Andaaz — Restaurant in Franklin Township

Style over substance. This is not a good dining experience.

Let's at least start with what was good: the service and the ambiance. Staff were friendly and helpful, but there was a 10 minute delay in our seating. (we had made a reservation for 8pm)

Now for what I don't like about the restaurant: the food, the cost, and the pretentiousness of style over substance.

Food: This was decent food that was not at all worth the cost (If you are familiar with Indian restaurants in NJ, this wasn't even as good as Mithaas). There is a certain finesse missing from the food, which comes down to the ratio of ingredients.

Price: after considering the above category, the price was a huge slap in the face. We spent roughly $206 (before tax or tip) for 3 people. We ordered 3 appetizers, 3 entres, a bread basket, a desert, and a mocktail. At a restaurant like Mithaas, this would have costed us roughly $100-120. At a comparable "indian fine dining" restaurant like Chef's Table or Samudra, this would have costed us $165 or $210 respectively. My point is, for the price point, there are SIGNIFICANTLY better options within an hour's drive from here. This is relevant because it is a fine dining restaurant, so people will be willing to travel a bit farther for the increase in quality.

Pretentiousness: style over substance. I want to preface this by saying that in no way were the staff or anyone else rude to us or snobbish. When I say "pretentiousness", I am referring to the overall concept of the restaurant.

For those who don't know, in hindi, 'andaaz' means "style". And this restaurant beats you over the head with it. It reminds you at every corner that this is a stylish place. Right from the main entrance, there is large decoration on the wall stating how important "style" is to the restaurant. You see exquisite presentational appeal of the dishes. Lavishly decorated art on the walls. Fancy looking menus with even fancier descriptions of the food. An enforced dress code. People everywhere taking selfies of their experience at the restaurant.

And you can't help but feel like the entire experience is performative. Why? Because you are hungry, and you were craving really good North Indian curries, and you likely drove a good 30 minutes to arrive at a "fine dining" restaurant. Because there are more people chatting and taking pictures than there are actually eating. You must smile and proclaim your enjoyment, to mask your disappointment after tasting the meal.

You want decent, affordable North Indian food in central Jersey? Try Mithaas. You want a North Indian "fine dining" experience? Try Samudhra(WHICH IS LITERALLY HALF A MILE FROM THIS PLACE), or Chef's Table. This "style" isn't worth such cost and...

Where do I start? Do I tell you about the atmosphere and the genius way in which the design transports you to a place where you lose complete awareness of what’s happening beyond the walls of Andaaz by creating the illusion of being in a restaurant in uptown NYC. Perhaps I should tell you about the Amuse-bouche and a presentation that was so surprising and unexpected that it set the tone for the rest of the meal.(I’ll leave that surprise for you to experience when you visit)

Next came the service; from our server, busser, a visit from the owner and several visits from the chef. Of course the owner wants to know what we think and wanted to get to know us. The server made many recommendations at our request, each of those came with a passionate conviction that bordered on controlling. Boy was our party of 4 happy that he took our request seriously and managed our experience. We began our journey with the vegetarian and meat platters that sampled about 10-12 different items. OMG! From there we tried a few other entrees. BTW the portions are huge, and yes we took a bunch of food home. Almost forgot to mention dessert where again our server was insistent that we try their desserts. We had to draw the line as there was no more room at the inn. But once again he wouldn’t let us pass on the experience. The four of us who swore not to eat dessert were once again nearly waterboarded to not leaving without trying a dessert. So much so that our server comped us dessert and bought us the tiramisu and baked yogurt with raspberry. What type of ancient ritual is going on in that kitchen? It was unanimous; these were the two best desserts we've all had for as long as we could remember. I’ve added a few images for you, but these can’t properly convey how amazing the food was.

Here’s the deal with Andaaz; Andaaz has done something so unique, so extraordinary that it only those who are truly in touch with the culinary state of an area can embrace. They are positioned on precipice of completely changing what we have come to believe a fine dining restaurant looks like.

Steak houses, French cuisine, Italian, Nuevo American, they all are about to get uprooted by what I believe has been an under appreciated sect. The cuisine of a country that is as complex as its culture. Andaaz takes Indian cuisine that many consider as street food reinvented and reinvents the experience to rarely before...

Higher than Manhattan pricing in the middle of nowhere, with okish food but not the best service.

Food - some items were really really good - like the champaran meat, some were super average like the tandoori chicken. There is def an attempt to make the presentation upscale. But serving watermelon cut into heart shape with cheese and sprinkles on top and calling it amuse bouche?!

Service - for a place that charged 23% service charge ($100 for the group of 6 we had) I definitely expected service to be much much much better e.g., cleaning the table between courses, filling up empty glasses with water.

Price - this is where I would never be back at Andaaz. This place doesn’t serve alcohol. The mocktails were priced at the same price point as cocktails at Baar Baar or Gupshup in Manhattan. Overall bill for 4 adults + 2 kids was $520 - ~$100 per person without alcohol. We got 4 mocktails, 2 appetizers, 4 main courses with 3 rotis, 3 desserts. The same set of people went to Bungalow in Manhattan a month back and we paid $430, including 2 alcoholic drinks and similar order size. This isn’t Manhattan - it’s literally in the middle of nowhere with a dispensary as a neighbor. You cannot charge more than a Michelin starred chef run restaurant in Manhattan! And 23% service charge?! Never seen that even at non Indian Michelin star restaurants in Manhattan.

Overall verdict - good for a one time visit especially if you don’t want to go all the way to Manhattan. But if you are ok with the drive, go to Junoon, Baar Baar, Gupshup, Kanyakumari in the city.

PS: I got a call from the restaurant the morning after this review was published on Google. It started off as “wanted to understand what you didn’t like about the service” and quickly went into “but … you were having sparkling water… with tap water we are very diligent about filing the glasses” and “we did change your plates between the appetizer and main course - why do you say table wasn’t cleaned” and “3% of the 23% was credit card fee - not really service charge” (to which I was forced to respond - as an upscale restaurant charging $100 per person - how else would you like us to pay - cash???). Tip for management if you are reading this - if you are following up on a customer having a not -so-good experience better to hear the feedback and try to action it vs trying to justify why you think the...