Darbar Grill: Upscale Indian with FREE appetizers and drink specials

The good thing about class is that since you can’t buy it,  you can fake it.  It’s not like an apartment.  No un-roofied date will believe you when you say the junkie passed out on the stoop is the doorman and, ahem, his uniform is in the wash.  Or when you claim cold-on-the-left plumbing conventions are an old aristocratic tradition. The same goes for the dirt that isn’t even dirt anymore, but something disconcertingly close to vegemite spread around ignored corners and stovetop nooks.  

Last Wednesday,  upscale Indian restaurant Darbar Grill on the Upper East proved itself a good testing ground for the average schlub (yours truly) to put on some slacks and a dress shirt, throw in some appropriate mannerisms and adopt a particular comportment in the name of free appetizers during happy hour. It isn’t a really nice spot, but is it big, clean, and expensive.  It has nice silverware, a bottle of wine included on all of the tables, and water served in things that look like vases, not water pitchers. The hostesses don’t flip their hair, chew gum, or wear orange shorts and the manager doesn’t look like Jason Statham on a donut diet. I’m sure the food is excellent because the appetizers were amazing. Not a bad spot for a date, assuming he/she is content with one samosa.  I even stepped out of character, which really means back into true character, and asked for a second dish – not because of a buzz or crippling frugality, but because they were so good.

Darbar Grill is located at 157 E.55th btw 3rd and Lexington

Happy Hour runs from 5-8pm  with $4 domestic and select Indian beers, $6 top shelf drinks and free appetizers that rotate daily. Bar area only!