Once again I found myself looking for a meal in the capital region. My buddy has been pushing for me to try an Indian place in Albany, so I decided to check it out.
Sitar is an Indian restaurant on Central Avenue in Albany. It has been around for a while and is apparently the spot to get some authentic Indian cuisine. Now my friends and I decided to go to Sitar on a Thursday night so we were seated promptly. I would not be surprised though if you show up on the weekends for lunch or dinner that there is a wait out the door so plan ahead or call for reservations.
Upon entering Sitar, you feel as though you are stepping out of Troy, and into an elegant portion of India. Beautiful statues of gods and goddesses are placed around the restaurant. Tapestries adorn the walls and instruments such as (you guessed it) sitars are hung from the ceiling. The burgundy based color theme works well and the Indian music really pulls everything together.
For an appetizer, I decided to order the “vegetable samosas.” These are basically potato and vegetables deep fried into an overstuffed patty. They are served with mint chutney which is a dipping sauce. One order will get you three samosas. I really enjoyed them yet my friends were a bit leery to try them. After about five minutes of joshing, my two cautious friends finally decided to give them a try and found out that they really liked the samosas as well.
For the entrée everyone decided to go with the Sitar Special. This proved to be an extremely good decision. The Sitar Special is basically a huge sampler of all the major dishes Sitar offers. It also costs less than $2 more than a typical entrée. A typical entrée will run around $16.50, and the special was $18. The special comes with a plethora of meats and sides. The meats consist of Tandoori Chicken (chicken marinated in yogurt and mild spices), Tandoori Shrimp (shrimp marinated in mild spices), Sheek Kabob (minced lamb meat with onion and spices), and Reshmi Kabob (chunks of chicken breast, mild spices). Along with this you get a decent serving of Beef Curry, Vegetable Curry, Chicken Pillao (marinated chicken and rice), and Nan (Indian pita bread). All the meats and the Nan are broiled in a clay oven called a Tandoor.
If I had to sum the food up in one word I would have to say “amazing.” Everything was prepared to perfection, and really blew away every expectation. Now as I expected the food wasn’t as spicy as most Indians would like, but I expected this and still found the food to be delicious. To give you an idea of how good, when the food arrived, all conversation between the four people in the group completely halted. We just sat and ate and every so often we would look at one another and nod in utter content.
Overall, I have to say I loved Sitar. It has a great atmosphere, superb food, and the wait staff was top notch. A glass never stayed empty for more than a couple of minutes. I feel that Sitar really has cornered the market for people in the mood for Indian food, and anyone trying to give them a run for their money has a huge hill to climb. Now the prices are a bit higher than some may wish to pay, (the meal for two cost a little over $50 after tax and tip) but I believe it’s worth every penny.
Sitar is located at 1929 Central Avenue in Albany, NY. To get there, take Route 7 West to I-87 South. Get off at Exit 2W (Route 5-W) and bear right onto Central Avenue. The restaurant is located 2.2 miles up.
