Amber Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Carmel

We have always had great food at Amber, which made my meal today somewhat disappointing. My wife had the palak paneer, which was fine, good quality, not exceptional but a satisfying choice.

My order, on the other hand, was definitely not what I expected from a restaurant of this general high quality. Maybe it’s because we came in somewhat late, but that is not a decent excuse.

I ordered what has become one of my favorite Indian cuisine dishes. It is called Malai chicken tikka here, also called murg Malai tikka as well. It is a chicken kebab dish that should be rich, creamy, moist and flavorful. It is typically made with chicken breast that has been cubed and marinated in a spiced papaya sauce that both flavors and tenderizes. It takes several hours, so in order to do it justice, restaurants must figure a way to have it ready in advance.

The Malai tikka I was served at Amber this time had obviously not been prepped this way. It had not been tenderized. Sadly, it was also somewhat over cooked and dry. Not terribly, but noticeably. On top of that, the Malai cream that is applied to the chicken before grilling was not even noticeable. In other restaurants and in my own preparations, the cream coats the meat and is a major part of the dish. I could not even tell there had been any cream on the chicken to the point that I actually asked our server. She assured me the chicken had been dipped into cream. Not that I could tell. I ate a little but decided I could enhance and enjoy it much better at home (in spite of the dryness) by very gently re-heating in a butter and sour cream mix.

I’m guessing that because it was late and because they did not have tenderized marinated chicken ready they decided to improvise and serve a dumbed down version of murg Malai tikka rather than tell me they really didn’t have the ingredients to do the recipe right. Understandable, but the wrong decision in my opinion. I’d have rather heard that they just could not do it right and I should try something else. FYI Amber. We Suggestion. If you want to make a better quick version of this dish, after grilling the chicken, take one third butter or ghee, some finely chopped green chili and two thirds sour cream, heat gently and add to the tikka and stir together. It...

This was a lovely experience. My girlfriend and I were served by a lovely woman by the name of Anam. She was soft spoken, thoughtful, kind and patient with us all throughout the experience. Our table was cleared promptly and she was quite attentive, asking all the right questions, at appropriate times, without ever interrupting our experience or intruding.

The restaurant offers water at the start of the meal and customers are given a choice between ice or no ice. This was fantastic for my girlfriend who doesn't like ice in her products. Most restaurants don't offer that kind of courtesy. The next option is a choice between regular or garlic naan. We chose garlic naan—best choice ever! It was amazing!

We got the lunch buffet and a soft drink. In total, we paid about $18 per person for lunch and beverage.

The buffet was chocked full of good food. The rice was perfectly cooked, and the way they stored the rice on the buffet, using plastic wrap to portion out what's exposed to the light, meant they could keep it fresher longer. All the food was delightfully flavorful, not too overpowering, not too salty, and not too spicy. The only dish that wasn't up to par was the chicken tikka masala, where the chicken was a little dry/overcooked, but we're talking about a 95% success rate here, where all the other dishes had tender fall off the bone, juicy meat, and/or brilliant flavor.

While I was taking pictures, Anam's husband, Rikki, informed me that the lunch buffet's menu changes all the time. So the pictures provided may not reflect what is available on the day you choose to visit.

Between the service, the food, and the fair pricing, this place was a steal and I am definitely going back.

If you've got the privilege to try their goat curry, I highly recommend it.

Thank you, Rikki and Anam for a wonderful dining experience. Hope to see you two again in the near future!

Pictures provided are of the happy couple, the buffet and a look at some of the stuff I got to try while...

My host has been taking care of me very well with picking great restaurants during my stay. This restaurant came at the advice from his chiropractor. Unfortunately, this was a bit of a miss. We saw the mixed reviews but i’m sad to say the more negative ones are closer to the truth. While we are waiting for our order an indian family that came after us, left within 15 minutes without ordering. This is not a good sign if the natives leave. We ordered samosa as starter and some fried cheese. Taste was ok but too much potato that was a bit overcooked and the peas were not fresh. also the dough was too thick. Then I had rogan josh and my host a lamb curry. both tasted basically the same with the lamb curry diluted down it seems. it was basically all gravy. Mine was quite salty and a bit bland, no flavor sensation a spices I normally experience with good indian food. Also there was a bitter taste to it which indicates they burn the spices. An indian woman with two sons came after us as well. she had to wait for 45 min until we were finished to get her food. one son had left and she complained about 3 times. the cook seemed to shout at her. A lot of take out seemed to get priority over the restaurant. there was one waitress, way in over her head that got our drinks wrong and the naan wrong. The Kema naan was again without much tast on the meat. The naan with cocos and nuts had some paste in it. I expected real nuts and dried fruit like I’m used to. It was again bland. All in all not very memorable. Ok but would not go back, have had much better indian. The cooks looked also not really clean when they cane from the kitchen and a lot of loud shouting came from there as well. many red flags here, go to some...