Saffron Indian Kitchen — Restaurant in Ambler

Underwhelmed and under seasoned. I’m no stranger to Indian cuisine. And I’ve read great reviews about this restaurant and personally friends have told me it was good but what I experienced tonight wasn’t good at all. I got the Vegetable samosas, garlic naan and butter chicken. Let’s start with the samosas, not the crispiest but I’ll chalk that up to them being in a plastic takeout container but as there was no indication of condensation it gives that they were fried earlier and placed under a heat lamp or warmer until served. This isn’t a issue but the samosas lacked flavor, Indian cuisine is seasoned and spiced well and none of that was present in the samosas. Feels like they rely to heavily on the sauces the served with it to compensate for the lack of flavor. Garlic naan was ok, a little burnt in parts but still edible.

Now onto the butter chicken, I requested medium spice but when I first tasted it, all I tasted was sugar, seriously it was so sweet that I had to check what I ordered because I thought I may have gotten something else. I’ve had butter chicken from some of the philly local Indian restaurants and this rendition is at the bottom of the list. Indian food is such a delight because of how the flavors evolve and develop on your tongue as you eat, this was not that. It’s very disappointing because I’ve made a version of butter chicken at home and this feels like that and that I accidentally put to much sugar in it. Unfortunately it’s going in the trash because it’s inedible, the flavors aren’t balanced and it’s like they didn’t care. It’s a miss for me, the entire meal fell flat in flavor and that’s very disappointing giving the glowing reviews. Maybe it was an off night but I won’t chance trying to figure out if...

I was a little skeptical at first. Upon arriving, we (my husband and I) were informed that the AC was broken. Fortunately, it was a cool evening so we weren't uncomfortable in any way. The staff weren't very personable but weren't rude. Service was fairly quick and food came out fresh and hot. For an appetizer we shared the Gobi Bezule ($7). It's was very delicious. For entrees, my husband had the Chicken Tikka Masala($15). He chose spice level (scale being mild, medium, hot) "medium" being that he likes things relatively spicy and it burned him good! He said he would definitely not get that level again. I ordered the Chicken (Murg) Korma ($15). I asked if I could get mine somewhere between mild and medium and the server stated "So you want it 'Regular'?" Altho it wasn't listed as a level at first it turned out to be just right for me offering a slight kick above mild but not too crazy towards medium and hot. There garlic naan was out of this world! It had so much flavor and was nice and light. Personally, our favorite go to spot is still Tiffin. However, my husband and I agree that Saffron will go in the rotation for a nice switch up. The establishment is BYOB and on the money scale I'd say $$-$$$. Credit/debit is accepted. Conveniently next door is a cool (no pun intended) lil gelato shop (someone please comment the name if known) that we were able to check out for dessert. My husband was happy to cool his...

The 1 Star I gave is for the good food. They don't deserve anything more. The food is ridiculously overpriced. Bite sized portions of curries (which wud be 9$ at the max) for 15$.

They charge for Paapad (which is supposed to be complimentary, like Nachos at a Mexican place), and even for pickle and curd (which is billed for 3$ as Raitha). This alone came to 8$.

Plus they add an inbuilt tip of 4$ on ur check, and then shamelessly ask for additional tip too!

The manager n the waiters are rude and uninterested if you are Indian. They gesture to a small corner for you to sit down. But if you are American, they are cloyingly sweet n put extra effort.....To dupe people out of more money I guess!

The food here is good. But the price and attitude of the staff truly sucks! Definitely not worth 4.3 rating! Maybe like 2.5.

EDIT: Called the manager of this place, and tried to explain that these items are usually complimentary. He replies with sarcasm - "Did you see the menu or not? This is the way it is. Ur the first customer who has complained about this". When I told him 3$ is too much for Curd (which they billed as Raitha on my check), that even a box of curd is 4$ - He tells me "Then go eat at Walmart". All this, after I gave them 50$ of business lol!

I don't want to sound indecent here so I'm probably not going to comment on that. I wish I can re-rate this...