So, we went to this place, called ‘Pateela’ . This is actually the place formerly known as ‘Kareem’s’ the very same ‘Kareem’s’of ‘friendly Sardarji at the entrance’ & Tandoor-through-the-glass fame. While the décor remains the same, the same cannot be said of the food, service or general vibes. Read on.
26th Nov, 7 p.m.: We call’Kareem’s to book a table for 12 for the 28th at 1 p.m. We are informed that the place is now called ‘Pateela’ but ‘everything else remains the same’.
28th Nov, 12:30 p.m.: We call them to inform them of a delay in our arrival by a 1/2 hour.
1 p.m.: We reach the place and can’t help but notice that we are the only patrons in the place. So, we enter expecting super-service, especially since we had booked in advance. We smartly ordered everything; starters, main course, drinks at one go.
1.40 p.m.: We order. The 10 minutes gap can be attributed to 12 of us discussing and debating what to order:)
Starters: ‘Tandoori Tarkari’, ‘Lasooni Paneer’ in Veg. Chicken and Prawns dishes in non-veg.
Drinks: 4 Fresh Lime Sodas(sweet), 1 Fresh lime water(sweet+ salty). 4 Sweet Jeeras.
Main Course: 2 Roti baskets, Makai Sabji, Veg Handi, Tadke waali dal(yellow dal), Murg Mussalam, Murg Bahar, and another prawns dish and 3 Chicken Biryanis. And 2 biryanis, 1 Veg and the other chicken to take away, for 2 other colleagues.
The waiter honestly looked quite harassed, he took the complete order and then just vanished without a trace for the next 60 minutes.
2 p.m: We were served the 2 veg starters, 1 non-veg starter and a rather confusing array of Lime-Drinks; like the Soda and water were mixed to yield some special flavor. Suffice to say, no one quite got what they ordered. 2.10p.m: We were done eating and drinking and were expecting the remainder of our order to surface.2.20 p.m: We had discussed all the new releases; books, movies & music, Google-waves, culinary issues faced by the singletons among us, the fate of the chefs and cooks in the hospitality industry, issues at work, recipes for a zillion things and a lot more.
2.50 p.m.: We tried to catch the eye of the other 2 waitress, and asked them to summon the waiter who took our order. All this while, the glass-window afforded us a view of rotis and murgs being tossed and turned and cooked in the tandoor but none of it seemed to be gracing our plates. In the interim 3 other tables with about 3 people each, got occupied. Misery does love company!3.15 p.m: We are close to walking out and thanks to the stern command of our boss, the original waiter approaches. We go ‘Shouldn’t the drink s have reached by now? Where is the 2nd non-veg starter? Why hasn’t the food reached till now? You better give us a discount’. He has no real answers but agrees to give us the biryanis on-the-house and get the rest of the food ASAP.
3.30 p.m: The ‘Sweet jeeras’, roti-baskets, Veg Handi, black-dal, 2 non-veg curries and 1 chicken biryani spring out of nowhere. The Dal & the remainder of the order seem to have gotten erased from memory. We dive right in and eat all of it, and also tell him to cancel the remainder of the order. We also tell him to bring us the bill right away.
3.45 p.m: We have a great time, trying to piece together what we had ordered vis-à-vis what we ate and what we were supposed to pay for. We paid the bill and were talking about the fact that we should be posting this review. Hence this post.
P.S: On second thoughts, Mr. hapless waiter, he sure would have blogged about his day when nothing seemed to go right for him or ‘Pateela’
P.P.S: There was no manager in office to complain to, so I took his number, which no one has answered as yet. Also, there was NO *raita *in the take-away biryani and we have no idea what was Sweet about the’Sweet Jeera’. Honestly, there isn’t much else I can say about the food, we were so caught up in the entire wait-and-watch business.
P.P.S: Perhaps they should now call themselves ‘Handi’. Then again, what’s in a name!