Only the social pressure of a friend's anniversary and the prospect of ""upscale, adventurous Indian fare"" convinced us to trek out the suburbs on a cold Friday night: we should have listened to the reviews about the dreadful service and stayed at home and ordered in from Gourmet India. Let's get the food out of the way- reasonable range and appetizingly described on the menu- but overall standard and not standout Indian with no focus on any particular geographic region. A good variety of vegetarian options and the naan breads were crisp, soft, chewy and charred in the right places. Some dhal purris were delicious and the paneer salad seems to come from Hyderabad via Mykonos, lifted by onions, tomatoes and a pleasantly acidic dressing. Otherwise the seasonings were heavy handed (my 3 day marinated lamb barra kebabs should have been rescued after 1 day) and the sauces thick and greasy. I had the faint suspicion that the cooking ghee was stale in a number of the dishes. Well mediocre food and pleasant company would have made of a nice meal but it was ruined by the singularly charmless, abrupt, souless, unsmiling, inattentive service- starting with the ""hostess"" whose attitude to small tasks such as taking coats or showing people to the bar seemed to be ""DO IT YOURSELF"". The wait staff appeared harrassed, told us to hurry and order dessert as the kitchen was closing (10.20 pm on Friday night- surely early, even for Needham?) and then turned up the lights and their attitude at 10.35. Many reviews have been focused on the modern decor and atmosphere. It might have looked fresh and interesting in, hmm, 1997 but now it looks tired, worn and slightly dirty. The feature spice bar was empty, half the blue wall lights were off, the bar TV screens were on blank and the lunch buffet still partially set up. The bathrooms- disgusting- overflowing waste bins and unclean floors. This place is in desperate need of an overhaul of both staff, cooking fats and decor. Avoid.
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