Aki's Indian Restaurant

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  8     

My husband and I purchased an Ouffer voucher for a 3 course dinner plus two glasses of wine at Aki's. We were really excited to see a Chef's Hatted restaurant on a "daily deals" site like ouffer.com for such an appealing offer price. I’m not generally a huge fan of Indian food because my stomach doesn’t agree with spicy, but my husband loves Indian food. He also has celiac disease and most Indian food is naturally gluten free.

The most enjoyable part of our dining experience was the ambience. The restaurant is situated right on Woolloomooloo Wharf. Although the interior is adorned with beautiful Indian style décor, sitting outside under the heat lamps and overlooking the wharf made for a very romantic atmosphere.

The menu for the Ouffer voucher was pre-fixed with an entrée platter, a selection of curries, rice, naan bread, and a shared dessert. My husband and I are vegetarians and the Ouffer voucher stipulated that vegetarian options would be available upon request.

The vegetarian entrée was a sample platter with several small portions. The dish was a tease because there was only one of each individual item and everything was so good and left me wanting more! The following is what was served for the entrees, Beetroot Vada, a fried beetroot and lentil patty with fennel, ginger, and curry leaves served with onion and tomato chutney. This resembled the taste of falafel.

Baingan Jaipuri Chips, a few sticks of crispy eggplant dusted with spiced chickpea flour and served with cumin flavoured yoghurt dip. They actually resembled tempura coated frites. Tandoori Paneer, 2 paneer cubes flavoured with ajwain, fresh green chillies, and hung yoghurt. This was my absolute favorite part of the dish because it was not spicy at all, the texture was rich, and the flavour was excellent.

I regret not asking our server to make the curries for our main dish mild because to say that they were Very spicy is an understatement. By the end of the meal, our mouths were on fire. My husband ordered 3 glasses of Reisling in order to extinguish the flames that were burning in his mouth. It was a very nice reisling, not too sweet but light and fruity.

The vegetarian curries that they served us were Saag Paneer, paneer cubes with pureed spinach, fresh tomatoes, garlic and fenugreek. This dish would have been stupendous had it been less crazy spicy. The initial flavours were phenomenal but were masked by the strength of the heat. Subzi Meloni, a vegetable stir fry dish of green npeas, cauliflower, mixed peppers, carrot, beans, sweated onions, spiced with cumin ginger, chilli and tumeric. This curry was the most mild of them all, although it was the least interesting as well. The third curry was a dhal, which also more spicy than I was used to.

The overall food was so spicy that it dulled my taste buds and everything started to taste the same. Thankfully I had a very delicious garlic naan bread and rice to dull the spiciness of the curries.

The desserts were served together on a beautifully decorated, although fairly sparse, plate. There were two small flutes Jackfruit pasayam with kulfi, jackfruit and rice cooked with milk, vanilla beans, pistachio and cardamom pods. This tasted like a rice pudding that went sour. The two small bars of Indian ice-cream laced with cardamom and pistachio were delicately topped one upon the other. This was a very interesting yet delicious tasting ice cream, unique and unlike any typical flavour.

I would definitely recommend Aki’s to anyone who likes good authentic (and spicy) Indian cuisine.

May 03, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

We had a really good meal here. It's a really nice setting on the wharf and the place has a nice atmosphere, quite stylish and elegant without being pretentious. The best aspect of the evening was the service. The staff were very attentive without being pushy and were also very friendly. We were also offered complimentary little tasting morsels at various points in the evening which was nice.

The food was really tasty and we enjoyed every course. This is up there now as one of my top 2 or 3 Indian places in Sydney. However I've been hunting for Indian food that's as good as what you get in London and I still haven't found anything that meets up to it. While I found Aki's curry really tasty and more-ish, it wasn't as full flavoured as something you'd get in the UK.

I think it's enough value for money considering the service and location. It's pricing is pretty average for a nice meal out but it's definitely more expensive than your average Indian restaurant.

Apr 29, 2012 

4.5 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  8      Service  3      Value  2     

I went to Aki's for dinner last Friday night with 6 others after reading a review in the Herald. I was very disappointed with the overall experience.

Firstly, the waiters were very unattentive and had to be asked several times to take our order, gave us the wrong drinks and then told us they were the ones we had ordered when clearly they were not.

We ordered several different dishes between all of us, some of which was pretty good but a lot of it below average compared to other Indian restaurants in Sydney. We found the food to be very much overpriced, we were shocked to see we were charged $28 for a bowl of steamed rice when only three people ate rice.
The only positive thing I can say about this restaurant was that the setting was lovely.

Hopefully the waiters improve their service as it certainly ruined our experience!

Apr 17, 2012 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

Finally got around to trying Aki's after multiple recommendations, and we were not disappointed. Up front I must admit I am not an Indian lover but wanted to try here to see if I could be swayed and it is definitely the nicest Indian I have had. The curries are milder than most but steadily build flavour as you get through each dish.

Mixed entree to start was tasty but small, which was made up for by the abundance of food for main, goat curry, seafood curry, and a spinach and cottage cheese dish which was much nicer than it sounds! The accompanying naans were delicate and crispy, and complimented the subtle curries perfectly. Dessert was nice but not the reason anybody would come here.

Service was attentive and friendly, and the location is beautiful. A table outside at dusk, with the fruit bats flying overhead from the domain is recommended.

Apr 10, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

Back to Akis for the first time in a while and must say the food was exceptionally good. Don't see that the food is that overpriced for a city restaurant especially on the Wharf.

Apr 02, 2012 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  8     

Great creative food, great service, nice ambience. It is certainly one of the best Indian restaurants I've tried. We'll be back again for sure.

Mar 27, 2012 

6.5 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

I'm not really keen on Indian food but for my MIL bday we came here for dinner on a Friday night. As the weather was nice we sat outside and found the service to be friendly but felt when it got busier, it was hard to get anyone's attention. We had the spinach entree to share then for mains we had the barramundi, goat curry, butter chicken, mixed veggies and the prawn vendakai. It was a sea of red plates and everything tasted similar because of the chillies but I did enjoy their goat curry. Food was a hit and miss, some dishes being better than others, price on the pricey side but I guess good for a special occasion and you are paying for the views. We didn't stay for dessert as nothing really grabbed our attention, so we went elsewhere.

Mar 23, 2012 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  5     

Dined here with an Ouffer voucher: $69 for a fixed 3-course meal. The goat and spinach mains were outstanding, the Goan seafood curry fine. The starters were Ok (thumbs up for the tandoori chicken, I found the eggplant and lamb kofta mediocre) and the dessert nice. Presentation was good and the service welcoming. Overall a pleasant meal but not outstanding and I wouldn't consider going back paying full price.

Mar 11, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

I took my wife to Aki's for our first wedding anniversary. From the initial booking conversation (where the friendly staff said they'd hold both an indoor and outdoor table so we could choose when we got there) to their generous 'try before you buy' wine tastings, to the exquisite food, to the unexpected 'complimentary anniversary dessert' with sparklers, this was one of the best dining experiences we have had! Highly recommend this restaurant!

Mar 06, 2012 

7.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  7     

A lovely location. Service was good and the value for money was OK. However, a curry is a curry. Tandoori chicken is tandoori chicken no matter where you eat it. Basically you can get the same quality food in a North Indian diner. Its really nothing special. We won't be rushing back.

Feb 11, 2012