Samburna Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Bothell

Samburna is a really good south indian restaurant in Bothell. I never heard of this place until a friend of ours recommended this place to us. We stopped by Sunday for a late lunch in a group of 8. We were promptly seated and ordered the following items: Appetizers: Paniyaram (amazing tasted super fresh served with a sauce which wasnt great and the sauce could have been better), Medu Vada (the best crispiest medu vadas I have ever had and loved eating it with the chutney and sambar), Mega Ghee Podi Dosa (delicious huge dosa which can easily be shared by 3-4 folks), Chicken 65 (tasty boneless chicken with spices kinda like chicken popcorns), Chemeen Fry (shrimp in a spicy dry sauce. This was delicious and the shrimp was cooked to perfection and the spices complimented the shrimp very well) & Chicken Chukka (this dish lacked seasoning and would have tasted 10 times better if it had a little more salt. This was a common feedback from all of us who had this dish. The spices were great but lack of salt sadly did not bring out all the flavors) Main Course: Melagu Kozhi Curry (chicken curry with amazing spices - pepper and red chilli), chicken chettinad & samburna goat curry. All the 3 meat curries were delicious, well seasoned, tasted amazing and the meat was cooked to perfection. I really liked the goat curry but seemed liked we got only 2-3 small pieces of meat while the rest was all bones. The chicken curries did have a good amount of chicken though. We devoured the curries with malabar parota (very fresh and tasty) and some steamed rice (served complimentary with the curries). The vegetarian folks ordered an eggplant curry (Gutti Vankaya) and paneer butter masala and both curries tasted great. Dessert: Gulad Jamun (fresh and tasty) & Mango kulfi (delicious but a tad too frozen - understandably so). Both the desserts had a rose syrup drizzle over them which was I think not required but thats fine Beverages: Madras Filter Coffee (amazing and one of the best filter coffees I have had for a long time), Majjige (buttermilk was good and tasted fresh) & Lime Soda (this was bad it was just soda and lemon not lime mixed and served with no salt or sugar or any flavors. Will not order this again)

While we loved the food here, there were some dishes that could have been better but nevertheless we enjoyed our meal here. Service was okay - one of the servers was really good while the rest did not seem to care much but we got our cood out in a resonably good amount of time. My reasons for reducing a star - some meat curries having barely any meat for the price and lack of seasoning in some dishes and not figuring out how to make a simple basic lime soda apart from the not so great service. The majority of the food items we ordered were a hit though. I would recommend this place if...

I’ve never been to a restaurant where there were this many issues. None of the issues alone are a big deal, but when you add them all together they are. It was so bad, it makes me question the validity of the five star reviews posted here. There are plenty of other Indian restaurants in the Bothell area that are so much better. I’ll never go to Samburna again.

Took five minutes to take our order. Nothing written down typed into a hand held computer pad. He had to ask someone else what to do and was very slow. Restaurant had water pictures full of water on each table with no ice in them. Top of water pitcher was open, completely exposed to the elements, flies, or whatever. Water was not cold because of this. Chai came in metal cups with no handles in a metal saucer. Very difficult to pick up and got cold quickly. Also very small in size, about the size of the Dixie cup, and they charged for refills. Waiter did not speak good English and was wearing dirty jeans with holes in them. He never came back to check with us to see if everything was OK, or if we needed anything more. Saag was extremely runny. Only three options for spice level: mild, moderate, and hot. Moderate was too spicy. We usually get number three. Mango kulfi was on the menu but they didn’t have any. Waiter kept thinking we were saying we wanted coffee instead of Kulfi. Said it at least 10 times, even spelled it. He wondered why we wanted coffee and tea. We had to sign on the computer pad to pay, which was fine, however we wanted a printed receipt and that option was blacked out. Waiter had to make an exception for us and go to the back to get our receipt for us. Waiter cleared some of our dirty dishes when we were finished, including the sugar for the chai, which we needed for our second cup we ordered. He never came back to clear the rest of the table so we had to sit there and stare at our dirty dishes while we drink our 2nd cup of chai. Total cost was extremely expensive for lunch. Over $55. All we had for two people was two saag entrées, a Gobi Manchurian appetizer, and two chai each.

The best thing about the experience was the Gobi Manchurian. It was delicious.

My response to Samburna owners comment of my review. I don’t mind talking to you, however my partner who was with me at Samburna that day feels there were way too many issues that were very wrong at your restaurant and he does not want to go back to your restaurant anytime soon. After you have fixed most of these issues, please respond again and we will consider going...

I generally dont write reviews for any restaurant. I am writing this review primarily because I happened to engage for 3 different reasons with Samburna and they exceeded our expectations each and every time we asked for their service. In fact I should have given 3 separate reviews about Samburna, my apologies for writing in a single review. I am fond of South Indian food and will immediately try any restaurant which serves South Indian food, so that landed me at Samburna which was my first experience with them. We loved the authentic south indian dishes like paniyaram, fish fry, parota, veg kurma biryani (both veg and non veg) and finally the yummy Ela ada. Immediately I asked them if they will be able to serve authentic south indian banana leaf meals for about 400 member for an indian community gathering. It was a challenging task for them but they took up the challenge and served us with the best quality and quantity. We were impressed to see a recently started restaurant delivering authentic indian food quality for so many people without any shortage or compromising on the quality. My next interaction with them was for a family get together which was to be arranged for about 65 members and this time i requested them for a buffet where the dishes should have authentic tamil nadu and karnataka dishes. They made it a point that they brought the food on time, kept it warm through out the event and personally served all our guests with a hearty smile and stomach full of food. For all the 3 occasions I spoke to one person called Sam and hats off to his commitment. He and his team provided more than what we expected and more importantly for a good competitive price. I am rating them with a 5 star because they have been impressive with their food not only at their restaurant but also for huge gatherings irrespective of the number. Thank you Sam and team!! All the best for some more...