On Mother’s
Day this year, I drove over to West Seattle with my husband Paul, his brother
Dave, our sister-in-law Claire and their beautiful daughter Vivian to catch a
showing of Angry Housewives at the
ArtsWest Theatre (http://www.artswest.org/theatre-plays/angry-housewives/). The show tells the story
of four adult women who form a band in an attempt to win top prize at a punk-rock
band contest. The musical performances
were captivating, the storyline poignant, and hilarious at times, and I’m
thankful I got to see it. Laughed
loudly and frequently! Afterwards, we
wanted to grab something to eat in the area and we thought we would check out the
Maharaja restaurant, http://maharajawestseattle.com/. The restaurant is located just up the street from the theatre at
4542 California Ave. SW. Reservations are accepted for parties of 6 or more,
but we didn’t need them (for reservations: (206) 935-9443). This restaurant offers a variety of Indian
Curries, with dining hours from 11:30am – 1:00am, 7 days a week. We arrived after the show at 5:30pm and were
seated right away at a great spot with a long table and leather booth seating
on one side, and chairs on the other, both of which were very comfortable. The mood and lighting were subdued, and there
were very few other patrons in there at the time, as they had just finished up
their Sunday brunch. The waiter was
relaxed, and spoke quietly, with prompt attention to our drink and appetizer
orders, before attending to our entree choices. We really liked the atmosphere,
which made it easy for us to talk about our experience of the show, and revisit
favorite scenes.
I ordered
the Chicken Biryani, which the menu says is “Aromatic Basmati rice cooked with
chicken and Indian spices” for $12.95.
All Biryani, it states, comes with Almonds, Cashews, and Raisins. I love
those items with my rice, and was disappointed when my dinner came and I didn’t
see many actually in the dish I was served. Next time I would definitely ask for more up front. I had never ordered a Biryani before, and later
checked out the Wikipedia and discovered that Biryani (pronounced [bɪr.jaːniː]) is a mixed rice dish from the Indian Subcontinent. It is made with spices, rice and meat or vegetables. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biryani. The
waiter asked what level spiciness I preferred with this dish. If I’ve never been to a restaurant before, I’m
never sure what their level system really means. Will I ask for medium heat and
get scorched by the “burn” or will the tepid seasoning disappoint me? I ordered a medium amount for my Biryani and
it arrived without much heat. The bite-sized chicken in my Biryani was
delectable, melt-in-your mouth yummy, as if
it had been cooked low and slow. The
unfortunate thing though was that there were only 4 small pieces of meat in
this dish. Everyone commented about the
rather meager portions we received – these were the dinner entrees, not the
lunch items.
We
ordered naan bread, both garlic and cheese versions. Because I eat gluten-free
I did not have any, but others enjoyed every bite. The flavor and texture of
the bread did not disappoint, but the cheese version only showed the slightest
evidence of cheese.
Our
table enjoyed several of the curry dishes, and all reported that they were
quite good, although the goat curry was more tough than tender. The Maharaja was
a convenient place to stop after the theatre, with a good atmosphere and
attentive service. Food portions were modest, and nothing had a wow factor to
impress. I think I would like to try the Maharaja again, perhaps for the Sunday
buffet, in order taste a wider variety of their offerings, and give this
restaurant a second chance. 
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