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If you are planning to go to Barbeque Nation on Nagar road for dinner, I suggest that you stop reading this, phone ahead to make a booking and plan on reaching there.
I went there recently and had quite a pleasurable evening.
This one is a long one so be prepared to read.
[Ambience / Experience ]
The restaurant is well decorated like most other restaurants in the same league. It is quite well and brightly lit; I mean that in a good way.
All the tables have a cavity at the center of the table where a mini-barbeque grill with fresh embers of coal are placed. Your barbeque skewers are placed on top of these mini-barbeques. There is a small brass-rod like stand with a joint half way up it’s length and a flag on top. When you would like them to stop serving starters, the flag needs to be turned down, until which time they would keep serving you starters.
Also on the table are two groups of 3 sauces each. There are flavoured sauces, some sweet some a bit ketchup like, and to apply the sauces, brushes are provided for one group and spoons for the other group, which has thicker sauces.
I went in the week when they had their 3rd year anniversary, so, there was even more decoration around the place, mainly balloons.
The restaurant is divided into two halves, the separator is a rectangle which encloses the kitchen. On the longer side of the rectangle are the two buffet counters and on the shorter side is the Bar.
The waiters are pretty good and courteous too. Every waiter is dressed in a black T-shirt and has his/her name on the back.(One guy’s name is Sudan! Reminds me of Africa).
For entertainment there is a live band too. They were pretty good. Two guys playing the guitars, one electric the other one acoustic, and singing slow soft English numbers. Not that I am a fan of pop music(Ronan Keating and the like, I like Metal/Heavy Metal & METALLICA), but these guys made it enjoyable. They were just the right volume and not disturbing at all, in fact enjoyable.(Some day I hope to be good enough at the guitar to play in Barbeque Nation!). Kudos to them
Some time later, the waiters put up a dance show for all the customers. I am not sure if this is a regular feature or was a special feature for the anniversary week. None-the-less, they danced pretty well, some good steps, some slightly girlie, but delightful to watch. So much so that I was compelled to watch and video shoot the second performance! The second performance was for the second half of the restaurant as both halves can almost not see each other.
One potential disappointment was that the speakers in the exterior half of the restaurant were not working. If I had sat in this section and later found out I missed hearing the live band, I would have been very, very disappointed. I hope they fix this soon.
A new feature in Barbeque Nation, something I have only seen on t.v. on the travel and living channel and no other restaurant in Pune, was a dude, wearing a cowboy hat, carrying a neck hanging tray filled with shot glasses and walking around to make people have Tequila shots. A nice touch for people who would like to have shots and also a smart way to rake up the cash too.
On the table were these table mat sized print outs which mentioned that the bill included a 4% service charge and that waiters were not to be tipped, and any waiter that accepted tips would be discharged of duty. Now the reason I like this is because they mention it clearly up front, not leaving you at the end to decide how much to tip. I am also not a big fan of the tipping system( maybe someday I will mention why).
The place was rather crowded, and always is very crowded, so, please always go there as early as possible, or you may have to wait a while to be seated. The wait time can be killer. Ideally reach there by 7:00 - 7:15.
[Dinner]
The food at Barbeque Nation is really good. In fact the variety and the range of dishes is phenomenal. There are a few small disappointments but nothing enough to put you off completely or not enjoy the evening.
It was impossible for me try all of the served dishes. So, I will list down the entire menu for that night and then mention a small note against the things which I actually had, leaving others with no note against them.
Their menu changes weekly, so by the time you read this, the menu may have changed.
One thing to remember: their starters are so good that you might actually end up eating too many starters and then end up having very little main course and very little dessert. It might make sense to go planning to have starters and desserts only! The desserts are unmissable.
Barbeque grilled starters on the table:
Veg.
Schezwan grill veg.- I can’t seem to remember even seeing this!.
Paneer kali mirch - Okay I have had better Paneer at Cream Centre.
Italian mushroom - Avoid this one. I did not like it and found the mushrooms to have a weird taste.
Falafal with Humus - If you like middle easter food then you will definitely like this one.
Cajun spiced potato - This was really good. A bit tough and crispy. Just the way it should be.
Non-Veg.
Coastal BBQ chicken - I was not thoroughly impressed with this one.
Parsley Fish - I am not a big fan of fish, especially if it has the strong fish odour, but this starter is really very good. a must have. The fish was soft and did not smelly fishy!
Chilly Garlic Prawns - This was a bit of a disappointment. Medium sized tandoori prawns. Room for improvement.
Mutton Hyderabadi seekh Kebab - Good.
Angara Tangdi - Foil wrapped tender tandoori chicken drumstick with pepper corns. Yummy. Do not miss this one.
MAIN COURSE:-
Soups
Spicy coriander Veg. soup.
Chicken sweet corn soup.
Non-Veg
Kadhai Murgh
Fish in Oyster sauce
Achari Gosht
Chicken Dum biryani
Veg.
Paneer Lababdar
Corn Palak
Aloo Capsicum dry
Butter Chilli noodles
Plain rice
Veg Biryani
Veg, in hot basil sauce
Dal Tadka
Dal makahani
Baby corn mushroom matter masala
Desserts
Ras malai - Nice. Not very praise worthy since my moms makes’em better.
Vanilla ice cream
Angoori Gulab jamun - WAY TOO sweet. My teeth tingling just thinking about it again.
Fresh fruits
Apple Strudle
Italian coffee mousse - Very nice coffee flavoured mousse.
Double chocolate slice
Butter scotch pastry - Awesome, brilliant. A must have . Perfect right amount of sweet.
THAT IS ALOT OF FOOD!
I would suggest you go over as soon as possible, for dinner rather than lunch.
[Price]
Rs. 649 - Non veg.
Rs. 549 Veg.
Well worth it, especially for the sheer variety and the fact that it is unlimited.
There is a Barbeque Nation at the Sayaji hotel in Wakad as well. I have found that the Nagar road one is better than the Sayaji hotel outlet.
Overall my verdict is the Barbeque Nation is well worth it.
Feel free to drop me a line, or leave a comment of your experience at Barbeque Nation.
Have a great evening.