Avartana

[Late review] Visited in Jul 2024 A visit to Avartana was on my to-do list for sometime as it has constantly featured in the Asia Top 100 restaurant list for the last couple of years. There are quite a few menus to choose from. We went with the Anika menu which provides a very good coverage of the different courses the restaurant has to offer. Every menu has a vegetarian and non-vegetarian option. The number of courses in the Anika menu is a bit of the higher side and I’d recommend trying it only if you’re very hungry. All the courses were good and the dinner was quite well paced. The dishes provided a wide myriad of flavour profiles which is a treat to your taste buds. My favourite courses were the lobster, shrimp & coriander dumpling, and char-grilled pork belly. Service is really good and you are constantly attended to through the meal. We had a flight to catch later in the night and the restaurant staff ensured that our dinner was done within a couple of hours so that we could leave for the airport in time. Overall, Avartana is a fantastic restaurant and you should definitely go if you’re visiting Chennai.

Food is great and 10/10 for consistency across our visits. But service was poor, though attitude wise the staff was good. We had a 30 minute wait between two courses - we reminded a waiter after 20 minutes, and then took 10 more minutes for food to be served. Since waiters were moving around tables, no one seemed to be in complete control of a table. Reason given for the long wait was that we had different menus on our table - but than it takes amazing skills to have everyone wait for 30 minutes And what excuse for 35+ minutes for billing? First 15-20 minutes no signs of anyone. Then there seemed to be one credit card machine and one tablet, and since 'three tables have asked for the bill', they cannot manage. Guys, please buy one more tablet and her one more PoS machine! Number of previous reviews complaining about the billing process means the Grand Chola management is indifferent (And yes, please pipe down the pipe music. Overall, they need a proper leader for the front of the house else all the innovation in food won't mean much)

We were looking for vegetarian options within ITC. After Peshawari, which offers a set menu for veg or a few other options, we tried this place. There are 4-5 set menu options to choose from with each one longer than the previous. The number of items and calorific values associated go up from just under 2k to over 3.5k Each one has a veg menu and a non-veg menu to choose from. Very courteous staff and with each item they brought, they took time to explain what it is The photos don’t do enough justice to the presentation and visual treat that was the food we had. Strongly recommended

Amazing experience with the 13 course sampler menu! Every dish was unique. It was a South Indian fusion food as a category, with creative cooking, presentation, and unique taste. Everything they provided were edible, even though some of the items on the dish appeared differently. For example, the toffee wrapper in Uthukuli butter morel dish, or the wrapper in the spiced aubergine dish or the fennel panacotta! Unbelievable three hour experience!

Top class restaurant. Variety of supreme tastes pass by in a great atmosphere. You choose an amount of courses, each small and special. Every dish gets a short explanation when served. Staff is nice and helpful. Definitely a good location to go to for the better occasion.

The food was sumptuous and was served in culinary art standard. Let’s dive in to the Cons. 1. I understand it’s a set 10-13 course meal and you serve one course every 15-18 mins. It’s supposed to be a culinary experience rather than a dinner, I 100% agree BUT if you have kids/children (5-12 years) in the table they should be served faster , they don’t have the patience to wait and also they get really hungry if you make them wait 15mins for every course. Please see what can be done 2. The repeats should be served atleast before the main course , we got it along with the dessert A Big Plus is your vegetarian options which is as tastier or better than your non veg options except the sweet potato option which was not that great ..! Spiced Aubergine is the best..!!

Going into Avartana for the first time with my uncle and cousin, I had high hopes for some classy fine dining. For the most part, those expectations were met and in some aspects exceeded. Setting the pace, we were each given a glass of home-brewed rasam that was simply out of this world; it was full bodied with a warm, peppery taste to it that just woke your taste buds up for what was to come. Following that was our tasting menu, Anika. Some of the highlights of it included the lamb brain fritter which simply melted in your mouth, the steamed sea bass which was cooked to utter perfection and the uttukuli chicken which was just oh so rich and sumptuous combined with a wonderfully flaky bun parotta. The show stopper though had to be an off-menu item (soon to come to the real menu!), the jasime payasam; the flavor in it was simply extraordinary, something I've never had before and wish I could have over and over again. Food-wise, I was rather happy with the experience though in my humble opinion, service had a slight lag. Table clearance between courses was delayed and it's clear that the staff could've used some more help but of my interactions with them, they were all such polite people that made us feel royally respected. The manager, Sanjukta, especially was phenomenal. Through our dining experience we were able to observe how hard of a worker she was, always pitching in to further the customer experience. She hands down is the MVP and deserves applause for her wonderful customer service. All in all, I had a really good experience at Avartana. There is room for improvement that I will acknowledge but ultimately Avartana is amazing and will have a cherished place in my heart.

This was a surprise visit with all my friends . Avartana was our choice and I don’t remember exactly it was Tara menu. The restaurant looks awesome , extraordinary, elegant,eloquent and colossal or whatever you think about perfection. But the food was literally nothing when compared to the place size and quality. Big plates but a macro size food and it takes 15 min in between to bring the food . What kind of culture is that . Well at least the taste must be good but isn’t . Out of ten 3 of them was good but rest were in contrast with the other . Couldn’t get a picture of taste but sure you will be full stomach by waiting for food which are hard to find in plate . I assume that this place is for just talking and not eating . But the service was outstanding. They were great and polite . This is what you get for 5 star rating hotel . Great well I don’t know how many people will accept my thoughts but this is purposefully my own thought and was just Sharing .

[Late review] Visited in Jul 2024 A visit to Avartana was on my to-do list for sometime as it has constantly featured in the Asia Top 100 restaurant list for the last couple of years. There are quite a few menus to choose from. We went with the Anika menu which provides a very good coverage of the different courses the restaurant has to offer. Every menu has a vegetarian and non-vegetarian option. The number of courses in the Anika menu is a bit of the higher side and I’d recommend trying it only if you’re very hungry. All the courses were good and the dinner was quite well paced. The dishes provided a wide myriad of flavour profiles which is a treat to your taste buds. My favourite courses were the lobster, shrimp & coriander dumpling, and char-grilled pork belly. Service is really good and you are constantly attended to through the meal. We had a flight to catch later in the night and the restaurant staff ensured that our dinner was done within a couple of hours so that we could leave for the airport in time. Overall, Avartana is a fantastic restaurant and you should definitely go if you’re visiting Chennai.

Food is great and 10/10 for consistency across our visits. But service was poor, though attitude wise the staff was good. We had a 30 minute wait between two courses - we reminded a waiter after 20 minutes, and then took 10 more minutes for food to be served. Since waiters were moving around tables, no one seemed to be in complete control of a table. Reason given for the long wait was that we had different menus on our table - but than it takes amazing skills to have everyone wait for 30 minutes And what excuse for 35+ minutes for billing? First 15-20 minutes no signs of anyone. Then there seemed to be one credit card machine and one tablet, and since 'three tables have asked for the bill', they cannot manage. Guys, please buy one more tablet and her one more PoS machine! Number of previous reviews complaining about the billing process means the Grand Chola management is indifferent (And yes, please pipe down the pipe music. Overall, they need a proper leader for the front of the house else all the innovation in food won't mean much)

We were looking for vegetarian options within ITC. After Peshawari, which offers a set menu for veg or a few other options, we tried this place. There are 4-5 set menu options to choose from with each one longer than the previous. The number of items and calorific values associated go up from just under 2k to over 3.5k Each one has a veg menu and a non-veg menu to choose from. Very courteous staff and with each item they brought, they took time to explain what it is The photos don’t do enough justice to the presentation and visual treat that was the food we had. Strongly recommended

Amazing experience with the 13 course sampler menu! Every dish was unique. It was a South Indian fusion food as a category, with creative cooking, presentation, and unique taste. Everything they provided were edible, even though some of the items on the dish appeared differently. For example, the toffee wrapper in Uthukuli butter morel dish, or the wrapper in the spiced aubergine dish or the fennel panacotta! Unbelievable three hour experience!

Top class restaurant. Variety of supreme tastes pass by in a great atmosphere. You choose an amount of courses, each small and special. Every dish gets a short explanation when served. Staff is nice and helpful. Definitely a good location to go to for the better occasion.

The food was sumptuous and was served in culinary art standard. Let’s dive in to the Cons. 1. I understand it’s a set 10-13 course meal and you serve one course every 15-18 mins. It’s supposed to be a culinary experience rather than a dinner, I 100% agree BUT if you have kids/children (5-12 years) in the table they should be served faster , they don’t have the patience to wait and also they get really hungry if you make them wait 15mins for every course. Please see what can be done 2. The repeats should be served atleast before the main course , we got it along with the dessert A Big Plus is your vegetarian options which is as tastier or better than your non veg options except the sweet potato option which was not that great ..! Spiced Aubergine is the best..!!

Going into Avartana for the first time with my uncle and cousin, I had high hopes for some classy fine dining. For the most part, those expectations were met and in some aspects exceeded. Setting the pace, we were each given a glass of home-brewed rasam that was simply out of this world; it was full bodied with a warm, peppery taste to it that just woke your taste buds up for what was to come. Following that was our tasting menu, Anika. Some of the highlights of it included the lamb brain fritter which simply melted in your mouth, the steamed sea bass which was cooked to utter perfection and the uttukuli chicken which was just oh so rich and sumptuous combined with a wonderfully flaky bun parotta. The show stopper though had to be an off-menu item (soon to come to the real menu!), the jasime payasam; the flavor in it was simply extraordinary, something I've never had before and wish I could have over and over again. Food-wise, I was rather happy with the experience though in my humble opinion, service had a slight lag. Table clearance between courses was delayed and it's clear that the staff could've used some more help but of my interactions with them, they were all such polite people that made us feel royally respected. The manager, Sanjukta, especially was phenomenal. Through our dining experience we were able to observe how hard of a worker she was, always pitching in to further the customer experience. She hands down is the MVP and deserves applause for her wonderful customer service. All in all, I had a really good experience at Avartana. There is room for improvement that I will acknowledge but ultimately Avartana is amazing and will have a cherished place in my heart.

This was a surprise visit with all my friends . Avartana was our choice and I don’t remember exactly it was Tara menu. The restaurant looks awesome , extraordinary, elegant,eloquent and colossal or whatever you think about perfection. But the food was literally nothing when compared to the place size and quality. Big plates but a macro size food and it takes 15 min in between to bring the food . What kind of culture is that . Well at least the taste must be good but isn’t . Out of ten 3 of them was good but rest were in contrast with the other . Couldn’t get a picture of taste but sure you will be full stomach by waiting for food which are hard to find in plate . I assume that this place is for just talking and not eating . But the service was outstanding. They were great and polite . This is what you get for 5 star rating hotel . Great well I don’t know how many people will accept my thoughts but this is purposefully my own thought and was just Sharing .