Amiraj ~ Modern Indian Kitchen — Restaurant in Williamsburg

See a ton of positive reviews for this place so decided to hop in with the family during my stay in Williamsburg. Unfortunately this restaurant was below expectations and far to pricey with small portions of food. The taste of the food is also not true Authenticate Indian Food.

Service Ordered Vegetarian appetizers for my wife and parents Chaat Of The Day, Rajwadi Samosas & Gobi Manchurian. The food was out the within 2 or 3 minutes since the waiter took the order from his Ipad or tablet. How can you cook Gobi Manchurian in that short of time? The food tasted very old and seems it was heated and served. The samosas tasted like they were microwaved. I do not believe any of this food was fresh.

For my Child I wanted to order Tandoori Chicken Tikka but order taker recommend that portion is big. I said my daughter likes Tandoori and again he mentioned that is a big platter. Order taker then recommended that he can ask the kitchen to make a smaller portion of the Tandoori Chicken Tikka dish. The dish that came out was Malai Chicken and was told this is Tikka which was not and then waiter confirmed this is Malai Chicken. We custom this dish for your child. Who are you guys to tell us what to eat or not. We are the paying customer. My daughter did not eat the plate because that is not what she wanted and on top the chicken was so dry. Seems like once again this food was precooked and not fresh.

Another dish that was ordered was Tandoori Kabab Trio. This dish was ok but the fact that this is not cooked in a Tandoor really shows this place has no class. Kababs were hard as a rock. Chicken which by the way was the same chicken that was given to my daughter "Malai" chicken and shrimp. Very very dry food. No masala. This place used very little marinate in there food. They did have Ginger slices on the plate but just no taste in the food itself. Seems like for my Daughters plate this included the Malai chicken so they dont have to cook extra along with this plate instead of actually making a Chicken Tikka dish.

Vegetable Biryani - Rice did not seem like this was Biriyani. Seems more cooked in a crockpot or something. I told during the order to ensure to extra Raita and waiter responded that would be more. When the Biryani came out it was big Crock pot tasting dish with about 2 spoons of Raita. What kind of restaurant would give 2 spoons or Raita?

As authenticate Indian Restaurant I would think small plate of onions and or tomatoes would come as all Indian restaurants serve this with entrees or appetizers. Was not offered but had to request waiter to bring and finally came out when food was almost done.

2 Mango Lassis ordered seems like something that is canned from a Indian food grocery store. Even they have better Mango Lassis.

I have other orders and can go on but will stop here about the leftover food or food that is not fresh and not really cooked Authentically. Only thing that was big in quantity was the 2 rice bowls that came along with my other orders which we didn't even touch.

Drinks - I ordered a beer which the first one came on a decent time. The second order of beer the server forgot it and told me that he would now get it when I was finished with Dinner? I declined since it was already over 30 mins.

Lastly when my family and I stepped in and told the host there are 5 people and a baby. My Parents, my wife, my 3 yr old daughter and infant 3months. When the Waiter came around he kept saying you have 6 people for whatever reason. At one point I told him you can see there are 4 adults 1 child and 1 baby. The baby is not going to eat as she is an infant. I was not surprised when the bill came out and I was charged 18% gratuity because that is the rules they have for parties of 6 or more. I would have left a tip or not since service was horrible but the fact this restaurant is focused on making money then concerned on food quality is a flag that I would never step back in this place.

This place is geared towards people that don't know what authenticate Indian food is that is why positive...

Update 12/15/23 - so a lot has happened since my original review. Shortly after I posted my original one about the situation, the team at Amiraj did reach out to me via email and we had a very good discussion in regards of the incident, and just inclusiveness in general about POC in restaurants. They invited me back to their restaurant, and I finally had a chance to get there this evening for dinner (I don't live in Williamsburg).

I went through the whole dinner and did not mention who I was till closer to the end so that I didn't have any preferential treatment. This was a much better experience, The wait staff was wonderful and I had a chance to speak to the general manager face-to-face. He is very much a gentleman on integrity, and I appreciate the dialogue we had tonight. Based on everything that's occurred, I wanted to revise my review and increase the star rating. The restaurant went out of this way to correct the situation, and for that I am thankful.

I've been very conflicted about writing this particular review, but I feel like it needs to be said. To be clear, I came on Nov. 8 2023 around 6/6:30pm for dinner.

I came to this restaurant to sit down and eat by myself, I was craving some good Indian food. I've been in this restaurant twice before with my boyfriend, with absolutely no issues and solid service.

This time was very different. When I walked in, this young, early/mid 20s looking gentleman very bluntly and rudely said "you're the delivery driver, come here to the back" and waved me to follow him to some back corner area. After getting over my shock at what he said to me (a young African American man by himself in normal clothes), I told him I was actually there to eat for a party of one. The look he gave me was a mix of horror, and also disgust like I didn't belong. He very slowly repeated what I said, which I confirmed again I was there to eat by myself. He then very slowly walked me to the table, and then asked again for a third time if I was really there to eat and if I was eating alone. I again said yes. He treated me like I was not welcome, and I was defiling the restaurant. He always gave me a look every time he passed, and he treated me differently compared to everyone else in there. I did not feel welcome at all.

Not to be clear, the owner (a gentleman with an iPad) and a young lady were super nice to me, checked on me a few times and took my order. I didn't have any problems with them, I only had issues with the young gentleman.

The food also was still pretty good like I had a few times. No issues with that. I even left a 20% tip, because the food is good and the other two people I interacted with were kind.

I don't like writing reviews like this, because it's a place I enjoy the food, but that experience and being treated like I was "an other" and, for lack of a better word being racially profiled because I came in alone in normal street clothes, has made me very hesitant to...

Amiraj- Honest review based on 2 times ordering and talking with the hotel manager after second time. Order-1 : paneer handiwali - mild, dal tadka, naan and roti - take out. Ordered over the weekend on a Saturday evening. Check amount approx $95. Paneer handiwali was very spicy, dal tadka did .not have salt, naan was OK and roti was extremely chewy. Tried calling the hotel, due to some issue was not able to get hold of someone in the restaurant. Order-2: yesterday - chicken vindaloo - again mild - take out. Bill amount approx $23 It was a more disaster, extremely extremely spicy, my kid took it for eating - had to stop eating instead had curd. Chicken pieces were extremely extremely chewy - like was just boiled and threw in gray. No coriander, potato etc might be due to receipt they have. Contacted the hotel manager, initially she was very polite and she mentioned for a replacement to be delivered, but I said I am not interested- kindly issue me a full refund. She took my number, address details and insisted to come, deliver a replacement, issue refund and take the existing curry and show to her chef. But when I said about the issue what happened with order-1, she became defensive, abrasive and said I should have contacted them before- I said I tried but could not connect and then she said she was not working on that day. Arguments went on happening - giving excuses that it was done over the weekend and it was finalized and she cannot do anything for it. eventually she even backed out on delivering the order-2 for delivery and issued me refund for $23. I had an horrible experience with the lady where she infact put the blame on me that I was seeking for refund of my purchase in spite of their bad food quality. I being a visitor in town spending good amount of money will not do such kind of behavior. Really really horrible experience and a NO NO...