Saffron Austin — Restaurant in Austin

This is the first time I’ve ever written a restaurant review. Tonight’s experience with Saffron road was the worst restaurant experience I’ve had in quite some time. I ordered carry-out (chicken curry, chick tikka masala, aboo Gobi, naan and samosa). When I got there, I noticed an order of Gobi Manchurian on my receipt that I didn’t order. One lady said they would remove it for me. When I got home I realized that they had left the Gobi Manchurian in the bag, but failed to include a chicken curry (the new receipt they had in the bag indicated that curry was missing). I called and informed them of the mistake and ran back up to get the curry dish.

That would not have been that big of a deal, but when I got home with what I thought was the missing dish, I discovered I actually had two chicken curries instead of a curry and tikka masala. Okay, not a huge deal...we would just eat the two chicken curries. Then, we discovered that the chicken curry was actually mostly bone. There was almost no chicken in either dish. Our 4-year-old was going to eat the curry, so we took each piece out and removed the bone manually and gave her as much chicken as we could. We were very careful and thought we removed all of it, but there were still small bones in the sauce itself, one of which she accidentally swallowed.

I called back to inform them of our experience because I thought it was the right thing to do...I was not looking for something free. The only reason I gave 2 stars instead of 1 was because the gentlemen I spoke to was very apologetic and even offered to drive a new dish to my house. I declined because I decided that it would take a lot for me to give Saffron another chance.

There were multiple issues with my order and the food was a poor experience tonight. I’m sure lots of people love this restaurant, and maybe we would as well on a different night, but it was kind of a perfect storm of issues tonight that led me to write my first ever...

Three stars is a little harsh, especially given the fact that I do like the place a lot. It's simple and spartan inside (except for some nice art and calligraphy on the wall) but clean and pleasant. The lunch buffet has plenty of choices. The saag paneer and channa masala I had were both really tasty (and somewhat spicy; I don't know if the saag is supposed to be spicy but I sure liked it), the naan was good, great rice, etc.

So I liked all the food, and the people are really nice, but here's my main deal: the food at the buffet is all in steel chafing dishes, but the sterno burners underneath are not lit. Thus, the food is basically at room temperature, or slightly below. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be, but personally I'd prefer for it to be at least a little warm. I'm not even sure how it's up to health department standards, but then again I have no idea what those standards are for a buffet like this.

Anyway, try the food because it's on par with other good local South Asian lunch buffets (no clue about from-the-menu dining but I assume the quality is comparable) but the "food is not hot" thing is a...

I visited Saffron in Austin, TX, last week during a trip, and overall, the food was quite good. I ordered the Lamb Curry, which many restaurants struggle to get right, but Saffron nailed it. The lamb was perfectly cooked, and the masala and spices were well-balanced. The Butter Chicken was also tasty, and the Mango Lassi, while a bit overly sweet, was made with good quality mango pulp, though it wasn’t fresh mango.

One thing to note is that the menu is a bit overpriced for what you get. The young women serving us, who seemed like international students, were sweet and attentive. However, an older server or possibly the manager started closing up near our table and was speaking loudly with colleagues, which felt unprofessional and made the experience less enjoyable.

As for the interior, the atmosphere wasn’t very comfortable. Given the prices they charge, I would expect a more refined and welcoming ambiance.

In conclusion, while the food is worth trying, they could improve the overall dining experience to match the...