Amaya

Service was a bit slapdash on a recent visit, I twice had to ask for more water for example. Foodwise, they still bring the naan out as soon as its ready, long before you have anything to use it to eat, meaning its cold long before its needed. Prawn was very overcooked, and a sweet potatoe dish tasted like it was covered in industrial barbecue sauce. The meat cooking here remains excellent however, venison seekh had depth of flavour and robust spicing, a keema kaleji was mousse-like with almost christmassy spicing, though a tandoori duck was perhaps a tad overcooked. The quality of ingredient is much higher than in most Indian restaurants, going some way to justify the prices. Overall though there are a few too many slips to reccomend wholeheartedly, but aspects are brilliant and the room remains a great space.
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7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, December 24, 2009

Unlike some of the reviews below, I had a perfectly pleasent night at Amaya. I thought the service was fine - it was busy, so could understand them making my table available for another booking at 9.30 and was comfortable with the idea of dishes coming at different times - I'm not exactly sure why other reviewers thought this was a problem since it clearly states this on the menu.

We opted for the £38 tasting menu. Although minced chicken in lettuce was not exactly Indian - given the drizzle of sweet chili dressing - it was nice enough. The venison kebab, chicken tandoori and sweet potato were all interesting and delicious, the grouper, broccoli and naan less successful. Biriyani to end on was great and the lime tart complemented the rest of the meal well. Our bottle of wine was expensive for what it was - but nice enough.

Service was quick, slick and unobtrusive. My main gripe was the other clientele - a mixture of snooty looking types, sloshing the Billecart-Salmon around and what looked like varying impressions of Kevin & Perry with heavy metal t-shirts and baggy jeans - which created quite a bizarre dining experience overall.

£38 for a set menu for what amounted to 4 pieces of meat, 1 veg, 3 carb and a dessert I didn't think the quality quite justified the price tag, and to be honest for the 'continuous kebab' dining experience I'd far rather pay less and go to Sitaaray on Drury Lane which is tongue in cheek Bollywood and gut-bustingly good value. I wouldn't go back, but had a lovely time nonetheless.
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6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Saturday, September 12, 2009

VISITED - Saturday 18th July. Out of politeness, I phoned to advise Amaya that there would be 5 of us and not the original 7. That part was fine, but I certainly did not then expect to be asked if our table would be free by 10:30 as they would like to re-book it. That got the response it deserved!

Unlike another reviewer, we had no problem with the concept of the dishes being served in tapa-sized portions, and in many ways, this is quite a fun thing as one then has a chance to try many more dishes than usual.

The wine list had some interesting choices - we went for Montlouis, which completely confused the staff, but no matter and is also recommended to others here - and is not over-priced by London restaurant standards.

Now for the food itself ....We all thought the tandoori prawns were excellent, being sweet, juicy and well-spiced, and overall by far the best dish. However, nearly everything else is marinated in lime juice, and this comes through. To my mind, it also ruined the monkfish, for the acid completely destroyed the texture, which is of course one of the joys of this fish. We all thought that everything was rather under-spiced, though tasty for all that, despite the caveat above.

After we had demolished everything (we all have healthy appetities!), we ordered their "special" iced martini espresso coffee ..... That was a real success!

OVERALL - You are of course in for an expensive time, and with 2 bottles of wine (top-mid range at about £50 each) between the 5 of us, it came to £90 a head, which was much as I had expected.

It is with some surprise that I can report that most of the clientele seemed to be well-heeled Indian familes, for though we all enjoyed the meal, it did not pass the "acid test" of us wanting to return.
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Richard Goldstein
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Monday, July 20, 2009

The whole food coming at their convenience not yours with the small dishes concept is as irritating here as in any other restaurant that does it, and they don't put enough thought into what order to cook them in, for example like many others have noted, naan arrived long before there was anything else to eat with it, we ended up eating it with the chutneys or it would have gone cold, also our last dish to arrive was monkfish, after some strong lamb dishes.

So with that complaint about the concept out of the way, save for one disspointing dish, everything was very good, the meat quality of the lamb chops would credit any restaurant in the capital, with a marinade that had kept the pink lamb impressively tender. Chicken was of a similar high quality, tender yet actually tasting of chicken. Spicing tends to the warming rather than hot, but in that context its impressively done, balanced and fresh spice flavours from all marinades. The dissapointment was the aforementioned monkfish, which was very overcooked to the point of being dry and flakey and as a result actively unpleasant. A real pity as otherwise cooking was spot on. We finished with a biriani that was exceptional, moisture retained in the rice, lovely anise and cinnamon notes and plenty of tender lamb.

Not a cheap restaurant, and one glaring error, but otherwise good cooking, and high quality produce. The price was £60 a head with a nice bottle and ordering unstingily from the a la carte, so price is favourable compared to the other starred Indians in town. (Incidentally a review a few below is factually innaccurate, as it asserts Amaya does not have a Michelin star.) Service seems to have had a bit of criticism, but our waitress was helpful and friendly throughout, though it was odd that when I got up to use the toilet I was left to wander all the way around the restaurant with no one pointing me in the right direction.
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8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Sunday, July 19, 2009

I was taken out to Amaya by an old family friend and although I have my reservations about swanky indian restaurants (never think they serve authentic indian food) I was willing to keep and open mind. The restaurant looked fantastic and we were shown to our table quickly. Unfortunately the good part of the experiance ended there. The waiter cam over to explain the concept of no starters or mains just is mix match of dishes and that the dishes would be served as soon as each was ready. Taking the old test of quality I ordered daal and a simple aubergine dish. The naan came first because it was ready first. There was nothing to eat the skinny and dry pieces with so it became colder and harder whilst we waited for the daal to arrive. This had a layer of water a top. Out of displaced embarassment for my friend I took a few spoonful but it was awful as was the naan.

The service was awful. The staff were aloof and rude and when the inevitable happened that the tall thin round-bottomed beer glass was knocked over by my friend and I was covered in beer not a single waiter came to offer me a napkin. Instead my father and his friend got up took napkins from other tables and swapped my beer covered chair for a clean one, whilst the waiters just looked on. I couldn't believe the arrogance and rudeness of the staff.

A thoroughly awful dining experience never to be repeated.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, May 07, 2009

Overall, we had a lovely evening at Amaya last weekend, mainly because of the good food and the company we were in. Service was more than poorly. Sitting in the bar before going to our table, we had to wave and call for 15 minutes before a waitress took our second order. We actually had to clap our hands and call out loud to even get noticed. Food was very good, we had the gourmet tasting menue. The bill was steep - over 400 GBP. The waiter (we think it was even the manager) made a mistake with our credit cards and came back 5 minutes after we had paid to ask us to pay a further 59 pence!! This is not a joke, 59p! Not to forget that service was already included in the final bill. We didn't say anything in order to not ruin our nice evening but we were not impressed. We put 59p on the table and left. You should be ashamed!
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6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, April 21, 2009

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 cocktail while we were waiting for 20 min (time at which we decided to give up and not come back any more)
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E G
5 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Monday, April 06, 2009

This review is spot on 100%. Went to Amaya last month, what a mistake.
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Omar
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Sunday, February 22, 2009

Went there recently for the third time. I was hoping that the first two occassions was Amaya's staff having a bad day and the food and service had improved. Unfortunately, the restaurant and the food was no better. This is possibly the worst indian restaurant in the UK. Their concept of food sharing is annoying to say the least. I don't need some half wit waiter or waitress to tell me and my guests how we should dine. The food is very pricey and not worth it at all. Not surprising this restaurant has not won a Michelin Star and others like Tamarind and Benares have. My advice, avoid Amaya at all cost, as it is not even worth going there out of curiosity. I am surprised it has not closed down as yet. The best indian restaurant in town is Benares by a mile.
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Jamil Ahmud
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Thursday, February 19, 2009