Kinnera Indian Bar & Grill has opened in a soft launch at 13055 Worldgate Drive in Herndon, in the Worldgate Centre space that housed Kalpasi Indian Cuisine. The restaurant announced the soft opening on its Instagram account, and The Burn reported it on Oct. 16. No grand opening date has been set.
The menu leans South Indian, with about two dozen biryanis
Biryani gets top billing. Kinnera’s online ordering menu lists roughly two dozen versions, from Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani at $15.99 to gongura goat at $18.99, plus family packs. Dosas run $9.99 to $15.99, including a Guntur karam dosa made with the fiery chili powder from that Andhra Pradesh city. Starters include chicken, gobi and paneer “65,” a ghee roast goat and Bhimavaram-style fried shrimp, and the kitchen also runs a tandoor and makes Chettinad and Malabar curries and kothu parotta, a chopped flatbread stir-fry.
The drinks list includes South Indian filter coffee and rose milk. Kinnera bills itself as a bar and grill, and its early social posts promised handcrafted cocktails.
Kinnera’s website still shows an “opening soon” page. Online ordering lists hours of 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday, so call ahead at 703-429-4388 to confirm dine-in hours. Through Tuesday, Oct. 20, the restaurant is offering 10 percent off for Dussehra.
Kinnera keeps Kalpasi’s phone number
Kalpasi Indian Cuisine had served Chettinad food at the same address since at least 2021, when Northern Virginia Magazine reviewed it. Kinnera uses the same phone number, and its online ordering still runs on an account registered under the Kalpasi name, which suggests the same operators rebranded the restaurant rather than handing it to a new owner. Neither restaurant has said so publicly.
Worldgate has added two restaurants this month, a week before its auction
Kinnera is the second new restaurant at Worldgate in October. Peruvian Charcoal Chicken & Grill opened in the former Qdoba space earlier this month, serving charcoal-roasted chicken with yuca, plantains and rice.
Both openings come shortly before Worldgate Centre goes to a foreclosure auction on Monday, Oct. 26. The auction covers the center itself, which carries about $50 million in unpaid debt, and says nothing about individual tenants. For residents of the apartments and condos along Worldgate Drive, the new restaurants sit a short walk away, with two more choices for dinner than the center had in September.
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