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Anniversaries
An anniversary dinner is not a hard booking to make. It is an easy one to make badly, and the difference is almost always the hour you chose and whether you told anybody what the evening was. Here is how we would plan it on our roof, and what it comes to.
The one decision that matters
Nothing else on this page will change your evening as much as the time you put on the booking. Earlier is quieter, better lit and better served — and on a Friday it is the difference between a conversation and a shout.
Six to seven
Half the tables are still empty. The sun goes behind the low roofs to the west, the street lamps come up one row at a time, and for about twenty minutes the whole city is the colour of weak tea. Dinner then runs into the dark rather than starting in it — and every mocktail on the list is 30% off between five and seven.
Nine onwards
Every seat is full and the roof has a hum to it. That is exactly right for a birthday table of twelve and wrong for two people trying to talk. Book it if the evening starts late — the kitchen takes its last order at 11:00 PM — but know what you are choosing.
Where to sit
There are three places we could put you and they are not interchangeable. Choose on the booking form and we only confirm if the one you asked for is genuinely free.
| Where | Seats |
|---|---|
| The open terraceTables along the parapet, open sky, the city underneath. | 60 |
| The air-conditioned roomSame kitchen, same menu. For June, and for the evening it rains. | 40 |
| The private cornerIts own corner off the main roof, so the noise stays yours. | 20 |
The booking form takes up to 60 guests in one booking — the terrace’s own seat count. A party that size can only land on Rooftop or Any; the smaller two areas are measured separately and will refuse a group they cannot fit. Past 60, call and we will plan it with you.
For two people, the answer is almost always the terrace, and specifically a table along the parapet — the city is underneath and there is enough space between tables to talk across one without an audience. Add a note to the booking saying so. We cannot promise a particular table, but a request made at booking reaches the floor before service starts.
What to order
Two people ordering a starter each, a main each and a bread each end up with six plates and no shape. The evenings that work are ordered like one meal with a middle to it.
Paneer Tikka Twins at ₹440, or Malai Chicken Tikka at ₹590. Both arrive smoking and take twenty minutes to get through properly. If you want the theatrical version, Sharabi Chicken (₹610) is set alight on the way to the table — silly, and it works every time.
Altitude Pahadi Chicken (₹630) is the chef’s own, a green gravy of mint, coriander and yogurt. On the vegetarian side, Malai Kofta (₹470). Add a butter naan (₹90) and jeera rice (₹260) and stop — the temptation is always one dish more than the table needs. The whole list is on the menu.
There is no bar list here; the drinks are all mocktails, and the cold bar is run as its own line. A Virgin Mojito (₹160), a Kala Khatta Virgin (₹180) if you grew up on it, or the Saffron Frappe (₹170), which nobody expects to like as much as they do.
Gulab Jamun with Ice Cream (₹180) — warm and cold in the same bowl, and the correct answer. If you have brought a cake, skip this: we will bring the cake instead, and cutting it costs nothing.
The bill
The meal above, priced from today’s menu. An illustration rather than a quote — you will order differently — but every figure is one you can check.
Just over ₹1,000 each. Book between five and seven and the two mocktails are 30% off, which takes about ₹100 off the total.
Thirty people for somebody’s parents is a different evening and a different bill. The form takes up to 60 guests, and past about fifteen we would move you onto a set menu per head so the food arrives together rather than in waves. There is a worked bill for a party of ten in our guide to planning a rooftop party, and the group codes are on the offers page.
Booking it
It takes about a minute, it confirms straight away, and there is no fee for holding a date you might move.
Anniversaries
The hour, the seat, the view and the bill — answered straight, including the one about the Taj Mahal.
Six or seven in the evening, and earlier than most people book. The roof at that hour is half empty, the light is going, the staff have time for you and you can hear each other across the table. By nine on a Friday every seat is full and the terrace has a hum that is lovely for a birthday and wrong for two people. Slots run hourly from 1:00 PM to 10:00 PM, and between 5 and 7 every mocktail is 30% off, which is a second reason to come early.
Ask for it, and ask when you book rather than when you arrive. Choose Rooftop as the seating and add a note saying you would like the parapet — we hold those tables for people who book them, and on a Friday they are gone by eight. We cannot guarantee a specific table, but a request made at booking is a request the floor sees before service; one made at the door is a request made to whoever is holding the menus.
We do not sell a Taj Mahal view and you should not book expecting one — the monument is about six kilometres east of us. What the roof has is Agra itself: Shahganj going about its evening, MG Road lit up underneath, open sky in every direction, and about twenty minutes after sunset when the whole city turns the colour of weak tea. We would rather tell you now than have you spend the first ten minutes looking for something.
Choose Anniversary as the occasion on the booking form and add a note. The table is set before you arrive rather than while you stand there, the courses are paced instead of stacked, and nobody brings the bill while you are still talking. If you are bringing a cake there is no cakeage charge — hand it over at the door and tell us when you want it. We do not do table decoration ourselves, but you are welcome to bring your own if you tell us in advance.
No, and we would not recommend one. Two people are better off ordering across the menu — one tandoor plate to share, one main, a bread, a rice, and dessert — than paying for courses somebody else chose. Set menus start earning their place at about fifteen people, where the kitchen cannot send everything at once. For a table of two, order what you actually want.
No service charge and no cover charge, on any table. GST at 5% is worked out on the food and drink and shown on the bill. There is no booking fee either, and cancellation is free up to two hours before, so holding a table you might move costs nothing.
Then it is a party rather than a dinner, and the numbers matter. The terrace seats 60, the air-conditioned room 40 and the private corner 20, and the booking form takes up to 60 guests in one booking. Past about fifteen people we would move you onto a set menu per head so the food arrives together rather than in waves — call with the date, the headcount and the veg-to-non-veg split and we will price it.
The air-conditioned room seats 40 and runs off the same kitchen with the same menu. It is not the overflow — it exists for the deep heat of May and June and for the fortnight of monsoon that always lands on the evening somebody booked. If the roof is not going to work on the night, that is where we will put you, and it is a good room.
Choose Anniversary as the occasion, ask for the terrace, and add a note if there is anything we should know. It confirms in under a minute and costs nothing to change.
No booking fee. Free cancellation up to 2 hours before. Open every day, 1:00 PM to 11:30 PM; the kitchen takes its last order at 11:00 PM.
Still planning? Planning an anniversary dinner in Agra goes into the evening in more detail. Or see everything we do for celebrations, and how to find us.