His Take: This was an absolutely new experience for me, I had never tried Indian food before! Panna II was definitely the right place for us to go and have Indian food for the first time. Ariana and I decided to double date with another couple, and it was Ariana’s friend who had suggested Panna II. Located right on 1st Avenue in the part of the city known as “Little Bangladesh” is Panna II. Cool little place, but do not be confused, this place is the restaurant towards the top right! When you go, you’ll know exactly what I mean! Well anyway, there is four Indian restaurants in the same building, divided by a stair case. Head into Panna II and be prepared to a duck a little bit. Literally you may have to walk with a slight hunch or crouch down a bit! Hanging from the ceiling are low Christmas lights and “chili pepper” lights (literally they’re chili peppers!). I am about 5’6 so I walked with basically no problem, but any taller and the lights would have dragged across my head. You might think this Christmas lights/chili lights idea is kind of stupid, but I really enjoyed the look and feel of Panna II. The place was well lit, but dim enough to make it feel a bit more “romantic” and cozy. Only knock on the actually place was it is small so the tables are rather close.
Wait before I continue, this is VERY important about Panna II! They are a BYOB (bring your own bottle/booze) place! Ariana and I came with a bottle of red wine and the other couple a bottle of white! Panna II opened the bottles for us, with no uncorking fee! Thanks for that Panna II! We sat down and looked over the large menu. I was worried because I am not a fan of spicy food and here I was in an INDIAN restaurant (not to sound stereotypical but when you think Indian food, you think spicy). Me taking charge, I was responsible for ordering the appetizers. I had heard of “samosas” before from people I knew who had tried Indian food before, so we ordered chicken samosas, beef samosas, and veggie samosas. The chicken and beef ones were both very tastey, but a little too full on the veggie side! I would have preffered them with more meat, but they were good none the less. I did not eat a veggie samosa because just veggies kind of bores me, and I had more than my fair share of the chicken and beef samosas! Also we ordered cheese poori for appetizers. These things looked huge when they came over but they’re filled with cheese and air, and let me tell you, they were absolutely delicious. Like really really good!
Finally onto the main course we went. I ordered chicken tikka, cooked in a Tandoori oven (not like I knew what all this meant, it just sounded good, plus I did a little research before heading over to Panna II). My chicken was well cooked and it was incrediblty tastey. The chicken was cooked with a dry rub of spices and it was very flavorfull. Ariana got the chicken makhani and she enjoyed it. They also brought out a tray of rice for the table that went well with the chicken as well as “naan” bread. The bread was excellent as well.
Overall, Panna II, I was impressed with your food! Definitely a great place to go, especially if you’re a first timer with Indian food like I was. The serving sizes were good and the bill was not expensive at all! Now that I have tried Indian once, I would like to go back to Panna II and give something else off the menu a try! Best I not forgot that after our meal we were all served a complimentary scoop of homemade mango ice cream, which was also very good. Head over to Panna II and you will not be disappointed, you and your date will enjoy the meal and the scene!
Her Take: I have always wanted to try Indian food. I like trying new things and expanding my food horizons. Nicky on the other hand (if you couldn't tell already) is super picky, but he said he wanted to try Indian. Yay! I had the restaurant Panna II written on my list of places to go but my good friend, Lee said to me she wanted to double date and go to Panna II. So I was like yay perfect, we've been meaning to go there! So we did.
Lee and her boyfriend Dan came to pick us up that night and we had brought a bottle of wine per couple since this spot is BYOB. Lee and Dan white and Nicky and I red, from this cool spot right on the corner of my house. Well the white was just for Lee because Dan isn't much of a "wine drinker". So they swept us up and we ventured in Dan's jeep to 1st avenue. We finally found a parking spot and walked a bit to the restaurant. This place is in a building that is divided into four. Each quarter is a different Indian restaurant and as we walked up the stairs people from each restaurant were grabbing us trying to get us to go to their place instead! After hustling to get upstairs, we entered Panna II and saw that this place was TINY. Of course it was, the building is shared!! We even had to duck a little to avoid getting hit with all the Christmas and chili pepper lights hanging from the ceiling. (First time Nicky and I ever had to duck for anything) but it was cute! They sat us at a table, which was tight because everything in there is packed in and tightly accommodated.
Right away they came to open a bottle of wine and asked which to open first, I said BOTH please :). They brought us 3 different "dips" and a few pieces of thin crunchy bread that looked like long nachos. Of course I was the first to break off a piece and try all the sauces and peppers they gave us. They were all delicious!
They wanted to take our order super fast, so I suggested lets get the cheese poori and some samosas: beef, chicken and veggie for apps. They were all like yea sure!? And I said we needed a little more time to order our entrees.
They brought them all really fast! The cheese poori is like a puff bread filled with cheese! Yum and the samosas are like empanadas! They were all really good. We each ordered our entrees and we all got chicken. I got the chicken makhani and everybody ended up liking my the most! ok everybody BUT Nicky, who didn't want to try it because it had "too much sauce." Along with our entrees they brought out naan bread, sort of like pita and delicious, some rice for the table (I think it was basmati) and a few more dips and cut up onions. I tried it ALL, and I really enjoyed everything, every part of the meal.
We ate and drank and laughed and it was gooooood. I wanted to take some home so my mama could try it because she was excited for us to go try indian food! So I told the waiter to pack up the leftovers and when he came back with it, another waiter brought over complimentary mango ice cream which was so creamy and delicious! I LOVE mango anything! It was a nice closure for our ethnicly awesome dinner.
After we got up, ducking a bit, and once again fighting through the "bouncers" outside, we walked back to the car and decided to go for a drink. Williamsburg it was! Since it was near us and on the way back to Lee and Dan's! We ended up going to Berry Park, which is on Berry Street between N 13th and Nassau Ave. We went straight up to their rooftop because it was beautiful out and we HAD to take advantage of it!
We sat at a quaint table and sipped on out Huckleberry Lemonades (their vodka lemonade yummy) and had some more laughs! Not only did we laugh, but we planned out a whole other night out, which you'll have to read about in our next double date post!! ;)
All in all, Panna II was excellent, if you're hesitant to try Indian, DON'T BE! You wont regret it! Head over to Panna II when you're in the East Village, you will love it!
Wait before I continue, this is VERY important about Panna II! They are a BYOB (bring your own bottle/booze) place! Ariana and I came with a bottle of red wine and the other couple a bottle of white! Panna II opened the bottles for us, with no uncorking fee! Thanks for that Panna II! We sat down and looked over the large menu. I was worried because I am not a fan of spicy food and here I was in an INDIAN restaurant (not to sound stereotypical but when you think Indian food, you think spicy). Me taking charge, I was responsible for ordering the appetizers. I had heard of “samosas” before from people I knew who had tried Indian food before, so we ordered chicken samosas, beef samosas, and veggie samosas. The chicken and beef ones were both very tastey, but a little too full on the veggie side! I would have preffered them with more meat, but they were good none the less. I did not eat a veggie samosa because just veggies kind of bores me, and I had more than my fair share of the chicken and beef samosas! Also we ordered cheese poori for appetizers. These things looked huge when they came over but they’re filled with cheese and air, and let me tell you, they were absolutely delicious. Like really really good!
Finally onto the main course we went. I ordered chicken tikka, cooked in a Tandoori oven (not like I knew what all this meant, it just sounded good, plus I did a little research before heading over to Panna II). My chicken was well cooked and it was incrediblty tastey. The chicken was cooked with a dry rub of spices and it was very flavorfull. Ariana got the chicken makhani and she enjoyed it. They also brought out a tray of rice for the table that went well with the chicken as well as “naan” bread. The bread was excellent as well.
Overall, Panna II, I was impressed with your food! Definitely a great place to go, especially if you’re a first timer with Indian food like I was. The serving sizes were good and the bill was not expensive at all! Now that I have tried Indian once, I would like to go back to Panna II and give something else off the menu a try! Best I not forgot that after our meal we were all served a complimentary scoop of homemade mango ice cream, which was also very good. Head over to Panna II and you will not be disappointed, you and your date will enjoy the meal and the scene!
Her Take: I have always wanted to try Indian food. I like trying new things and expanding my food horizons. Nicky on the other hand (if you couldn't tell already) is super picky, but he said he wanted to try Indian. Yay! I had the restaurant Panna II written on my list of places to go but my good friend, Lee said to me she wanted to double date and go to Panna II. So I was like yay perfect, we've been meaning to go there! So we did.
Lee and her boyfriend Dan came to pick us up that night and we had brought a bottle of wine per couple since this spot is BYOB. Lee and Dan white and Nicky and I red, from this cool spot right on the corner of my house. Well the white was just for Lee because Dan isn't much of a "wine drinker". So they swept us up and we ventured in Dan's jeep to 1st avenue. We finally found a parking spot and walked a bit to the restaurant. This place is in a building that is divided into four. Each quarter is a different Indian restaurant and as we walked up the stairs people from each restaurant were grabbing us trying to get us to go to their place instead! After hustling to get upstairs, we entered Panna II and saw that this place was TINY. Of course it was, the building is shared!! We even had to duck a little to avoid getting hit with all the Christmas and chili pepper lights hanging from the ceiling. (First time Nicky and I ever had to duck for anything) but it was cute! They sat us at a table, which was tight because everything in there is packed in and tightly accommodated.
Right away they came to open a bottle of wine and asked which to open first, I said BOTH please :). They brought us 3 different "dips" and a few pieces of thin crunchy bread that looked like long nachos. Of course I was the first to break off a piece and try all the sauces and peppers they gave us. They were all delicious!
They wanted to take our order super fast, so I suggested lets get the cheese poori and some samosas: beef, chicken and veggie for apps. They were all like yea sure!? And I said we needed a little more time to order our entrees.
They brought them all really fast! The cheese poori is like a puff bread filled with cheese! Yum and the samosas are like empanadas! They were all really good. We each ordered our entrees and we all got chicken. I got the chicken makhani and everybody ended up liking my the most! ok everybody BUT Nicky, who didn't want to try it because it had "too much sauce." Along with our entrees they brought out naan bread, sort of like pita and delicious, some rice for the table (I think it was basmati) and a few more dips and cut up onions. I tried it ALL, and I really enjoyed everything, every part of the meal.
We ate and drank and laughed and it was gooooood. I wanted to take some home so my mama could try it because she was excited for us to go try indian food! So I told the waiter to pack up the leftovers and when he came back with it, another waiter brought over complimentary mango ice cream which was so creamy and delicious! I LOVE mango anything! It was a nice closure for our ethnicly awesome dinner.
After we got up, ducking a bit, and once again fighting through the "bouncers" outside, we walked back to the car and decided to go for a drink. Williamsburg it was! Since it was near us and on the way back to Lee and Dan's! We ended up going to Berry Park, which is on Berry Street between N 13th and Nassau Ave. We went straight up to their rooftop because it was beautiful out and we HAD to take advantage of it!
We sat at a quaint table and sipped on out Huckleberry Lemonades (their vodka lemonade yummy) and had some more laughs! Not only did we laugh, but we planned out a whole other night out, which you'll have to read about in our next double date post!! ;)
All in all, Panna II was excellent, if you're hesitant to try Indian, DON'T BE! You wont regret it! Head over to Panna II when you're in the East Village, you will love it!
Pre-Panna II
The Outside
Dan and Lee
Cheese Poori (top) and Samosa (bottom)
Chicken Makhani
Chicken Tikka
Chicken Mushroom Masala
:)
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