Well to start with, I was never into south indian cuisine until I came to mysore for my education and now I am at banglore(working). I will say that andhra cuisine is my favourite out of all the four south indian states(i mean no offence to any other state cuisine, its just a personal choice).The meal served at nandini is total paisa vasool.
You have lot of options actually, but I generally order a full veg meal and some nice spicy chicken curry. For starters, I go for guntur chicken and kakinada chicken . The fish fry is equally good.last time I went there I had nice surmai fish fry.ya I keep going there. Infact I take my friends there for treats and if some one else is treating and we decide to go for some nice meals, the first choice is nandini. And ya u have lots of pickles, chatnipudi and my fav gongura chutney to add to ur meal. And take my words add this gongura chutney to normal rice & sambhar, it just tastes wonderful....its a total value for money when it comes to food. but as I hv said about myself that I am a complete foodie a restaurant is not all about food. the second most important thing is service and then ambience....but ya first thing I look out for is food quality & hygiene. Well I cant guarantee but I or my friends have never had any stomach upset/ aches after eating there(i have been to almost all nandini outlets in bangalore) and also have never found any insect/hair etc in our food.
As I said the food is lip smacking/mouth watering(believe me writing has become difficult now as I can only think about the food) .Getting back to the service....its good enough but on weekends when the crowd is too much to handle, it does get bad....i mean its better to book a table on weekends(infact this holds good for any good place to eat in bangalore) otherwise the wait time is too long. another good idea is ti be there early..i mean around 12:30 for lunch and 7:30 for dinner...overall I wud give service a 3 out of 5. One thing I hate on weekends is that if there is a table for four and only two are occupied and there is a mad rush of people outside.what they do is that if u r also just two person, .they make u sit with complete strangers....And when I am eating, I love to chat(though not advised medically) and feel uncomfortable with some strangers(coz even if u speak in a low volume they are within hearing range) . infact cant enjoy my meal(the very purpose for why I am eating outside) and sometimes end up feel sad coz u may b disturbing a couple ;-) and they give u those killing looks telling u that u r spoiling thier romantic meal...but some times if they are speaking in a language other than hindi/english/kannada(i understand only a little)....i make it clear that I dont understand thier language and they can continue with thier sweet nothings...I guess I m going off d track.
So coming to Ambience, its just ok.....totally no no for a romantic evening...no way in case u r trying to make a impression on the girl ;-)...but good for family lunch/dinner, friends get-together.They have restaurant with bars attached at some places but I have never been there.So I have no idea about the atmosphere there and the quality of drinks served. I am not sure about the kind of music played.even I am not sure do they play music? so cant say much on that....
The staff is friendly and once u get a place(i.e. on weekends) the service is fast enough but some times the food comes in different order. eg u wud hv ordered a juice which u wanted to have first and then ur meal but the meal is served first..in such cases please mention the order in which u want ur food...its always better...may b they shud have extra staffs for weekends...
well I will not say anything more, go and enjoy the experience for urself.