Saffron Valley - Avenues — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

• Update 11/6/2016 Pongal, Sambhar and Rasam (sour tomato soup) were really good. Those were tasty enough to give today's service four stars, but the pongal got over soon and was replaced by vermicelli!......Really? The green Kurma and the ice-cream tasted good. Rest were ok.

It was crowded and noisy today. Understandably, the plates and cups were slow to be replaced. However, they could have used paper plates or cups during rush times, so that the customers don't have to wait in queue for the plates/cups to arrive. After all these years, you would expect them to handle such situations with ease....hmmm.

Btw, the cutlet tasted weird. Is it the oil or the flour? Anyway, it sucked.

Overall, it was OK. That one serving of pongal was worth it. ** Update: 2016/07/11 I went on a Saturday for the buffet. Unfortunately, the food was back to its customary blandness. Even the coconut chutney was old and way diluted. They put a very little serving spoon in it, as if people are going to take multiple servings of that. This came as a surprise, as I had earlier given four stars (I am deducting two now). The people who run this place must understand that customers like Consistency. You are only as good as your last service. If I want to eat less flavorful food with negligible sodium, I would go to Subway. Why do I want to come to you? If you are going to be consistently bland and tasteless, so be it. At least, I would avoid it. I want to feel good about what I am eating...so disappointing and complete waste of money! Let me tell you where I am coming from, so you can gauge my review. I'm a South Indian, who appreciates a good vegetarian food.

During the initial days, when they opened the Saffron Valley, the food used to be excellent. But they underwent a crisis of identity and started experimenting their recipes/ menus to taste more and more Americanized or best Indo-American (bland!). I guess it was to appease their American customers. I can't blame the previous chef. I had eaten his preparations and it was awesome, when being loyal to his background. Their branch at Downtown was no good either. They couldn't even serve a good dosai. So, I stopped going there for a few years.

Recently, I thought I'd give it another chance. I was pleasantly surprised! I ate at their Downtown branch's Sunday buffet on two occasions now and I have to say the vegetarian items are quite good. The Sambhar, Idli, Pongal, Onion Pagoda (first few items on the buffet table) were tasty and remained true to the South Indian taste buds. I went for second helpings! The Rasam (soup) was awesome. The spice and salt levels were appropriate. It brought pleasant memories to a person, who is so far away from home.

For people who are unfamiliar with South Indian recipes, the Sambhar and Rasam could also be liberally mixed with white rice and eaten with the fried white Appalams/ Pappads (sides, located at the end of the buffet table). The Sambhar and the white cocconut chutney goes as a good side to Idli (cloth-covered steamed rice cakes) too. The green Kulfi and tea was pretty good! I didn't even get to taste the other vegetarian items on the menu. I was full and satisfied.

They may consider adding Paruppu/ Ulundu Vadai to the table, instead of Sambudani. The kothu Parotta is best, when prepared fresh....but, it's still ok. I hope the management read this review. Let the chief be true to his upbringing and don't mess around making any changes, at least to the South Indian items...

Three of us arrived for an early dinner on a Friday night. We were met by friendly staff and seated promptly at a beautiful table by the window. One of our party arrived before the rest and was able to be seated without all of us being present. Big plus!

The atmosphere was lovely. Open, a lot of tables, yet a lot of room so we didn’t feel crammed together. Open beam ceilings, and beautiful decor. The feeling of a bit upscale, with a welcoming feel of family. Although there were many other patrons, we didn’t have to raise our voices to hear each other talk. The table was set up for four, and when the first of our party arrived water was brought in silver cups along with a tall slender silver pitcher for us to fill our cups at our convenience. Which was nice for me as I drink a lot of water with my meals. Oh, and you know the smell of Indian spices? You are met with that wonderful smell as soon as you walk in the door. It is not overwhelming, however, you know you are in a Traditional Indian restaurant.

Srikanth was our server. He explained the dishes for those in the party who were unfamiliar with Indian Cuisine. He allowed us to take our time scanning the menu, however, would check back in with us so as to not make us wait if we were ready.

We ordered Punjabi Samosas, Paneer Dosas, the Butter Chicken spice level Medium, an order of Garlic Nan and two Masala Chia Hot Teas.

Our food was delivered very quickly, and piping hot.

The samosas were light, if you could call a samosa light, and full of flavor, as were the dosas.The fresh chutneys served with the dosas and samosas were so good. I could close my eyes and feel like I was back in India. I could taste all of the flavors without any one of them overwhelming the other. I could taste the freshness, as if the chutneys were made to order just for us.

The Butter chicken, on top of the basmati rice was some of the best I have ever eaten. And the garlic nan had just enough garlic to give it flavor, yet not so much that I had to cover my mouth while speaking at the event we later attended.

I’ve been to India, and I lived about two miles from Little India in Artisia, California for 13 years. I have eaten my fair share of Indian cuisine. The food at Saffron Valley was fresh, authentic, and made with love.

The service we received from Srikanth was exceptional. He was friendly, explained the dishes, greeted us with a smile, was attentive, checked in enough yet not too much. We felt welcome to stay as long as we wish, and when I, the one who knows Indian cuisine , ordered the “Pan” (I’ve been studying Spanish obsessively for a few months) he didn’t even correct me, just asked if we wanted it plain, with garlic, or with cheese. That’s class.

I would wholeheartedly recommend Saffron Valley in downtown SLC to anyone who enjoys authentic Indian cuisine, or anyone who has never tried it before...

I learned today that not all Indian restaurants are created equal. I’m visiting SLC from southern Utah and was craving the comfort food that my usual Indian restaurant provides. Saffron valley seemed to have a very similar menu and I found -what seemed to be- replicas of my usual favorites. I read some reviews and found that the SV responder to the reviews recommended asking for Very Mild I’d you're a bit more sensitive to the spiciness. I ordered for delivery (which went very well - easy process, not too high of a delivery cost, arrived early, etc). I was disappointed in the food, however. The shrimp coconut kurma was very spicy - despite my request for Very Mild. The shrimp had the tails still on (no fun to have to mess with that when they’re covered in sauce and eaten with a bite of rice). And the flavor was Way different- couldn’t even taste any coconut flavor. It was a totally different dish than what I’ve had before. And the amount of rice given was very small - especially compared to the sauce amount (which was a bit more reasonable for the cost). Then we get to the Naan... I’m used to it being called Peshawari Naan (it was nutty something-or-other at Saffron). They need to work on grinding that stuff up more...and the portion size could be better. The flavor was still nice and the naan was soft, thankfully. Overall it was decent food...but sure made me miss “my” restaurant at home. (If visiting southern Utah- definitely go try Red Fort Indian Cuisine!...