Around Town

Indian Restaurant ‘Urban Tandoor’ Coming to Ballston

An Indian restaurant is set to be the latest to move into a Ballston space that has had several eateries come and go in recent years.

The restaurant, known as Urban Tandoor, hopes to be open at 801 N. Quincy Street on the ground floor of the Quincy Crossing office building around November, said owner Rajeev Mainali.

It will replace Republic Kitchen & Bar, which replaced the former Leek American Bistro, the replacement for Thai Terrace.

Mainali said there will be around 95 seats inside, with another 40 on an outdoor patio. He said it will have an “extensive” bar menu, while the food will mostly be Indian, with some subtle differences.

“It’s going to be mainly Indian food,” he said. “We have expanded the menu, and will be adding a lot of seafood and grill items. We put it as a tandoor. There’s going to be a little bit of a twist on the menu to cater to the young crowd.”

Mainali said he saw an opportunity to move in due to what he said is a dearth of ethnic food in the fast-growing neighborhood.

“They don’t have a lot of options for ethnic food in the Ballston area,” he said. “The area is growing so fast, we feel like it has been underserved as far as restaurants go. We feel like there are not enough good restaurants there. There are some, but not enough to serve the growing clientele there.”