What do you do when you have loads of money in your pocket?
You go to places like lush and throw it away there.
I made the mistake of going to Lush...not once, not twice but thrice and NO ONE can drag me there again. And this coming from someone who is cold and hungry after spending about 300 bucks for food. Let me start dissecting this place.
THE AMBIENCE
Have you ever seen an aeroplane hangar? If you haven’t, Lush is a good place to start. An old part of a mill painted dark green with low levelled not so broad white sofas. Hardly Lush for someone used to dining tables and not good enough to lounge either. Empty in the afternoons...(i can only imagine why). I dont know about the nights. They have a dining area upstairs which is shut off in the day. (Though I wonder why). Which I can guess, must be filled with these foo fah types who want to be covered on page 3.
THE EXPERIENCE
The first time, a friend dragged me in there cuz, as I have mentioned, a wad of money in her pocket and it was her treat anyways. We had some 2 tiny bits of chicken (he said it was mediterranean) and some rice. That was about two years ago. I don’t remember what else we had and I am sure it was not worth remembering either. We (she) spent about 1000 bucks on the food we barely sniffed.
The next time, I went with the same friend. Fortunately, this time, they had a buffet system (though, you could have only one serving) and we could just about fill our stomachs. We spent about 1000 bucks time this time too...on soup, sandwich and some pasta dish which I once again cannot remember. But it wasn?t so bad.
The last (truly truly last) time I went there...which is about an hour ago...was at the insistence of my office colleagues and my previous experience fell on deaf ears. There was apparently this scheme running where you could have a meal for 250 bucks!!!
Here is what we had?
1. A choice between soup and salad!!!
THE SALAD
The salad had 4 slices of tomato, 1 leaf of a lettuce, 1 slice of brinjal, few (about 10) slices of the tiniest of olives?decorated fancily with some vinegar and some salad oil I think.
THE SOUP
Must have been watered down MTR readymade soup with a few pieces of boiled veggies, lotsa pepper, about 4 cubes of chicken (for those who ordered the variant of the soup.
2. A choice of juice v/s beer
Most of us ordered juice and guess what we saw?Dabur?s Real Fruit juice being poured into our glasses which were not even that big. Get real guys. If you gonna loot people like that, atleast have the decency of giving them some fresh food! We just couldn?t wait for the next course!
3. Main course
This was a choice between rice and exotic veggies & rice/ tomato pasta/ steak or fish.
While everything was yummy, the portions will only fill tummies of anorexic people. Not for people with hearty appetites.
4. THE DESSERT: Again, there was only the choice of a pastry, which finally proved to be the saving grace of the meal. But a pastry worth about 280 bucks (along with taxes) is simply simply not worth it!!
THE SERVICE
Between the 4 tables which we occupied, we had 1 harried waiter, 1 pissed colleague because his food was forgotten, and at the end of it, a whole bunch of hungry, depressed people. OF course we could have ordered from the menu, but that would have been spending about 5 ? 600 bucks per person.
FINALLY?HERE?S A NOTE TO THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THE PLACE
I don?t really mind spending money on food, but guys gimme a break! Its not that your food taste it something completely exotic.
And the quantities are something to die for?literally. We died starving.
The ambience is like any other regular restaurant.
You should have more people to wait on your customers.
Your prices can only be afforded by people who use currency to wipe their backsides?and frankly, if I had to spend that kind of money, I?d much rather go to a 5 star restaurant.
All in all, pull up your socks before you really get socked. And this coming from someone who has been through the lush (mis)adventure thrice!