Tamarind Tribeca — Restaurant in New York

This review is for their special lunch and when we visited, it featured the Kashmir Menu.

the elegant Indian restaurant located in TriBeCa (10 mins walk from WTC). we missed Restaurant Week but nevertheless, we had an amazing experience here.

The decor is spectacular, the moment you enter, you encounter a bar area, with very high ceilings, modern and very elegant, not at all over the top.

it seats 150+ people on two levels, the main dining room and the mezzanine.

It was our anniversary, so they offered us a corner booth. Here is a booth in which to sit, quiet and slightly removed from the bustle of the rest of the room, separated from others by a sheer curtain.

by the way, it is a recipient of a prestigious Michelin star in the Flatiron section of Manhattan, the Tamarind Tribeca, now at its new home is the definitive restaurant where one can experience Indian Cuisine in its purest form with a contemporary touch.

We settled and then gave a glance at the Kashmir menu and ordered-

Gushtaba- two big balls of ground lamb with spices... though it was the appetizer, it was too much for me and I was almost half full. It might be the case while taking the first bite, you won't like it but later on, it will grow on you- 3.5/5

Kashmiri Machli- not sure why they serve regular Salmon and no, I do not think it was anywhere near to Kashmiri preparation - it was disappointing - 2.5/5

Dhaniwal Murgh- Oridinary item, okish- 3/5

Kahsmiri boti: Marinated lamb, think about mutton steak - the highlight of the meal, medium rare - amazing- 4/5

Kasoor Halwa (Green apple halwa) and Anjeer icecream in desserts - it was good

The overall meal was not too great for us except Kashmiri boti... I gave him feedback (being a reviewer, this is something I contribute towards all business, doesn't matter how big or small the establishment is)

they served mango cheesecake as a complementary item for our anniversary.

Owner Avtar Walia also came and asked their courtesy question - 'is everything alright" and congratulated us on our anniversary.

Meat — especially lamb — is both sculptural and tender.

Price: $35 PP with tax

Ambiance: As mentioned above, Dramatic ceiling-high windows face Hudson and Franklin Streets, adding drama to dining at Tamarind, and L-shaped banquette seating in low booths can be found around many of the windows.

overall experience - 3.5/5 but with great ambiance, and top-notch service, I will give it 4 out of 5 ratings.

Tamarind is a great place and I highly recommend it, if you want to go to an elegant Indian place: the food was...

I wish I had seen the google reviews before coming here. Would have saved myself a trip. We booked a reservation for this restaurant well in advance and actually planned our itinerary around this since we heard good reviews about this place.

There was a leaking ceiling at the entrance of the building, but I don't blame them since there's nothing they can do but get someone to fix it asap and there actually was someone fixing it. Which was good.

The interior was really nice. There was a bar counter and then some common seating area and then a semi private enclosed place as well for parties I think. Really loved the bathrooms lol.

We check-in and get seated at this location between several tables that were very cramped. While I understand seating walk ins in this location especially when it's a busy restaurant, I expected a better booth without even asking when booking a reservation, WELL in advance!!!!

Anyway once we were seated, we were immediately waited upon. We were actually served with a free potato wedge starter! What a nice touch!

Now this is where we were left with a bad taste. My husband was looking at the executive lunch menu, which is more or less an assortment of different options. He simply asked the waiter how big the portion sizes were. The waiter's response was that "you cannot share". How's that even a valid response? It's very presumptive and frankly very disrespecting. He was forced to clarify that he was asking for "portion sizes". 🙄

We took a few minutes to decide our order and then another person took our order - not the previous waiter. This person seemed like the manager/owner. I'm not sure. We asked for some popular recommendations. He said, everything here is good. It's now just a matter of your preference. So we thought okay, the food here must be really good and ordered a few dishes.

But.

Underwhelming at best. That's the description I would give the food. We ordered a paneer appetizer and paneer main dish! We had our food served on our plate, which, honestly, was really nice and the paneer was really soft. BUT the flavor was just average.

For a Michelin rating, I expected to be mindblown. Either by service or the food. It's supposed to be the whole experience right? I'm not even a strict reviewer, but unfortunately, I even I couldn't walk away from this restaurant feeling satisfied that I had some good food for the day, especially having ALSO walked like 15 minutes through the icy...

This place is fine but the staff/ownership are rude, imperious and dishonest. This was apparent in two respects: OBNOXIOUS AND RUDE COMMUNICATION RE INEXPLICABLE "NO KIDS" POLICY. When we arrived for our 5:30 reservation, they very rudely told us kids were not allowed (our party included kids ages 4. 7 and 9 - all nyc kids who are used to restaurants fwiw). They claimed that they had made the “no kids” policy clear on their website (which was untrue) and grudgingly told us they’d make an exception “just this once.” Though the restaurant was empty — again, it was 5:30 — they then tried to seat us in a windowless anteroom and gave me attitude when I insisted on a table in the main dining room. Our party of 6 spent nearly $500, kids behaved themselves absolutely fine (no meltdowns, screens, running wild, or broken stuff) and we were out by 7:30, at which point the dining room was still no more than 1/3 full. Yet nevertheless, I was made to feel like they were doing me a big favor by accepting my business. I have no idea where this attitude comes from - they’re a workman like Indian restaurant in Tribeca that's been around for many years; it's not like I was showing up with kids at 10 pm at the city's hottest club. The whole attitude was beyond bizarre. DISHONEST/SNEAKY ADDITION OF TIP TO CHECK: they also added 20% gratuity to the check without specifying that they were doing so. In fact I'd say they actively concealed it: the check contained both a blank line for the tip and a "calculator" of which percentages correlated to which tips. Because of this I almost left a nearly 50% tip by mistake, though I noticed it at the last minute. I have lived in NYC for 15 years and dined in many restaurants in that time, and don't think I have ever seen such a sneaky move anywhere else. I have been to this restaurant several times over the past decade (with and without kids!), but was very put off by this experience and will not...