At the most chilled out day of the week - Sunday, you usually want to spend a nice and relaxing time with family or friends.
And place you ll choose for that is very important.
While searching for the place somewhere in Andheri-Juhu area I came across Hometown Cafe.
To be entirely honest without my friend’s advice I would never go there simply because from outside it gives no impression of a good place to have brunch-dinner or even a cocktail.
You can hardly see from the road the inside ambiance. And the placement of the cafe itself gives no good associations.(though when you re inside Hometown Cafe you realize the view is awesome, cause basically it’s facing the Juhu beach).
The logo has all attributes of rock style - black background, very specific yellow font used. It reminds me more of "Hard Rock Cafe" with all its attributes.
Though my real experience in this place turned out to be absolutely different from my expectations.
So, let’s start.
Ambience
Place is very cozy, has a lot of small details to catch your eye, that complete the picture. It’s looking very authentic, somehow having a lot from Georgian style - warm colors, lots of wood and wine-culture decor.
The light is not very bright and that works for the atmosphere even more. After 4 pm the sunlight is striking the windows and makes the whole place look like made of gold. Very impressive.
Food and presentation
Food was very good.
Both veg and non-veg menu. Though the variety of dishes could have been better.
We ordered paneer, some chicken wings, potato-cheese sticks as a starters.
All of them didn’t disappoint. Paneer was soft enough, gentle and spicy. Potato sticks had a really good cheese filling that complimented the taste of baked potato.
Chicken – it’s worth a separate line. There are not so many places that can serve really good chicken wings – usually taste of the chicken itself is lost behind the fried spices around. This is a whole different story. Chicken wings in HomeTown Café were amazing, fried exactly to the extend needed not to spoil the taste of the chicken.
As a main course I took a dish with chicken in a smoked sauce, rice and eggs. Again – they are good indeed in preparing the chicken. Meat was gentle and of deep, intense taste. Sauce complimented the chicken completely, though this kind of sauce is not what you can usually get with such kind of food. Eggs were cherry on top of the pie, adding a unique taste impressions along with the rice.
Desserts
We’ve tasted chocolate cake – 4 out of 5. Sweet and fresh, but a little overwhelmed with cream to my mind. Still very good.
Ice-cream with fruits and cookies – 2.5 out of 5. Ice-cream itself was not good at all – too synthetic taste, no soft milky consistence. But the fruits and syrup added it a nice unusual taste, mostly because of ingredients compatibility.
Chocolate sizzling brownie – hot, warm, very soft taste completed by hot caramel, nuts and ice-cream on top. Pure indulgence. 5 out of 5.
Drinks
The good thing – they prepared the cocktails with freshly made juice. Served them nicely. Taste is good and cooling.
But the disappointing part – they had too less beer. After few bottles my friends took, they said they ran out of it.
Not having enough beer on Sunday in your café – there’s definitely something for administration to think about.
Overall for drinks – 3 out of 5
Customer service
2.5 out of 5. Bartender was irritated and wasn’t even trying to hide it while preparing the cocktails for us.
One of the waiters was very slow and all the time forgetting something.
Another one was not aware of the options in menu and of the ingredients. Not competent to my mind.
But manager was nice and polite, carefully resolving all the issues.
Value for money
Frankly speaking we paid a lot.
But most expenses were on drinks. So if you’re planning to hit the bar and not that much caring about food – this place is not for you.
Food was worth every Rs paid. Prices range from 150 Rs to around 350-400 Rs.
Desserts – 80 – 180 Rs
Overall for the place – very good. A perfect place to chill with friends on Sunday. Good food and relaxing ambiance.
I would highly recommend to visit the place at least once. But I will definitely come back there.