Amaya Indian Grill Restaurant

We went to Amaya with some friends based on an article that id seen and we were very pleased with the whole experience.
The service was attentive and knowledgeable without being over the top. the food was delicious and very well presented, we had the taster menu and im glad we did as it was a great balance of fish and meat.
The decor was as expected and there was a good energetic atmosphere, we would certainly return. 

Fantastic dinig rooms.. great night out with family and friends. Very exciting menu.

Wow what an experience! We ended 2010 on a high at Amaya. Very chic interior and an extractor fan that's actually working! The staff was nicely dressed, polite and sure knew what they were doing. We even got a very entertaining lecture on champagne. The food was absolutely spot on. Not the usual 'curry' but a tapas style way of eating which means you really get an experience rather than a meal. We all ordered something and ended up eating our way through the whole range of food from the venison to the grouper. And don't get me started on the lamb what a feast. I am not one to use a lot of superlatives, but this was definitely the best food experience of 2010. I sure hope they can keep up the high expectations and we'll come back for more.

We went to Amaya for my brother's Birthday lunch, and I regret to say that it completely ruined the day. The restaurant is stylish and the food itself is tasty, although VERY small in portion. However, this was overshadowed by the complete incompetence of the staff coupled with a somewhat incomprehensible rudeness of attitude, which would not be expected given the location, the price range and presumably also the desired clientele of this establishment.

Our visit went off to a bad start when my brother's partner had her cocktail spilled not once, but twice, without a word of apology or an offer of a substitute drink on the house. This was made worse by the attitude of the waitress who, rather than trying to deal with this shortcoming and the exceedingly long waiting times, briefly informed us that they were understaffed and put any shortcomings down to insufficient training. To our dismay, she however felt very confident in telling us in no subtle terms that we "need one more meal" and that this meal should be bigger, as the portions were small.

Other hick-ups aside, our main grievance was caused by a waiter who, when putting our main course on the table, broke my cocktail glass which sent splinters flying across the table, including my brother's water and wine glass. Without uttering one word of apology, he took my broken cocktail glass and left, leaving the table covered in splinters. It was only through our insistance that my brother's glasses were taken away. The least we would have expected from such an 'up-market' establishment was to offer a complimentary drink as a way of apology, however this was not forthcoming, and neither was a new set of glasses for my brother to use. While the waitress eventually remedied this after our repeated insistence, she put the whole incident down to the already mentioned understaffing, and did not engage with us any further. My cocktail only appeared after our repeated reminders about 45mins later.

As such the only area where Amaya showed admirable speed was in alerting us to the closing of the kitchen and in bringing us the bill.

A restaurant so disengaged with customers' expectations and so devoid of manners in case of clear staff shortcomings has in our view no place in such an upmarket area.

On entering you are taken by the rather swish interior, which is what one would expect with it being located in Knightsbridge. I was taken here on a date (quite sometime ago). I tried a variety of cocktails and dishes on the menu - the food was delicious and the service superb. Although, my date at the time was always complaining that the naan breads weren't warm enough or glistening? - hmmm, I was surprised that the waitor resisted the temptation to lamp him one :-) If you're looking to dine for a special occassion or want to impress a date, then I'd recommend Amaya.

Very nice and chic restaurant.

Food comments: The grilled food items were delicious, especially the monkfish, chicken dishes, duck, and aubergine. It’s not a cheap place though--instead of a mound of food like you would get at most restaurants, each portion comes as 4 large bites. And some of the nicer meats cost upwards of £20 for those 4 large bites. They have a tasting menu too, though it seemed a bit overpriced at £38 pp (I think it would be cheaper to order individual dishes, but it depends on the size of your party). We had 5 meat eaters at the table, so we had to cut everything up so that everyone could have a share.

Non food stuff: The coat check was fairly quick for coats, but they took over 5 minutes to find my backpack! Most of the clientele looked like early middle-aged Mayfair/Knightsbridge types, but you have the occasional young uber trendy couples there too. I dont know if they were famous, or just wanted to look like they were. The restaurant was quite crowded for a Wednesday night, and seemed to pick up later, around 9:30PM rather than when we started at 7:30PM.

This is definitely an upmarket Indian Restaurant. It’s the little sister to Veeraswamy and Chutney Mary. The food is serves as it is ready, so nothing really arrives together. The concept is to share (like tapa) so when you order Black Pepper Chicken Tikka Masala (about £12), you get 4 bite size pieces of chicken. If there more than 4 at a table, they recommend ordering 2 plates of the same item.
Since we didn’t know the portions, we ordered what we thought was a reasonable amount. Unfortunately, we didn’t order enough to asked for more food. Our meat dishes came quickly but had to wait a long time for our sweet potato side dish. We even asked if it was possible to cancel the order. When the dish finally arrived, everything else was gone. A slightly disappointing ending just eating sweet potatoes on its own.

TIP: Ask for rice and naan to arrive when dishes arrive. Ours came first, so went cold by the time the other dishes arrived.

Amaya stands out as one of the best Indian restaurants on London. It is also a hot favourite among the rich and famous so if you’re lucky you may spot a celeb across the dining room. This is no ordinary Indian restaurant - from the decor to the food itself, it is a totally different experience. Everything on the menu is absolutely delicious, so while it may be hard to choose between all the sumptuous sounding dishes, you can’t really go wrong. I particularly remember salivating over the chicken biryani. Yummm….

I went to Amaya for lunch one day, pretty much as a fluke, and I was absolutely delighted. It’s a large restaurant, with a nice warm bar by the door, lots of natural light and cooking happening on the far walls. There is also an extensive specialty drink list, both alcoholic and non--I’ll have to go back to try some out--and everything on the menu looked so good, I ended up getting a veritable veggie feast.

My meal started with a slightly spicy green mango and papaya salad, which I really enjoyed. Once I was done with the salad, though, it seemed like the dishes just kept coming out! There was some paneer tikka, which is always one of my favorites, and a great fig and vegetable patty and some sweet potatoes with sauce. There was also some broccoli with a yogurt sauce, which was my least favorite dish — the broccoli was a bit overcooked and it was a much larger quantity than any of the other dishes, which was just incongruous and unappetizing to look at. There were some stuffed little chilies that I really liked, which were surprisingly sweet, no hot, and there was a veggie roll of some sort.

The dishes were all served with a side of chutneys--one rhubarb and one tomato, which were both really delicious, and a peanutty spice powder and a rose and lavender powder, which was wonderful. All the dishes were presented really beautifully as well, on plates of various shapes in white ceramic and glass.

There was also some grilled mango and a sort of passionfruit smoothie for dessert, which were nice and refreshing.

Overall, a very extravagant lunch, but a fantastic, relaxing experience. It was nice to feel welcomed and taken care of as a single diner. I can’t wait to go back for dinner and to bring friends along to share.

Amaya is probably London's most sophisticated kebab restaurant. In the Indian tradition each meal should start with various "kebabs" and meander through to a biryani or curry at the end. At Amaya you can enjoy eating the most satisfying tender "galouti" kebab first perfected in the kitchens of the Moghuls. About £30pp excluding drinks.

Definitely not your run of the mill Indian local...far from it... It's an upmarket restaurant in every sense; prices, decor, setting, location and food presentation all reflect this.

If you want to limit a potentially high bill try lunching here. You can opt for a set meal with lots of enticing smaller portions of taste-bud-tingling fare. Or if you want something light and different I highly recommend the radicchio salad with goat cheese and mandarin - not traditionally Indian but certainly delicious. Many dishes are available in two sizes. There's a creative and varied choice of non-alcoholic cocktails. The service is very attentive and responsive.