Maharaja — Restaurant in Hamburg

This was one of the best meals of my life. The food was not terribly complicated but the flavors were full and pleasing to the taste buds. I had chicken biryani with garlic naan and gajar ka halwa (carrot pudding). I'm a little weird and asked for everything at once. I like to have the carrot pudding to help tame some of the spice of the main meal. Everything came out in under 15 minutes and everything tasted wonderful. The biryani was cooked perfectly and the tomato curry was a perfect complement. The naan was fluffy and fresh. The pudding was probably the best I have ever had. Not an overbearing flavor, but still very tasty, and a nice complement to the rest of the meal. I don't know of this is commonplace in any other restaurants, but I loved how the biryani dish rested atop a candle. This was the first time I had seen this in a restaurant on the dining table. Well designed dish and candle holder that made it easy to move around while just keeping my food at the right warming temperature. Lovely! The service was spectacular. The servers were responsive to even the subtlest nonverbal cues and were quick and helpful when answering to my requests and questions. Very kind people as well! The atmosphere of the dining room was vibrant, warm, and inviting. I felt very comfortable inside this place. The decor looked beautiful and well put together. The total cost was ~£28 but well worth it. I even had some leftover biryani after finishing. (The serving staff wonderfully boxed up my leftovers btw!) I love this restaurant. Highly recommend and I will definitely...

The food and the atmosphere of that place is fantastic. Yogi chai is the apotheosis of our dinner, worth trying!

However, one star is lost due to the missing details the staff did. First, staying after ~30 min outside in line ended up that 3 German ladies took the place first just because of asking a waiter in person/in German that they are, I suppose, "more willing to come in". The waiter acted rude in that sense allowing them to take a seat first...

Next, they didn't even put a plate right after we found a seat. No pressure, but everyone was served with a plate+fork+knife just right when they were given a menu card. Perhaps, this is what you do when you have too many customers and forget that... anyway, that was their tiny (but still annoying) mistake.

Guess what? After making an order and getting everything we wanted they simply forgot (again!) to bring a bread. Only after asking about that they brought a piece of wonderful chapati, not even apologizing for their "system error". Really?

All in all, you are the one to come and see that place, make your own impression, but the service was not as good as we expected. Hence, sorry, but no tips...

Food - heaven! Cooks do their job for A. Worth trying to come again to make a more objective...

I really enjoy the overall atmosphere and the food at Maharaja. It can become very crowded, so book a table in advance.

The restaurant is a little bit pricier but the staff is very attentive and the food - in my opinion - is great.

My Indian co-worker liked the Samosas and Naan, however, she mentioned that the butter chicken was a little bit too ketchupy for an original Indian dish.

edit Almost 2 years and a few visits later I have to adjust my rating to 4 stars. The owners have expanded a lot. I believe they now own several restaurants in the area. The prices have been stepped out by quite a bit and what's been lost in the process is this attentative atmosphere. Now it's more akin to an assembly line, as if the owners are trying to process as many patrons as possible. We had booked a table well in advance (weeks) and when we arrived we ran into a long queue of people waiting to be admitted to the restaurant. Some of them had reservations and others didn't. We were sent to the back of the line and had to wait for 40-45 minutes to be seated. It is rather unfortunate that reservations are treated the same way as the...