[CtrlAltDel]

Originally Posted by dre@ms

We are planning a project party tomorrow with a group of 16 folks. Need suggestions for VFM restaurant's. We are ok to travel till Panjagutta from Ghatkesar.
Ok with either buffet or ala carte. Max budget could be 500/head.

No need to travel to Punjagutta. U can try:

Hotel Minerva Grand, SD Road, secbad
Reshmi's, Parklane, Secbad
Paradise
Mehfil, Hotel Basera, SD Road, Secbad
Wild Ginger, Karkhana, Secbad
Pariwar, AS Rao Nagar, nr ECIL
Chillies, AS Rao Nagar

[arcotsrinivas]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

A-Lounge: Madinaguda

Hello Racer_Ash,

A Lounge is owned by the same group which also owns Atithi at Allwyn X Roads.

There is also a nice restaurant bang opposite A Lounge called as De Banyan they only serve ala-carte and the food is much better than A Lounge,So do give it a try,Their interior is setup like a mangrove forest and is very nice.

[ranjitp1]

Havent been able to write anything in here for a long time dealing with the aftermath of vacation hangover.Now that things are falling in place slowly,decided to pay a visit back here and voila this place is bursting with reviews.

Here is my two cents about the new Vasantha Bhavan.For me its a plain and simple-AVOID.

1.Lousy management.We reached the place around 830 and all the tables were full and we did not know whom to contact for a table,no info about waiting period,no taking down names nothing.

2.After about 20mins of loitering around in the space awkardly standing and watching other people eating,a gentleman(probably the owner?)came by and said " Are you waiting for a table"-well I dont think we were to watch others eat,so we said yes.He said 20mins and disappeared only to reappear the next moment and we were shown to the table.

3.The waiting saga continued just that instead of standing we were now seated.No menu.,no water.we were completely made to feel unwelcome.finally after some waving of hands and excuse me's we managed to get a menu.Voila out of the world pricing.and we decide to order the Chilli Porotta and a masala dosa.

4.Measly quantity of amateurishly presented chilli porotta comes up for a princely sum of INR 120.Precisely for 4 mouthfuls.The dosa was amateurish again.The sambhar was poured from jugs(just because Chutneys does it that way doesnt necessarily mean its a great idea-i hate the way its done in chutneys as well.its just so nauseatic)and what takes the cake in VB is that the big drum of sambhar is placed next to one of the tables and the staff keep coming with their jugs to refil and as luck would have it we were right next to the drum.The sambhar was nowhere near the so called chennai sambhar-it has been customized to be an Andhra sambhar.garlic in the coconut chutney spoilt the taste as well for me.

And in the midst of all this,the table next to us believe it or not gets a cockroach or some insect in one of the dishes.the lady picks it up and shows it to the staff,and all hell breaks loose.the rest of the story post the insect detection is quite predictable.in fact i read on fb that this seems to be the second instance.

No ambience,large amount of spaces wasted inside the restaurant.Service is clueless,kitchen staff are all the more clueless.I read the review on the TOI page today and the way its written is enough proof for me that "paid" reviews do exist!By the time we left there were 9 tables occupied and not one single table had any order delivered.people waving hands trying to get attention etc.Not at all a pleasant visit.I shall let this pass.I just hope the Chennai management knows whats being done to their brand here.

For us,we are not going back to Vasantha Bhavan.This one is in no way comparable to the original Chennai outlets.RIP

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

For us,we are not going back to Vasantha Bhavan.This one is in no way comparable to the original Chennai outlets.RIP

IMHO, many restaurants that are a hit in one particular area of the country do extremely badly at other parts. They are simply unable to recreate the magic. This might be primarily because of local hiring of chefs and cooks and adaptation of one cuisine to match the taste of the other cuisine (in this case, Garlic added in coconut chutney). No wonder, we dont have Buharis and Saravana Bhavans in Hyderabad and Paradise and Cafe Bahars at Chennai.

Most of the people that visit places like Vasanta Bhavan would be Tamilians who would be missing their own cuisine. But once the word spreads that it is nowhere close to what they are expecting, their numbers die down and in the process take the restaurant down with them.

[ranjitp1]

Ok,was back at Pepporoncino the other night to bring in a birthday!The pizzas and pastas as usual were excellent.Did not order the pasta bolognese as they make it very dry here(no bechemel sauce)and sadly we dont like it that way.They have a pizza and salad buffet for dinner for INR 445.The only problem I have with the buffet arrangement is that if the restaurant is not packed,then you would end up eating cold pizzas as the pizzas are made and laid on the buffet table-so not a good idea.We ordered ala-carte and everything was good,but the icing was the Tiramisu-outstanding.Guys and gals,you could just go there for the Tiramisu and come back.It was one of those "Whose the chef" kind of moments for us.

Ambience and service remains top class at the place and happy to see the place doing good.

PS:Tiramisu has a huge quantity of egg yolk going into it-so not good for the cholesterol! and plus it has a lot of coffee liqueur-so might not be a good idea for kids and infants!

[dre@ms]

Originally Posted by CtrlAltDel

No need to travel to Punjagutta. U can try:

Hotel Minerva Grand, SD Road, secbad
Reshmi's, Parklane, Secbad
Paradise
Mehfil, Hotel Basera, SD Road, Secbad
Wild Ginger, Karkhana, Secbad
Pariwar, AS Rao Nagar, nr ECIL
Chillies, AS Rao Nagar

Didnt check this post. Ended up visiting Barbeque Nation on Banjara Hills.
As ususual, all our stomach was full with only the starters. Special mention to the BBQ Pineapple, which was awesome.
Buffet menu was good, but didnt take much from there. Deserts and ice creams were okiesh.
For a team of 16 people, the total bill came around 9.5K. Unfortunately, there are no discounts whatsoever.

P.S: AC is very chill and when highlighted got the same reply that it is a centralized one and once the barbeque heat catches up, we would feel comfortable. But the AC cold wins ahead of the Barbaque heat.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Ok,was back at Pepporoncino the other night to bring in a birthday!The pizzas and pastas as usual were excellent.Did not order the pasta bolognese as they make it very dry here(no bechemel sauce)and sadly we dont like it that way.

Been hearing a lot about Pepporoncino these days. Exact location of this restuarant and Rs.445 buffet is for lunch or dinner?

How do you compare their Pizzas and Pastas with OTF?

Is it an expensive place or reasonable priced?

P.S: Pricing of items when sharing review will automatically answer above questions so i urge all review posters to share pricing info wherever its applicable.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Exact location of this restuarant and Rs.445 buffet is for lunch or dinner?

Its bang opposite Ratnadeep on Road 12,Banjara.The views from the eatery are amazing,especially if you take the window sides.Its a Little Italy/So kind of views and they have huge windows and tall tables and chairs on that side,so make sure you take those tables.They also have an outdoor section facing RD12.Adequate parking in the basement and its free,

Originally Posted by mobike008

How do you compare their Pizzas and Pastas with OTF?

Peperoncino is miles ahead of OTF in terms of quality and presentation and even quantity of certain items.Pizzas are priced in the range of INR250 round abouts.Not light on the pocket I would say,but definitely not an extortion.Its a place where you can go and sit the whole day and nobody would tell you to leave.My verdict is reasonably priced.We ran up a bill of INR 1100 with a tiramisu,2 pizzas,a pasta

If you want to be prepared with the menu and money-you can get the menu here :http://www.zomato.com/hyderabad/pepe...s/menu#menutop

[autotranny]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Peperoncino is miles ahead of OTF in terms of quality and presentation and even quantity of certain items.Pizzas are priced in the range of INR250 round abouts.Not light on the pocket I would say,but definitely not an extortion.Its a place where you can go and sit the whole day and nobody would tell you to leave.My verdict is reasonably priced.

I beg to differ. The taste is awesome, but there are too many drawbacks, for one, there is no presentation at all for the dishes. It is just randomly placed on the plate, and hence lacks the premium feel.

One good thing about their menu is that they have two distinct Small and Large portions for most dishes. The prices for the small quantity sure does look tempting, but the quantity is really really small.

Overall Verdict : It is nice place BUT Via Milano is much better.

Mobike : You can't really compare OTF and Pepperoncino since the prices are vastly different. OTF is just a run of the mill place, no ambiance, but ok'ish food. Pepperoncino on the other hand is more of an upmarket place. Hence I would still recommend Via Milano.

[mobike008]

I thought the best thin crust pizzas in town was at OTF which was from a restuarant ( not a 5 star joint)

I will have to now eat pizza from both Via Milano and Peperoncino and decide if OTF is in the game or not

[spadix]

Originally Posted by mobike008

I thought the best thin crust pizzas in town was at OTF which was from a restuarant ( not a 5 star joint)

OTF is great in terms of taste but the service is so slow that it kills the whole experience.

@Avi bhai: I know you asked me to try out that trick for faster service, but I don't like doing that unless absolutely required. Besides, it's not representative of what the common man would experience or relate to.

Regards,
spadix

[ranjitp1]

I guess one place not affected by all the price rise and inflation is Mayabazaar.Prices are still the old ones,food is excellent and would put many fine-dines to shame.Service is top notch and a lavish Indian meal for two can still be had in the sub 500 range.We ordered for the chicken tikka and a malai tikka and both were awesome.To go with in a couple of rotis and a dal tadka.Highly reccomended.

PS:Wouldnt reccomend the Chinese here though,probably they have had a change of chef?the last time round we ordered something after a very long gap and the dishes were horrible and very amateurish-not worth the money that is charged.

Olive Bistro opens for business from today at Durgam Cheruvu,Hyderabad.Its on Rd 46,Jubilee Hills

[autotranny]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Olive Bistro opens for business from today at Durgam Cheruvu,Hyderabad.Its on Rd 46,Jubilee Hills

Is this at the same place where a restaurant called Kona's used to exist. If yes, then its an awesome location.

I suppose Olive should be a pricey affair.

[CrankShaft05]

A quick question to BHPians in this forum:

Sky Lounge(Avasa) Vs Over the Moon(Daspalla) - which one do we rate better than the other?

We have some folks coming down from US and UK and we are looking at the above 2 options.

[autotranny]

Originally Posted by CrankShaft05

A quick question to BHPians in this forum:

Sky Lounge(Avasa) Vs Over the Moon(Daspalla) - which one do we rate better than the other?

We have some folks coming down from US and UK and we are looking at the above 2 options.

Sky Lounge is much more economic, Over the Moon on the other hand has a better ambiance, but quite a bit expensive.

Also check out the Zomato feedback on OTM, quite a lot of people are unhappy with their service.