You are not a Puneite if you do not know Vaishali Restaurant.That should you give you an idea of high degree of popularity of Vaishali Restaurant in Pune.
I was quite curious, rather impatient to visit this restaurant when I relocated to Pune from Bangalore. Every single puneite you meet, tells you about this restaurant.Well when you hear about the restaurant so much, how will one be able to hold on for long? and I was missing for authentic south indian food then, having moved from Bangalore to Pune.
I eagerly waited for weekend to arrive.Counting down every single day to visit the restaurant.And then finally the D-Day arrived.
I along with my wife went to the restaurant.Its located on FC Road in pune.Once I reached the place, I struggled for half an hour for parking.Not a good note to start with.Management should have taken some pain to help customer with parking.But I think thats too much to ask for an average eatery place.Lets leave it at that!
Once I was in, I wondered wether I was in Restaurant or in Fish market.The place so damn crowded that it will dampen all your spirit. I had to scream almost to speak to the person next to me.Add to this chaos, you wait near some table hoping for someone to get up! The moment you spot a empty table, you have rush there like a musical chair competition and grab that place, else wait for another 15 mins.You have to drop all ethics of behaviour in restaurant to get seated soon.Once you manage to get the seat, wait there is more, you are not yet done.You have to wave hands many times, 5 times atleast to get the attention of waiter.Once you manage to do that, don’t expect them to help you make choice with your order.Be prepared to listen the whole menu in one breath.They are more mechanical than human.Once you catch up some words he utters and place the order, patiently wait for food to come.It may come any time, just like one can’t predict how much time you will have to spend in traffic, similarly you can’t predict at Vaishali how much time you have to wait. It will depends upon customer traffic and ofcourse your luck!
After all this herculan tasks, once you get your food, what lies in the dosa they serve is not taste but disappointment.This is not to say that their food is bad.Their food is average on all counts.But with hopes held so high, you will not like it I am sure.Pricing is OK, food is OK.You get similar taste on every nook and corner of Bangalore at half the price! I failed to understand whats so special in Vaishali! Thats it. That was my first and last visit to that place.
Like someone rightly remarked, you like Vaishali if you have herd mentality. I feel thats quite true for this restaurant.