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Owner Ananda Poojary has been in the restaurant business for years. His family owned restaurants in South India where he was born, and before coming to Maryland he managed a North Indian restaurant in Manhattan.

When he began looking for his own location, he explored Philadelphia, Boston and Northern Virginia, but settled on Langley Park because of the presence of a large Indian community and market there.

‘‘Right away, word of mouth [in] the Indian local community here” spread the business when he opened in March 1998, Poojary said.

Its vegetarian food made Woodlands an ideal spot for observant Hindus attending the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Greenbelt, and Poojaray said he gets customers coming specifically for his food from Baltimore and Virginia as well.

Poojaray opened another Woodlands restaurant a year later in Fairfax, and only six months ago opened an ‘‘express” Woodlands in Gaithersburg, as well as a new fine dining location called Indiclub in Baltimore. But the Langley Park restaurant still has a loyal base of customers for dining and catering, with a balance of about 60 percent Indian, 40 percent non-Indian, Poojary said.

Woodlands features the classics of South Indian fare: many lentil-based dishes, such as the ubiquitous sambar, a deliciously spicy tomato-and-lentil soup for eating or dipping, as well as fresh vegetables.

The menu is broken into sections based on types of food — dosai (thin crepes wrapped around a filling), uthappam (a thicker, unfilled pancake crowned with various toppings), curries, pullavs (rice specialties) and breads, aside from appetizers, soups, desserts and sides.

Among the most popular meal selections are the Woodland’s special spring dosai, ($7.50), a large crepe rolled around crisp-tender peas, soft potatoes, chopped onion, carrot, tomato and green bell pepper with spices and flavorings, cut into four like a spring roll – only much larger – and served with sambar and coconut chutney for dipping.

A favorite dinner special is the South Indian thali ($12.95), featuring a variety of dishes to taste, including bread, white rice, sambar, dhal (lentils), kootu (a vegetable and lentil dish), avial (a vegetable and coconut dish), poriyal (a dry curry), rasam (a thin soup), curd, pickle, papad (crispy bread), dessert and coffee or tea.

And many also enjoy the chana batura ($7.95), the large puffy bread served with a mild chickpea dish.

Unlike one might expect, most of the dishes are not extraordinarily spicy, and curries are served with a side dish of pachadi — a kind of pickled vegetable side dish — as well as raita, a yogurt sauce, to cool any heat.

Appetizers range from $3.50 to $4.50, with a sampler dish running $7.50. And desserts range from $2.50 to $3.50, including the favored carrot halva ($2.50) — grated carrots cooked in honey and butter — served hot with a scoop of smooth vanilla ice cream ($3.50).

These are all a la carte selections, but Poojary finds himself quite busy with customers coming in for the lunch buffet, served from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The weekday buffet ($7.95) features more than 20 items, and the weekend buffet ($9.95) about 30.