New restaurant to feature Central American cuisine
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| Formerly the home of a Korean restaurant and karaoke lounge, this building will become the new Casa Grande Bar & Grill. |
A new restaurant, Casa Grande Bar & Grill, is expected to open the second week of January at 7137 Little River Turnpike, the site of the now-closed Ara Kitchen and Lounge.
The menu will feature food from Central America, including Mexico and El Salvador, says co-owner Amjad Khanzada, who is also a co-owner of Tandoori Nights, also listed at 7137 Little River Turnpike. Lambros Goldsmith is between the two restaurants.
Tandoori Nights has gone through a lot of changes since it opened in summer 2017. It started out serving a mix of Indian, Mexican, Chinese, and Nepali food. It then focused on only Indian and Mexican food.
Now, it’s a Peruvian and Bolivian restaurant, offering such entrees as lomo saltado, chaufa de pollo, and silpancho. Khanzada, who also has a Tandoori restaurant in Fairfax with an Indian menu, believes South American cuisine is a better fit for Annandale.
Despite the fact that Tandoori Nights no longer serves Indian food, he has no immediate plans to change its name.
10 responses to “New restaurant to feature Central American cuisine”
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I haven't been to Tandoori Nights before but seems like it has gone through a lot of changes and had an identity crisis. Worth going to at all?
Its ok if you have plenty of Tums in your medicine cabinet. I wont go back. Hope they recognize that they are dealing with a finer set of taste buds and stomachs than what they could get away with in their country of origins.
When it comes to food, I appreciate it all, from street food in 3rd World countries to 3-star Michelin restaurants. I've developed a bullet proof stomach from eating everything, definitely no Western stomach here. While I appreciate and do eat at nice fancy restaurants here and there, there's something about street food that I just like more. I wouldn't be scared of upset stomachs, if the food is good I'll try it out! I usually don't like places that try and cook many different things of different origins though, they usually lack authenticity and technique.
It's just okay, I love Indian food but won't be returning when there is a far better Indian restaurant IndAroma close by at Pinecrest Plaza.
Exciting I hope its good. We really dont have a good mexican or latin american restaurant in the area. I am always having to travel to Arlington or DC to get good Mexican. Those two restaurants on Columbia Pike are awful.
You want Mexican go to any of the Los Toltecos restaurants in the area there's one on duke st in Alexandria
It's ridiculous to keep the "Tandoori Nights" name. I cannot tell you how disenchanted I was when I went there a few weeks ago after an exhausting day at work, ready to get myself and my husband a little treat, only to see a teeny-tiny handwritten note on the door declaring they no longer served Indian food.
If you can't bring yourself to change the name when it doesn't even REMOTELY represent what you're serving, I won't bring myself to your doorstep.
Curry Mantra, Bombay Bistro (the BEST!), IndAroma, and even the dingy-but-reliable buffet at Shiney's are actually worthy of my time and my money. I'll not hesitate to spend it with them instead.
–kda
I think that's a recent development…maybe give them a hot second to change their sign and relax. News flash – pike pizza doesnt serve pizza and french laundry wont do your dry cleaning.
And the County wont do their jobs. Let's all change our professions to fake names and then no one will be accountable. Sounds like 1600 PA Avenue.
I have family and friends who run their own businesses; I know how hard it can be. However, wiping the menu clean of any and all Indian food whatsoever long before changing the name on the restaurant itself is just poor practice at the very least. It's not as if they he didn't have control over it.
The only thing my husband and I wanted there was their Indian food, so unless they change it to something else that really rings our bell, like Ethiopian or Thai, and we get the feeling that the service and quality would be worth it, pfft. My husband and I don't eat out often, so when we do, we make thoughtful choices. I don't ever expect Khanzada to care one whit about me–he shouldn't–but if he cares about attracting the diners he *does* care about, he really should get the name changed, pronto.