Of the very few Vegetarian specialist outings in Hyderabad, Chutneys stands out. The ambience is very good. The service. bad at the entrance(in Himayatnagar) but very cozy inside.
There appears to be a vast business scope for such hotels in Hyderabad. For otherwise, how can one construe the long queue of the apparently well-to-do(who can obviouly retort to other better places close by) plebe. And the log queue was to be accomodated in a narrow well-lit walk-way(actually the stairs) or a small cubicle just at the entry. This gives one the first instinct of leaving the place, unless the quailty food inside is enough familiar. The security is poor(not a surprising occurence in Hyderabad). A dash of lime water or some refreshments could not be a nice inexpensive way to retain the waiting customers.
But thankfully, they appear to be doing a domino’s(very quick delivery of the on-table service) and hence the ordeal in this narrow entrance is pleasingly short(about 20 minutes on a Sunday evening). We ordered a dosa, a south indian dinner, some puri and a raava-dosa. All four were delight in their own. The steamed dosa should actually have been called doodi(telugu word for the cotton bulb plucked freshly from the plant) The dosa was softer than one can think of, when the item is found on the menu. The dinner was a vast spread, and tasted very homely. Service thoughout the dinner was a little wanting in that one had to wait for the bearer to arrive with different items(rice, poori or an extra serving). Paying little attention to this minute detail might help one relish the beautiful taste.
On the pricing side, I felt the menu was on the higher side. A plate of crispy baby corn was placed at 160 rupees and at that price, you would get two or at least one and a half elsewhere. The other items too were priced on the higher side and a middle class conservative family will not be pleased with a menu as expensive as that, unless the occassion were very special.
To sum up, nice place with loads of good food for the heavy pockets.