Saffron By The Sea — Restaurant in Fairhaven

Fragrance reigned supreme for this Fairhaven gem. I would suggest a reservation as it was the first thing that was asked. We were seated within 10 minutes. The dining room is small. It is well decorated. The table had proper linens and cloth napkins. Our water glasses for the entirety of our time remained full. For food, my group started with samosa (two crisp pastries).These vegetarian samosas are made in the Punjab style, one of the states in the northern part of India. The aromatic potato, chickpeas, corn? filling was spiced with garam masala and cumin, with a hint of heat. This was served with two dipping sauces (chutneys) ($10). Be careful. They were temperature hot. We ordered garlic Naan. The na'an was soft but lacked the pillowiness I am used to in naan. This naan had more of baked "pizza crust" feel then if it had been done in a tandoori. The garlic flavoring was lacking. My comparison to something other than naan may have been how it was cut? It was cut into triangles. The yellow curry sauce was flavorless...but it was "smooth" ($6). The server described it as a curry ranch. We also tried the Pakoda ($12). These crisp fritters were outstanding. The highlight of all of our appetizers. These are made with besan (gram flour), salt, spices, and a main ingredient of mixed vegetables. This app proved to be a perfect sharing dish.

I ordered a Sweet Lassi. I know this is a traditional dessert type drink, but I wanted something cold/creamy. This was definitely not the best lassi that I had. It was flat and not creamy. I think maybe a low fat or Greek yogurt was used as opposed to a whole fat yogurt. Also, I couldn't for the life of me taste the rose water. I would say if there was anything that was missing, it was the rose water. I could taste the cardamom and saffron ($6). The menu also mentions mangos in the Sweet Lassi? Not traditional....I give this lassi a B.

This period was when we felt rushed by our server. Our server also tried to combine plates. I think she was just trying to make room, but we were still eating. The weird part is that the table was cleared completely, and it was 20 minutes until our entrees came out.

The entrees were magnificent. The favoring was rich and very delicious. I enjoyed the butter chicken served with jasmine rice. The sauce was very good. My companions ordered their dishes spicy. They were underwhelmed with the spiciness of their dishes. One order is the lamb/goat vindaloo ($22) and the other chicken Tikka masala ($20). I should note the plates were empty nonetheless.

Again, our plates were taken away, and we were asked if we wanted our bill. We indicated we wanted dessert. We were told that two items no longer exist on the menu. The baked Alaska and I think a Tiramisu was the other. My friend ordered the rasmalai. He loved it and said it was great. I had the kulfi ($6). It was beautiful presented. It was really quite good, but you have to wait for it to thaw. Worth the wait. The sauce on thr kulfi was the best part. It was nutty with a hint of saffron. We both rated our desserts at an A-. My other friend opted out of dessert.

The whole bill came to $117.00 without tip. We tipped well because despite feeling rushed, everything was spot on from our server. She really was trying.

This is definitely a place...

I go there to have food like lunch or dinner cuz I like Indian food with my daughter has everybody maybe knows I am a trans female so the first issue I got is I don't feel comfortable getting served by these people and I'm not saying that I'm against Indian people cuz I don't care I could care less but when they start calling me sir over and over again it's like very irritating I'm sitting there with makeup on and everything else presenting as a female and it seems to me like they just feel like outing me every other second and I don't say nothing back to them I told one of them when I pulled him aside I said you know my name is Alana but anyway that's not the biggest part so I ordered food I ordered a certain kind of food or it's a dinner kind of food I forgot what they call it it's got like chickpeas with a gravy kind of thing in it in rice and stuff like that so I told him not to make it hot I said make it mild I got it back I could barely eat it you know they pulled this on me before cuz me and the daughter been there about 3 or 4 times now and every time I go there I find it difficult to eat their food because it's hot like I don't mean hot I mean pepper hot spicy hot you know they keep on asking me and I tell them I want it mild so next time well it's not going to be a next time anyway because I'm never going there again every time I've gone there with sir there sir that you know I had enough I didn't start no trouble I was nice to them anyway but I'm not even complain about the food I just ate it I tried to eat it it was tough it was tough to swallow SSI I can't eat hot food no more spicy food I can imagine if the food didn't have those spices so so hot like that if they had it like very very mild or non-existent it would probably taste way better probably taste like real food the service well when you ask I don't know you can see by the Stars I was like disappointed by this place and you know I've tested this out three or four times now I think it's four times and every time it's $40 a piece and I'll be damned if I'm going to go into a place and be disrespected and have food and not never do what I need them to do because I know the difference because the India Restaurant in Providence it's like edible food that's so nice it's worth the money and the atmosphere is good and the people are decent to you like my daughter likes traveling around experimenting with restaurants I mean that's a good thing but the experiments over with this place saffron by the sea is definitely a no-go for me anyway...

First, the food was fantastic and well-plated.

I’m writing this review because I genuinely want this restaurant to succeed.

Many small details added up to make a strange dining experience: The restaurant entry area lacked a clear designation for food pickup versus welcoming of guests. When staff finally noticed us (who is the hostess?), we were led behind the desk and through the takeout prep area to our table. It felt very apparent that the restaurant was previously used as a hotel lobby. The space was wide open; it felt too big and too bright. The fireplace was a nice thought, but the wide open doors allowed just enough smoke to come out and stick to our clothing. In my experience, it is best when the menu is short and coheres to a theme. There was very little saffron and many non-Indian items. When it became time to order, there was no clear waiter to assist. Someone (the manager?) finally came over to help us after 30 or so minutes of waiting and proceeded to take 5-10 minutes to enter our order into a credit card terminal, which felt cold and transactional. It felt as if we should have paid upfront. This restaurant appears to be optimizing for a delivery-based business model. When the food came out, appetizers and entrees together, the dishes were placed in the middle of the table. It arrived like a GrubHub order, all at once and with no indication that they knew who ordered what dish. I hope this restaurant can find a niche and business model that works for them. I plan to order takeout from here...