Royal India Grill Admiral – New Ownership

[admiral73]

I did not see a story about this on WSB so thought I would share information with everyone else.

The Royal India Grill now has new owners. The transition happened about a month ago or a little longer than a month.

Sonny and his father (original owners) informed me on their last day they were returning to India for 6 month or longer, so they had to sell the business.

Dave and his spouse are the new owners and let me tell you, they have improved the food a lot. Was good before, don’t get me wrong, but the new cooks are amazing.

Everything from chicken to na’an is cooked in a firewood tandoor for original Indian flavor. The butter chicken is beyond good! First bite and you can taste the wood/smoky flavor in the meat.

I have had Indian in several big cities and the butter chicken blew me away. The chicken tikka masala is also extra-good!

From what I was told by the new owners they also deliver within a 4 – 5 mile radius of their Admiral location.

According the new owners they moved to Seattle from Phoenix, AZ after running one of the top rated Indian resturants for 20 years and I don’t doubt it for a second.

Dave has told me they are keeping the same menu for now, but will be making some changes in the coming months. They are a great group of people, so I encourage all who have not made their way in to please do so. You won’t regret it.

Share This

[jissy]

Just did the buffet for lunch there last week and noticed the taller, young guy wasn’t there (I didn’t know his name). Was served by a very nice, engaging lady — food seemed the same to me, that is to say it’s delicious! Never been disappointed at Royal India!!!

Share This

[admiral73]

The buffet options do change a little more than it did before jissy. Sonny was the tall guy you mentioned. The dinner entrees are awesome! Don’t think they have time to do all the prep for buffet, but I won’t complain, still good stuff!

Share This

[Sue]

Thanks for the heads-up. That is one of our favorite restaurants, and we loved chatting with Sonny – sorry that he’s not there anymore! We haven’t been there for about 2 months, and Sonny was there last time we were. Will look forward to trying out the food by the new chefs. I’ve always been amazed at how empty the place tends to be, considering how fantastic it is (to me).

Share This

[guidosmom]

We had dinner there late last week and wondered what was going on. It was obviously a different place, not bad, just different than what we were used to with Sonny. The condiment tray no longer included raita, but did have a delicious new pickled vegetable chutney. Unfortunately there were a few hairs (that were not mine) in our appetizer. I did not notice them until we had almost finished it. I already miss Sonny.

Share This

[Sue]

My husband and I ended up going there on Monday night to check it out. I ordered old favorites to compare. Had the vegetable samosas as an appetizer. It was okay, but the outside “crust” of it was definitely different and not as crispy. Better before though. The mint chutney was much improved – out of this world! We ended up eating it all with a spoon – so fresh and tasty compared to what we considered good before. For my entree I had the Royal Mal Combo (mushrooms, chickpeas, cream of spinach, onion and spices), which is my favorite dish there. It definitely was different. Usually you can see the cream in it (white color), and this one looked more like a brown curry. It was good, but definitely not the same. I also noticed the rice was drier than before – as if they made it more low fat. Again, great, but not the same. It’s still (IMHO) better than Maharaja, and we’ll go back. But so far I didn’t see it as being better than in the past.

Share This

[Michael Waldo]

We went for the first time last Saturday night. There were only two other tables, so not busy at all. We got water and menus and we waited 15 minutes to get our order taken. We ordered samosas and two entries. We then waited almost 30 minutes for the samosas. And another 20 minutes before our food, which came out one dish and ten minutes later our 2nd dish. The food was great but we will not be back. We sat down at 6:30 and got out after 8. That was the worst customer service I have experienced in years. Plus it was so cold, everyone had their coats on while they ate!

Share This

[grr]

We popped by for a lunch buffet today. Pretty tasty, not as much variety as before. Free chai, good service, good tasting.. Will give it a shot for dinner and see what’s up. It’s certainly a nice place to go for lunch without spending $15 on a salad. The Saag was especially good, as was the pakora’s and butter chicken.

Share This

[Author]

Posts