Flavor of India

Today at lunch we ventured to Santa Monica and Doheny to check out this Bridal Bar store. Unfortunately, it was closed. But, we were out and about, so we decided to go to lunch instead. Nearby were two restaurants--one was a bakery cafe (that would have been my pick) and the other was The Flavor of India. I have wanted to try this restaurant because I heard it was good, but I didn't want to go today because I wanted something a little faster and less heavy.

The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was that it isn't exactly inside. It looks like an indoor restaurant, you actually walk inside and the tables are inside tables with inside chairs and real tablecloths and cloth napkins but the roof is open partially.

At lunch there is a buffet for a flat fee. The buffet is in the inside inside of the restaurant which is up a ramp through another sunny partially open patio room. The restaurant was pretty crowded the whole time we were there but not full.

The buffet had a lot of options but I didn't feel there was as much variety as other Indian restaurants. There were 3 chicken dishes, a lentil dish, a mashed eggplant dish, rice, cracker bread, naan and rice pudding. There was also some fruit. The fruit was a nice touch--the watermelon was very juicy and the oranges were also delicious looking.

The rice was the first thing I noticed that was not very good. It tasted like it had been sitting there forever and was dry and a little hard. All the other dishes were fine but not outstanding. The lentils were a little more gritty than I like. The Chicken Masala was my favorite dish and I had second helpings of that alone. The naan, which they brought to your table instead of putting it on the buffet, was perfect-just slightly bready with a hint of flavor.

Because the meal was a buffet, our group took a little bit longer than we should have. The staff was attentive to our needs but mostly left us to our own devices. There was plenty of street parking in front so there seemed no reason to go from the relaxing place--until we remembered we had to get back to the office.





Flavor of India
9045 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywod, CA 90069
Map