Went to Raas, because I'm always interested in new foods to the area. I live locally in Georgetown and love new options. We had a table for four. The challenge started as soon as we arrived. The hostess-station is at the corner of what was the houses foyer. This makes for a cramped space as additional diners try to come in to be seated. We were sat for a reservation at a corner table with a bench seat and two chairs. We were greeted fairly promptly but we did comment to ourselves that it seemed a bit warm, but we assumed that the thermostat was outside where were sitting and the a/c would get going soon. We ordered a specialty cocktail (Bulleit Old fashioned) which incidentally was well crafted, 2 wines by the glass and a soda. Then things seemed to degenerate. We asked about the sharing of the small plates and if it was practical to share the large plates. Our waiter assured us that the menu was designed to have people share their plates and that four small plates and 3 large plates would be a great serving for four people. We ordered our food and then the waiting began. Nearly 35 minutes later the 4 small plates arrived, which included the Masala yogurt croquettes, stuffed mushrooms, tempura prawns and lamb kebab. All the dishes were well crafted and tasty but the timing seemed excessive as did the temperature of the space. We understand that this is an old house, as are many of the restaurants in Lewes. We also understand that volumes of people create heat, which the restaurant was nearly full when we sat at 7. However, considering that they just opened 5 days ago, you would have assumed that they would have stress tested their restaurant and packed it full to establish if their a/c would keep up under a full condition. Apparently they did not. I did not have a instant read thermometer with me but it was every bit of 80 degrees plus inside the restaurant. They do have seating on their porch, which given the temperature outside would have been a better option. We kept two menus to use as fans to attempt to mitigate, but that shouldn't be necessary.
Now for the large plates. As I said earlier, we ordered all our small and large plates at the same time, so when it took 35 minutes to get small plates we assumed it was an anomaly, we were wrong. It took another 30 minutes to get the large plates, Biryani chicken, lamb Rogen josh and dal lalla musa. The food while very tasty was diminished by the skyrocketing temperature inside the restaurant as well as the complete ineptitude of our waiter. It was obviously a kitchen issue, but he couldn't figure out how to communicate that they were having some problems and makes any attempts to smooth this over. He seemed to be unable to do anything it avoid us. I have no idea what management was doing, or frankly if their was management on site. We are very easy people to get along with and we eat out at least 10 days a month. We are former restaurant employees in both the kitchen and the front of the house. We give everyone the benefit of an off nite. We didn't punish our waiter, he was tipped 20%, but we would advise caution here.
It appears that they need a little more time to work out the kinks. The hostess needs to be much more adept at greeting and seating. Their waitstaff needs to be more familiar with all their wines and their dishes do that they don't look comfy when you ask questions about ingredients or taste profiles. They need to devise a solution to the ineffective a/c. I lived in a house just like this for 10 years, it's going to take some mini split systems to get the inside of this place to a temperature where you are not sitting and sweating. I know one of the owners is a cardiologist, but you should feel like you just completed a stress test by the time your entree arrives.
It is great to have this cuisine as an option, and we will give them another chance, but we will wait a month or two and give them the opportunity to get themselves together read more