Saffron Indian Bistro

Excellent food with a wide variety for every taste bud! Service was fabulous… ask forMohammed!

While at ODU, Saffron was one amongst those places I frequently visited. Their food options are not too big, so you get to choose from a small and routine menu. Their naans are a good try and I love the garlic naan there. Pretty common but good curry options. Make sure you tell them you want your food to be super spicy (If you are a spice lover like me) because usually it’s not at all spicy and boring. Rice menu isn’t bad but not super tasty! Not a bad option for a get together or a dinner plan with friends.

This is really tasty Indian food but that is all lost on the fact that the service is both so slow and so inept that I cannot bring myself to eat here any more. What a shame. It’s not uncommon to wait 20 – 30 minutes for a drink, 45 – 60 minutes for food, and to be left begging for a check at the 90 minute mark. I really wish this place could get its act together.

Service was extremely slow (we waited at least 20 minutes for our overpriced $ 9 mixed drinks and the place was not even busy). The food was good (plenty of vegan options) and the servers were friendly, just incredibly slow. The bathrooms were very clean.

Extremely poor service. We were 13 people and whole restaurant was empty. They do not serve appetizer plates. When we asked for new plates was denied. Food took for ever almost 50 min. We will never come back.
Follow up staff came back questioning and fighting that why we put review. Nikhil was the server and Sonu was the manager we kept on telling them that we do not wish to argue but kept on fighting to pressure us to take review back. We know the oweners and feel bad to put the review but seems like right thing to do putting this review

Neither the food is good nor the service. I have seen the restaurant manager insult the server and treat him ruthlessly in front of all the customers for a minor mistake he made. The moment I saw the way they treat their employees, I had nothing more to say about this place.

Great ambiance but the food was a lil more bland than I’m used to for Indian cuisine. Not a awful experience. Small portions… Great mango lassi

Restaurant week brought me to this very well decorated restaurant. It was super cold out and I was a bit intimidated that there was only one table with people at 7pm.
There were two menus, $ 35 and $ 40 per person and the major difference was the dessert trio at the end for the $ 40 choice.
We decided to get all different plates so we could mix and match and try them all! We started with a Mango martini, included in the price, which was so wonderful! (I would come back just for this cocktail) First course arrived — Gobi Manchurian (almost a sweet and sour cauliflower) and Chat — this was a very unique blend of chick peas both whole and smashed (almost falafel in texture), tomatoes, onions, a flaky pastry, and yogurt sauce. I think it was a take on a Shepherds’ pie. 2^nd course was chicken vindaloo and chicken tikka marsala. Both had a heat scale of 4 (you get to choose 2 – 5). You could really taste the curry in the sauce of the chicken tikka and it was very buttery.
Since I checked in on Unilocal,I got a coupon for a free mango lasse. I showed it to the server and he hit the confirm button, however, I never received my drink… :(.
I was impressed with the food, the service was a little lacking, however, I’d like to try the one in Town Center next time.

Deserves no stars. Worst Indian food ever. Poorly cooked chicken korma. Basmati rice and pakoras tasted awful. Same for the gulab jamun they included for free. Yuck! Hoping I don’t get sick later. What a waste of money and time. Don’t risk it, people!

A taste of home come to saffron enjoy the finest quality Indian food in town. One of the best things is not only is the food fresh and light, you get to choose your own level of spiciness from 1 to 5 mild to scorching.

This is my second visit to Saffron Bistro, and I’m very impressed with the place! The veggie fritters were a bit salty but quite good overall. My chicken korma was perfect. Everything was fresh and very tasty. Very attentive service too! I was surprised to see the negative reviews about the waitstaff — I got seated, got my order and food arrived within less than 10 minutes. I think the waiters came by at least 5 times to check on me (maybe too much?). I’m also surprised this place isn’t busier. Both my visits were during mid-​week evenings, and it was pretty empty. I’m from out of town but come to Norfolk several times a year for work. I’ll make this a regular stop.

Wow. Walked out while waiting for drinks. Ten to fifteen minutes to have our orders taken. Drink orders. Then waited another ten minutes with no drinks brought out. We’re now going to a better place to eat, and I wonder if they’ll even notice we left for another ten minutes.
Note: Quiet night, only a few other tables, and no shortage in waitstaff. Pretty much no excuses whatsoever. This location deserves to fail miserably and be replaced with something better.

Went here tonight (10÷30÷15) with my fiancée and her mother. We arrived at about 9pm and were seated. At this point there were two groups of two and a table of six in the restaurant besides us. It took almost fifteen minutes for one of the three waiters to take our drink order. We never saw him again. After waiting almost twenty minutes for our drinks after we ordered them we walked out. We’re on our way to Nawab on military and Virginia Beach Blvd now. They, at least, will give you service.
We tried the Norfolk saffron because we’ve always enjoyed the food at their Virginia Beach location, but thought the service was a bit slow. The Norfolk location makes them look like Olympic runners in comparison.
Get your act together guys. There was no excuse for this level of horrible service and quite frankly if this is what one can expect from your establishment, I doubt you’ll stay in business. I know I won’t be coming back to give your any of my money.

I had a friend who went and said she had horrible service so I kind of steered clear of the place. However, I have given it a few tries but only for the lunch buffet.
Indian buffets can be a bit dodgy but this one is pretty nice. The food selection varies on different days and even throughout the buffet. It’s all pretty decent stuff although the veggie options are somewhat limited.
Service is not the best; the waitstaff does not seem to be the most attentive when it comes to refills or taking away plates so I can imagine if it was not a buffet how the service would be a bit tiring. The décor is nice and new but parking could be an issue.
Although this is probably the best Indian place in Norfolk, I still think that Saffron VB and Monsoon in Hampton (sister restaurants) could teach this place a thing or two about service and food quality.

2 words: korma. curry.
yessssss.
I came here with my husband because we had a good deal on a groupon, realizing that if it wasn’t that great we were just out a few bucks. Seriously, though, the food was something straight out of a 5 star indian restaurant (or what I would expect there, anyway).
We were the first customers of the dinner hour, and only had one server at that point so service took a few extra minutes, but didn’t leave us waiting long. When you walk in, the décor really is astounding, they’ve kept the place looking super sharp and high class. I’ve been to a lot of indian restaurants with great food but lackluster tables/​chairs and no effort put into the restaurant… so this was a refreshing change of scenery, and definitely made you feel like you were getting what you paid for.
We ordered the garlic naan, and it came out timely as an appetizer. I really liked the flavor, and it came with a yogurt sauce (really don’t know the name, forgive me) that went well with it. On the naan, they also put cilantro, which I really enjoyed as a bold flavor to go with the garlic, but fair warning if you’re not a cilantro fan.
And I had the paneer korma curry. Paneer (a type of cottage-​cheese squares, similar texture to tofu) has always been one of my favorites, and wow did they do it well here. I got spicy level #2, which was just a little kick but not even close to overpowering. The richness of the curry flavor was just amazing, it was like I could taste each of the spices they cooked with, and they all belonged. There were bits of cashews as well, which I was afraid would make it too sweet– but on the contrary, it added just the right amount of cool-​down to go with the curry flavor. And my husband had the tikka masala curry level #3, seriously that was amazing too.
And the rice! Cooked to perfection. I could go on and on.
I don’t know if I’m partial to Indian food or I just was really in the mood for it, but this place blew me out of the water. I can’t wait to go back!

My first Indian food experience was so pleasant!
The staff was very helpful, patient, and friendly. They answered questions, made recommendations, and checked on our table to see how we were enjoying our meal.
I had a Mango Lassi, it was so yummy! I love mango and yogurt.
We also had the tandoori wings, chicken Tikka masala, and lamb vindaloo with the assorted naan. I am not a big lamb fan but the vindaloo was very flavorful! I enjoyed the flavors of the different spices in each dish.
If you aren’t sure what to get, ask your server! They will not disappoint :)

Buffet review!
So, when I think «Indian for lunch?» I think, buffet. I’m not sure why it’s the only type of food that I equate with buffet’s, but there it is.
So, to get some good solid reviews for an Indian buffet you gotta have all the little boxes checked.
Solid selection of meat and veggie dishes available, check!
Variety of sauces on said meat and veggie dishes, check!
At least three chutney’s, check!
Rice, er… I can’t remember, but I think so!
Plenty of Naan, sorta!
So, the only hit was that your Naan comes out after you order (instead of sitting there under a lamp). This isn’t terrible, because you’re getting piping hot, fresh naan. The real drawback is that you sorta have to wait to eat if you want that perfect first bite (you know, like that hunk of chicken, dripping in mango chutney, slathered on top of a piece of naan, with a few pieces of rice thrown on for good measure?)
For an Indian buffet, I think it trumps the other local Norfolk option, it’s a great downtown choice.

I ate a vegan meal and I liked it :)
Today the Co workers and I ventured to saffron for their lunch buffet. Others had raved about it and we wanted to try it out for ourselves. What the others failed to mention was that on Wednesday the buffet is strictly filled with vegan foods.
My other meat loving friends were very disappointed at first but not I, whom I like to consider myself a closet vegetarian at times. Anyways, we all decided hey why not try something new and we went to fill our plates with different items. Now I cannot tell you what the items were (name wise) because I don’t ear Indian food often. However I will tell you that I loved it and even my carnivore loving friends enjoyed it as well. We had one carnivore in our group that didn’t want the buffet and ordered something off of their lunch menu that was offered – so there is that option if you accidently come in here one day and don’t like what is on the buffet. The Naan btw is to die for. Yum. And if you check in you get a mango lassi. Double yum.
Honestly for $ 10 for a lunch buffet you can’t beat that deal. Couple that with awesome service and the waiter telling us tid bits about his culture – pretty cool. I will definitely come here again especially knowing this one seems to be more closer to me than the one in Va beach.

Very slow late on a Sunday night, but the food was still quite good. I chose the tikka masala with chicken, garlic naan, cucumber riata and mango chutney. All of it arrived promptly accompanied by a big bowl of rice.
I always get the riata because you just never know how hot the curry is going to be. I ordered «medium plus» but it was closer to mild. Good flavor, just not much for hot. The riata was a little watery but the naan was well coated in garlic and cooked perfectly. The mango chutney had a few good sized pieces of mango in there.
A good meal with reasonable service. Next time, I’ll ask for it to be hotter.

I love this restaurant!
Good price, good taste, good staffs, good atmosphere,…
I used coupon Buy one get one free with purchase of two drinks. $ 17 for 2ppl. Plus $ 1.5 for parking.
You must try their tandoori chicken and Kheer! If you are sleepy, Indian tea too!