Innovative or upscale Indian recs for birthday dinner

[hungry_united]

I'd like to organize a small dinner at an Indian restaurant for my husband's birthday. He loves Indian food and we've never been to any of the upscale Indian places in the city. Can anyone suggest the best choice among Devi, Tulsi, Tamarind, Junoon, Amma, Vatan... Or any other suggestions?

[swannee]

Vatan is a very comfortable and friendly place to have a good, long talk and spend time. It ishas the disadvantage of not having a menu and the limitation of being strictly vegetarian, but it is much quieter and more conversation friendly than any of the other places mentioned. And the food is delicious.

[rae305]

Make that a Fifth - You must have the tandoori scallops w/ pineapple. Can't wait for their new brunch. Rae 305

[mrrbi]

I agree, Junoon is far and away, one of the best!

[Spiritchaser]

3rd for Junoon, especially based upon what they are putting out very recently. I know there will be at least one person that gets on this string and bashes the crap out of Junoon but I have NEVER found their critique in any of ours visits so...

[LeahBaila]

Fourth...

[hungry_united]

Wow, okay -- sounds pretty unequivocal so far! Thank you! Any other suggestions? Anyone?

[Simon]

not quite unequivocal...my one meal was very poor, but as seen above, other hounds have had better results...

my one-visit review: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/814013

[hungry_united]

Have you been to Tamarind or Tulsi? How did those compare in your opinion?

[LeahBaila]

I found Tamarind to be very tame/mild. While the atmosphere is lovely and the service is fantastic, I was not blown away by the food. Junoon, on the other hand, I found quite sexy and exciting. Great cocktail program, to boot.

[peter j]

Junoon would be my choice.