Indian Food of Fairfax County

Bombay Bistro; 3570 Chain Bridge Rd.

This is one of my choice meat-serving Indian restaurants in Fairfax County.  The tandoori chicken here is particularly good, as at a lot of other places, it can easily get tough.  There are few surprises to be found here, but everything is pretty solid.  The design is quite nice, and there are fabric tablecloths and napkins, which is a nice touch.

Jaipur; 9401 Lee Hwy

Jaipur is the Indian restaurant that I'm most likely to go to with my family.  The buffet is a little expensive, but still a pretty good value.  Good curries and solid desserts are highlights.  Like Bombay Bistro, there is nothing really special, and you can usually find the same dishes at the buffet every single time, but they're solid stand-by's.

Minerva; 10364 Lee Hwy

You feel like you're eating at a cafeteria at Minerva, so that's negative points right off the bat.  However, the food makes up for it.  Again, very little separates Minerva from any other meat-serving restaurant, but the couple of times I ate there, I felt that perhaps the ingredients were fresher than many other buffets.  

Saravana Palace; 11725 Lee Hwy

This is my preferred Indian restaurant in Fairfax county.  It is south Indian, so that means it is vegetarian.  There are particular techniques to enjoying things like the rasam, chat, sambar, idly, and dosas, so you should figure out the right way to enjoy these things before going.  The flavors are mostly bright, fresh, and light.  Highly recommended.

Woodlands; 4078 Jermantown Rd.

The people who run Saravana split off from Woodlands.  Woodlands is also a very good restaurant in the same style as Saravana, but gets negative points for being next to a K-Mart in an awkward location and not being quite as clean inside as Saravana.