Everybody has a different standard for great service; ours is unobtrusive excellence, and on that score, Akbar wins hands-down. You’re lucky to know you’ve dropped a crumb or dribbled a bit of sauce before the unsightly deposit is whisked away, and your water, beer, or wine glass will never, ever run dry. You’re hard-pressed to notice the stealthy, starch-sleeved hand that tends your table. That is great service.
Great service is also ordering the specialty Indian bread nan, telling your server after the fact that you don’t want it slathered in butter—a major ingredient in nearly all Indian food—and getting an all-new butterless order in five minutes or less. And great service is being left alone. The servers at Akbar don’t offer any advice or opinion that isn’t solicited, they don’t give you any clue at all as to what a harried night it is in the kitchen. And they don’t drone on about the term paper they’re writing or the kids they’re raising. They just serve you, which is more than we can say about most servers in town.
