I discovered this hotel while researching for a place to stay in Bikaner for our bike trip. Read some reviews posted by some European people which said that the hotel was nice and clean and a decent place to stay. With the assutrance that a European had found the place good, we made our reservations and reached the place.
The owner, who met us on the outskirts of Bikaner, seemed to be customer experience oriented person but that was just a face he had put on to impress people. We reached the hotel and then checked in. Smooth process and then the road became a lot bumpy.
After riding for close to 13 hours, we all were tired and wanted to have a cup of tea. The entire process took 30 minutes... less compared to the time taken by 5 star properties but for a mom & pop joint, making 10 cups of tea should not have been a problem, as the kitchen was located on the same level and hardly a minute’s walk away.
Then came the fiasco with snacks.... after having paid 75 bucks per person, all we got was three lousy plates of fried chicken... cooked in god knows which cuisine... the pieces had been boiled and then straight away fried... bland, no marination, no flavour, and tough meat... not something we were expecting. We took this in our stride and expected that the hotel would have a menu atleast... but no... a menu was as alien as Elvis would be in Mandawa... no other snacks available on order as they were cooking rice on the gas stove... DUH... guess no one told the owner about a thing called multiple burner stoves... for the veggies amongst us, they served cottage cheese... raw, sprinkled with salt... not chat masala or rock salt, but plain white salt... To be able to munch on something, we had to venture out in the market and buy ourselves some chips, peanuts and some "Namkeen" to go with our drinks.
Then came another news... the kitchen is open till 2200 Hours as the staff leaves at 22:30. We asked the dineer to be served at 22:15. With the snacks served being bland, we were expecting the rest of the fare to be of the same taste... but nothing could have been farther from the truth. The food was loaded with chillies and the only taste we could get was that of chillies... when we pointed this out to the owner, he boasted that this was the best food we could get in entire Bikaner.
The staff and the levels of service weren’t upto our expectations and were poor to say the least. One guy to look after a group of 10 people... not the optimum staffing if you ask me... expecially when you want to PORTRAY A TOURIST . Overall, a terrible experience and something which we would rather forget and move on...