Writing a review after ages for a place that I’ve visited two times. I’ve visited this place with my family and with my office colleagues. Opted for the buffet both times. This review will be based on a combination of both my visits.
Location - A grand building that’s located on Theagaraya Road. Pretty easy to locate even among the huge trees that it’s surrounded by. Google maps will help anyone who is not familiar with the area.
Parking - Valet is available for cars, so not at all an issue. This was during my first visit with my family. The second time when I went with my office colleagues, I took my bike. This is when I realized how bikers are treated! We were guided to the backside of the building where bazaar was a small entrance to go even further down the basement where extra oil and other wastages where stored. This is where we had to park our bikes. I understand a huge parking for bikes cannot be arranged like for cars. But providing a decent parking area for bikes as well, even though most of a star restaurant’s customers won’t come in bikes, would be appreciable. From that parking area, no lift or stairs is also available. We had to climb the slope used for vehicles, for nearly two floors height and reach the restaurant’s main entrance. Exhausting!
Ambience - The building was spacious and seating was okay. The ambience was decent. Two huge TVs were available. The sofa type seats are more comfortable than the wooden chairs with lesser cushion. Air-conditioning was ample. The only thing missing was music. There was no music at all, it was just plain. Some mild music would have made the experience much better. There was ample space to walk between counters and pick food too. The restroom was the highlight! It was awesome and maintained perfectly.
Service - Another thing that was not at all upto the mark. I noticed this both the times I visited the place. The service was slow and we had to reiterate our orders multiple times. For example: - In my 2nd visit, we were a group of almost 15 adults and we were served with 5-6 pieces of chicken starters every 15mins once, even though we kept asking them to bring more. I hope this would make one understand how this would have tested our patience. Time spent idle waiting for the next dish to arrive was more than eating itself. Only the main dishes were available at the counter. The starters were bought directly from the kitchen and had to be served at our table only. This is why the starters period was particularly frustrating. Once we went to main course where we had to take whatever we want from the counter, we didn’t depend on their service, and hence had a good time. Once again when we reached desserts, no one was available near the desserts section to help us with serving desserts or ice-cream. The ice-cream was kept out of our reach behind the counter and we had to call for some waiter and wait for almost 5-10mins till someone came. No spoons or bowls were readily available in the desserts section. We had to ask them and wait for another 5-10mins for this as well. Not what we expect in a star restaurant. Frustrating!
Food - Even though the number of dishes available were very less, the quality of food was excellent ( except ice-cream) . I couldn’t find a single fault with a single dish both days. The taste of the food was consistent. Three starters for veg and three starters for non-veg ( chicken/lamb/fish) were served at our table. All yummy! Main course was to be obtained from the counter. I stuck on completely to the non-veg side, so no idea about the veg main course. In non-veg the following dishes were available: chicken roast, mutton biriyani, kari kolambu, thai prawn curry, chicken gravy and dim-sum momos. And bread items like naan, butter naan, rotis were brought upon request. All dishes were yum yummy! Coming to the desserts, there were different types of small sweets and small cakes available. Panna cotta was especially good. The ice-cream alone disappointed me as the quality was not at all upto the mark. It was just like ice cubes filled with some flavour, like some local ice-cream.
At ₹; 1, 700/- per head, I wouldn’t call this a very reasonable meal. Of course, we had some corporate discount when we went as a group the 2nd time. But still I wasn’t completely satisfied with the pricing as the number of dishes available, the service, the price didn’t seem to match even though it’s a star property.
Location - 4.5/5
Parking - 2.5/5 ( reduced only due to bike parking)
Ambience - 4/5
Service - 2/5
Food - 4/5
Pricing - 3/5
VFM - 3/5