Eating Out: Saffron | Norwalk, CT

Hubby and I recently drove down to Norwalk, CT for some nice Indian dinner from Saffron. There are some pretty good Indian restaurants where we live, but on some nights, we’re in the mood to try a new place.

According to their website, Saffron is the winner of the “Talk of the Town Excellence in Customer Satisfaction Award 2013”. That got me curious. When you post such an accolade, you set yourself up for your customers to see if you’d live up to the accolade and if they’d be satisfied as customers.

Anyway, parking wasn’t a problem. We found a spot directly in front of the restaurant, so that’s great. When we got there, there were two families in two tables. Both tables had children, so Saffron is family-friendly. After entering the place, we were seated immediately and given the menus.

I typically order chicken tikka masala when trying a new Indian place. Chalk it up to first impressions – the first Indian dish I ever tried in my life was chicken tikka masala. I fell in love with Indian food since then. . .eventually loving other dishes like navratan korma, aloo gobi, chana masala, malai kofta, etcetera. My husband is a big vindaloo fan, so he ordered lamb vindaloo. We added plain naan and plain rice plus mango lassi and coffee shake to our order.

After they served our food, we realized that we should’ve just ordered one rice. Two bowls of rice plus naan seemed a bit much. Of course, I can’t eat Indian food without naan. I like using naan to sop up the yummy sauce.

Saffron’s food was delicious. It tasted milder than the Indian food I know. The very amiable hostess took time out to ask us how we like our food. With the vindaloo, she asked my husband how spicy he wanted it on a scale of 1 to 10 (he said 9). I was surprised to see the food covered by so much sauce. You can’t even see the meat!

Here’s a close-up shot of the lamb vindaloo.

Here’s a close-up shot of the chicken tikka masala.

I mentioned earlier that Saffron is family-friendly. When we were there, it seemed too family-friendly. The little girl from the other table was crying practically the entire time we were there. No exaggeration. Unfortunately, the background music wasn’t loud enough to drown out the noise. We didn’t complain to the hostess because in fairness, it’s not their fault. What were they supposed to do, hush the child? The parents were pretty much ignoring the kid. Hubby and I tried to laugh about it, even tried to figure out why she was crying that much. But eventually, it became too noisy that I couldn’t wait to leave the place, which was sad because the food was pretty good.

Hopefully, we’ll have a quieter eating experience at Saffron the next time we go there. The service was nice thanks in large part to the gracious hostess. Even if we didn’t finish the food, it was delicious and well-prepared, especially the naan that was not too greasy, just right. They’re definitely worth giving a second chance.

Address:
Saffron
333 Westport Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06851