I have been to Mango Grove, Udipi (it is Tiffin now?), Woodlands, Minerva and Amma in Vienna. If you want to know my creds, I am South Indian, and I am a current DCUM. I grew up in South India so I know most of the food they serve in these places. When I say something is good, it is good of what is available. If you eat it at the home an Indian, who is a good cook, these dishes will be 10 times better. So it is all relative We always go for the weekend buffets. My opinions are based on just that. I don't have a stake in any of these places but here is what I think of them:

Mango Grove - Very few items in the buffet. There was a time when they started serving dosa cut in half per person in buffet. Thankfully they didn't do it for long. Food is only average

Udipi - used to go there long time back. Not very impressed

Woodlands - This is the one we like the best. Buffet has lots of items and many taste good. You go at noon for buffet and it is a mad house.

Minerva - Went there only once because our friends were raving about it for a long time. We went for the weekend buffet and were not very impressed. Even our friends who came with us said things aren't that great that weekend. May be is a one off thing?

Amma - It is over hyped.

Vindaloo is from Goa. Former Portugese colony. Hence the pork.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tyler Cowen is my food god:



Bombay Indian in White Oak, MDhttp://bombayindianrestaurant.com/" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> http://bombayindianrestaurant.com/
Heritage India in Glover Park north of G-town http://www.heritageindiausa.com/
Angeethi Indian Cuisine, 645 Elden St., Herndon, VA http://www.angeethiindian.com/703-796-1527.

Excellent all around, this is now one of the two or three best Indian places in the area. (Bombay Indian in Silver Spring is probably the current leader). The chat station, offered at lunch, is first-rate. Everything else is quite consistent and just generally tasty. I even enjoyed the Butter Chicken. Good breads. Good vindaloo and spinach and black lentils. What kind of Indian food is it? Most of all I would say it is like the Balti food you get in the UK and indeed they have a whole section of the menu devoted to Balti dishes.

Don't worry about Bombay Indian being in White Oak. It is the BEST southern Indian in the entire area. As Cowen would say: GO, go, go. Cowen knows his food--he is a genius. The buffet at Angeethi is coma inducing.

These are not South Indian restaurants.

Butter Chicken (British invention), Vindaloo, and Palak Daal Makani (black, Spinach lentils) are not South Indian dishes either! Well, actually I think Vindaloo comes from the Coorg region of Karnataka in the south, but I may be wrong. That was the only place in India where I saw Pork Vindaloo served. (hardly anyone in India eats pork).

South Indian restaurants in the US are (almost) always vegetarian and will carry various dosas, wadas, idli Sambar, rasam, among many veg curry dishes.

Tiffin in Langley park!

Anonymous wrote:Tyler Cowen is my food god:



Bombay Indian in White Oak, MDhttp://bombayindianrestaurant.com/" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> http://bombayindianrestaurant.com/
Heritage India in Glover Park north of G-town http://www.heritageindiausa.com/
Angeethi Indian Cuisine, 645 Elden St., Herndon, VA http://www.angeethiindian.com/703-796-1527.

Excellent all around, this is now one of the two or three best Indian places in the area. (Bombay Indian in Silver Spring is probably the current leader). The chat station, offered at lunch, is first-rate. Everything else is quite consistent and just generally tasty. I even enjoyed the Butter Chicken. Good breads. Good vindaloo and spinach and black lentils. What kind of Indian food is it? Most of all I would say it is like the Balti food you get in the UK and indeed they have a whole section of the menu devoted to Balti dishes.

Don't worry about Bombay Indian being in White Oak. It is the BEST southern Indian in the entire area. As Cowen would say: GO, go, go. Cowen knows his food--he is a genius. The buffet at Angeethi is coma inducing.

These are not South Indian restaurants.

I just heard that Madras Palace in Gaithersburg is meant to be very good.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned DIVA near Tyson's Corner. Their wkend buffet has tons of choices though it's a bit more expensive than regular buffet. It worths to try!

Here is dosa to those of you wondering what all the fuss is about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodlands, Amma, and Minerva, for example.

according to OP, Amma is closed. so "several" = two

Amma is quite open in Vienna, and I'm sure there are others than the three I posted as examples.

2= couple, 3 = few, 4-5 = a handful, 6+ = several

south indian restaurants are few and far between. don't act like such a know it all when you're obviously not

Wow, I never claimed to be a know it all...sounds like you have a problem just because people claimed many restaurants have dosa in DC. Just because there aren't many South Indian restaurants, that doesn't mean that there aren't restaurants that carry dosa. Does this help?

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=dosa&find_loc=Washington%2C+DC

That's 10 whole restaurants on Yelp, and the last time I checked, 10 is greater than 6, so it even fulfills your oh-so-helpful criteria!

Tyler Cowen is my food god:



Bombay Indian in White Oak, MDhttp://bombayindianrestaurant.com/" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> http://bombayindianrestaurant.com/
Heritage India in Glover Park north of G-town http://www.heritageindiausa.com/
Angeethi Indian Cuisine, 645 Elden St., Herndon, VA http://www.angeethiindian.com/703-796-1527.

Excellent all around, this is now one of the two or three best Indian places in the area. (Bombay Indian in Silver Spring is probably the current leader). The chat station, offered at lunch, is first-rate. Everything else is quite consistent and just generally tasty. I even enjoyed the Butter Chicken. Good breads. Good vindaloo and spinach and black lentils. What kind of Indian food is it? Most of all I would say it is like the Balti food you get in the UK and indeed they have a whole section of the menu devoted to Balti dishes.

Don't worry about Bombay Indian being in White Oak. It is the BEST southern Indian in the entire area. As Cowen would say: GO, go, go. Cowen knows his food--he is a genius. The buffet at Angeethi is coma inducing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodlands, Amma, and Minerva, for example.

according to OP, Amma is closed. so "several" = two

Amma is quite open in Vienna, and I'm sure there are others than the three I posted as examples.

2= couple, 3 = few, 4-5 = a handful, 6+ = several

south indian restaurants are few and far between. don't act like such a know it all when you're obviously not

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodlands, Amma, and Minerva, for example.

according to OP, Amma is closed. so "several" = two

Amma is quite open in Vienna, and I'm sure there are others than the three I posted as examples.

Anonymous wrote:Woodlands, Amma, and Minerva, for example.

according to OP, Amma is closed. so "several" = two

My neighbors love Saran, which is vegetarian, and located in a strip mall at the Northeast corner of George Mason and Lee Hwy in Arlington. I haven't tried it yet. (I typically get my Indian fix at Delhi Dhaba or Delhi Club, but those might be Northern Indian.)

I really miss Udupi Palace and I'm not South Indian. I never liked Woodlands as much. There is a restaurant in the Post Office Pavilion which may be south Indian. It is called Indian Delight. It used to be at Union Station, but moved.