I had been hearing this name again and again. A BJN group place is expensive but good. I planned a double header - drinks in Hynos (read review on Hypnos) and dinner at Samarkand.
We had booked a late evening table - 9:30 pm. After winding our drinks, we went to the front desk only to be told that it would take min 30 min from the time of reporting. so much for reservations. There was a huge crowd outside the door, huge crowd pestering the front desk and few more hanging around in the lobby. Everyone seemed to have made reservations so no one was enjoying the wait. The situation was of silent resentment and everyone was just trying to be civil with the staff in spite of the overall chaos. After minutes and minutes of waiting and pestering we finally got a table. The only good part of the evening was that we were given complimentary appetizers which were deep friend - hence unhealthy and therefore rather tasty :-)
We were recommended a lamb dish which we were quite prepared to order. My biggest disappointment was the menu. Samarkand is projected as a place which serves food from the frontier - Afghani etc. To my shock, the dishes seemed out of any typical north Indian joint in the city. The choices were fairly limited and surprise of surprises, very few dishes in lamb. Again, me hoping for them to serve frontier cuisine.