Farzi Café — Restaurant in Bellevue

Farzi means fake, false or fictitious. Farzi cafe lives up to its name and serves as a true testimony to fakeness and pretentiousness. Every dish on the menu screams lack of value for money. I should have read the negative reviews before I went to this mockery of a fine dining restaurant.

Don’t be fooled or enamoured by their gimmickery of liquid nitrogen, fire torches and other silly attributes of farziness - what use is all this when the service is so pretentious and fake ?

There are no greetings - just a blank stare to welcome you !! A farzi robot escorts you to your table and when you ask for a better seat, your request is immediately refused.

Lets talk about the farziness of the food we ordered.

Boost Juice - this is an orange, turmeric and ginger juice and what you get is an extremely tiny and measly portion of this concoction for a whopping $14. Even if my lungs were to be healed by the goodness boost of turmeric, my heart screams out in agony for the total loss of value for money. The farzi reply from the server (name not disclosed) who served me was that they take several ten plus hours to prepare this juice. Seriously ? This is farziness at its best !! No discerning customer would pay $14 such a minescule quantity of the drink, coupled with sloppy service. Thankfully, i had this farzi elixir removed from my check after much reluctance and frowning on their side.

Live Chaat - lets just call this a poor live theatrical bufoonary of the renowned aloo chaat that you get at any normal indian restaurant. They deconstruct it in front of you with some more gimmickery by adding a foam like creamish texture masala yogurt, and strawberry chutney to the potato patty ( aka, aloo tikki) and the end ‘farzified’ product is less tasty than even that of the most mediocre chaat vendor but ten times more expensive. It leaves you with a gaping mouth yearing for the real thing and a bandage on your heart trying to justify the price of $21 for this apology of dish along with theatrical bufoonary.

Daal chawal arachini - its just an innovative twist on italian arancini - it was ok - credit to the innvovation here but nothing to rave about from a taste standpoint. The miniature papads are just fancy and add cosmetic value to the dish and the salsa does not pair well with the daal stuffed arancini balls. It was an average , mediocre preparation.

Jackfruit sourdough kulcha - this tasted good and was innovative. The dish was intensely flavorful.

Pani puri - it was well presented & fruity but cold due to the liquid nitrogen. While the puris were tiny, it was atleast palatable for the price of $10.

Hot cross buns - a few people in my family liked it, others did not like it at all, and some felt it was average. There was a strong smell of the creamy cheese and the pumpkin pairing was average - the flavors did not come out.

Double butter daal makhni - this tasted very good but you can have the same thing at a fraction of the cost at other indian restaurants and without shamelessly overdoing the butter on the dish as stated in the name of the dish itself. We ordered the rosemary chilli naan which was overdone and hard on the sides.

Sarson ki Galouti - this was very good - note that it has egg in it.

Portion sizes for all dishes were very less vis-a-vis the excessive price charged.

The server who took care of us disappeared throughout the meal and did not bother to check on us consistently. Time to get us the check was a solid 20 minutes of waiting and even what we had ordered as a takeaway became cold.

There was a 20 percent gratuity fee levied during dinner for the weekends. If this is your policy, it should be communicated in advance to diners - unfortunately, it is not. Further, why is gratuity charged for sloppy service ? That defeats the whole purpose of giving a gratuity if the customer is happy with the meal and service.

All in all, despite some innovative attempts and a few good items, service and value for money is seriously lacking which needs drastic improvement. Avoid this place and save your...

TLDR: I was super disappointed and will not go back here simply cos the food is highly overrated, pretentious (farzi) and not flavorful(most of the dishes lacked basic seasoning) does not justify the price point;cocktails were sub par to say the least; most of items we asked for on their menu were not available. Servers were confused, not familiar with the items on the menu and clearly not trained well enough yet to serve such a so called renowned restaurant.

Appetizers: Guntur Chilli Chicken: Juicy succulent pieces of chicken cooked with spices (very mild). Good. Nothing great. Guntur is known for really spicy food but the spice levels here were toned down (understandably so) Tempura Prawns: Very similar to Dynamite Shrimp at PF Changs. Lamb Chops: Meat cooked well but flavorless. Lacked seasoning, no spices abolutely flavorless. The side served with the lamb chops something like a chaat was good. But well thats not what we ordered! Paneer Popcorn: Really good fried crunchy paneer balls dusted with chaat masala served with green chutney and this was one of our fav dishes for the night! Loved it.

Main Course: We ordered the following items from the Large menu but it wasnt enough to share as portions were small: Saag Buratta: Good saag gravy with buratta. Basically replacing paneer with buratta in palak paneer which is an innovative idea topped with fried kale. They should have paired this with some bread to soak in the saag (green gravy). Dungeness Crab Pepper Fry: A good dish made with tasty crab and extremely smaller portions. Couldnt really taste the pepper but the dish was good and porbably my only fav non-veg item. Devoured this with malabar paratha. Fire Jackfruit Polichattu: This dish is all fancy with the server setting the dish up on fire literally but this dish had no flavors tasteless absolutely ZERO spice or salt and again extremely small portions. Ratatouille Bhaji: Simple Pav Bhaji loaded with butter and served with ham burger buns not even Indian Pav. This dish was okay nothing great. Fancy name serving the same old dish. Butter Poached Halibut: The gravy was good but the halibut lacked seasoning. We did like the gravy with a side of rice.

Dessert: Rabdi Magnum: The most “farzi” (fake) dish on the menu tbh. Rabdi is a milk pudding made with dry fruits, nuts, saffron and cardamom powder. This magnum bar beautifully laid on a bed of coffee beans had zero flavors of rabdi but just tasted like a magnum bar doubly coated in dark chocolate and the filling tasted coconuty/vanilla to me and absolutely no flavor of rabdi. Disaster.

Cocktails: Firstly their limited edition cocktails are named after Zodiac Signs which is convenient to order. But since the servers were not familiar with the cocktails every time we ordered a cocktail, the server mentioned that they think they got the wrong order and came back saying “oh no I actually got it right” this happened both the times we ordered cocktails for our group. Now I really dont know if I actually got the cocktails we ordered or just a random drink. Anyways the cocktails were disappointing too. Details below: Leo, Virgo, Aries, Aquarious, Sagittarius: Each of these tasted terrible and nothing worth enjoying. Pisces: The best cocktail we had that night.

One of my big complaints with this resto is - how can you not have so many dishes actually listed on ur menu. You have opened your doors to the public and so many cocktails and food items (anything under kulcha and bao menu was unavailable, tawa mutton was not available, their fusion twist to vada pav was not available) were just not available. This was at 8PM on a week night and you have a packed restaurant - Thanks to the fake hype created by social media about this place.

I had high expectations from this place but it was not worth the wait or hype at all. The food and drinks were totally forgettable. There are several better fine dining Indian restaurants in the Seattle area. All in all we paid ~$550 for such n unsatisfactory experience. Highly...

Instagram: kulsumbegumm UPDATED new menu pictures attached Tempura prawns- The tempura prawns were perfectly crispy on the outside, while the inside remained tender and juicy. The koliwada rub added a delightful blend of spices, giving it a unique and addictive flavour. The caramelised onion gel added a touch of sweetness that perfectly balanced the savory notes of the dish. But what truly elevated this dish was the JD wood smoke. The subtle smoky aroma infused into the prawns created a whole new level of depth and complexity. The presentation was impeccable, and the flavors were perfectly balanced.

Mini Raj Kachori- The crispy and flaky outer shell was filled with a burst of flavors. What made this dish truly unique was the cumin flavored foam that added a subtle aromatic touch, enhancing the overall taste experience.

The addition of fresh fruits to the stuffing was a stroke of genius. It added a refreshing and tangy element that perfectly complemented the richness of the kachori. The combination of sweet and savory flavors created a harmonious balance.

To top it off, the dish was beautifully garnished with coriander micro greens, which added a touch of freshness and a hint of herbal notes.

Kiwi puchka tartlets- The crunchy tart-shaped puchka served as the perfect vessel to hold the flavorful and tangy filling. Each bite was a burst of flavors that danced on the palate.

The topping of fresh kiwi gel added a refreshing and tropical twist to the tartlet. Its natural sweetness and vibrant green color beautifully complemented the other ingredients, creating a harmonious balance of flavors.

To elevate the taste even further, the tartlet was adorned with a tamarind gel. The tangy and slightly sweet notes of the gel added depth and complexity to the dish, enhancing the overall flavor profile.

The presentation was also a feast for the eyes. The mini puchka tartlets were meticulously crafted and artistically plated, showcasing the attention to detail and culinary artistry of the chefs.

Dessert: Rasmalai tres leches- While the concept sounded intriguing and I appreciate the creativity, I found the overall experience to be average.

The dessert consisted of layered flat Ras Malai balls with carrot in between the layers, topped with a rose net. Visually, it was averagely appealing, but I was excited to indulge in the flavors.

However, I was disappointed by the texture of the Ras Malai balls. They were unexpectedly hard, which made it difficult to fully enjoy the dessert. The traditional softness and sponginess that I associate with Ras Malai were missing, and it took away from the overall enjoyment of the dish.

Additionally, I must admit that the Ras Malai Tres Leches wasn't as unique or standout as some of the other dishes I tried at Farzi Cafe. While the concept of incorporating Ras Malai into a Tres Leches dessert was interesting, the execution didn't quite meet my expectations.

On a positive note, the addition of carrot between the layers added a subtle hint of sweetness and a contrasting texture.

Overall, while the Ras Malai Tres Leches had its moments of creativity and potential, the hard texture of the Ras Malai balls and the lack of uniqueness compared to other dishes at Farzi Cafe left me somewhat underwhelmed.

I appreciate the effort and creativity put into the dessert, but I believe there is room for improvement.

While this particular dish didn't quite hit the mark for me, I still encourage you to explore the other delightful offerings at Farzi Cafe, as they have a variety of innovative and delicious dishes that cater to a range of tastes.

Remember, everyone's palate is different, so my experience may not necessarily reflect yours. It's always worth exploring and discovering your own favorites.

Moving on to the SERVICE & AMBIANCE - I must say, it was an outstanding experience from start to finish. The impeccable service and captivating ambiance truly set the stage for a memorable...