Seva

With many Indian restaurants to choose from in Astoria, Seva stands out amongst the crowd. Offering flavorful, top notch Indian fare, an excellent prix fix menu, outstanding service and ambience, Seva truly is a gem. Seva is personally my favorite Indian restaurant, and one of my preferred restaurants in Astoria.

Seva consists of a small yet inviting room, holding about twelve tables, with the kitchen and bathrooms located in the downstairs area. Dimly lit, the place is filled with light flowing in from the windowS against the left wall, as well as the candles flickering on each of the tables and bouncing off the colorful, intricate chandeliers. The service is not to be beat, with friendly waiters coming to refill the tin water cups faster than you can finish, and taking your order with a smile. Instrumental Indian music plays in the background. Although the space is small, I feel more cozy than suffocated while inside.

interior

I’ve been to Seva more than any other restaurant in Astoria (although it may be a tie with the weekend morning bagels I crave from Mt. Olympus Bagels) and have yet to experience a bad meal or less than stellar dining experience. Seva starts you off with a light and crispy serving of Pappadum, accompanied with tamarind and mint chutneys.  The prix fix menu is the way to go at Seva, with an appetizer, entrée, Basmati rice, and dessert for $13.50. Not only that, but the portions are generous, guaranteeing a leftover meal the next day. For our visit, my friend and I ordered the Masala Crab Cake and Butternut Squash Soup for appetizers, Chana Saag and Chicken Tikka Masala as the entrees, and Kheer for dessert, along with Garlic Nan, Mango Lassi, and Iced Tea.

This visit was my first time trying the Butternut Squash Soup. I usually get the Vegetable Samosa, which has a perfectly crispy, flaky shell filled with spiced potatoes and green peas, served on top of mint and tamarind chutneys. Not certain the soup could hold up to my samosa expectations, I was pleasantly surprised to find the Butternut Squash Soup had the same depth in flavors as the samosa, and was thick and creamy as if it has been simmering all day. The soup is spiced with nutmeg, tamarind, and a hint of cinnamon, with just the right amount of kick. The Masala Crab Cake consists of lump crab meat, garam masala, and mint, served on top of a yogurt and lemon-cilantro sauce. The yogurt sauce stabilizes the heat of the garam masala spices.

Butternut Squash Soup

Masala Crab Cake

Seva offers Mango and Sweet Rose Lassi. Both are freshly made, thick yogurt-based smoothies. The Sweet Rose has a more subtle, almost vanilla taste than the Mango, which is (obviously) more fruity.  The Iced Tea has been described by my iced tea aficionado pal as the best iced tea he’s had, with the taste of real spices in each sip a pleasant surprise over the generic Lipton black tea served at most places.

Iced Tea + Mango Lassi

The vegetarian Chana Saag consists of chickpeas and spinach flavored with ginger, tomatoes, and cardamom. Indian cuisine can gloriously give vegetarian dishes the flavors most non-vegetarians carp about, and Seva nails it with their Chana Saag. The smooth texture of the spinach, paired with the chickpeas, makes it an excellent choice for vegetarians and non-vegetarians as well.

Chana Saag + Garlic Nan

The Chicken Tikka Masala is my staple Seva dish. As much as I tell myself I will order their other dishes, the dish is so perfectly done, I cannot gravitate away from it. The dish consists of tender white meat cubed chicken, cooked in a clay oven and served in a light cream tomato sauce. Seva lets you choose the spiciness of your entrée, in either mild, medium, or hot, although even the mild has a spicy kick. The Chicken Tikka Masala comes topped with fresh parsley, which accompanies the delicate yet complex flavors embedded in the dish. The sauce is extremely flavorful, and the meat is so tender making this a favorite dish. The Basmati rice is also subtly spiced with cloves and saffron.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Seva offers many types of Nan, leavened soft fresh bread that is clay oven baked. Each Nan is freshly made when ordered, and comes out hot and lightly charred from the oven. Flavors include rosemary, coconut, onion, cilantro, and cheese, but my favorite is the Garlic Nan, sprinkled with finely chopped garlic and butter.

The two most popular desserts at Seva are the Kheer and Gulab Jamun. Both are fantastic. The Gulab Jamun are honeyed dumplings, spiced with cardamom, cloves and rosewater. They are very sweet, and the flavor is strong. I enjoy the texture of the spongy dumplings, and the fact that I’ve never tasted anything quite like it appeals to me.

Their Kheer is equally delicious, and consists of rice pudding flavored with coconut flakes, vanilla, and golden raisins. Calling Seva’s Kheer simply rice pudding is an understatement – the flavors are so rich and creamy, it goes above and beyond just a rice pudding.

Kheer

Seva is not to be missed when in Astoria. Located right next door to hotspot Sweet Afton, Seva is itself becoming another equally popular destination for locals and visitors alike. The delicious food, friendly waitstaff, not-to-be-outdone prices, and unique ambience at Seva help make Astoria an awesome place to live and eat.

Gandhi

Being a loyal and devoted fan of Seva, it took a Living Social deal to get me to try Gandhi.  For those of you unfamiliar with Astoria let me fill you in. Seva is an Indian restaurant that serves the best Indian food I have ever tasted, has great prices (including an amazing lunch/dinner special), sports an always smiling and attentive wait staff, is always filled with people, has a cool atmosphere, and is considered a pretty trendy spot in and of itself, but also located right next door to wannabe hipster haven Sweet Afton. Gandhi is an Indian restaurant that is located right around the corner from Seva, and is usually empty each time I walk past it, sports bright lights (as my friend metaphorically put it, “if we are 720HD, Gandhi is 1080HD”), and does not have the following Seva garners.

Gandhi in 1080HD

I had been curious about Gandhi, but never enough so to give up a meal at Seva.  A recent Living Social deal (and a subsequent Groupon deal three weeks later) was my opportunity. For $20, I would get one appetizer, two entrees and an order of Nan. The Groupon deal offered the same allowances, except for $19. Why there is a dollar difference, we will never know.

The deal states you need to make a reservation, so I called ahead on a recent Friday night much to the mockery of my dining friend. Yes, the place is always empty but maybe, just maybe, this Friday night will be different. Upon telling the Gandhi employee my desired time, we hung up before I realized I hadn't given him my name or number of people. I figured we were fine.

We arrived at Gandhi to find one duo seated. We were shown to a table that had three condiment cups already out: a tamarind, mint, and onion chutney. All of the tables in the place had the sauces out, a bold move which left me wondering what they do with the sauces that have been sitting out all night on the unused tables.  Seva also serves mint and tamarind chutneys, which are brought out once the diners are seated, a move which makes a whole lot of sense. Our waiter was a bit odd, and I attribute this to overly attentive service due to the lack of patrons. I felt he was trying to get us to order alcohol, and kept showing us the alcohol menu while we were deciding on food, and pointing out the different wines and beers Gandhi offered. After we declined on ordering alcohol, he awkwardly stood by for a few seconds too long as we returned to our food menu. Although a little awkward, he did not try to convince us otherwise after we passed.

Pappadum was brought to our table as we were seated, to be eaten with the chutney. The onion chutney was very tasty and paired well with the fresh Pappadum.

pappadum + chutney

As our appetizer, we ordered the Chicken/meat samosa, which is described as a “minced chicken or meat turnover.” I am not sure what type of minced meat we got in our samosas, but whatever it was tasted good but a little bland. They came on a rather scarce bed of lettuce, and were a bit dry. We used the tamarind and mint chutneys to dress them and add same flavor. I also ordered a Mango Lassi which met my expectations.

chicken/meat samosas

For our entrees, I went with the Chicken Tikka Masala while my friend ordered the Tandoori Chicken. We also had Nan and Basmati rice. The food literally took no longer than five minutes to come out, save for the Nan which took an additional minute. My Chicken Tikka Masala was good but not great. There was nothing wrong with it per say, but I find Seva’s to be tastier and more flavorful. My friend loved his Tandoori Chicken, which was extremely tender and moist and came out on a sizzling iron skillet, accompanied with roasted peppers and onions. Our Nan was soft and fluffy with no burnt char.

chicken tikka masala

basmati rice

tandoori chicken

nan

our meals

For dessert, we went with the Kheer, which came out topped with a raisin and coconut flakes. Being a huge fan of coconut, seeing the added coconut instantly put a plus in my book. Upon tasting it, my initial reaction was confirmed: they have a really great rice pudding. It was creamy and rich with flavor. Seva’s Kheer is great too, but Gandhi’s portion was a little bigger, and a tiny bit better.

kheer

As our meal was winding down, a few more people came in, filling the place up a bit. Being as Gandhi occupies a bigger space than Seva, they are able to spread the tables out a bit more and seat more customers.  All in all, we were satisfied by our meal. While I still prefer Seva over Gandhi, Gandhi’s menu does seem to offer more specialties and variety than Seva’s does. Both places offer lunch, dinner, and weekend buffet specials that are pretty comparable in price and offerings (Seva’s dinner special is $13.50, while Gandhi’s is $12.95 - though Gandhi’s dinner special seems more limited). Walking past a full Seva on our way back from dinner, I was glad I branched out from my go-to Indian spot, but also reminded just how much cooler I could have been.