buffet so you can try a little of everything.
Enjoy!

Solid 4 star place! Sri’s is in a strip mall near Ramirez tortilla factory (I think that’s the name anyway). Visited with a friend because I love chicken tikka masala and I had an entertainment coupon for buy one entrée get one free. It was a weekday around 6 or 7 pm, and there were two other tables of patrons. The menu has a lot of options, but our server was helpful in making decisions. We each ordered chicken tikka masala and got an order of aloo bonda as an appetizer (suggestion from the server). I hate onions, but love spicy food, and both the server and cook were awesome about making sure both those needs were met. The cook even came out to check with me to make sure the food wasn’t too spicy, and made a suggestion on a dish to try in future because I liked that high spice level. Portion sizes were good; both of us ended up with to go boxes. My only criticism would be that there were non edible items in the rice. I am sure that the leaves and wood/​root chips add something to the taste of the rice; I still don’t want to eat them. That said, it was really easy to pick these things out.
I recommend this place if you are in the area. Friendly, small, family place with good food!

Still totally delicious. The décor has some nice new touches, but the most important part for me is that the food is still awesome. It’s the best Indian food in the area, no contest. Our Butter Paneer Masala was particularly great.

Why did this place have to down hill so quickly? Yes, it is a hole-​in-​the-​wall but there was a point when I thought minor improvements would make this hole shine.
Hubs and I recently visited for lunch. Having visited this place at least ten times I knew what to expect. A lunch buffet full of options to try. To my disappointment even at the noon lunch hour only about two thirds of the hot service trays actually had food in them. And not because there was a huge lunch rush. My major disappointments:
1. Reduced food options and lack of cooked and ready food: it is obvious they are trying to save money by cooking to order on some buffet items — but that isn’t how it works in a lunch buffet.
2. Sticky floors, plastic table cloths hanging as covers for the storage shelves (in the dining area), and a gas can on the floor near the back… the décor was odd before but this is just bad.
3. No Naan on the buffet and we waited 30 minutes into the meal to get some.
4. They changed the rice — I used to love their rice, they changed it. Even hubs was sad about that one.
5. Food: Warm but not hot.
The worst offense is not having Naan available. The iconic food item is a staple as much as those stupid crack like bread sticks at the Olive Garden. I finished eating my food and ten minutes later the naan finally came. And it isn’t even good Naan. I knew they were trying to improve it from my prior visits but it seem to be worse than before, hubs wouldn’t even eat it.
I won’t be back. I was a fan after they starting making improvements but it seem pretty clear to me that this venue isn’t making enough money and is starting to cut corners.
I wouldn’t recommend this place at all. I really wished this place could have kept on a upswing but Sri’s corner is going down hill fast.

It’s local. It’s Indian. It’s good. A daily buffet from 11am-​2pm, including a naan bread for each diner. There is a more expansive buffet on the weekends, so it cost a bit more but it is worth it. The influence is more southern Indian and therefore depends less on crème for its sauces.
The owner is a retired state IT worker. He’s done a good job with his first restaurant.

Really tasty Indian food. Ate here on a weekend night with friends, where we had the chicken tikka masala, potato korma, and butter paneer masala. Also added a mango lassi and garlic naan bread. Everything was very good and the prices were reasonable. The ambiance leaves much to be desired, so in the future I would only get takeout from here. And guaranteed I will do that when I have a hankering for some really tasty Indian food.

Wonderfully flavorful food, plentiful portions, great service — I’ve eaten dinner there several times (never been to the buffet) and it’s always delicious! Sri’s Corner has been a god’s-send to this spice starved California transplant. As some folks have mentioned in other posts the atmosphere here is fairly utilitarian, but their food is comforting and thoughtfully prepared.
A few of my favorites are the fresh brewed chai, Vegetable Samosas, Palak Paneer, Aloo Korma, and Chicken Curry.

What’s good: The food. My family, including the kids, all enjoyed it. We started with somosas, which were very big came with a minty green dipping sauce and a brownish sweet sauce. Delicious. We shared chicken tikka masala, which was creamy and savory, and chicken curry, which was a very «brothy» curry but deeply flavored and complex. The basmati rice was very flavorful — it had lots of star anise and cardamom pods still in the rice. The downside is that all these whole spices are left in the rice and create an odd mouthfeel, so I ended up picking them out. The chai tea was sweet and intense; it might be the best I’ve ever had.
What’s bad: The atmosphere. Think utilitarian, and then add some thoughtlessness and disorganization. There was a large pile of unused equipment and bags of onions randomly thrown in the corner of the dining area. In the hallway near the bathrooms there were cleaning tools and chemicals strewn about the floor without any organization. I was also a little concerned to see a woman in a sari standing in the entry to the kitchen, using a corner of her sari to wipe her sweaty head and face before returning to the kitchen. Service was quick, but the young woman wasn’t able to answer any questions about the menu.
The food was good enough that I’m going to try this place again. I really like family-​run restaurants, and with some organization and attention to detail, this place could be the «Ramirez Market» of Indian food in Tumwater.

I have had takeout several times and dined in once. Fantastic food. I am not going to go into great detail and repeat what others have said about the menu. You should look at reviews like Juli M.‘s. for a detailed description of the cuisine. Basically, let me say these are the most interesting flavors I have had in an Indian restaurant in the U.S. or the U.K.
As other reviewers have said, the rice is really that good. In it I have found star anise pods, cloves, cinnamon bark, cardamom pods, and more. Just to give you an idea. It is also very different from the rice served in most Indian restaurants I have been to, I guess because they specialize in a different region here. Perhaps my favorite dish as a vegetarian is the eggplant cooked in coconut milk with spices. The «fry» dishes here are drier and are not cooked in a sauce, just so you know.
The interior is fairly bare bones, so you have been warned. But it doesn’t matter. Who cares about a few decorations when the food is this good. Service was very good too, and they are helpful in explaining everything on the menu. Food was prepared quickly and prices were very fair considering the quantity and quality.
My only complaint is that the food is so filling that I can’t seem to finish more than half of what I get… Maybe I just order too much.
Never had the buffet, so I can’t rate that.

Delicious indian food… we go here for family dinners all the time because it caters to our eclectic (and usually often overly critical) tastes. We have almost ordered everyone on the menu, but I would definitely recommend the cauliflower and the goat curry… their sauces are excellent.
They are very accommodating for big parties, and very friendly.

This restaurant is currently the Apollo Creed of Indian restaurants in the OLT trifecta.
Normally, offering a lunch buffet, would liken this restaurant to a Clubber Lang in my eyes.
In this particular case, the Dancing Destroyer, did not disappoint a delicious dinner diner:
Round 1:
The Count of Monte Fisto serves up a 1 – 2 punch of samosas. Almost as big as the King of Sting’s fists themselves. A left hook with 2 sauces for your condimental pleasure.
Round 2:
The Prince of Punch packs a wallop out of nowhere with the butter chicken. Ask for it by name and the Master of Disaster will have you crying to your mommy as to how good it is.
Round 3:
The One and Only delivers a knockout blow with the rice. The cloves and cardamom will leave you down for the count.
Now, the current title holder out in Lacey is still champion but I plan to go to this up-​and-​comer and see where it goes.
FIGHT!

Went here for the lunch buffet today and it was awesome! It IS a good place for kids so don’t let that stop you from getting your curry on. I took my rambunctious toddler and he was fine there. This was the second time I’ve eaten there (first was takeout of my staple favorite Indian dishes) and I will continue to go back.
The only thing I don’t like is that I like my Indian food spicy hot, and even the stuff labeled «medium spicy» on the buffet isn’t close to what I prefer. I want my nose to be running and to be sweating by the end of the meal. All the food is fresh, hot, and delicious though, and the service is awesome. Go Sri’s Corner, Go!!!
The buffet is only $ 7.99 on weekdays, and $ 10.99 on weekends. Super cheap for amazing food!

Once again, Unilocalers have led me to a real gem! I got take out. My chicken tikka masala was heavenly. Just the perfect combination of spicy and creamy! The real show stealer was the saag paneer though. I’m usually disappointed with paneer at other places because the cheese is often dry, chalky, and flavorless. The paneer at Sri’s Corner, however, was stellar! It was moist, creamy, and full of flavor! And the accompanying spinach sauce was velvety smooth and yummy!
Their portions are generous and include herbed rice. For $ 20, I stretched this into four separate meals. I can’t wait to bring my friends to try this place!

Some of their items are truly excellent. The chili paneer was one of the tastiest dishes I have ever had at an Indian restaurant. Paneer cheese is dredged in corn flour (gluten free yay!) and fried, then sauteed with lots of different spicy chilies. It was very spicy but with a lot of depth and complexity to the flavor. Honestly, it was so delicious it was hard to stop eating it and try anything else.
I can’t get to their menu right now because their website has been hacked, but I got some sort of rice and dal flour fried dumplings and OMG they were DELICIOUS _​and_​gluten free, which is STUNNING. They were kinda tangy like a sourdough, and had «bubbles» in them kind of like crumpets, but they were still kinda doughy like a dumpling. They came with two different dipping sauces, both of which were delicious.
The rice that comes standard with entrees is possibly the most delicious rice I have ever had in my entire life — made with broth and lots of savory spices.
The aloo gobi was ok, but not great — I like my aloo gobi cooked so much it is falling apart, and the cauliflower was still kinda crunchy. The flavor was good though. The dry fried eggplant with stuffing was ok, but the flavor of the stuffing was so strong it over powered the delicious eggplant. I ended up pulling out the insides and just eating the outsides.
I will definitely be going back many times over! I really want to try the lunch buffet, so I can sample many different dishes.
The owners are very sweet and this is their first restaurant (I think they were both IT people who decided to open their own business?), so be patient with them, they are working out the kinks. The grocery side isn’t open yet.
Five stars for the first dishes, three for the others, so right now I’m giving them a four over all.

Having moved here from Texas a few months back, there are many things I do not miss — 100+ weather for months on end, the traffic, insects whose size necessitates registration with the FAA, and hairstyles whose size necessitates registration with the FAA.
But one thing I do miss is south Indian cuisine. The best Indian food I’ve had in my life was in the suburbs between Fort Worth and Dallas. Alas, like good Tex Mex and BBQ, I just made my peace with the fact I was trading that for good clam chowder and women’s rights.
Sadly there is some pretty terrible Indian food here in Oly & Lacey, some of the worst I’ve had (with the exception of Curry Corner, thank god for curry corner, which is excellent and North Indian).
Upon hearing the news of Sri’s Corner opening in Tumwater, I visited within the hour. They had dosa and other south indian chaat such is idilli and vada. Dosa is like a crêpe (a crêpe of the gods) and contains a vegetable curry. At Sri’s Corner, instead of giving you a dosa bigger than your head, which is typical, they serve 2, smaller sized portions, with 2 sauces — chili and peanut. It comes with a lentil soup, is very reasonably priced for a tasty and satisfying meal. Oh, and it’s really, really good. The service is a bit weird (half of our order went to the table next to us), but I’m sure that is just because the place is new and everyone is still settling in. I can’t wait to go back and try their Indo-​Chinese food.

The food of Andhra Pradesh comes to Tumwater.
Not a phrase I expected to be writing.
Some background, since I really think you should go: India is big. Really big. Most Indian food that you will find throughout the United States comes from the cooking traditions of a few small areas. There is as much variation in cooking as throughout the United States or throughout Europe. More, even, than that. Food varies by region, by ethnic group, by religion, by neighborhood. You can’t find much of that variation represented outside of major cities and hotbeds of Indian immigration like the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina.
Olympia has some bad, bad Indian restaurants, with bright spots that are clouded by inconsistency, mediocrity, and a single restaurant downtown that has exhausted its options for getting worse.
Sri’s does not belong alongside any of them, the food is just that different. It is well done, at least as well done as Curry Corner, and rather more interesting. The food of Andhra Pradesh is known for its complex mixing of spices (by Indian standards), such as the famous Chicken 65. I can’t speak for how they did on that dish, but the flavors of the food and the side sauces came through in a way which is complex, but not overwhelming, and simply sublime.
Get the Vankaya Amrutham. It is creamy and complex, with eggplant cooked into a thick sauce that’s rich and nutty. It is perfect.
Vegetarians may want to try an Indo-​Chinese classic, chilli paneer, which they are willing to make as a special request. They have chilli chicken on the menu. This dish varies throughout India but is exemplary of the best of Indo-​Chinese food. Strong, brothy flavors, heat, some sourness, some large share of umami. Theirs is very, very good. I don’t know anyone else making Indo-​Chinese food in Olympia, and most of the offerings in Seattle are lousy, and there’s only one or two bright spots in Redmond and Bellevue. In Tumwater you can get some good chilli paneer. Amazing. Really.
The pakoras/​bhajis made with plantains were a little firm, but good. The green chili version (mirchi pakora/​mirchi bhaji) is good, but be warned that by default it’s stuffed with raw red onions.
The okra fry is wonderful. Their naan is so-​so, their pulka bread is very good, although not thin and puffed as one might expect. The manchurian dishes (one of the other pillars of Indo-​Chinese food) are good, but not my thing. Clearly well done, though.
The punugulu are very nice, and give one ample excuse to down large quantities of their peanutty sauce, which is lovely alongside the rest of their dishes.
They’re still figuring out this whole restaurant thing, but the owner is responsive to criticism and is actively working on fixing their website. They are not open Mondays currently. They are paring down the menu a little bit, as one often does when starting a new place, with a plan to open it up a little wider once they find their bearings. Still, they don’t need to pare it down for lack of quality. It’s very, very good.
I’m ecstatic. This is a good thing. The food is very good, and we’re very lucky to have it here in Olympia-​Lacey-​Tumwater. The food is something special. Andhra cuisine, in Tumwater. And it’s _​good_​. And they do some Indo-​Chinese dishes. And those are good, too.
And they’re gracious and accommodating, and don’t mind jerks like me ordering off-​menu. And they rise to the occasion. And and and. I could ramble for hours. Eat the food. Make two trips to Trosper Road, one for Ramirez, one for Sri’s. You’ll be damn happy that you did.
UPDATE: Thanks to the pressure of Unilocal users like you, Chili Paneer is now on the menu at Sri’s! Those of you hesitant to order off-​menu no longer have any excuse to not try it :)