When Indian Oven closed its long-time home on East Main Street in downtown Columbus, the city lost a favorite Indian eatery. But fortunately that space hasn’t remained empty for long, as Sitara Fine Indian Cuisine & Bar has now opened there!
Sitara turned over the space pretty quickly, with new floors, seating, accent walls, and lighting.
Sitara features a full bar menu with cocktails, wine, plus Indian and American beers. We tasted the Bombay Tom Collins and the Indian Manhattan.
And they have non-alcoholic beverages like chai, lassis, sodas, or this rich mango milkshake.
We started with chicken pakora, little pieces of fried chicken. They were just a touch dry but had a nice flavor to them.
We loved vegetable pakora, these little fried vegetable bites. The pakoras were served with a trio of dipping sauces.
We also tasted a papad, a crispy lentil wafer which you can order topped with diced onion, tomato and peppers.
And then we ordered a round of our favorites, started with a big serving of saag paneer
Plus a plate of chicken tandoori that arrives sizzling at the table and falls right off the bone.
We’ve come to really love dal makhani, too – rich, stewed lentils with butter and spices.
And of course a classic chicken tikka masala.
We typically order slices of garlic naan, but I really loved the bullet naan filled with garlic and zesty green chiles.
If you’re stopping by for lunch during the week, Sitara offers a pair of thali specials – one with meat and one vegetarian – each one with a choice of three curries, naan, rice and gulab jamun, a honey-dipped fried dough ball. Sitara also offers a lunch buffet Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. They said they hope to expand it to more days of the week.
Sitara is open:
- Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4:30-9:30 p.m.
- Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.
- Sunday, noon to 9 p.m.
You can read a little more about Sitara in my piece for Columbus Monthly!
Sitara Fine Indian Cuisine & Bar
427 E. Main St.
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 220-9390
Web: sitaracolumbus.com
FB: Sitara
IG: @sitaracolumbus