Saffron Tewksbury

Saffron Indian Grill in Tewksbury opened recently in the space that was home to Top Garden, once an excellent Sichuan restaurant but when it was sold and the owner took his head chef and left for greener pastures, it became just a decent Sichuan place. It was then sold and morphed into a generic Chinese takeout place and ultimately it was replaced by Saffron.

It's in a small plaza just off Rte38 and is very easy to miss. There is parking but it's shared with quite a few businesses. They took out the vestibule and I think the lack of double doors will hurt them in the winter time since it's going to be really drafty. Nice sign.

The inside looks very pleasant with a modern look and feel. Tables and chairs seem to be a leftover from Top Garden's days.

They serve lunch every day and I was excited to see that they had Thali on the menu. It's like getting your own buffet. They also have Naanwitches and Sliders for lunch. I went with the mixed Thali ($9.95) and let the chef decide on the contents. There was a small salad included that was just undressed slight dry greens. The Naan wasn't very good, lacked the fluffiness of a good naan and was just flat. The waitress said that they had worked on the tandoori in the morning so maybe it wasn't hot enough. I got a chicken curry, a mixed vegetable curry and dal soup and an onion pakora as an app. The onion pakora was really tasty and cooked through. Both curries were excellent and really nicely spiced and borderline spicy. Neither the veggies or the chicken was overcooked, and in fact, the chicken was excellent and juicy. The basmati rice was also tasty and fluffy. I'm not a fan of Raita but I tried it and it seemed fine. The rice pudding wasn't the overly sweet concoction you usually get so it was pleasant. More customers arrived and it seemed to be Thalis on every table.

Update: I went back the next day since I was intrigued by the sliders.

You can get three for $8.50, so that's what I went with. From the left we have LAMB SEEKH SLIDER ground lamb & spices ($3.25), ALOO TIKKI SLIDER spiced mashed potato ($2.95) and CHICKEN KEEMA SLIDER ground chicken, herbs & spices ($3.25). The potato one was quite mild but was crispy. The lamb was really tasty and cooked well but the chicken was super delicious and very tasty so that was clearly the favorite. This was a very light lunch, could have eaten a couple more. I tried to order the Chickpea Fries but they had no fries at all.

Address 1921 Main Street, Tewksbury, MA 01876 
Phone number (978) 677-6775