New Indian places comparison

Amit577

New Member
So I have tried out the Bollywood Masala in San Souci and the Bombay Garden in Lexington Park(used to be the Roost). Being that they serve the same food, are new, and are right near each other they are just begging for comparison. I am not going to talk about the bufffets at either place since I have only been for dinner, and Indian buffet food is generally only mediocre.

Bollywood Masala: The service here was decent, but nothing spectacular. The decor was a little better than when the place was the veitnamese cafe. You can tell they did a LOT of cleaning from that time though, so that is a big plus. The garlic naan was nice and hot and tasty with a good texture and the samosa appetizers were also very nice. However I have to give the food a little bit of a lower rating. My wife had chicken tikka masala which should be prepared by first making chiken tikka in a tandoor (clay barbque type of thing which adds a very distinct taste) and then adding it to the sauce. This dish was clearly not made that way. They took the short cut of just basically stewing the chicken into the sauce, or it may have possibly been pan cooked first. Either way it was not as it should be. Now the good points of the meal were the non saucy dishes. Anything from the tandoor section which did not come in a sauce so could not be short cut was good. The Hariyali (spelling?) was just delicious and unusual.

Bombay Garden: The service here was just slightly better and again the decor is nothing to write home about. The naan bread again was really good, but the samosas here were not up to par with Bollywood Masala. The chicken tikka masala was made the right way!!! And tasted pretty good. The shining star of the meal was actually not the chicken however. The saag paneer (spinach with homemade cheese) was probably the best I have ever had (sorry mom). The lamb vindaloo was ok but the lamb ended up being a tad tough.

For my money I think I will go mostly to Bombay Garden, but I think the 2 are close enough that you should try both and see how your favorite dishes taste at each place.
 

molly_21

Member
Take this with a grain of salt since I have only tried the buffet at Bombay Garden, but I found the food better at Bollywood, inc. the buffet.

Down side is that I think Bollywood needs to work on getting more servers or making the service more streamline. In general the owners are friendly and the food is good otherwise.

Speaking of Vietiamese food, too bad that place did not work out.......
 

Pete

Repete
So I have tried out the Bollywood Masala in San Souci and the Bombay Garden in Lexington Park(used to be the Roost). Being that they serve the same food, are new, and are right near each other they are just begging for comparison. I am not going to talk about the bufffets at either place since I have only been for dinner, and Indian buffet food is generally only mediocre.

Bollywood Masala: The service here was decent, but nothing spectacular. The decor was a little better than when the place was the veitnamese cafe. You can tell they did a LOT of cleaning from that time though, so that is a big plus. The garlic naan was nice and hot and tasty with a good texture and the samosa appetizers were also very nice. However I have to give the food a little bit of a lower rating. My wife had chicken tikka masala which should be prepared by first making chiken tikka in a tandoor (clay barbque type of thing which adds a very distinct taste) and then adding it to the sauce. This dish was clearly not made that way. They took the short cut of just basically stewing the chicken into the sauce, or it may have possibly been pan cooked first. Either way it was not as it should be. Now the good points of the meal were the non saucy dishes. Anything from the tandoor section which did not come in a sauce so could not be short cut was good. The Hariyali (spelling?) was just delicious and unusual.

Bombay Garden: The service here was just slightly better and again the decor is nothing to write home about. The naan bread again was really good, but the samosas here were not up to par with Bollywood Masala. The chicken tikka masala was made the right way!!! And tasted pretty good. The shining star of the meal was actually not the chicken however. The saag paneer (spinach with homemade cheese) was probably the best I have ever had (sorry mom). The lamb vindaloo was ok but the lamb ended up being a tad tough.

For my money I think I will go mostly to Bombay Garden, but I think the 2 are close enough that you should try both and see how your favorite dishes taste at each place.

Will you go with me because I never know what to order when I go to a place like this?
 

Amit577

New Member
This is what i would order for first timers. I put how you pronounce it also. (this is more food than 2 people would reasonably eat, but left overs are always good)

Samosas (sa-moe-sa, appetizer, peas and potatoe wrapped in pastry and fried)

1 order of plain a Naan and one order of Garlic Naan(nahn, this is the bread which you rip pieces off of and then use it to dip into the sauces in your meal or to pick up pieces of meat in)

Chicken Tikka Masala is like intro to indian food. Its barbqued chicken in a red sauce. (tick-ka Ma-sa-la)

Lamb (or chicken if you dont eat lamb) Vindaloo (Vin-da-loo)is also a good choice. Another saucy dish and can be a bit spicy.

The last meat dish I would order would be there version of the Tandoor sampler. It usually has a bunch of different meats or fish grilled in the tandoor and not too spicy and no sauce.

For veggies you can never go wrong with Saag Paneer (sahg pa-near)which is spinach with a homemade cheese but sometimes has a different name. The waiter should be able to figure out what you want.
 

Jigglepuff

Chin Jiggla!
Do they both serve Lamb Vindelo or Lamb Madras? Has anyone had it at either of these places? Looking forward to trying it.

For those that like it HOT (I MEAN HOT!!) these two dishes are worth trying!
 

Bavarian

New Member
The last Indian food we ate made my wife sick, I was careful not to eat the salads, don't trust the water. That is the problem, you never know what is safe. Steer clear of uncooked foods, don't drink the water. Watch out for ice cubes.
And this was in a fancy resort hotel complex in Dehli.
 

migtig

aka Mrs. Giant
Do they both serve Lamb Vindelo or Lamb Madras? Has anyone had it at either of these places? Looking forward to trying it.

For those that like it HOT (I MEAN HOT!!) these two dishes are worth trying!

Had both at Bollywood. They warned that it would be hot, and I was disappointed. It was good, but nowhere near as spicy and hot as I was expecting.
 

Amit577

New Member
Comparing the food in Maryland with food in Dehli is hardly fair! Of course when you are traveling over seas you should always follow those rules, but I hardly think St Mary's county water is going to make you sick.
 

sunny123

New Member
indian restaurant in san souci..

So I have tried out the Bollywood Masala in San Souci and the Bombay Garden in Lexington Park(used to be the Roost). Being that they serve the same food, are new, and are right near each other they are just begging for comparison. I am not going to talk about the bufffets at either place since I have only been for dinner, and Indian buffet food is generally only mediocre.

Bollywood Masala: The service here was decent, but nothing spectacular. The decor was a little better than when the place was the veitnamese cafe. You can tell they did a LOT of cleaning from that time though, so that is a big plus. The garlic naan was nice and hot and tasty with a good texture and the samosa appetizers were also very nice. However I have to give the food a little bit of a lower rating. My wife had chicken tikka masala which should be prepared by first making chiken tikka in a tandoor (clay barbque type of thing which adds a very distinct taste) and then adding it to the sauce. This dish was clearly not made that way. They took the short cut of just basically stewing the chicken into the sauce, or it may have possibly been pan cooked first. Either way it was not as it should be. Now the good points of the meal were the non saucy dishes. Anything from the tandoor section which did not come in a sauce so could not be short cut was good. The Hariyali (spelling?) was just delicious and unusual.

Bombay Garden: The service here was just slightly better and again the decor is nothing to write home about. The naan bread again was really good, but the samosas here were not up to par with Bollywood Masala. The chicken tikka masala was made the right way!!! And tasted pretty good. The shining star of the meal was actually not the chicken however. The saag paneer (spinach with homemade cheese) was probably the best I have ever had (sorry mom). The lamb vindaloo was ok but the lamb ended up being a tad tough.

For my money I think I will go mostly to Bombay Garden, but I think the 2 are close enough that you should try both and see how your favorite dishes taste at each place.

Hi Amit... before i go any further writing in response to your review, let me introduce myself to you..My name is Sunny and i am the owner of the indian restaurant in san souci under the name of bollywood masala... i really appreciate the time you have taken to write about and compare about both the indian restaurants in the st. marys county area.. i am also very sorry, for your not so pleasant experience when you stopped by bollywood masala..

Now when u talk about the chicken tikka masala not tasting authentic or we trying to do an easy job, well i must say that from the description that you gave me .. you either ordered the wrong dish or we buy accidentally gave you the "chicken Masala" you are absolutely correct n tell everyone here about how the chicken tikka masala should be made and that is exactly how it is made.. now chickent tikka masala at our restaurant will not come in a creamy sauce like it does in most of the other restaurants which is not the way it should be.. if you go with the literal meaning of the dish.. Chicken tikka... that is boneless chicken made in the clay oven.... and the masala is technically made out of onion gravy but has nothing to do with cream.. IF you are looking for the creamy sauce, you should order whats on the menu under the name of Murg MAkhni.. also known as butter chicken.. next time you come in .. just ask for me and i will make sure everything is served the right way .. :)... also for the service.. i would really appreciate if you could tell us in detail what exactly was not that great...
our whole concept behind the restaurant is to provide you a friendly environment where you feel like you are going to dinner at a friends house rather than a restaurant.. and i must say that you are soo Right about the cleaning part.. because we did do a LOTTTT of cleaning to open the place..
Also, for the buffet that we have , i really wanted to let you know, that we are probably the only restaurant in the entire DC metropolitan area( or atleast all that i have been to ) that does not repeat any dish everyday.. you can come here 5 days straight and you will not see the same dish on any 2 days..
i again want to thank you for the time and effort you have taken to write this review.. and we are open to all criticism, it just gives us areas to work on and make ourselves better..
hope to see you soon, and will try our best to make that experience a pleasant one.
Sunny
 

sunny123

New Member
hey pete, my name is Sunny, my family owns the indian restaurant in san souci, feel free to come in and if it is your first time having indian food.. dont worry we will fix you something .. so you are welcome anytime..
Sunny
 

sunny123

New Member
hey migtig..
honestly the madras is soooo hot that even on getting the order, we always tone it down.. just coz of how hot it is .. do this next time you come in .. ask for me (sunny) and i will make sure you get the orginal madras.. i promise.. u wont be disappointed ..:)
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
Hi Amit... before i go any further writing in response to your review, let me introduce myself to you..My name is Sunny and i am the owner of the indian restaurant in san souci under the name of bollywood masala... i really appreciate the time you have taken to write about and compare about both the indian restaurants in the st. marys county area.. i am also very sorry, for your not so pleasant experience when you stopped by bollywood masala..

Now when u talk about the chicken tikka masala not tasting authentic or we trying to do an easy job, well i must say that from the description that you gave me .. you either ordered the wrong dish or we buy accidentally gave you the "chicken Masala" you are absolutely correct n tell everyone here about how the chicken tikka masala should be made and that is exactly how it is made.. now chickent tikka masala at our restaurant will not come in a creamy sauce like it does in most of the other restaurants which is not the way it should be.. if you go with the literal meaning of the dish.. Chicken tikka... that is boneless chicken made in the clay oven.... and the masala is technically made out of onion gravy but has nothing to do with cream.. IF you are looking for the creamy sauce, you should order whats on the menu under the name of Murg MAkhni.. also known as butter chicken.. next time you come in .. just ask for me and i will make sure everything is served the right way .. :)... also for the service.. i would really appreciate if you could tell us in detail what exactly was not that great...
our whole concept behind the restaurant is to provide you a friendly environment where you feel like you are going to dinner at a friends house rather than a restaurant.. and i must say that you are soo Right about the cleaning part.. because we did do a LOTTTT of cleaning to open the place..
Also, for the buffet that we have , i really wanted to let you know, that we are probably the only restaurant in the entire DC metropolitan area( or atleast all that i have been to ) that does not repeat any dish everyday.. you can come here 5 days straight and you will not see the same dish on any 2 days..
i again want to thank you for the time and effort you have taken to write this review.. and we are open to all criticism, it just gives us areas to work on and make ourselves better..
hope to see you soon, and will try our best to make that experience a pleasant one.
Sunny

Congrats on a nice, well thought out response.

The attitude apparent in your reponse makes it more likely that I'll try your restaurant.
 

morningbell

hmmmmmm
Hi Sunny....

(katchcumber salad, small pot of hot tea, and Aloo Gobi)

I love Bollywood so much more than Bombay. I will tell you I have NEVER had bad service at Bollywood and when I went to Bombay (only once mind you) We sat for 20 minutes before we were even asked what we wanted.


BOLLYWOOD 4 LIFE!!!!
:cartwheel
 

Beta84

They're out to get us
Congrats on a nice, well thought out response.

The attitude apparent in your reponse makes it more likely that I'll try your restaurant.

It's a very similar attitude when you go to the restaurant. They were very nice and helpful. Oh and while all the food I had was good (lunch buffet), the bread was outstanding!
 
R

remaxrealtor

Guest
It's a very similar attitude when you go to the restaurant. They were very nice and helpful. Oh and while all the food I had was good (lunch buffet), the bread was outstanding!

The bread is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cartwheel
 
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