It's Indian. It's a hole-in-the-wall. I am SO there!
Kohinoor Dhaba (703) 778-5005 located at 2800 S. Eads St., Crystal City, Arlington
Let's count the ways this is my idea of a wonderful restaurant:
Atmosphere? Zero.
Parking: Zero (seven spaces, eleven cabs ... triple-parking seems to be the norm)
Wonder if my car will still be there when I'm done? Yep.
Number of other anglo customers: Zero.
Lunch buffet? Seven days a week.
Food: Well worth the visit.
This place gives "unprepossessing" a whole new dimension, but that usually signals an interesting culinary experience for me.
This tiny brick building was the home of the first local kabob restaurant WAY back when, and in its several incarnations since the 1980's it has always been a magnet for cabbies (always filling every space and overflowing the lot).
The bright yellow "Indian Buffet" sign drew me on a whim today, and by some miracle there was a single empty parking space within arm's reach of the stair. I'm glad I tried it, as I was very pleased with the $7.95 lunch buffet: fresh naan, yummy butter chicken, tandoori chicken, bhindi masala (okra), daal makhani (lentils), a green-pea-with-potato curry, plus a surprising variety of condiments and sides (salad, lemon pickle, raita, a green chutney, something dry with chickpeas). I was quite pleased with everything I had.
Buffet 11am to a pleasantly-late 3pm including weekends ($1 more).
There is also menu service, with "speciaties" featuring a couple of unusual items like goat curry and salmon curry, plus "the usual suspects" and a few kabobs.
A personal note in the form of a sidebar on handicapped access: since I mostly need a walker, I asked myself several times whether I wanted to try the iron outside stairway to the second-floor entrance. I concluded "what the heck, show yourself you're still alive" and went for it. Up was not a problem ... but coming down, with no rail on my weaker side, I darned near took the plunge, and scared myself so much I had to abandom my afternoon errands. But there was a bright spot: there is just one table in the room (much more seating up one flight), and by the time I had served myself two cabbies had taken it. But seeing my dismay, they grabbed an extra chair and invited me to join them, and several times during the meal asked me if I wanted to share their chicken or if I needed them to get me anything. Can't picture that happening at (pulling a name out of the hat) Minbar or Old Ebbitt ... I love Arlington ... and while I'm at it, is this a great country or what?
By wayne keyser
on Jun 3, 2009 06:22 PM
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Wayne, I'll try to check this out - I'm in CC the next two days for training. Kabob Palace is hard to beat, though, and the second night I promised Mrs S that I'd pick up Thai Square. Still - a Hound's gotta do...
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>>is this a great country or what?<<
yes, wayne, yes it is!
so glad you're safe and sound after that scary stair incident. how do you compare the buffet to raaga's?
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Let me emphasize that the thing with the stair wasn't their fault.
Been many years since I've been to Raaga. Would have gone, maybe I'm just terrified of white tablecloths.
I can say that it's a step better than Punjab Dhaba out Rte 50 at Loehmann's Plaza. I just wish I was closer to Amma Vegetarian [*sigh*] or Minerva [*double sigh*]
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wayne, i've mentioned mayuri on various indian-food threads before. http://www.mayurimahal.com/home.html
i like it quite a bit, and we were introduced to it by indian friends. it has been packed with indians when we've been. http://www.mayurimahal.com/specials.html
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Is this something we could get to using the metro? When we're visiting we won't have a car. :)
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It's not that far from the Crystal City metro station.
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Would this be the place? If you open up the photo view it'll show a building
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&s...
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That's the building ... but where are the cabs? For over 20 years I've never seen it without an overflowing flock of cabs!
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Just might have to do with whatever time it was that the google maps guys went by with their cameras. :) So it's walking distance from that train station? Is the neighborhood safe-ish for two not-very-buff-at-all pacifist, white people who are used to a rural setting but have been to Boston and NYC to walk through from the station to the restaurant?
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It's about four or five long blocks from the Crystal City station. Crime isn't an issue in that area. You'll have to watch out for the cars when crossing the streets (especially Jeff Davis Hwy (aka US Rt. 1)), but the neighborhood is very safe.
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Thanks so much for the help! I look forward to having a chance to do sampling at a buffet to see what we might like. :)
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morganna, i can vouch for the lunch buffet at raaga, where you can park at the resto, and it has white tablecloths and good food and service, without pretension. i especially like wednesdays and fridays buffet selection, as they have a great chicken tikka, and my favorite saag. http://www.raagarestaurant.com/# the weekday buffet is only two dollars more than the hole-in-the-wall. (no offense, wayne!).
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I had the lunch buffet at Raaga when someone else was buying, but it's a fair bit more than I like to pay for my own lunch, particularly when I shouldn't eat all I can eat. Is it really only $9.95? I seem to remember $12.95 or so. And Raaga clearly isn't walking distance from any Metro stop. It would be Metro plus a bus ride if you don't have a car.
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weekdays it is $9.95, weekends i think it is $12.95, when they feature lamb on saturday and salmon on sunday, i believe.
and you're right, it isn't near metro. i had forgotten that morganna was without wheels.
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I pass this place all the time, but have never been in. I only really pass it whenever a friend is driving me somewhere or I'm in a rental car, since I don't own a car of my own. It's mysteriously surrounded by...nothing. Well, I think the Holiday Inn is nearby, but it's a very weird, isolated part of S. Eads St where you wouldn't expect any restaurant to be! I guess that's what is part of the appeal.
Incidentally, it's a pretty far walk from the Crystal City Metro station. I would say at least 20-30 minutes. Walkable, yes...but not sure if it's worth it just for buffet food?
I do like the Delhi Club buffet in Clarendon (and literally right across from the Metro exit/entrance), and then there's that place in Gallery Place/Chinatown...Mehak? Their buffet wasn't bad (not as good as Delhi Club). Both are in the "weekend only" and "$9.95/person" category, though (at least they were the last time I went to either place over a year ago!).
Bombay Curry Company's weekend buffet is sort of small with limited options, but what's there is good, especially the saag paneer.
Would love to hear of any other Metro-accessible Indian buffets (weekend or otherwise) in the area. Sometimes, I just gotta get an Indian food fix!
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