Amber Dhara - Palo Alto

I really liked it my Indian friends tell me it's fairly authentic Indian cuisine! The wait staff is nice and the area is clean and spacious. Ordered the Palak Chat (Flash fried spinach, mint, tamarind Straus farm organic yogurt) which was extremely flavorful and had a really interesting texture/spice combination. Also got these paneer dumplings which were very good as well. The entrees are not that cheap but they're quite big so it'd be possible to split. Good meal and would be happy to come again!

The Amber India folks have taken over the Junoon business and transformed it into Amber Dhara, which I hear is going to expand as a concept in SF too. They've not done much with the decor, so if you've been to Junoon it looks almost exactly the same. The menu contains the same fusion and modern techniques applied to the Indian bases Junoon also did. I think however the food might be better than the previous incarnation. Things had: Naan with roasted cashew, Kashmiri chili flakes, Sonoma goat cheese, wild flower honey Telicherry fried prawns with cracked peppercorn, curry leaves Tandoori monkfish with tomato chutney Rajasthani style smoked Niman ranch lamb curry, potato peas Duck two ways spice confit duck leg, seared breast, orange curry, vermicelli Manglorean chicken ghasi, tamarind, coconut cilantro seeds sauce, steamed rice cakes Food was delicious. The lamb might have been a bit on the dry side and the monkfish a bit mushy but everything else was solid. Because of the fast transition, the service was still working out some kinks. I think if they can iron those out and touch up on the cooking, Amber Dhara has a good chance of being a good dining destination in down town PA.

Walked in on june 28th 2018. Thursday. At 926 PM. With disgust on his face, he says sorry we can't seat you. . I point out that closing time is 10 PM. Sandeep the guy at front desk says but kitchen closes at 930. I point out it is 9:27 PM. Sandeep says chef has left. Really! You're kidding me. Amber dhara will not take customers THIRTY FOUR MINUTES BEFORE closing time. Awful. I will gladly take my business elsewhere. If your kitchen closes at 9:27 PM change your frigging closing time to 927 PM. Enjoying food at Local union 271 across. Great food with lot more smiling faces.

I don't know why we stopped going here. The food was amazing, really a unique experience. Maybe is the location, or all the renovation work that the Palo Alto city is doing at University Ave.

We came with a larger group and they only had one person working. It took a long time to get the food, there was confusion all night of who ordered what and how to pay the bill. Don't order the old fashion, they don't know how to make one. Took 1.5 hours longer than expected.