Adda
Indian restaurant · East Village ·
Regional Indian cuisine with bold flavors and tableside theatrics
Regional Indian cuisine with bold flavors and tableside theatrics
"Located in the East Village after moving from its homey Queens roots, this earlier Unapologetic Foods restaurant is praised for keeping a tight focus on flavorful regional subcontinent fare that goes well beyond its highly popular, preorder-only $42 butter chicken experience. I’m a big fan of South Asian-cooked brains, and the bheja masala, at $27, mixes goat brain with egg custard into a springy, silky consistency that’s perfect for spreading on the accompanying pao, a Portuguese sweet bread. The ananas paneer tikka, priced at $23, offers thick pineapple and cheese slices with a bit of zippiness, while the $23 bhatti kumbh was a hit with my group: fresh foraged mushrooms are first presented tableside much like fish at an omakase, and then arrive seasoned and cooked to a juicy texture. The Awadhi lamb shank korma at $48 is especially showy, with a server bringing it in a Dutch oven, spooning the meat off the bone, mixing everything together, and leaving the bone behind for added flavor and for anyone who likes gnawing on the clinging meat bits; the creamy $9 dal side is not to be skipped. To drink, the $32 chutney trio provides medium-sized cocktails in playful flavors—tamarind-dark rum, mango-serrano tequila, and onion-dry gin—and you’re encouraged to mix sips with the accompanying snacks. Offerings extend beyond the printed menu through a roaming chaat walla who stops by tables with two snack options, a kulfi pop cart-style dessert service where you choose your dip flavor, and, at the end of the meal, an offering tray of little wrapped Indian candies that appears with the check, all contributing to why it was named Best Comeback in the 2025 Eater Awards." - Nadia Chaudhury
"Queens’s loss became the East Village’s gain when this Indian canteen reemerged, still rooted in regional fare but with a glow‑up. The original butter chicken now plays out as a preorder, tableside‑cart experience, yet the heart remains: walls papered with press clippings, the original handwritten Adda sign, and homey dishes spruced up, like creamy bheja masala (goat brains) with pao and biryani stuffed with baby goat leg meat. Even as its parent group expands, the guiding principle here stays put—ever‑flavorful Indian cuisine that’s simply fun." - Melissa McCart
"I found the new Adda to be the old Adda—bigger and fancier—retaining beloved hits like bheja masala while adding playful, participative theatrics: an amuse‑bouche tray of chaats, a rolling pickle cart (get the date pickle), and the book‑ahead tableside butter chicken, which Chintan Pandya himself prepared for us with a choice of smoking chips and flavored butter. There’s also a fun mezcal‑based butter‑chicken cocktail and a substantive vegetarian menu (notably a gucchi morel pulao and a soy‑mince roll with smoked chili chutney) that held its own against meaty favorites." - Charlie Hobbs
"The bone marrow ($27) here is a special treat: it arrives piping hot under a lifted lid, silky marrow bubbling inside, before a server pours on a decadent sauce of green and black peppercorns and coconut milk and sets down coconut-buttered pao alongside. It comes with little wooden spoons, but I much prefer scooping the marrow with the bread — and there’s a satisfying slight crunch when you catch a whole peppercorn." - Nick Mancall-Bitel
"Adda is where it all began for the group behind Indian restaurant hits Semma and Dhamaka. After around seven years, the casual Long Island City spot has now relocated to the East Village. The new space is bigger and the menu is longer—though favorites like their baby goat biryani are still available. If you come with a big group you can get something called a “butter chicken experience.” Your butter chicken is cooked tableside over wood of your choice, and there’s a butter chicken-inspired cocktail." - will hartman, willa moore, molly fitzpatrick, sonal shah, bryan kim
