Recommends

Lydia M.

Joined 1 year ago

good food. happily recommend this Indian food place. Cheese nan here is better than pizza!

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Stanley225

Joined 5 years ago

Best Around. J.C. is great. The food, service, and cuisine are just what you would expect. There are a lot of Indian restaurants and this is one of the best.

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nicoleeeena

Joined 3 years ago

still love my indian. I grew up going to this indian restaurant and my husband and i went back recently and I still think that it is really great! We had their Lamb chops which were so succulent and tender. And the Sea Bass is to die for! Always remember loving their Sea bass dish and it is still amazing! I also like that i can get my favorite beer there; Delirium Tremens! Bring a sweater because it can get cold.

Doesn't Recommend

ltadmin

Joined 4 years ago

Dissapointing experience. I have my favorite little Indian restaurant on Lincoln Blvd where I have been going for a couple of years. But once in a while I love trying new places. Akbar restaurant lured me & my boyfriend in with its cozy lighting and it seemed full of people every time I drove by, so I thought crowds should mean great food. Alas, the experience was disappointing...

The place did not have any exotic aromas in the air, and the house favorite and our favorite chicken tikka masala was nothing compared to other placed I have tried it at. The spices that came in chucks in the sauce interfered with the meal rather than complementing it. The serving of tikka, rice and lentils sides were all on one plate (re fried beans style) the flavors reminded me of Mexican restaurants, rather than Indian. We had to wait for nan until it arrived halfway through the meal.

We kept wondering what was that special about the place, and the only solution was that the people who go there probably have never tried really good Indian food.

Doesn't Recommend

Contributor72

Joined 4 years ago

A Forgettable Experience. We had received a two-fer coupon and decided to try the Marina del Rey Akbar for the first time. The place was small, but nicely appointed. But where was the wonderful spicy scent, so prevalent at any Indian restaurant? The place was almost antiseptic, with not even a hint in the air that that we were in an Indian restaurant. Oh well… the service and food would surely be good. The service was, in a word, pretentious. There was the annoying inquiry at the get-go about whether we wanted bottled water (no, thank you!). The emphasis seemed to be on wine, with the “sommelier” (probably the portly manager mentioned in other posts) pushing wine. Most tables had a bottle of wine. We’ll have a domestic beer please, but the only ones available were from domestic and foreign micro-breweries at $5.95 a pop. I tried one from Maine, and it gagged me. There was a weird column on the menu with entrée prices and another column for dinner prices: the “dinner” included vegetables, Nan, rice and a lentil concoction. In every ethnic restaurant I’ve tried, the “dinner” items include versions of what Akbar charges an additional $5. for the Indian “dinner”. Who would order just the “entrée”? The prices were high for the “dinner”, averaging around $17.95, but if it was high end Indian food, no problem. On the menu there was a 1-5 “spice” scale next to each entrée (very helpful), and when we ordered entrees in the 3 range, the manager warned us that we were “on our own”, that anything from 3-5 was spicy, and food would not be returned to the kitchen if we didn’t like the heat. Maybe it was an attempt at humor, but it felt patronizing. Well, we did get to return something to the kitchen pretty quickly anyway. We had ordered an appetizer of spicy chicken wings and waited and waited for them. When they finally arrived, the chicken was raw in the middle and we sent them back. The very same wings arrived later, just scorched to death and dry. The Nan arrived long before the entrees and was cold by the time the entrees arrived. As for the entrees, nothing much of note – pedestrian Indian food rather than the higher end food I was expecting, given the price and pretense. In all fairness despite the slow service, the busboy was very polite, solicitous, apologetic about the chicken wings, and kept the water glasses filled. And the coup de grace: the two-fer coupon was ignored on our check, even though the manager had specifically thanked me for giving it to him at the time we ordered.

Doesn't Recommend

turkeydan

Joined 5 years ago

Bad indian. Service started off shakily and became worse as the evening went on. The waiter seemed to lose interest in us after we ordered the food. The 'Dinner' system involved having sides of rice, substandard dal and some mixed vegetables that looked tinned. A $5 premium was added to the normal cost of an entree for this dubious assortment.

Indian food of this kind should not be expensive. I had two beers, a nasty poppadom, some shared starters of samosa and potato patty. My entree was a spicy lamb dish. My wife had the same. The cost of our meal before tip was 90 dollars. This is at least double the cost of a similar but better and more authentic Indian meal in Europe. Very dissapointing.

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lukilaolao

Joined 5 years ago

THE BEST INDIAN FOOD I'VE EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE. The Chilean Sea Bass almost made me pass out because it was so Delicious. We even saw Barbara Streisand. WHAT A TREAT! HIGHLY recommended!

Doesn't Recommend

laashurst

Joined 7 years ago

this place has gone downhill. The restaurant was freezing, service was horrilbe and the food was bad. I ordered the chicken tikka masala and it tasted like rubber. I had to ask 3 times for my order of cheese naan. That was still good. I have eaten at this restaurant for years and it has always been my favorite indian in LA. Very disappointed with the food and lack of service. The restaurant was not that busy.

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bubbafatz

Joined 6 years ago

AKBA TAKE AWAY REVIEW - GOTTA ADMIT IT IS GOOD..... We ordered a take away and it was good... But then it should be at just over $50 for two! Food came quickly from the Santa Monica branch and was warm, that hardly ever happens! We did order very early though before 6pm. It tasted fresh and portions were a decent size. I had the tikka masala, spiced at 3-4 it was hot. No complaints very good. Thats how I like it being from the UK, if you dont like food too spicy go for level 2 in the spice factor. Okra was really tasty and plentiful but expensive at $10 for a side dish of veg. My wife had the chicken with mango curry to try for a change, something different, it was interesting but not a classic. It was so so. I liked how the main dish came with veg, rice and lentils and nan bread.

A few things not so good .....no lasse, 'no yogurt today' they said, well the store is open 24 hrs go buy some I thought, no excuse, lazyness. Also nan bread was doughy and chewy not very good really. The person taking the order on the phone sounded clinically depressed! Cheer up, maybe just having a bad day who knows.....

So even by UK standards this was a good indian but not cheap. It was a decent meal for the price.

We scored Akba Santa Monica Out of 10 for fun and to help others in search of a good curry take away

me 9 out of 10

my wife 7 out of 10

(would have been more if she had ordered mine!)

We have been to the Marina restaurant and that is good too with an excellent wine selection.

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lilsally

Joined 6 years ago

Wow!. This is one of my favorite restaurants in L.A. the staff is friendly, the food is incredible, and the wine selection is good as well. I have never made a reservation, the lunch is super inexpensive and the portions are perfect. I could go on and on, this place is as good as it gets.