State of the nation

No, this is not an introspective post to see how far our great country has come in the 60 years of independence. Believe it or not, this is a restaurant review.

Since my SO is a meat-lover, we thought it would be a good idea to go check out a new restaurant called "Barbecue Nation" for dinner tonight. So I called up to make a reservation. I was told that there are no spots open till 10:30 PM so I agreed to that time. When we got there at 10:30, however, we were made to wait another 20 minutes to get a table. There were many more people around waiting just like us, some of whom were already more irritated than us!

Finally we got in at about 10:50, and figured out what the deal was. They would serve us meats etc. at our table, which had a grill in it. We could barbecue the meats etc on our own and baste them with the variety of sauces that were placed on the table in little bowls. And there was a buffet of soups, salads, main course (multicuisine) and desserts. So far so good.

We were shown to our table and given the drinks menu. 10 minutes after that, and still no one had arrived to help us with our food. Finally on signaling to one of the staff, he came and explained the deal to us. And asked us whether we were vegetarian or non. We gave him our drink orders and also told him that we would want only three of the nonvegetarian options, and none of the vegetarian ones. We asked him to exclude the chicken tikka and the tandoori fish.

The hot grill with smoldering coals was placed in the middle of the table, and our drinks arrived. But there was no sign of the meats. After a while, a guy came up with a plate of chicken tikka and tried to serve us. We iterated to him that we did not want the chicken tikka, the fish or the vegetarian options. Just as he left, another fellow turned up with paneer satay and then yet another with mushrooms! By now, hubby was getting pretty upset. But we sent the guy away, again explaining our choices. One of the senior staff had noticed by now that something was going on, so he came up and we explained the whole list to him. He scurried off to get us our preferences, but by the time it arrived, two more attempts had been made to serve us fish or chicken.

Finally our grill items arrived, but I was disappointed to find that the food was already cooked, and that the grill on the table was merely a prop. The rest of the evening went on pretty tamely, but the damage was done and the hubby had blown his top at the staff. As for me, I was already composing this post in my head.

The food had been indifferent, and as I have already said the grill was just a prop. Nothing against the place as such, but I am not sure if I will be going there again very soon.