If you want authentic south Indian food and are not turned off by bad service and questionable cleanliness, this place is for you! The food is outstanding! But that should be taken with a big grain of salt, considering im a white woman from Eastern Europe who chooses a spice level zero at most places! We went here with a guide who knows his Indian food and made amazing recommendations. My personal favorite was the Malabar chicken curry, which is served with rice. But way better enjoyed with the paratha. Curry is spicy and falovorful. The paratha is so flaky and delicious! Another favorite was Gobi Manchurian. Everyone loved it! Goat byriani is delicious, flavorful and has a nice kick! One plus is that food comes out fast. Things I didn't love here: plastic water bottles...what a waste! Servers kept trying to take the last menu away and were hovering. And yet I still felt like I had to ask for water, utensils and napkins multiple times.

Wow. Sorry forgot to photo the food. We love Indian food and have been to Indian restaurants in Miami Seattle, LA, SanFran, Detroit, and this is THE BEST Indian food we've ever had all of us agreed. Two of us got butter chicken, I got the Malabar Chicken, dad got chicken biryani. The Malabar is a really good flavorful coconut curry base chicken I never tried it but gave it a shot. Very good. The butter chicken is dense and you can taste the butter. One of the best butter chicken I've ever had. The biryani is a rice bowl dish that comes with a very good warm brown sauce and then the white yogurt sauce, it was quite flavorful but I am more of a curry type dish guy. We also got the samosas which comes with mint green sauce and Malabar Parotta bread to dip. Service was excellent. If you are looking for Authentic - this is it.

Great authentic food. Took Podi iddli which was amazing , egg as appetizer and masala dosa. I still feel they can improve on dosa freshness to taste it not sour. Service was not very quick as it looks like they have lots of delivery order and it's a small place. Ambience is small decent restaurant .

Authentic Indian restaurant, famous for dosa. My Indian friends recommended this one. Come early like 6 PM to avoid the crowd. They have dosa night on Wednesday. I believe it was a buffet dosa, but not anymore. You will get about 5 kinds of small dosa for around $15. I found there are not many meats for dishes like chicken or lamb dishes. Hence taking one star out for the value. Service is average, not above or below expectations.

Samburna located in Bothell serves Tamil food, a region that I am unfamiliar with. One thing I noticed is that they don't serve naan amongst their comprehensive menu. I generally prefer to eat pescatarian, but they had limited options. For fishes, they use golden pompano for whole fish dishes and tilapia for filet dishes. We instead opted for curries that are unfamiliar to us. I am not complaining; those dishes are flavorful and excellent choices. For water, they provide bottled water for each dinner; I'm not crazy about that but ah well. Three ladies serviced the dining area. They are very nice, and enjoyably chatty without being intrusive. At one point, my husband's dish provided to be a bit spicier than he can handle. The observant server offered a cup of yogurt to calm his spicy curry. We rarely see this level of attention unless at high end restaurants. Bravo! The interior is basic and functional. They are located at a strip mall where parking is plentiful, especially during dinner hours when adjacent businesses are closed. Side note: Reading the reviews, they seem to have a consistency issue with their food and cooking. We lucked out with a good experience. Their food leans towards true spiciness, not reduced Americanized spiciness. Be sure to ask for every dish even if the menu does not specify. The Food: Mutton Chettinad, $16.99 - 4 Stars This was noted as a signature dish on the menu, so we tried it. Whatever those secret spices are (simmered with onions and tomatoes), this was very flavorful. This is the dish that hubby needed some yogurt. That's on him, not them. :) Melagu Kozhi Curry, $15.99 - 4 Stars Menu: Aka Chicken Pepper Masala - Bone-in chicken pieces in a fiery curry with black pepper & fennel This is also a signature dish and new-to-me. I enjoyed the fiery and the heat of the curry. Not for the faint of heart, but if you enjoy the burn, this is flavorful. Masala Dosa, $11.99 - 3.5 Stars A legit and crispy dosa, served with 3 kinds of dips. Their cooktop is uneven, though. You can visually see one end of the dosa is pale vs the rest of it. Mango Lassi, $3.99 - 4 Stars Perfectly good lassi