Ma'am Saab - Restaurant & Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in Charleston

Absolutely wonderful!!!! Amazing food, atmosphere, and experience. I dont know where to begin. Ok, first, RESERVATIONS. This place is small and popular and fills up quickly. We were able to get an early reservation for seats at the bar which was kind of a bonus since we got a show with the meal. We were able to watch the bartender create speciality cocktails and engage in conversation with him which added to the overall dining experience. There were so many cocktails on the menu it was hard to decide which one(s) to choose since so many were appealing. Tried the Junglee Janwar…with gin, watermelon, bone broth, honey, vermouth, and lime. What a combination, right? It was good but I would have liked more watermelon flavor. Next I went with Shalimar….another gin drink with rose vermouth, Cointreau, lemon, and ginger. This one was on the sweet side compared to the first. On to the real star of the evening…the food! We had the chef’s tasting experience, which I would highly recommend. It a 3 course meal with plenary to eat. Each dish was flavorful and tasted amazing. The appetizer included three different dishes and each stood out. The flavors were all different and uniquely delicious. I ate very potato, piece of cabbage, and everything else that was served. I could have continued to eat the appetizers served a my meal they were so tasty. We had the butter chicken which was hands down the best ever butter chicken I have ever had. I never knew chicken could melt in your mouth….but it did! Heavenly! We also had a beef dish, potatoes, spinach. All elevated to flavors I cant put into words. And of course naan. And there were all sorts of chutneys and dipping sauces. All so good. There was so much food we had leftovers (yippie) and the next day everything was just as flavorful. I can’t wait...

How do you describe a restaurant that deals in only one commodity, spice. Well, it was certainly spicy. Spicy but good. There’s a lot of meat on the menu and, did I mention, a lot of spice. We were a party of four, two of whom were vegetarians. For them, “pickins” were scarce, particularly if you were not a fan of hot and spicy. For meat eaters, you were in carnivore heaven. Everything from goat, to lamb, pork and beef and all hot and spicy. We shared the eggplant fritters and they were only mildly hot so everyone had a taste. They were excellent. The vegetarians were limited to a couple of rice dishes and naan. There were seasonal vegetables but we warned that they were hot, even when ordered with less spice. The Butter Chicken was excellent, tandoori chicken in a thick butter golden curry. The Bihari kebab was very good as well, tender ribeye marinated in yogurt with ginger garlic. Both dishes were a an 8 on a hot spicy scale of 1 to 10. The naan and paratha were perfect. This is a very specialized restaurant and if you are not into Packistan/Indian cuisine you are going to be disappointed. But if authentic subcontinent food is your thing, you have found the right place. Decor is subdued and very pleasant and, wonder of wonders, noise level was relatively low and you could actually converse at normal levels. Service was efficient and not, in your face, overly friendly. There is a parking garage close by and the restaurant is easy walking distance from the market and downtown hotels. It has a full bar and a decent selection of wine and beer. Overall, this was a good meal in pleasant surroundings with good service. Did I mention that the food was spicy? The restaurant gets 3.5 clams (4 stars equivalent ) on the coveted Five Quahog...

Disappointing Birthday Experience! I’ve enjoyed this restaurant in the past and have often recommended it because the food is consistently good. That’s why I chose it to celebrate my birthday with a friend. Unfortunately, the experience this time was disappointing due to the way we were treated.

We arrived around 9:00 PM, well ahead of the 10:00 PM closing time listed on the website. The hostess informed us that the kitchen would be closing in 15 minutes, which was fine, we already knew what we wanted to eat. However, she directed us to sit at the bar, even though there were open tables available.

When we got to the bar, there were no open seats next to each other. Two guests kindly offered to move a chair so we could sit together, but the bartender told them not to bother and dismissed the idea, which felt unnecessarily rude. Then he told us we could just pick a table and someone would assist us. We followed his instructions, only to have the hostess come back about 10 minutes later and tell us we couldn’t sit there and had to return to the bar.

At that point, the experience felt disorganized and embarrassing. It was clear that there was a lack of communication among the staff, and as customers, we felt like an afterthought rather than welcome guests.

The food here has always been excellent, but customer service is just as important. I hope management takes this feedback to heart and works on improving communication and hospitality, especially during the last...