The restaurant was occupied on the ground floor when we reached there. So up we went. There were 5 of us. The place is nice, in fact so nice that the ambiance does not get to you. It is more like a 5 star hotel design. Good, but no character of its own. The staff was okay, but uptight - we didn’t seem to be that bad a bunch!. There was chutneys and stuff laid out. The menu cards were laid out in 4 different ways. According to each state Kerala, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka. Not a very good idea. It would be better if the the menu was listed with the dishes and the writing in a different color and a chilli mark for the spice content.
So far passable, but to do a restaurant review, you need to taste the food, not the ambiance. This is where it falters. It does so badly. We ordered a varied fare - Appams, Koli Curry, Veg stuff, etc.. and Hyderbadi Birayani - everything expect the appams, were so hot that you could not taste what the flavour was of each dish - even the biryani could not be tasted properly. All the dishes had the same kind of dark brown tinge. And this after we specifically told the staff to tone the spice down, when ordering. By the looks of the interiors and the extreme price, you would know that this outlet was targeted for NRI / Foreigners, but they can’t eat firey south indian non-veg food. It kills the purpose of the restaurant. We had beer to cool us down, but the wives were lost in the sweat. And we are South Indians, used to hot food!
For 2700 for 5, it is pretty expensive - 140 for appam and 120 for a beer is way way too high. The average dish was above 300. The portions were reasonable, but less that what you would expect for the price. If the food was tasty, I would not mind the price.
It was raining when we left, the nice thing was the staff walked us to the car in their umbrellas. That was the only good thing in this experience.
Oh, the art? Nothing to write home about.