Josh G.
Yelp
There's nothin' better then a new restaurant opening up in your town and giving you more options to dine at...but that's not this review. Nay, Southern Spice has been around for a while with me continuing to walk by on my way to Lemon Tree as it sat there, waiting for me to finally enter its doors. Welp, this past Saturday I finally did and I would most certainly return.
Honestly I wouldn't have even thought there was as much space inside Southern Spice as it's such a tiny storefront from the exterior. I mean it's not huge, but there's enough area inside for at least 30 or so people, if not more. They had some casual jazz music playing which set a relaxing mood.
The service was relatively spot on as the waiter read back our order, water glasses were consistently refilled, and plates were removed in a timely manner. Plates of what? Well SS has a nicely-sized menu of Indian options to choose from. Being with a few super Indian food newbies (I'm still somewhat of a novice myself), I tried to ensure things were kept pretty basic.
That started with a few orders of samosas. Decently-sized and well-fried with a nice hint of spice to them. Not the best I've had, but definitely a must-order in the future. From there, my buddy ordered chicken tikka masala while I went for my current favorite dish, palak paneer. The chicken tikka was tender and simmered in a flavorful masala sauce worthy of soaking up on some tasty garlic naan. My paneer? Delicious in creamy spinach style with perfect pieces of curdled cheese. I would've loved a few more cubes as the sauce to cheese ratio was a little skewed, but I'd order it again in a heartbeat. My other amigo ordered a shark (that's right, shark) dish which I tried, but was too fishy for me. Perhaps it was made well, but either way, it didn't factor into this four star writeup.
Overall, why not five stars? Well, it's close. Nice ambiance, pleasant service, quality food, and (might I add) good prices will have me back again soon to solidify this decision. One more visit could push things over into five star land. Just know that Southern Spice is worthy of your patronage, especially seeing how it's new...that's a joke...ya know, to tie it all together...I'm done.