Ok, I swear we aren’t turning into a food critic blog or a restaurant blog, just that I wanted to pen down my feelings on visiting the Village restaurant in Inorbit mall. We had just watched Cloud Atlas (boy, its hard to understand that movie) and were contemplating which restaurant to visit.
I ran through Zomato and came across Village restaurant, it had a bunch of 5 star reviews. Seemed pretty awesome and since it meant I would have to drive less I fell for it and we decided to make it our destination. Its on level 5 at Inorbit right next to dialogue in the dark.
The dinner buffet experience is Rs.385 per person. The restaurant is pre-paid , you pay before entering, you are given coupons and a tattoo is affixed onto you like some night clubs (not that I visit a lot of those).
So enter inside, the ambience is village like. There are entertainers who are doing a pretty good job of entertaining a part of the crowd. Everyone is playing dandiya, and seem to be having fun. Great. We get good seats and see what al the place offers to eat. On paper it looks like a lot. However the food taste was disappointing. The chat was just ok, pav bhaji was too spicy. The pakodas werent that good too. The dosa saved the day since its probably hard to get wrong. To give them credit they got the Dhokla pretty bang on. Awesome Dhokla.
Its all you can eat and by the time we go to get our second helping, our glasses are off the tables. That’s weird. My friend gets more glasses from another table. Next time we get up, we ask the waiter to not remove the glasses.
Suddenly the entertainers start playing the drums like it’s a crazy Punjabi wedding. One of my friends complains of the noise, but I kind of like it. Takes me back to Punjabi weddings we used to goto in Delhi. The beats are exactly the same as they would play as the baraat waits outside. We get up for the main course. There are quite a few things on offer including ‘Aakhri Pasta’. Not authentic village eh. I take a little of Amritsari Dal, Veg Dilruba curry(or something like it) 1-2 more curries and some papad and fryums and I am set. Wait for the rotis which are piping fresh from the tandoor and I had water in my mouth.
Now the taste, the food was just meh ! Nothing to write home about, but hey maybe its all about the ambience. I finish 2 rotis and am in no mood for more. I look for the sweet dish and see Gulab jamun and jalebi. The Jalebi seems to have gone sour. Yuck. The gulab jamun was ok, but still not that fresh. We did get some decent butterscotch ice-cream when we asked the waiter for Kulfi. So we are all done and chatting when we see the puppet show is happening.
We start watching the puppet show which seems nice, but they abruptly shut it down. I mean just like that. And to add insult to injury, the person with the microphone asks people to applaud the performance. I for one don’t, but many around me do. I call the whole mockery a waste of time and repeat what just happened. They cut off the show in the middle and asked for applause. This apparently irked 1 of my friends who asked me not to discourage them in a public place. Yeah right, 385 rupees for a meh dinner and cut off my entertainment in the middle and I will applaud them. This Punjabi doesn’t take cutting off his entertainment lightly. Maybe that’s the difference, many people were ok at being shortchanged. If you don’t raise a voice people will keep ripping you off.
Maybe that’s their USP, people who don’t care. I cant imagine in the US you cutoff the show in the middle and have the audacity to ask for applause. Anyway I let my displeasure be known and walked out swearing never to visit for the ‘Village’ experience again.
Pros :
1. Variety of food on offer
2. The Dandiya and drums seemed fun especially if you come in a large enough group who love to dance.
Cons :
1. Food doesn’t taste good, the Jalebis had gone sour. I don’t understand all the 5 star reviews on Zomato. Ambience is pretty awesome, people are fun, but the food just doesn’t taste good. They need to fix it.
2. Little respect for patrons (shutting down the puppet show midway)
[Rating:2.5]
I would have loved to comeback with friends had the last incident not happened. I will also write to the management about the same. Maybe some other day I would have given them benefit of doubt.
Hi, have gone through your feedback and apologise for the Abrupt ending of the puppet show and the food not being upto your expectations. Really sorry. Though this feedback has been read a bit late , i assure u that i shall have the same rectified if not already in place. Regds .Deepak
Deepak, I just read your reply. Thanks for taking time to reply to our review of Village Restaurant in Hyderabad, hoping and wishing for the best !
I agree with u …today i went there and sweared never to visit again..on top of that they asked me to change feedback form…i vomitted after coming to home..worst experience…worst food quality for 400 rs