I drove past this place many times and judging from the outside I always thought it's a Japanese restaurant. But hey it's an Indian restaurant with a small grocery store inside. I love Indian food but I don't know much about it. This restaurant specifically serves South Indian food that are not usually found at other Indian restaurants that I have been to. I ordered 2 familiar dishes: parotta and chettinadu curry. And tried 1 new dish: uthappam. Parotta: very fluffy, crunchy bread served with curry. I love the texture but it could be on the greasy side. The vegetable curry that came with it was not that flavorful. Chettinadu chicken curry: definitely my favorite. Many layers of flavors from different spices. So it's not just spicy but full of different aroma. Chicken was also tender. Uthappam: it's made from rice batter. Very soft. Not crunchy/fluffy like the parotta. It's definitely not my favorite but it's still a dish that I enjoyed because of the different chutney and sambhar that it came with. All in all it was a great dining experience. Service was great and wait for not long. Free parking outside. And you can buy some spices on your way out to make some Indian food at home!
Christine K.
For the price, it's very good. Nice casual atmosphere, free and easy parking, good food, good service. Will definitely go back.
mohit sharma
Decent place though not that great Indian food. Good if you wanna try Indian sea food but wait time could be long.
Inder N K
Ordered food online, food was not ready on time and they skipped 2 items completely. Lucky we found it and asked, they prepared it but took lot of time for cooking. Ordered mid level spice biryani but it was too spicy. Dosa n idli were good.
Vijay S.
I'm a person of (south) Indian origin. This place was TERRIBLE (even the elderly Japanese couple next to us were complaining how tasteless the food was) We ordered: Chicken 65. OK but some pieces were inedible and rubbery Chicken chettinad curry. This was inedible (literally had boiled green peppers in this) The chicken Biriyani - completely tasteless Ghee dosa - this was actually ok The service was slow (took 35 mins to get terrible food) Overall - I would not go there if I were you and this pins me because I really wanted a South Indian to do well in Honolulu
Jochen Albrecht
This is only the second time in writing hundreds of reviews that I am giving a restaurant a one-star rating. It is the worst Indian fare i have ever had anywhere.We had Gobi Manchurian (called Gobi 65), Chili Paratha and Onion Uthapam. Each item had major issues.Although billed and priced as a main, the Chili Paratha was served first. Paratha are a work of art: fluffy, airy breads that were killed by cutting them up and the refrying with chunky onion and bell peppers. The masala was f8ne/interesting but the paratha unrecognizable and the veggies underdone. The dish should (if you insist on killing paratha, idles would work much better) be halved in size, combined with pre-cooked veggies and rgen served as an appetizer.The cauliflower appetizer was served next. It was relatively dry when compared to traditional Gobi Machurian but that was not the problem. The spice coating had no chance of infusing the slightly underdone cauliflower, which should have simmered in the sauce to acquire the flavors. As it was, we were served warm raw florets with spice coating that had no personality. On the side, we were presented with what was called tomato onion chutney but recognizable as such. It was light brown in color, reminiscent of onion, ground into a fine paste without any tempering. Literally the worst chutney in my life.Talking of worst: the other side was "raita". I put it into quotes because it certainly was not. Instead it was yogurt water with large pieces of onion and nothing else. No seasoning whatsoever! And with that we come to the highlight of our dinner:The onion uthapam was passable, as was the sambar it came with (I actually had worse elsewhere). And surprise: the coconut chutney was good! Still, the onions where too big and hence underdone and the tomato chutney as bad as previously described.We didn't finish any of the meal items (left plenty of the paratha, supposedly a house specialty), and were never asked how we liked the food or why we left so much behind. In other words, the service was bad as well. We left slightly hungry but not daring to order anything else.Rounding out the impression is a poorly lit, tightly spaced parking lot and entrance on a dodgy looking block with massage parlors and homeless people.In short: avoid this place; even if you are Indian and are yearning Desi food. You won't get it here.
Precious Precious
This is located in an old Japanese restaurant. They kept a lot of the same fixtures. It appeared to be a small family run operation. They also have a mini Indian super market inside the restaurant.Although it is family owned and run -- I didn't really get too friendly of vibes. The staff didn't seem like they wanted us there. I even made a joke like I don't think they like us very much. We all kind of laughed about it but it wasn't really my vibe.The food was flavorful but honestly everything was too spicy for me. I hope they can attract the crowd that they want.
Steve Z.
Really enjoyed this unique southern Indian restaurant and it's board of fare. Quite different from northern India cuisine, this establishment hosts many rice, grain, and vegetarian dishes with the majority being fried foods. While I personally steer clear of fried and high glycemic items, I found other items that I could eat and those were quite excellent. I was disappointed that they no longer were serving mutton (the only 2 listed mutton dishes were crossed out in ink on the menu) so I opted for the chicken curry (extra spicy), and the gobi (spicy cauliflower). My dining companion selected chicken biriyani. We ordered Masala Tea; served hot and spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves--it was excellent. I also enjoyed the fact that our very conscientious server asked us in the beginning if we wanted water. When we replied in the affirmative, she asked if we prefer ice or no ice. I've been drinking room temp water for years since my health professionals taught me that drinking ice cold water or near ice cold water has serious health effects. The fact that she asked was truly impressive. The restaurant is quite small even without the incumberence of Covid physical distancing. However on the weekday we dined, there were only two other tables occupied so we had no problem. Parking it tight but doable. All in all a very enjoyable dining experience. Highly recommend. Mahalo for reading my review.
John W.
Restaurants are not created equal. Stunning to terrible and everything in between. On the less-than-good end of the spectrum, I often find myself leaving the restaurant aggravated by the price of a poor experience. There are certain things I find indefensible and if you've read any of my other reviews, you will occasionally see those illustrated. In the case of Sarithra, I walked out of my first meal there saddened and a bit puzzled by the experience. Not offended, just trying to put words to what just plain didn't work. We had tried to dine with them once before but could not get anyone's attention to be seated, so we left. An omen. On Kapiolani Blvd and Atkinson, this isn't the best of neighborhoods after dark (or in the daylight for that matter). What looks like almost permanent homeless encampments just a few yards right of the front door, faces peering in the plate glass windows. The restaurant was deserted when we arrived around 8pm, the only table of two leaving. Inside the front door is a low barrier wall covered with signs that I can only assume is to dissuade the homeless from going further. Unfortunately it felt like a barrier to me as well. I squeezed past the low wall to be greeted, without inflection or emotion, by a masked woman with at least 12 feet of social distancing, who turned out to be our server. Eerie music played faintly in the background...a dour, somber sound. We were seated and large squares of wax paper put in front of us, a COVID first for me. Quite odd. For an Indian restaurant the menu was limited, and although more dosas were offered than I've seen elsewhere, there weren't many choices. We decided on "mutton" curry which in the description noted it was "goat."Either way, we were ok. Not to be: they were out of mutton/goat. Plan B was egg curry and a starter dish of sautéed cauliflower (per Q&A with server). The cauliflower arrived deep fried. Hmmm, I suppose I should've known the mutton/goat semantics applied to sautéed/deep fried, but I missed that. Egg curry arrived with two small eggs and sauce, nothing more, in a small bowl. Hmmmm yet again. The taste was simple and savory but not enough to serve one, much less two. Crackling wax paper under our metal plates, the strange music, the emotionless service. We contemplated ordering something else but just couldn't take the risk. We won't be back, even though the dosas are probably worth another try. It was just too strangely uncomfortable to think about another go 'round. I'm not sure what's wrong, Sarithra, but I do wish you the best in correcting it.
Krysten I.
Sarithra is located right next to the foot massage place, across from the convention center. There was a Japanese restaurant here previously. It's new and we were in the mood for Indian, so we decided to check it out. Upon entering, the hostess was kind of timid and didn't say anything to me. It was a little strange. We decided on quite a few dishes and mango lassis. The food took awhile to come out, even though there were only three tables occupied in the large restaurant space. I'm a little nervous for them if it gets much busier. I think my favorites from what we ordered was the ghee masala dosa and the paneer butter masala curry. I liked that the dosa came with several different sauces, although it would have been nice to know what the sauces were and what was in each one. The paneer was interesting, I like paneer, but if you've never had it before, it's a little different. We had to order extra rice because the big curry bowl came with a tiny bowl of rice. I think they could do more with training their staff. The food might be great, but if the staff can't answer questions about the food and can't make suggestions to the customers, idk if they'll be successful. I felt like if you're coming here, you need to be an expert in Indian food and know exactly what you like and want. Unfortunately, Hawaii doesn't have enough Indian places to like educate people about Indian food or for people to have more experiences with Indian food.
The maximum I could give is 1 star, wish i could give NEGATIVE. First of all,They have parking issue. The restaurant people and next door foot massage store share parking lot and they fight for parking. Second, they took 30 mins to give me one DOSA. It was not even crispy...RAVA DOSA IS WORST i ever had. I cant understand how do they survive in business. They have shortage of staff as well. DO NOT RECOMMEND. Have SUBWAY instead but dont try this place ever.
Pualeilani S
Delicious south Indian homemade cooking.Yummy paratha with chicken curry.Very authentic tasting. Parking was no problem.Indian Grocery store is wonderful with every thing from cardamom cinnamon lentils Indian pickles... Love this place!❣️??
Bryan Sequeira
We got the Podi dosa, idlis, medhu vada, chicken 65 and mutton biryani. Found out the chef is Tamil and the food reflects that. The vada was authenic with whole peppercorns. My favorite was the sambhar which is hard to get right. I would skip the gulab jamun though. There were a bit hard to cut through but the rest was good.
ramya kanna
Aloha!!! If you are in ohau/Waikiki and are craving a typical South Indian treat - this is the place to be! We dined in two consecutive nights and the food was nothing short of excellent! It was consistent and a very family friendly place. We happened to meet the owner and he is a great person to meet and chat locally about everything food and Hawaii!!Particularly if you’re visiting Hawaii from india or if you’re an Indian in usa who’s craving for some good Indian food, traveling with kids or parents or elderly, this place will be your definite go to everyday !!! Definitely give it a try and enjoy your food there ! Mahalo!!
Pua Lei
Excellent south Indian experience. Every dish they make is from scratch. ONLY place that makes dosa idli vada pakoda samosa. Everything on the menu is super delicious super tasty! It transports you to Andhra Pradesh. I'm obsessed with this food!!????? Goat curry is soooo excellent with paratha bread my favorite ??
I drove past this place many times and judging from the outside I always thought it's a Japanese restaurant. But hey it's an Indian restaurant with a small grocery store inside. I love Indian food but I don't know much about it. This restaurant specifically serves South Indian food that are not usually found at other Indian restaurants that I have been to. I ordered 2 familiar dishes: parotta and chettinadu curry. And tried 1 new dish: uthappam. Parotta: very fluffy, crunchy bread served with curry. I love the texture but it could be on the greasy side. The vegetable curry that came with it was not that flavorful. Chettinadu chicken curry: definitely my favorite. Many layers of flavors from different spices. So it's not just spicy but full of different aroma. Chicken was also tender. Uthappam: it's made from rice batter. Very soft. Not crunchy/fluffy like the parotta. It's definitely not my favorite but it's still a dish that I enjoyed because of the different chutney and sambhar that it came with. All in all it was a great dining experience. Service was great and wait for not long. Free parking outside. And you can buy some spices on your way out to make some Indian food at home!
For the price, it's very good. Nice casual atmosphere, free and easy parking, good food, good service. Will definitely go back.
Decent place though not that great Indian food. Good if you wanna try Indian sea food but wait time could be long.
Ordered food online, food was not ready on time and they skipped 2 items completely. Lucky we found it and asked, they prepared it but took lot of time for cooking. Ordered mid level spice biryani but it was too spicy. Dosa n idli were good.
I'm a person of (south) Indian origin. This place was TERRIBLE (even the elderly Japanese couple next to us were complaining how tasteless the food was) We ordered: Chicken 65. OK but some pieces were inedible and rubbery Chicken chettinad curry. This was inedible (literally had boiled green peppers in this) The chicken Biriyani - completely tasteless Ghee dosa - this was actually ok The service was slow (took 35 mins to get terrible food) Overall - I would not go there if I were you and this pins me because I really wanted a South Indian to do well in Honolulu
This is only the second time in writing hundreds of reviews that I am giving a restaurant a one-star rating. It is the worst Indian fare i have ever had anywhere.We had Gobi Manchurian (called Gobi 65), Chili Paratha and Onion Uthapam. Each item had major issues.Although billed and priced as a main, the Chili Paratha was served first. Paratha are a work of art: fluffy, airy breads that were killed by cutting them up and the refrying with chunky onion and bell peppers. The masala was f8ne/interesting but the paratha unrecognizable and the veggies underdone. The dish should (if you insist on killing paratha, idles would work much better) be halved in size, combined with pre-cooked veggies and rgen served as an appetizer.The cauliflower appetizer was served next. It was relatively dry when compared to traditional Gobi Machurian but that was not the problem. The spice coating had no chance of infusing the slightly underdone cauliflower, which should have simmered in the sauce to acquire the flavors. As it was, we were served warm raw florets with spice coating that had no personality. On the side, we were presented with what was called tomato onion chutney but recognizable as such. It was light brown in color, reminiscent of onion, ground into a fine paste without any tempering. Literally the worst chutney in my life.Talking of worst: the other side was "raita". I put it into quotes because it certainly was not. Instead it was yogurt water with large pieces of onion and nothing else. No seasoning whatsoever! And with that we come to the highlight of our dinner:The onion uthapam was passable, as was the sambar it came with (I actually had worse elsewhere). And surprise: the coconut chutney was good! Still, the onions where too big and hence underdone and the tomato chutney as bad as previously described.We didn't finish any of the meal items (left plenty of the paratha, supposedly a house specialty), and were never asked how we liked the food or why we left so much behind. In other words, the service was bad as well. We left slightly hungry but not daring to order anything else.Rounding out the impression is a poorly lit, tightly spaced parking lot and entrance on a dodgy looking block with massage parlors and homeless people.In short: avoid this place; even if you are Indian and are yearning Desi food. You won't get it here.
This is located in an old Japanese restaurant. They kept a lot of the same fixtures. It appeared to be a small family run operation. They also have a mini Indian super market inside the restaurant.Although it is family owned and run -- I didn't really get too friendly of vibes. The staff didn't seem like they wanted us there. I even made a joke like I don't think they like us very much. We all kind of laughed about it but it wasn't really my vibe.The food was flavorful but honestly everything was too spicy for me. I hope they can attract the crowd that they want.
Really enjoyed this unique southern Indian restaurant and it's board of fare. Quite different from northern India cuisine, this establishment hosts many rice, grain, and vegetarian dishes with the majority being fried foods. While I personally steer clear of fried and high glycemic items, I found other items that I could eat and those were quite excellent. I was disappointed that they no longer were serving mutton (the only 2 listed mutton dishes were crossed out in ink on the menu) so I opted for the chicken curry (extra spicy), and the gobi (spicy cauliflower). My dining companion selected chicken biriyani. We ordered Masala Tea; served hot and spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves--it was excellent. I also enjoyed the fact that our very conscientious server asked us in the beginning if we wanted water. When we replied in the affirmative, she asked if we prefer ice or no ice. I've been drinking room temp water for years since my health professionals taught me that drinking ice cold water or near ice cold water has serious health effects. The fact that she asked was truly impressive. The restaurant is quite small even without the incumberence of Covid physical distancing. However on the weekday we dined, there were only two other tables occupied so we had no problem. Parking it tight but doable. All in all a very enjoyable dining experience. Highly recommend. Mahalo for reading my review.
Restaurants are not created equal. Stunning to terrible and everything in between. On the less-than-good end of the spectrum, I often find myself leaving the restaurant aggravated by the price of a poor experience. There are certain things I find indefensible and if you've read any of my other reviews, you will occasionally see those illustrated. In the case of Sarithra, I walked out of my first meal there saddened and a bit puzzled by the experience. Not offended, just trying to put words to what just plain didn't work. We had tried to dine with them once before but could not get anyone's attention to be seated, so we left. An omen. On Kapiolani Blvd and Atkinson, this isn't the best of neighborhoods after dark (or in the daylight for that matter). What looks like almost permanent homeless encampments just a few yards right of the front door, faces peering in the plate glass windows. The restaurant was deserted when we arrived around 8pm, the only table of two leaving. Inside the front door is a low barrier wall covered with signs that I can only assume is to dissuade the homeless from going further. Unfortunately it felt like a barrier to me as well. I squeezed past the low wall to be greeted, without inflection or emotion, by a masked woman with at least 12 feet of social distancing, who turned out to be our server. Eerie music played faintly in the background...a dour, somber sound. We were seated and large squares of wax paper put in front of us, a COVID first for me. Quite odd. For an Indian restaurant the menu was limited, and although more dosas were offered than I've seen elsewhere, there weren't many choices. We decided on "mutton" curry which in the description noted it was "goat."Either way, we were ok. Not to be: they were out of mutton/goat. Plan B was egg curry and a starter dish of sautéed cauliflower (per Q&A with server). The cauliflower arrived deep fried. Hmmm, I suppose I should've known the mutton/goat semantics applied to sautéed/deep fried, but I missed that. Egg curry arrived with two small eggs and sauce, nothing more, in a small bowl. Hmmmm yet again. The taste was simple and savory but not enough to serve one, much less two. Crackling wax paper under our metal plates, the strange music, the emotionless service. We contemplated ordering something else but just couldn't take the risk. We won't be back, even though the dosas are probably worth another try. It was just too strangely uncomfortable to think about another go 'round. I'm not sure what's wrong, Sarithra, but I do wish you the best in correcting it.
Sarithra is located right next to the foot massage place, across from the convention center. There was a Japanese restaurant here previously. It's new and we were in the mood for Indian, so we decided to check it out. Upon entering, the hostess was kind of timid and didn't say anything to me. It was a little strange. We decided on quite a few dishes and mango lassis. The food took awhile to come out, even though there were only three tables occupied in the large restaurant space. I'm a little nervous for them if it gets much busier. I think my favorites from what we ordered was the ghee masala dosa and the paneer butter masala curry. I liked that the dosa came with several different sauces, although it would have been nice to know what the sauces were and what was in each one. The paneer was interesting, I like paneer, but if you've never had it before, it's a little different. We had to order extra rice because the big curry bowl came with a tiny bowl of rice. I think they could do more with training their staff. The food might be great, but if the staff can't answer questions about the food and can't make suggestions to the customers, idk if they'll be successful. I felt like if you're coming here, you need to be an expert in Indian food and know exactly what you like and want. Unfortunately, Hawaii doesn't have enough Indian places to like educate people about Indian food or for people to have more experiences with Indian food.
Restaurantji Recommends
The maximum I could give is 1 star, wish i could give NEGATIVE. First of all,They have parking issue. The restaurant people and next door foot massage store share parking lot and they fight for parking. Second, they took 30 mins to give me one DOSA. It was not even crispy...RAVA DOSA IS WORST i ever had. I cant understand how do they survive in business. They have shortage of staff as well. DO NOT RECOMMEND. Have SUBWAY instead but dont try this place ever.
Delicious south Indian homemade cooking.Yummy paratha with chicken curry.Very authentic tasting. Parking was no problem.Indian Grocery store is wonderful with every thing from cardamom cinnamon lentils Indian pickles... Love this place!❣️??
We got the Podi dosa, idlis, medhu vada, chicken 65 and mutton biryani. Found out the chef is Tamil and the food reflects that. The vada was authenic with whole peppercorns. My favorite was the sambhar which is hard to get right. I would skip the gulab jamun though. There were a bit hard to cut through but the rest was good.
Aloha!!! If you are in ohau/Waikiki and are craving a typical South Indian treat - this is the place to be! We dined in two consecutive nights and the food was nothing short of excellent! It was consistent and a very family friendly place. We happened to meet the owner and he is a great person to meet and chat locally about everything food and Hawaii!!Particularly if you’re visiting Hawaii from india or if you’re an Indian in usa who’s craving for some good Indian food, traveling with kids or parents or elderly, this place will be your definite go to everyday !!! Definitely give it a try and enjoy your food there ! Mahalo!!
Excellent south Indian experience. Every dish they make is from scratch. ONLY place that makes dosa idli vada pakoda samosa. Everything on the menu is super delicious super tasty! It transports you to Andhra Pradesh. I'm obsessed with this food!!????? Goat curry is soooo excellent with paratha bread my favorite ??