Friday nights usually call for catching up with office buddies and chilling out over beers and peanuts. So, after a little bit of back and forth 6 of us picked Banana Bar because a) It had good reviews on burrp by trusted burrpers, b) It is centrally located, c) It was exactly on our way home and did not require any detours.
The entrance was a little disappointing as the 2/3 (?) star hotel it is located inside doesn't seem to be spending much on upkeep. A dingy staircase leads you to this first floor bar. The ambiance once you get inside is fairly decent. There is bar seating inside and comfortable cane sofa chair seating both inside and outside. We picked an outdoor table and were handed menus of Banana Bar and Tangy Tamarind almost immediately.
First Shock: Pint of Beer - 120 bucks
Second Shock: No Happy Hour applicable on beers (We reached at 6:45)
Third Shock: 6 people must share a puny bowl of beer snacks
The waiter was either ignorant or did not get the sarcasm when I asked him if we should all be sharing from one bowl.
The lack of beer snacks led us to order some mushrooms and paneer starters that were not bad but cost about 200 bucks each.
We spent 2243 bucks in 45 minutes on 12 Beers and 2 starters. I am sure they could even afford to give us EACH a couple of bowls of chakli or whatever the hell that cheap thing was - (not that we wanted that much :D ). Now, I am not a cheap freeloader, but if you're a beer drinker you'll know why I'm so worked up about this.
The service was efficient but indifferent.
This place is not necessarily bad, but our experience was. If I have the choice of going to places with a better ambiance, cheaper beer and better service, I'd be stupid to go back to Banana Bar.
aarti
