Bethesda Curry Kitchen

Great! First time tonight, was yummy and very fast, even during Skins playoff game. Saag paneer was soo good! So were the other two chicken dishes, tender and delicious, good quality chicken not bony or fatty.

Had a great lunch buffet here. Very fresh and delicious, not crowded. The butter chicken, tandoori chicken, and baingan bharta (eggplant) were especially good. A drink, naan, and samosas are included with the buffet. Will definitely visit again.

Delicious food, good service, nice ambiance. Couldn’t ask for anything better.

Placed order on this website and was told 45 – 60 minutes for delivery. Over 1 hour later I call and am told 30 minutes. Told they would take 25% off my bill. Another hour later and they don’t answer my phone calls. Finally receive my food 2 hours 15 minutes after I place an order and asked to sign a cc receipt without any discount.
This website is not very responsive to complaints either.
Will never order from either place ever again.

We recently moved to DC and have found ourselves out in Bethesda a few times for various errands (it’s a very quick and easy trip from downtown DC on the red line). Each time, we’ve excitedly taken the opportunity to pay a visit to Bethesda Curry Kitchen.
Bethesda Curry Kitchen makes not only uncommonly delicious versions of standard Indian fare (palak pakora, samosas, aloo gobhi, yellow daal and roti are all excellent), but also harder-​to-​find south Indian dishes (dosas, uttapam and ayival, a coconut-​milk based curry that I really wish were more ubiquitous). All the items mentioned are vegan, and very clearly marked as such on the menu, which is a huge help but they also have great meat and shrimp dishes. The friendly staff also know what vegan means, so just ask if you have any questions.
In addition, the restaurant seems to do a lunch buffet and a roaring take-​out/​delivery business — options to consider for those fortunate to live or work close by.

Every few months, I apparently forget how awful this place is, and I order delivery from here. Don’t do it, unless you want your stomach to suffer for 24 – 48 hours (and, you know, it could be worth it if the food were good! …but it isn’t, at all.)
So I’m finally writing this review to prevent myself (and you) from ever doing so again.
I’ve ordered multiple (overpriced) curries from here: Daal Makhani, Panneer Makhani, and Mixed Vegetable Korma. If you order them at normal spice level, they will taste completely bland, like you’re eating mush. If you order them «Spicy,» you’ll ONLY taste spice – searing, burning spice, but no other flavor. Seriously, I ordered from here last night and ended up throwing all of my food out after a few bites, due to it only tasting like chili powder. It’s like they just dumped a bucket of it in. The rice is stale, the naan is flavorless, and the samosas seem just microwaved.
The only great thing I’ve had from Bethesda Curry Kitchen is the Panneer Kathi Kabab – essentially a wrap with paneer and spices. However, it was literally a few small complex, tangy bites… and then stomach pain.
That’s another crucial thing: every time, immediately after eating my food and throughout the rest of the day, I’ll suffer from harsh food poisoning symptoms – which, alone, makes this place not worth it.

Initially food was good for sometime when it opened. Lunch buffet during office hours got simpler. Think they have changed the chef or something. Pricy for the quality. last visit was 10÷16÷15. To simply put it, it was my last visit.

For taste and price together this place is at least a four star-​er. Delicious and cheap, my favorite combo. Get the lamb Khorma Avadhi :)

Really tasty!

Freaking awesome food! Great service. I had samosa, paalak pakora, lentil soup and methi paratha. Amazing!!!

Worst food ever there were tomatoes in the Pani puri I mean who does that it should be illegal I’m just gonna say worst food EVER!!!

I ordered carry out and a friend picked it up for me so I can’t attest to the restaurant but the food was pretty solid. I ordered the garlic naan with the chickpea curry and jasmine rice. The rice was a little drier than I’m used to but the garlic naan was delicious. The guy on the phone was a little rude when I was trying to order because I didn’t pronounce the chickpea curry correctly (Chana Masaala).
They didn’t put any utensils or napkins in the bag, not good!

$ 10 lunch buffet. Especially enjoyed the curry vegetables, dill yogurt sauce, fresh fruit and rice pudding for dessert.

We had a wonderful meal, great service, reasonable price. Definitely will return and recommend to others.

Went back for Lamb and the chicken! The food was delicious, the atmosphere was very nice, and the staff was friendly and courteous. The 650ml bottle of «Taj Mahal» was delicious with my meal. I can’t wait to come try the lunch buffet. My girlfriend and I highly recommend this place. PS The garlic Nann was amazing!!!

Lovely dinner in a small, intimate setting! A friend and I were happy to enjoy dinner here– found the place quite slow for a friday evening, but with lots of take out traffic. We enjoyed a lovely spread of food (veggie samosas, chicken tikka tandoori [a sizzling delight fresh out of the kitchen!], as well as a savory and filling Lamb Dish. Staff and owners were attentive and hospitable, greeting us and checking in with warm smiles.
A wonderful, family operated hole-​in-​the-​wall to satisfy your Indian cravings at a great price for Bethesda. Will be happy to return with friends and family!

Many outstanding vegan and vegetarian options. Excellent service. Good prices. Nice family run place, complete with little kid.
We most recently had the veggie samosa (great), paani puri (odd dish, never had before, so nothing to compare with; still, it seemed they could have been filled more), mullug soup (a little bland), masaala dosa (best ever had!), and aviyal and bhindi aamchuri (both excellent). I agree with others that some of the dishes could be a little more flavorful, but they’re going for the more subtle flavoring I think and will spice it up if asked.
In general a very good place. We’ll be back.
Did I mention they have many outstanding vegan and vegetarian options?!

Once upon a time, or in July 2014, Tim Carman from the Washington Post went to Bethesda Curry Kitchen and had the very best time. («For such an expansive number of dishes, in fact, the disappointments are few.») Imagine the countless people who read this review and thought «Desi food! Bethesda! Yes.» We were among them. And let me say, I’m not sure Tim Carman and I ate at the same restaurant.
Bethesda Curry Kitchen is one of those places where the folks who work there seem so nice that you’re really rooting for them. But, I must be honest, the food we sampled tonight was not very good. I would describe the space as utterly sterile (they might consider some music, some softer lighting, something that makes it feel less like a refurbished cafeteria. They might also consider some heat — it was cold enough inside the restaurant last night that I wore my coat for much of the meal).
And the food– it’s very rare I sample Indian food that is deeply, deeply *underflavored,* but everything here tasted of absolutely nothing. It was quite odd– everything we ordered (saag with corn, chana daal, black daal, bhindi, a masala dosa, a samosa, garlic naan, and baigan) looked like Indian food but it all tasted, oddly, of just about nothing at all. I found myself wanting to, at the very least, reach for the salt, but better yet, I wanted to add a chaunk to the daal — some cumin, some cilantro, something! — and I desperately wanted to add something to the limp eggplant. It reminded me of what I imagine space ship food is like– it looks like food, it might even smell like food, but the taste just isn’t there.

Buffet pricing is cheaper than Kadhai, but the quality scales with cost. Three meat options, two of which are chicken (tender butter chicken is tastier than the meaty but cold tandoori chicken), and half a dozen vegetarian dishes plus accoutrements. Generic salad, cucumber raita, tamarind chutney, cauliflower citrus achaar. Reasonably fresh honeydew and cantaloupe chunks, thin kheer. Naan was texturally fine if lacking salt and fat, but they need to clean their oven– scorched carbon dust is a bummer. Medu vada aren’t as dense as lentil donuts might be imagined, but are as surprisingly bland as their saag paneer. Didn’t care for their thin and grittily mild yellow daal. Rice is fine. Makhani had been picked through of lentils, but the vegetables in there were the tastiest vegetarian option besides the baghare baingan. Appreciated the spiced broccoli, and you’ve hit the cream of the crop if you get a fresh batch of paalak pakora.
Basic layout, appropriate background music, metered street parking and garages nearby. Service was efficient both times, and my order was ready earlier than quoted, but I’m not impressed by the actual food. They have five direct competitors doing superior execution within a 2-​mile radius, although only half their rivals offer delivery too. Lamb raajma curry spice levels were good with cooked through kidney beans at even ratio. Meats are tender and reasonably portioned for the container size, and rice was fine. Unfortunately, the mango lassi was absurdly watery (bigger pour when dining in) and the chaat papri was clunky and lacking the crunchy textures and complex flavors I’ve gotten used to with this type of street food. Despite the admirable breadth of south Indian vegetarian options, I’m not sure I’ll be back to try their thukpa, chicken zaafrani, seafood entrees.

Always go for the small family-​owned hole in the wall place. Which this is.
Their menu is quite appealing; it offers a nice variety including a South Indian selection. Vegan items are marked, and choices are pretty diverse.
Among the hard-​to-​find items are a paneer kathi roll appetizer (basically a tortilla with delicious cheese and sauce inside) and a masala dosa. I really liked this dosa (a fermented lentil-​based crêpe). It tasted freshly made, was fluffy and aromatic, and large. The potato masala filling was delicious and not overly onion-​y as these things often are. This was head and shoulders above the dosa I tried at Malgudi in DC, and a good dosa is hard to come by around here. The sambar that came with the dosa and the mulligatawny soup I ordered separately were fine; salty to be sure and tasty enough, but not the highlight.
It seemed to be professionally run; they had fast service and their website is quite functional, which is for some reason a challenge for some restauranteurs. It’s also one of the closer places to NIH and Walter Reed and has a lunch buffet. Definitely a place I’m coming back to.