In the world of traveling, people say 'The journey is more important than the destination'. And some of it is true when a foodie says 'The experience is more important than the food'. If you even slightly agree with this saying I just made up, Janata is a place you should visit. This small 'lunch home' is part of Discovery Channel's Lonely Planet book and that is a BIG thing since only the 'must do' places get featured here.
Food
Food here is pretty good. I'd highly recommend the Chicken Crispy and/or Chicken Lollipop starters. Down that with your choice of alcohol. Here, you get alcohol by the bottle (and ofcourse by measure too if you like) If you are in no mood for drinks, get their Chicken Manchow soup. It is perfectly spiced with lots of ginger and garlic. Small shredded pieces of chicken and egg and it is heavenly. The Chicken Tikka biryani is truly epic too, albeit a little on the dry side. Their chicken Manchurian gravy is an unusual brownish-red colored gravy, but nice nonetheless.
Special mention goes to the combination of Chakli and Schezwan sauce. They charge you for both, but that is a MUST try.
Service
Nothing too great honestly. Expect your food to arrive at your table in less than 15 minutes of ordering. The waiters seem to be running around and you think they must've forgotten what you've ordered, but you will be wrong. Once you order, just hold on tight for 15 minutes and you will get what you called for. The service for drinks is pretty quick too. Almost every table has a ice box, so you don't need to keep calling the waiter to fill up your glasses with ice
Ambiance
This is a proper old-school-Indian 'bar'. If you are going there on a first date, DON'T. This is a 'friends-only' sort of bar. Yes, you will find the typical Bandra crowd here. When I said it is a proper 'bar', that does not limit the women from pouring in. You will see men and women of all (legal) ages to be there at Janata at any given point in time. Yes, if you want to have a quiet discussion or just want to chill with a beer, Janata is NOT for you. This place is INSANELY noisy, uncomfortably crowded and hot and no music. You will find people laugh like they heard the most epic joke they have ever heard, some yelling at the waiters to bring their next drink, plates being chucked around on the table. In short, it is chaos. Btw, Janata is split up into 3 sections. The ground floor is a non-AC small restaurant where people share tables with you. The room on the 1st floor has just 1 AC and about 10 tables tightly packed. There is another room on the 1st floor itself which also has about 10 4x6 seating-style tables. I'd recommend going to this room.
Damages
You will be amazed at how cheap this place is. You have a couple of beers, have some starters and finish it off with food, expect to pay not more than 350-400 bucks a head. And that is cheap. Remember that most of the restaurants charge you 120-150 bucks for a pint. Here I'm talking about a full 650ml bottle for 130 bucks! The food is great, not overpriced and is a good experience.
Will I go there again - YES!
Will I go there again with friends - ABSOLUTELY!
Will I go there again with family - err... are you serious? NO!
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