I have been to Kobe Sizzlers in Bandra, quite a few times,
but never got a chance to go to the one in Chowpatty.
Let me tell you right away that we Never pre-booked and
Always got seats promptly(don’t knw why people say there are queues and u need
to reserve beforehand). Staying in the Central suburbs of Mumbai we never
really planned any of our visits to Kobe,
so no question of reserving.
The first time we were there, some years back, we’d ordered Chicken shaslik and
barbeque sizzlers. My husband and I loved it. It sure was ‘sizzling’ and the
chicken was done to perfection, the sauces were just rightly seasoned. The
veggies were crisp and fresh. The finger fries were a tempting accompaniment.
The service was quick and the waiters hovered around very
attentively but were quite unobtrusive.(That is the ideal but rarely found
combination in restaurants, usually. They either leave you to your food and disappear
into some dark corner frm where you would need to be embarrassingly loud to summon
them, or, they will stand right next to you all the time and keep eyeing your
plate like hawks ready to snatch it away the minute you are done.)
The ambience was quite warm and welcoming, well-lit and
comfortable. The washroom was clean and had fresh toilet paper roll.(For me
this is important in restaurants. I know many will laugh this off and not quite
agree saying, “arre agar khana accha hai toh sab kuch accha hai”)
I had got carried away and had rated it quite well
then, recommend it to a lot of my friends, too.
The next time we went there we’d ordered some seafood and
were not very happy with the it. We spoke to the waiter and he offered to
prepare it once again to our liking.(applaud worthy) I always appreciate chefs
who are thought of your tastes and are ready to oblige.
The last time I visited Kobe’s I came back quite disheartened. There
may be many reasons to that – the chef ran away or the cook had a bad headache
or they did not have enough fresh stock to cook up something better, or maybe because Pop Tates
opened up near my house and started serving excellent sizzlers, etc etc.
Maybe, I should give them another chance. Maybe they
will recreate their sizzling success once again.