Pavani Express

I wish I would have known about this spot earlier! I knew it was legit when I pulled up and saw that the patrons were primarily South Indian, including other Desi restaurant owners. Pavani Express has incredible food, and speaking as a notoriously frugal individual, a very fair and filling quantity of food for their prices. The atmosphere is down-to-earth. The restaurant it is connected to a gas station store, but you can not walk straight from one to the other. The cooks and front desk staff are friendly and helpful, and everyone working wears a mask, properly, out of respect for COVID-19. The cooks are all South Indian aunties as well, so the food tastes homemade. (This coming from a Black American with a modest 5 years of experience eating my partner's food). As a non-Desi person, I would highly recommend Googling each of the menu items before going so that you have a good idea of what you want to eat and feel comfortable trying something new, because there are only a few pictures and no English descriptions of the menu items.

I had heard about this place from my coworkers and I finally decided to try it today. Boy were my coworkers right! The food was absolutely amazing! It's so fragrant and flavorful compared to other dishes I've had in Corpus that claimed to be "Indian". The chicken was super tender and moist, and the rice and was delicious! Be prepared to have enough rice to feed you for a two meals though, they are super generous with it!

My nephew told me about this place and so I'm eating lunch today. Excellent. Way too much food for one man to eat alone. I ate the spinach pokra, chicken curry and garlic naan. Everything was delicious. The lady who served me was very helpful in steering me away from dishes that were too spicy. I'm down to eventually try it all.