Proposed Oradell restaurant won't have parties or a banquet hall

Stephanie Noda, NorthJersey.com
·3 min read

There will be no parties or banquet hall-style events at the proposed Monsun Indian Cuisine in Oradell, according to testimony from its owner at last week’s zoning board meeting.

“It’s a lot of work to have a party,” said owner Rekha Karnik. “I’m shying away from having parties at my new place.”

The proposal for a two-story, 92-seat restaurant by applicant RK Holdings LLC had its fifth hearing on Wednesday night, and it revealed more details about the proposed restaurant for 240 Kinderkamack Road. Karnik owns a Monsun Indian Cuisine in River Edge, which will be closed and moved to the Oradell location if the application is approved.

Karnik said the second floor wouldn’t have enough space for these types of events and she plans instead to have a permanent buffet on the second floor. The first floor will also have a buffet on the weekends, as the staff will remove some seating to make room for it on those days, Karnik said.

A rendering from an Oradell Zoning Board application shows what the exterior of a new Oradell location for Monsun Indian Cuisine would look like if plans are approved.
A rendering from an Oradell Zoning Board application shows what the exterior of a new Oradell location for Monsun Indian Cuisine would look like if plans are approved.

Karnik, who has owned the property since 2004, said she used to run a software development company from the location before the then-building burned down in a fire. She decided to move her restaurant to the empty Oradell lot after hearing about another new restaurant that’s coming to the downtown

“That area is surrounded by small eateries, and now there’s two big, nice restaurants coming to town,” Karnik said. “I thought having an Indian restaurant would be a good cultural diversity. If you look at Westwood or Ridgewood downtowns, there’s so many different ethnic places, and people enjoy the variety that they offer.”

Previous coverage: Indian restaurant proposal in Oradell revised. Here's what changed in the plan

One of the restaurants in question is Ora, a 248-seat, two-story restaurant with outdoor dining and a vegetable garden. It was approved in May 2021 and recently started construction. The owners of Fire & Oak, a popular bar and restaurant with locations in Montvale and Jersey City, are also planning to bring a venture called "The Oak House Grill" to the site of the borough's former Charlie Brown's steakhouse, which closed in 2020.

Monsun Indian Cuisine, if approved, would be open Tuesday to Sunday, with lunchtime from noon to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Karnik said. She plans to have 12 employees, including three chefs.

RK Holdings is seeking six variances for aspects of the project that would deviate from local zoning requirements, including for its front-yard setback, parking, and the floor-area ratio, a measure of a building’s floor space in relation to the size of the lot.

The top floor of the restaurant would have 48 seats, down from the 54 seats proposed in past hearings. The first floor, which also contains the kitchen, food preparation area, reception area and bathrooms, would have 44 seats.

The next hearing for Monsun Indian Cuisine will be heard before the Oradell zoning board on March 20 at Borough Hall, at 355 Kinderkamack Road. The meeting also will be livestreamed by OPTV on the borough's website.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: No parties, banquet hall at proposed Oradell restaurant