A place I rate right on top of the charts! Have been a regular there for the last 18 years- right from my college days when me and a bunch of my fellow foodies use to eat there at least thrice a week. A very satisfying (huge) meal would cost us all of 15 rupees back then........

Cut to the present.....new management (taken over a few years back by the Bade Miyan but mercifully, the quality of food remains more or less the same. Yes, the chicken is not as humongous as it used to be and the roti's as thinner- but i still don't complain).
The place is actually quite old and run down- reasonably clean though! Don't miss the old warnings still plastered on the walls ("Food will not be served to over-drunken persons").
Right guess- no booze here but have no fear- old faithful Gokul is right across the street.
If you are in the mood for some major hogging- start with Chicken Fry - this is piece of Fried
Chicken (you can choose the body part you want- Breast or Leg) along with a fried potato- both with a delicious light reddish batter- Yum!!
The standard order is Chicken Fry Masala with Roti. It is the same Chicken Fry but with some yummy gravy. The roti's are divine (used to be much better)
If you are a Beef eater then don't miss Beef Kanda (onion) Fry. It is not on the menu but order that instead of the regular beef fry (with tomato's and potato's). Top all this with a delicious caramel custard.
Soft drinks available. Can also try the mutton korma, biryani etc.
Can have a full meal in under 100 rupees.

Good news there is a new mobile based service launched in pune through which a mobile user having a GPRS connectivity can get table booked at a restaurant in different localities or order home delivery or just find a restaurant you have been looking for, find places to shop and offers at your favorite shopping outlet.
They have already tied up with around 40+ restaurants in pune.
The user registration is totally free and there are not extra charges to be paid. I am using this service and find it very usefull for getting the basic day to day services.
If you need to get this application downloaded onto your handset just sms 'konekt' to 56070 or visit http://www.getkonekt.com for more information.

Ever been in a situation where you were hungry and needed good food from your favorite joint, but yet were not interested in or in a position to make the trip to the restaurant? Didn't know if they delivered home, or if they did, who to call? Or just wanted to try out a bunch of different restaurants but didn't want to take on the increasingly annoying Hyderabad traffic? Well, I've been in all of these situations, and on multiple occasions and wished there was an easy way to order my food and get it home-delivered. Not always was it easy to remember the number of every restaurant, and even if I did, some of my favorites such as Chutneys and Ohris don't really deliver at home. They gave me the option of ordering on the phone but I'd then have to go pick up. i confess to having used this take-out option more than a few times, but surely, life isn't supposed to be this hard. More recently, I discovered this online option of ordering thru Ordermonger.com and it certainly solved a lot of my problems. They list over 50 restaurants in Hyderabad and you can browse their menus online and place the order. I like the general look-and-feel of their site and the menus etc but they certainly need to work harder at making the site more intuitive and easier to use. For one, I'd like to be able to more easily customize my order, right now that seems a challenge. They also only seem to operate in certain areas of Hyderabad, think they need to reach out to Secunderabad, Himayat Nagar and the like. And lastly, they also tag on a delivery charge - i guess this is not such a bad thing because their charge seems reasonable and it would cost me more to go there myself. Overall, a pretty decent option. Call me lazy, but i love the luxury.

Its is a place were in you can hang out wid almost everyone. It serves you good food.
Customer satisfaction is our moto !

I would be happy to have your views on this !

Cheers n Peace !!

The hoardings tempt you. "GRASS"... the name sounds like a vegetarian paradise.. it was a flop show.

Dare not use their washroom/loo-s, especially after eating. The horror of the place might make you lose your lunch/supper.

Nice place, interiors.. Grrreat potential.. these guys (who are running it) are just RUINING it.. :-(

We (spouse & self) were the only 2 people eating there at 10 pm on a Thursday nite.. That pretty much sums up things.

Some lousy movie was on the wall projection cable TV. We requested the waiter to change it to any Eng News channel, the reply came back, All Eng News channel are paid channels and we have not renewed our payments !!

They have pizza in their menu. When we enquired the waiter about it, he said it was a nine inch 'pijja'. Thank you very much !

The prices are very expensive for what they serve. They slap a VAT of 12.5% but it is not mentioned anywhere on the menu. Further there is no Mah. ST/ CST Regn. no. on the bill. God knows where the VAT goes.. (to fund their VAT-69s.. I guess)

Six tiny pieces of mushrooms with two tb-spoonfuls of a gaudy red sauce - The starter - was INR130.. a big flop

I suspect they dump the sauces/ketchups used by the road-side sandwich-wallas inti their gravies.. you get tha unmistakeable (dis)taste in your mouth.

That sums up the experience of "Eggplant-in-Hot-Garlic-Sauce" (INR115). It would have helped if the dish had even traces of garlic.

The steam rice (INR50 per small bowl) was woefully under-cooked.

The tragedy that followed was the Green Thai curry (INR130). It tasted like paint. The texture of the curry was terrible.
The basil leaves were burnt (literally). The curry was loaded with just small pieces of cauliflower and carrots (aaaaarrghh !!)

However hard we tried, pushing the stuff down the throat was becoming a task that was getting more painful by the minute.

(Packing that and giving it away to the needy on the streets would have brought us their curses; not blessings!)

Couple of tables away, the waiting staff were sitting with legs on the chairs, slurping some drinks and noisily gossiping. Every three minutes a staffer comes to your table to ask whether he could remove the plates, even while you were eating !!!

The hotel management is JUST NOT SERIOUS ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS. It is amply clear.

Considering that we were the ONLY diners in that hall, they took an AWFULLY long time to serve the food !!!

INRs-525 spent on a flop dinner show.

Maybe my review is based on only their Oriental cuisine. Its a case of first impressio is always the best (here - worst) impression !!

As a rule, We are great supporters of pure veg restaurants; but this one was abominable.

Stay CLEAR of GRASS.

Like the great Ivan Lendl once remarked "Grass is for cows"

This restaurant is inside the Trident hotel in Chennai near the Airport. One of the worst experiences...why?? Read on

- Over enthusiastic / pushy staff : They tried to push us into going for a buffet dinner even though i told them that we want Al a carte. Only after we told them for a few time they seem to get it. The moment we sat there were 3 / 4 of them around us forcing us to order the expensive dishes in the menu. One of waiter was trying to get us order a bottle of wine that costs some 3000 bucks even though we said we want beer.

We told them we will take sometime to order but "no"...they wouldnt listen. Every other minute somebody would pop in asking for us to order.

- Food : Bad...for the money they charge it is really bad. We ordered a soup / 2 starters and they were unpalatable. We just wound up there and went straight to the coffee shop in Radisson next door... it is lot better there. Wait...i just realized that the chef was outside greeting and talking to the customers. What on earth was she doing in the restaurant than spending time in the kitchen. Probably that explains the bad quality food.

Price : Steep by Chennai standards.

The restaurant is a solid attempt at authentic italian cuisine, doesnt try to indianize its offerings

We were 6 of us, and did order a fair spread.

The soup (minestrone) was average.

The pizza on the next table looked good. We ordered a chicken/mushroom topping one, and it was inherently bland, but nice. The thin crust was very nice for those who hate the big thick crusts that most chains have on offer.

The fish ravioli was BAD. it tasted typically of fish that had been cooked and stuffed a while back. I am not being nasty here, we had 2-3 pieces and let go of the rest.

We also had a prawn starter. It was a mustard based sauce, but that disappointed as well. The flavours hadn't gelled well, and you could tell that the shrimp was defrosted and the sauces separately. You can go to da vinci's close by for an incredibly good concoction of the same inputs.

We either ordered some fettucine or it came as a side with one of the dishes. Was a red sauce, but nothing to write home about.

And the final problem was this, except for the pizza, everything had above average salt, the soup, the pasta and the ravioli sauce.

The restaurant is nice and small, and promising. hopefully will improve soon.

and yes, they didnt have a wine licence until a month back, but that may have changed by now.

foooooood!

Wonderful place.

OUTSTANDING FOOD. We are talking veg here.

The mushroom starter was scintillating. Probably one of the best funghi you will get to eat.

These guys know how to make magic with Pasta. The spaghetti was cooked to perfection. The white sauce was magical. I personally summoned the chef to shake hands with him.

Their pizza was incredible. The pizza chef from trattoria should take lessons from these guys.

The waiting staff are pleasant and go about doing their work with a smile.

They have an amazing range of continental desserts. Do try the veg brownie.

Didnt try their drinks. But I am told that their drinks offerings is a formidable list.

Lacking points:

We went on a weekday at 11 pm. There was zero crowd. That does not spell good for a place like this. Hope these guys dont shut down the place.

Do not go to Da Vinci wearing knee-length shorts (like I did) The mosquitoes feast on your calf muscles and ankles.

The Ambience is tooo dimly lit to the point of making you feel insecure.

Ratings:
===============
Food - 10/10
Ambience - 5/10
Service - 8/10
VFM quotient - 7/10.

Will visit this place again and again (provided they dont shut shop soon) and strongly recommend this place for conti veg food.

As they say, nobody goes to Goa to eat veg food.

But what about pure vegetarians (like the author)?

Research and enquiries threw up the name of Nav-Tara, supposed to be one of the best (?!) for veg southie dishes. We (a gang of 7 comprising 3 senior citizens) went there at 9-00 AM one morning.

At all times, the staff assume that they are doing you a favor. Grumpy and rude.. sample this : we ordered idli. It came ice cold.. believe it or not. When we requested the waiter to get us hot idlis, his response was classic:

" you will get idlis at this temperature only; if you dont want, then don't eat it"

and without even waiting for our response proceeded to lap up the plate of idli on our table. Atrocious !

At 9-00 AM in the morning you get cold idli-s !!

While exiting the place, I approached the manager (I assume so; he was the only staffer wearing a tie !!) who was on the phone, going on and on to his caller about how this particular DVD player has better features, with a remote control that has colorful buttons.. etc.. TOTALLY neglecting a customer who wanted to talk to him DURING THEIR BUSINESS HOURS !!

I prompted.. "Excuse me, Sir.. just a minute, pls"..

He went on and on with his phone talk, looking through me as if I was thin air !!

I prompted again.. "Excuse me, Sir.. just a minute, pls"..

He went on and on with his phone talk, this time je just turned his face away !!!!

I waited for exactly 180 seconds and then barged out.

Visit NavTara, only if you want a perfect way to destroy a simple veg dining experience.

In contrast, there are joints in Bombay which courteously dish out STEAMING hot idlis even at midnite tme.

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