Aab India Restaurant

If I could give no stars I would. I have never gone into a restaurant waited for 20 minutes not greeted or so much as given water and then walked out. It is the last day of restaurant week so I get having a higher traffic flow is hard but seriously. The hostess was doing everything she could running around and flipping tables but the wait staff would go and cross off who she would assign. We are now sitting at our favorite Indian restaurant Amul India and are being treated amazingly. This just shows stick to favorites. A an we will never be back and if you are going to participate in restaurant week in the future you need to get more staff that works as a team.

I have only been to the Aab on Sawmill for the lunch buffet. The reviews for takeout have mostly been terrible, so I made sure to avoid that. We thought we would try the buffet this time, so we could see the food before. It was still an overall bad experience for a formerly okay Indian restaurant. This location is much worse than the original. The service is so poor, that if the food was actually good, I can’t say that I would come back. Our waiter disappeared soon after being seated. The food on the buffet was slightly above mediocre. It was a decent price, but still was not a good value based on the quality of the food. The buffet items were either dried out, or drowned in a watery sauce. It seems they want you leaving as soon as possible. The service is seriously bad, and their poor food makes it clear not to return. Would go to Amul instead.

FYI, this is specific to the Sawmill location. If I could do 3.5 I would because it’s not quite 4, but not a 3 either.
First off, I don’t get all the complaints about service, and I REALLY don’t get the one review about the servers/​managers being racist. After 4 visits (off the menu, dinner time, have never ordered the buffet or been for lunch) I’ve had nothing but really attentive and polite service.
Granted, by American standards the service might be considered slow, but I personally enjoy ENJOYING a meal. If you want fast food, I’d suggest sticking to the buffet, carry out, the drive thru or fast fresh concepts like Piada, Chipotle or that new «Korean» fast fresh place which is about the least Korean place I’ve ever been to but I digress.
Back to Aab Sawmill… explore the Southern menu! It’s filled with really amazing dishes that you don’t normally find in most Indian restaurants which are normally Northern Indian inspired. My personal favorite is the chile fritter appetizer, followed by the curry that’s near the end of the southern menu. Sorry, I forget the name of the curry :-(the servers that I’ve had have all been really cool about explaining the nuances and differences of the Southern dishes I’m less familiar with so don’t be afraid to ask!
Chicken Tikka Masala and/​or Butter chicken yes, it’s what all «white people» order. Any time I’m in an Indian restaurant here in Columbus, I rarely EVER see/​hear people order anything else. Even I roll my eyes! I will say that Tikka Masala was my intro to Indian, so I get it. Aab’s is solid, it’s not the best I’ve ever had but it’s good. Flavor is just a tiny bit flat (maybe not enough salt? Or maybe no MSG?) and they have never got it quite hot (spice not temp) enough. Bonus tip… if you’re shy and don’t really even know what to ask to get a conversation going with your server, ask them to explain the difference between chicken tikka masala and butter chicken. Great conversation opener! And yes there is a difference.
Don’t confuse afore mentioned chicken dishes with chicken tikka — which is a wonderful yogurt marinated tandoori grilled chicken. Yes, it’s delicious but it can get dry fairly easily. The 2x I’ve had Aab’s one was AMAZING, the second was on the drier side but still flavorful.
When you’re ready to explore the rest of the menu you’ll find lots to like in other dishes like rogan josh & vindaloo (the lamb
versions of both are really good) madras curry, aloo gobi, and the eggplant curry. All of the dal that I’ve tried is great.
Apps are normal run of the mill, maybe I’m missing something special that I should try but haven’t had anything other than the chile fritters on the southern menu worth mentioning.
Spice level (s) — I like mine HOT!!! And I mean Indian hot not Ohio hot. I just tell them, «yes, Indian hot». After the 2^nd visit they got it right on everything but the tikka masala (I always take an order home out of nostalgia). Maybe the chefs just can’t get their minds wrapped around making «white people» dishes «Indian hot»?!? :-)
Lassi’s/dessert — no comment, I don’t eat sweets
Naan…the make or break of any Indian meal. I think their naan is SUPERB! crispy and fluffy and chewy and basted in warm, shimmering ghee (clarified butter) deliciousness. I would seriously wear a bathrobe made of their naan.
My only real complaint… WHERE IS THE ONION CHUTNEY!!!

I am so angry I’m almost in tears as I write this post. We were looking for a place to dine on New Year’s Eve so we called (at 7:26 pm) to make sure they were open. The lady on the phone informed me they were closing at 9:30 so we got ready and headed over. When, to my surprise, we were told that they were closed upon our arrival at 8:37. I get it, I’ve been a server before. If it’s dead on New Year’s Eve, everyone wants to go home early. But to tell me something on the phone and then have me make the 20-​minute trip from Polaris to Dublin only to tell me you can’t serve me?! That makes me BEYOND angry. Asked for the manager and he was coincidentally nowhere to be found.

I hope the owner of Aab reads this and does something about it! I’m not one to write a long review. Suffice it to say I have frequented Aab, Amul and Tadka, all on Sawmill, and prefer the food at Aab to them all, however I will hardly ever go to Aab because the service is TERRIBLE! I mean completely horrendous. Doesn’t anyone there care about your customers?

Had lunch buffet here. Food was average. They weren’t bad but didn’t stand out either. Naan was delicious though. Unfortunately didn’t take a picture for this review… Service was fine and dining environment was clean. But, overall, I think this place is overly priced.

Hello Aab India:
I love you, I really do – please know that this warning message comes from a place of deep concern: guys – it’s time to step it up. I’ve eaten delicious food at the Grandview location many times. The service has never been great, but the food has always been more than satisfactory. The spiciness usually does not disappoint. However, a friend and I recently headed over to the Sawmill location, where we experienced lackluster service (worse than usual) and flavorless food. Her Korma tasted bitter. No, I’m not an expert, but I do have experience with Indian food, and this Korma didn’t taste right. I had a South Indian dish, which I was warned would be spicy, yet it wasn’t. Was it because of my racial identity? I honestly felt discriminated against. I can handle it, really. Are the lassis and the Mango Shake supposed to be warm? Couldn’t they be chilled, just a bit? Please, please improve upon your service. Serve cold drinks. And by all means, do not argue with me when I ask for spicy food. There’s just too much good competition in the Bethel/​Sawmill/​Dublin area for you to be slacking, and I don’t want to have to drive all the way to Grandview to get my Aab fix.
Thank You,
A Concerned Customer

Nope!!! Not good… Will never go again!!!
Food is not tasty and waiters have very bad attitude! Be ready to face them if you are going…

Food just sucks here. Everything will be served cold and be ready to see empty bins if u are going for a buffet. Waiters have a fucking attitude and will raise ur temper if you are in bad mood. Good luck trying here

They only offer buffet for lunch, which I don’t mind since you get to try several things.
It’s hard to mess up saag, but the saag was pretty much tasteless. The chicken with red sauce was pretty spectacular, though. The naan was hard and cold. They didn’t have enough rice out. The line is long and moves slowly.
Clean but uninspiring décor.
Price okay. Overall just okay. I’ve had much better.

My girlfriend and I love Indian food, so we were excited to try out a delivery place. Unfortunately, Aab is not at all what we were looking for.
–We ordered Chicken Makhani and Chicken Madras, at a 2 and 3 spice level out of 6. What we received was far hotter than that, and we’re both used to spicy, hot Indian food. This isn’t the good kind of spicy which brings out the flavor in your food, but rather a burning sensation that frankly makes the rest of the food taste charred. It was as though only one spice had been used, blanketing the food in one flavor. The Madras was pretty well inedible, and even the Makhani had to be smothered in rice and naan simultaneously to be edible. Even with all of that, the initial pleasant taste was eventually overwhelmed by another taste, which can only be described as burnt.
–The food was supposed to arrive at 8:48 and instead came at 9:15. The mango shakes which we had ordered were not only melted but warm, more akin to a mango soup.
–After paying $ 40 for this, we called to complain and they refused any kind of refund or even apology.
So, if you’re looking for Indian food which confuses heat with authenticity and which arrives late, look no farther! Otherwise, try any of the other far superior Indian restaurants in Columbus.

Before trying this restaurant out, my early experience with Indian food many years ago resulted in food poisoning. Something was not right with the Tandoori chicken — later given the name «Pandora’s Chicken» by my brother. Ever since then, I’ve avoided Indian food like the plague.
Last night, I was outnumbered 6 to 1 amongst my co-​workers who swore by this place. Hesitant, yet determined to conquer my fears, I joined them and experienced the tastiest Indian food I’ve ever had. Garlic naan bread, lamb curry, lamb punjab. All very tasty and not too filling.
My experience with Indian food has been redeemed. I’ll be back for more.

I love Indian food, and was excited for an Aab to open in my neighborhood. However, my first experience there tonight left much to be desired:
— I waited at the hostess stand, and when someone came over and I asked for my order, the unfriendly staff member told me to go to the bar. Bartender was not much nicer.
— Nan was extremely tough. The only way I can imagine it getting this tough is if it is days old, or if it was overheated in a microwave. I have never had Nan that was this awful.
— vegetarian appetizer platter had a variety of fried food, but was served with NO SAUCE! This was a carry out order, so it wasn’t until I got home I realized they didn’t bother to include tamarind chutney as all other restaurants do. Ruined the whole dish.
Bottom line: go to Amul, Dakshin (moved to Polaris), Tadka, or Aab in Grandview. Or, you could even stop by Patel Bros in this complex and make your own Indian food! Anywhere but Aab in Sawmill!

My husband and I like to try a different Indian buffet every Sunday afternoon. This was our first time at Aab, and I was pleasantly surprised. I felt like the buffet offerings were not necessarily typical. They did have goat curry (one of my favs), chicken mkhani (butter chicken), nan, and byriani. However, there were a few things that were new to me… I can’t name them at the moment. It is the first place where I’ve seen pre-​made dosas. That was strange, but I liked them. My husband is from Kerala (south India), and he said he didn’t see anything that was distinctly South Indian. He enjoyed the coconut chutney and the sambar. It was a good experience. We will be back.

Title: «Racist with no resolve»
Well I have been putting off writing this review, but feel, the story needs to be told.
I went to Aab last Friday 2÷20÷15 looking forward to a fun meal. I don’t eat Indian food very often, but am excited to experience and learn more about the cuisine. We were sat quickly and immediately put in our order for appetizers. I wanted to give the menu a good read thru as there was a new portion of «South Indian» regional items.
Our appetizer came and I began asking questions regarding the new menu. These were not complex questions mind you, and things a server especially someone with more experience eating Indian food should know. When i asked the difference between South Indian food to the rest of the menu my server seemed very irritated and frankly gave me empty answers. I told my server I needed a few more moments to decide as I didn’t want to get the same/​safe Chicken Curry. It was obvious the server was irritated I didn’t place my order immediately and we watched him walk back to the host stand to share his frustration. He spoke to his coworkers, animatedly pointed to our table, and shared laughs (which made things SUPER comfortable).
My choice was between 2 dishes, with my decision depending on the servers response. I wanted to know the difference between the new South Indian items compared to a regular curry/​gravy preparation. Once again he gave me empty answers or just answered «yes», even tho «yes» does not answer «Which dish is spicier» (as I like spicy food). He then interrupted me and blurted «white peoples like #5». Wow. I audibly asked my friend «umm was that racist?» She agreed especially since his attitude had been so shi**y to this point. She was so offended she immediately asked for the check, there was no turning around this dining experience.
Before leaving, I thought the manager should know about his server’s statements and that he had been rude to us the whole time. I was hoping the issue with the restuarant began and ended with this server’s personal issues. I began telling the manager how rude his server was and that we were leaving because the environment now seemed hostile. There seemed to be a bit of a language barrier because after 2 sentences in, the manager cut me off and said «You have question?» and motioned the racist server back over to the table. Yea so seeing that nothing was understood i just repeated myself telling both the server and now manager «We are leaving early because you were extremely rude and with your tone of voice offended us with your reference to what «white peoples» order (btw white peoples only order chicken tikka masala according to him).
I have mulled this over for a few days and sadly still feel the server had a racist attitude toward «white peoples». How would the same comment be received in reference to a different race? What really sent his message home was his energy in his words :(It was a terrible feeling this server left with us and also how the management did nothing to resolve the issue at all. No apologies, no future coupon, no meal comped.
Hey, if I am going to be on the receiving end of a racist remark I at least prefer my meal to be compensated.

Food is great, however, the service is lacking — at least during the lunch buffet time…
We had to get the attention of the three servers walking around anytime we needed something. There was no checking on the table, regular water refills or anything of the sort. The sawmill location is ranked well below the grandview location in the service department.

I would recommend this restaurant for both its lunch buffet and dinner service. This would usually be a three star restaurant, but upping by one star because of the recent renovation/​interior re-​decoration. Service is hit or miss: so don’t have high expectations. Items to try: chicken tikka masala, saag paneer, paneer tikka masala, and garlic naan.

I went back tonight and had another great experience. Paige is the best server; I hope she’s working again next time I go!
Vegan update: there is no vegan rice option. I guess they always put butter in the rice, so I’m definitely going to stay away from it from now on. If you are strictly non dairy, the fried bread is the only grain option. But almost all the vegetable entrees can be prepared dairy free.
The eggplant/​mushroom dish and spinach saag are my favorites!

Aab is a great addition to the Sawmill area. Had dinner with a group of 15 this week. They were able to accommodate the group and sit us in 1 long table.
Dinner — had the lamb curry and garlic naan. The garlic naan is very tasteful and I probably could’ve had 2 of these to accompany the lamb curry. Lamb curry had good flavor and plentiful amount of curry so I could dip my naan but I wish there were a couple more pieces of lamb.
Rice was a bit dry but the curry helped that problem so it worked itself out.
Spice — their spices are a huge step up from prior tenant Dakshin. I ordered the medium thinking I’d be fine based upon my previous Indian food experience. The medium was so hot that I was sweating the entire time I ate my course.
Looking forward to trying their lunch buffet.

I guess based on everyone else’s review, I had incredibly low expectations on this place. So I was surprised to find that the wait is not horridly long, the staff is pretty attentive, and the food is brought out around the same rate that I would expect in a typical Indian restaurants.
My roommate and I came here on groupon. We had samosas, curry chicken and bhartha. We both enjoyed our food. I wish the samosas had a little less potatoes and more veggie but it still tasted ok. I’ve never had bharthas before so I like it. My roommate was debating between a few chicken dishes and our waiter recommended curry chicken, which was really good. The portions are comparable to other places.
The environment is nice. The table clothes are covered with fresh white paper sheets (kinda like macaroni grill). They are a little inexperienced at picking up plates and utensils. I had a close call when the waiter dropped one of the utensils and almost knocked over my glass. But no harm was done.
Maybe the grand view location is much better than this. Without comparison, this was pretty nice for me. We will probably come back and try lunch buffet at some point.