Amaya

This friday evening, we have tried to call to make a reservation and someone picked up but didn't speak … while we could hear all the noise in the restaurant…
Found it wired but though we could still give it a try, cause staying in a hotel very close on the Sloane Street in Knightsbridge..
We went there and asked for a table for 3: 2 adults and a child… The lady looked at our daughter .. said: How old is she ? We said 9, is there a problem.. She hesitated, said she's not sure, they have a child policy: no children under 10 yo …
Then we turned around and saw a little girl of about 3 or 4..
Smiled and said.. Look, this little girl look much younger… Then she said, I'll ask the manager, she came back saying “Sorry but we have no more tables availables”… I found this attitude inacceptable, tactful and extremely rude… French family travelling for business & pleasure to London

I think overall we found it to be a pleasant experience. We enjoyed the drinks that we had ordered and in particular the monkfish tikka, tofu tikka, chicken wing lollipops, half duck, lamb chops and aubergines. The atmosphere was great very relaxing and felt at home. The staff were very attentive and friendly.

However we did think that some of the dishes we had ordered unfortunately were over powered by some of the spices used. In particular too much cumin was used on the wok fried spinach and the prawns which had completely spoiled the delicate flavours of the spinach and prawns, and the Lamb dori kebab we felt was under spiced. The chicken tikka was again also over spiced with the black pepper corns but the meat was very moist and succulent. We felt that although the service was very good it was not good enough for a Michelin starred restaurant where it should be unquestionably exceptional so this was disappointing. For example it was disappointing that the naan bread was not brought properly in the correct portions and it was some time after that the waiter explained that there was more en-route. Some of the dishes were taking longer than expected but again only later the waiter had decided to tell us this, however on other dishes he did manage our expectations better.

The dessert we had was the Rasmalai and chocolate heaven. The chocolate heaven was fantastic, great chocolate tart and crumbly pastry, exceptional milk chocolate brownie. The Rasmalai was not as good it lacked flavour.

In terms of value for money, we felt it was average and disappointing, We felt that the idea of small portions and sharing although is a novel idea doesn’t really lend itself well to Indian cuisine. If one was being cynical it can be seen as being very commercial given the prices being charged £29.50 for the king prawns for example. We are happy to pay an exceptional price if the food was equally exceptional. Unfortunately we felt overall it did not. We also felt it a bit cheeky to include charitable donations as part of the bill as standard without asking permission. We appreciate the fact that it is optional and could ask the waiter to opt out of this but it really have should been the other way round, where we were allowed to opt in if we wanted to, furthermore we felt that the business should be making this donation themselves and not asking the customer to do so.

Unfortunately and I am sorry (because I am disappointed of myself for having to say this) to say that I would not recommend this restaurant to other people purely because there are other similar restaurants that offer what Amaya does but giving greater value for money.

It is a delight to visit this restaurant, food is very good and the atmosphere never disappoints, I have been many many times and so far there is consistency and the dishes are always a joy to my palate, I will recommend to anyone anytime, book in advance if you have a special occasion.

Loved Amaya, the atmosphere suited the type of evening that we we had in store. The hostesses were lovely, the little staple accompaniments ooh aahed nicely. It is definitely Indian Cooking with a mega European twist. My only grudge was the overcooked Madagascan prawn. Service was impeccable, the dishes were introduced perfectly well and the hostess was extremely helpful. Will go again.

Whilst I understand that this is a high end restaurant that is trying to breathe some life into Indian cuisine, I don't think that it does it perfectly.

Whilst everything is tasty enough and the lighter dishes are well balanced – the general service lets it down.

I had an ok meal but probably wont be going back. The website does not have the menu on it which is a little annoying.

Bought a Groupon deal for this place and decided to try it. BEWARE non of the dishes include rice so although they say you get a three course meal you dont really.

They give you a GROUPON choice menu and the choices are limited and we were very disappointed.

The drinks are very very expensive ! Just beware… i have been to place a million times better and i felt like i was having the poor mans option… this has put me off groupon!

This place is just outstanding! The location of the restaurant is just lovely, tucked away in a quiet courtyard off Motcomb Street, there is always a bustling lively atmosphere here, whether its at lunch or dinner. And the food is incredible, this is by no means your average Indian restaurant, this place fuzes flavours and tastes together like never before.

I was fortunate enough to have gone with friends the first time who had been before and I effectively let them recommend a variety of dishes for us to share together. All of the foods presented to us were packed full of flavour and surprisingly light. The tandoori prawns were fantastic, as were the oysters. Everything we had was fantastic and I am feeling the need to go back very soon to refresh my memory!

Had a fabulous evening with my best friend at Amaya for his birthday. The food was full of character and great flavours. They offered an extensive list of cocktails which were also extremely good. They also happily catered for his birthday and bought out a birthday plate which put a big smile on his face! Overall, a great experience! And in his words “one of his best dining experiences” … mine too! Thank you Amaya.

First impression was very good. Good welcome at the door and welcome at the table with the maitre d' or restaurant manager asking if we dined at the restaurant before. He explained us the concept and introduced the waiter. The food was good, however not spectacular, however the service was well below expectations. At no point was our satisfaction checked. To order extra drinks and dishes we needed to first seek the attention of the waiting staff. We were handed the desert menu, but nobody followed up what we wanted to order. The same with the wine menu. There wasn't even a thank you when we paid our GBP 200 bill. Quite disappointing. The food cannot be faulted, however for the prices there are many other restaurants in London that offer a better ‘package’

Was doing a spot of shopping around the corner and fancied something tasty and spicy for lunch with the Mrs – as the advert says ‘I should of gone to specsavers’ as maybe then I would have seen the sign on the front door saying -This restaurant has gone downhill, please make sure you have your walking boots on for the climb back up after you leave!

I have been coming to Amaya since it opened, not frequently enough to earn ‘food miles’ but enough to have tasted the whole menu a few times over. It has been a while since my last visit, but I was not expecting to feel this violated on a Saturday afternoon.

We walked in and were asked if we had a reservation – ‘no’ came the reply – fumble, look in the book, ‘mmmmh’, ‘errr’ , few more minutes of chatting between the two book jockeys and luckily they found us a table out of the 30 or so that were vacant. What a palaver.

The Mrs and I decided to have a quick lunch and get the Amaya Platter – a mixture of the best things on the menu. The first was to be a crisp salad of micro leaves, fennel and apple – not that Indian or even Asian in my books but a Michelin star means that one can bend the rules a little. The salad was crisp and crunchy, so crunchy infact that I had to spit out the piece of GLASS that added that extra special crunch.

Yes you read correctly:
GLASS – noun – a hard, brittle, noncrystalline, more or less transparent substance produced by fusion, usually consisting of mutually dissolved silica and silicates that also contain soda and lime, as in the ordinary variety used for windows and bottles.

Now, I know that ocassionally mistakes happen in top rated establishments – waiters have off days and spill soup on your new dress and sometimes things appear in your food that should not be there – a hair (which by the way was in our condiment tray, much to the shock of our waitress), or maybe a nail. However when there is a piece of glass in your food alarm bells should ring and the manager should go into overdrive – which of course did not happen. Lets take a closer look with the help of a little movie…

Loc: Amaya Indian Restaurant
We see a waitress talk to two Diners at a table.

Diner: Excuse me could I see the manager please
Waitress: Is there a problem?
Diner: Yes, I have just found a piece of glass in my food.
Waitress: Oh, that is not good. I will go and get the manager.

Cut to a close up of a clock – the hand move to indicate 5 mins passing
Another waiter comes to the table : We see the diner take out the remnants of his mouthful and put in on the sideplate

Waiter: Let me swap your side plate sir with another one
Diner: Thank you – is the manager on his way?
Waiter : Yes sir, he will be here in a minute.

We see the waiter remove the glass side plate and replace it with the sideplate from an adjoining table: we zoom in to see that the glass sideplate has a big chip on it.

Manager: Is there a problem sir
Diner: Yes, I have glass in my food.
Manager: oh. really sir. that is not good. let me replace these for you.

The dishes are taken away and the Manager returns and inspects the sideplate

Manager: Have you been playing with your sideplate sir?
Diner: sorry?
Manager: Have you been playing with your sideplate sir? It is cracked? Maybe that is how the food got some glass in it.
Diner: Well actually that was just replaced from that table over there by one of your colleagues and no I have not been playing with it. The glass was not on the table it was in my MOUTH and cut my cheek.
Manager: oh ok.

Sorry for the Dramatisation – frustrated screenwriter in me pops out once in a while.

New salads appear on the table after another 5mins pass and we see the manager reappear to say that the Chef is looking into how it happened, about 10 minutes later the manager appears again and says that we can have pudding on them.

That is bad in my opinion. Poor service, poor management and poor kitchen.

The new salad is a bit more drab and lacks any fennel. Some of the micro leaves are old and withering, the Mrs an I manage a mouthful or two.

The main porcelain thali type dish appears with:

A piece of seer fish – nicely spiced
A pice of chicken – tasteless – a simple thing to create, am amazed at the lack of attention to spicing A vegetable patty or two – tasty enough but no discernible ingredients Potato Chaat (My Favourite, when done correctly) – Not my favourite this time
A small rectangular dish of Veg Biryani – Tasted of old wet socks that have been left in the washing machine for a few days after slow spin cycle failed to remove all the soap powder
A small rectangular dish of Pomegranate & Rose Raita – Way too much of the stuff and tasteless.

I also ordered some breads, they arrived in a leather basket – these may have been hygenic 4 years ago when the restaurant opened (and probably cost the owners a few pence to be made in India) but now when the edges are fraying and the inside cardboard is exposed, it harbours all manners of germs, I had to just leave it.

The Mrs and I declined the offer of a free pudding, partly due to the fact that the inter-course table clean up left the surface so wet the menus stuck to the table an I did not have the energy to unstick it. It was like watching the window man at the office slather on the soapy stuff before using the glidey thingy (but she did not have a glidey thingy). The waitress was apoologetic about our experience and tried to suck up enough to get a tip.

The bill arrived, the optional service was still added and I still feel as if the dentist slipped with a drill and cut my cheek. I paid and continued to not cause a scene or complain loudly as that is just vulgar, however I did nearly tell the manager to *expletive* off when he mumbled a ‘sorry about the problem, and see you next time’

It is a safe assumption that I will not be going to Amaya ever again. This could have been a freak occurence for a Michelin starred establishment, but judging by the lack of attention that has been bestowed upon the restaurant, in all departments, since it gained the accolade; I would say that it would not be too long before it loses more than it's loyal customers.

we arrived a little early to have a few drinks before our meal. the bar area was fairly small and my husband i had to wait far too long to order a drink and then to be served my mojito that was over loaded with far too much sugar and quite frankly i would have returned if i could have been bothered to wait for another one.

we ordered the our food and were told we may have to wait a little while for one of the dishes whcih we didn't mind doing. some of the dishes were lovely but some were simply disgusting. i found the staff artificial and fake and with some attitude. dessert i had was nice. but for a highly rated restraunt i was very disappointed.

i also couldn't stand the interuption from waiters and there awful sales pitch at the end where the bloke told us about how they get their spices and their sister places while staring at the ceiling.

food was ok/good
drink was bad
service and staff/ fake and poor

i wont be going again- my husband an i would gladly spend our £200 elsewhere.

Wow, the food was incredible, we went for the £65 tasting menu and apart from the broccoli dish which was sickly, everything else was stunning! You know that feeling when your taste buds get all excited with each thing you eat, and you each bite is different. Some interesting non-traditional Indian food and modern twists on traditional dishes made it all very interesting. Our waitress too was informative and honest about what we ordered which was a nice change. What lets Amaya down is the decor, I felt like I was in a canteen, nothing at all like the gorgeous Veeraswamy and at these prices, the canteen look with uncomfortable chairs is not acceptable. Also, the wine list was terribly overpriced for the standard of the wines on offer, the Barolo we ordered at over £70 was the worst Ive ever had and I instantly regretted paying that much money for it. I love Veeraswamy's decor and Amayas food, if the two were combined it would be sheer bliss!

Great Modern Indian…love the food cooked on the grill and has a great atmosphere. I don't really like this part of town…too ‘Knightsbridge’ for me but its worth the trip. Good place to go with a big table and share…prices on the high side so better if someone else is picking up the bill.

What a shame! have been to Amaya for years and always loved the food. However, the service is nowhere close to the food and has actually gotten worst with the years with consistently unpolite staff. Last Saturday was the “straw that broke the camel's back”: not only did they made a mistake with our booking (meaning we did not have our table when we arrived) but the “manager” did not even apologise for their mistake (instead implying we could be lying as they had no trace of our booking…), the staff ignored us, made us wait while there were actually tables ready for other people arriving later and they did not even offered us any coktail while we were waiting for 20 mn (time at which we decided to give up and not come back any more)

Visited twice in 2008. Enjoyed both times although one or two staff aloof on one occasion. Fun idea of small dishes to sample but sometimes arriving at an erratic pace so as to overcrowd the small table. I recall a type of spicy venison kebab and a deliciously sticky quail plus a not so well cooked aubergine topped with a spicy sauce. Enjoyed 3 interesting relishes one of rhubarb, something with rose petal and a ground nut one I think. Despite niggles will return as it entertains the palate and the eye (chefs are on show).

Great food, especially the oysters and monk fish. Service was excellent. Would recommend this place without hesitation!!

A really delicious experience. The food was stunning, ambience and service both excellent. I loved the concept of sharing several plates over a period of time, at no time did we feel rushed and each dish was beautifully presented and tasted superb.