A team outing on a Friday noon is what brought us to Barleyz - sounded good on Zomato - Lunch buffet @ 449, decent spread when I called and enquired. Also, when specifically asked about valet parking, I was told they have valet parking and I don't need to worry at all. Now, here's an account of how the afternoon progressed and what worked (?) and what did not.
Called at about 11:15 am, to make a reservation for lunch, but the phone rang with no answer, so the good part was that the Manager called back saying they missed my call and was I looking for something at Barleyz. Made a reservation for about 16 of us, asked for terrace seating and was refused because they said they open that up only at night and for the Sunday brunch - I won't complain about this, we were warned in advance. I reached and drove up right next to the entrance and the guard promptly handed us a bill of 30 bucks - Printed receipt, mind you - When I told him that the Management said they have valet parking, I was told in not very (un)polite hindi - "Yahan koi valet nahi hai, sirf raat ko milega". I'm not sure what this utterly messed up system is right from the point of first contact and why I need to pay for Parking - I am not in a mall and I was specifically told they have valet, correct?
Now, we went up and sat down in a long-ish table, set up pretty poorly since if someone has to serve you, 8 out of 10 times he will end up touching you, because the chairs are super squeezed together. The place was empty, save another table on the other side of the room, I do not understand the need to compartmentalise as if in a crowded bus.
We were told that a welcome drink is part of the buffet and there were Lime Sodas, Soft drinks and a Mocktail. What mocktail you ask? Well, so did I and pat came the reply - Strawberry based. There seemed to be no need to give it a name or hand us a menu for mocktails, "strawberry based" and that was it. What if someone wanted something else? Well, we had to explicitly ask if we needed anything around here. Clear Minus 1 for Service! Nothing also seems to explain how each strawberry mocktail was different when it landed up - Different shade of pink, different glassses, one had lemons and a piece of strawberry, one did not have the strawberry, one did not have anything. Very, very weird.
For starters, the vegetarians got some Veg Dimsums, Gobi Fry and some Paneer. Batch 1 of the Gobi was alright, but batch 2 was evidently fried in the same oil as chicken and had that distinct smell and taste. Nothing stood out for me - Neither did it help that there were only two chutney trays for 18 of us and a lot of chaos and back and forth in (Did I mention) a compartmentalised seating arrangement. And yes, after asking every waiter in the room only did ONE other tray arrive. A little too much cost-cutting maybe?
There was a Broccoli soup for the veggies which tasted like a Sweet Corn with some Broccoli thrown in - a 2/5 at max. Lacked spice and even salt.
There was a salad counter with some DIY Chaats - which sort of put me off because it was way too much effort to actually make your own Papdi chat from scratch. Not sure, if it would have dented resource allocation to have someone help us with the Chaats. I picked the one ready Alu Chat and to my utter disappointment, it was loaded with Mustard oil - almost felt like I was eating spoonfulls of pickle.
The mains for Vegetarians included - A Paneer gravy, Hing Alu , Black Dal, Basmati Rice and Some Chinese Sauce with Stir-fried Vegetables. Oh but wait, what are we supposed to have this Chinese sauce with? The Basmati Rice? Was something along the lines of a Noodles or Fried Rice missing on the menu or did the Chinese gravy land up there by mistake? Among the other things, no dish stood out - Neither too good, nor too bad.
Moving on to Desserts. Some milk cake, ribbon cake, gulab jamuns and a beer mousse. The Beer mousse will be loved by anyone who loves the drink. I personally am not a beer drinker so I couldn't make much sense of it. The Gulab Jamuns were each differently shaped - Just gave me a little bit of relief that I'm not the only one who can turn out bad gulab jamuns. To further accentuate the problems, I spotted a waiter and asked him if they also serve icecreams as part of the buffet. He said "You tell me, I will get you". He seemed to have only Vanilla and Mango and I picked Mango. Went and spread the word at the table and we placed in our requests for the two 'wonderful'(Sarcasm intended) flavours they had. And this un-complicated order took about 15 minutes to arrive. By the time I had given up hope on the place, my Mango icecream made its way to my table, just missing my head as he placed it in front of me.
The bill worked out to about 11,000 for the 16 of us. Not exactly a rip-off, but given this quality of food, that too on a Friday noon, I was disappointed.
I have heard great things about Barleyz for dinner, but given this experience, I'd really wish the Management would sit down and think if they even want to have a Lunch buffet at all? There is no point lying about the valet service and serving sub-standard, below average food to 15 people who might just have been repeat customers with their respective families if they would have just pulled off a decent lunch. Maybe they do a better job at outdoor seating or at A-la-carte, but after this experience, I for one am never going back.
http://www.zomato.com/review/gPAxN
Called at about 11:15 am, to make a reservation for lunch, but the phone rang with no answer, so the good part was that the Manager called back saying they missed my call and was I looking for something at Barleyz. Made a reservation for about 16 of us, asked for terrace seating and was refused because they said they open that up only at night and for the Sunday brunch - I won't complain about this, we were warned in advance. I reached and drove up right next to the entrance and the guard promptly handed us a bill of 30 bucks - Printed receipt, mind you - When I told him that the Management said they have valet parking, I was told in not very (un)polite hindi - "Yahan koi valet nahi hai, sirf raat ko milega". I'm not sure what this utterly messed up system is right from the point of first contact and why I need to pay for Parking - I am not in a mall and I was specifically told they have valet, correct?
Now, we went up and sat down in a long-ish table, set up pretty poorly since if someone has to serve you, 8 out of 10 times he will end up touching you, because the chairs are super squeezed together. The place was empty, save another table on the other side of the room, I do not understand the need to compartmentalise as if in a crowded bus.
We were told that a welcome drink is part of the buffet and there were Lime Sodas, Soft drinks and a Mocktail. What mocktail you ask? Well, so did I and pat came the reply - Strawberry based. There seemed to be no need to give it a name or hand us a menu for mocktails, "strawberry based" and that was it. What if someone wanted something else? Well, we had to explicitly ask if we needed anything around here. Clear Minus 1 for Service! Nothing also seems to explain how each strawberry mocktail was different when it landed up - Different shade of pink, different glassses, one had lemons and a piece of strawberry, one did not have the strawberry, one did not have anything. Very, very weird.
For starters, the vegetarians got some Veg Dimsums, Gobi Fry and some Paneer. Batch 1 of the Gobi was alright, but batch 2 was evidently fried in the same oil as chicken and had that distinct smell and taste. Nothing stood out for me - Neither did it help that there were only two chutney trays for 18 of us and a lot of chaos and back and forth in (Did I mention) a compartmentalised seating arrangement. And yes, after asking every waiter in the room only did ONE other tray arrive. A little too much cost-cutting maybe?
There was a Broccoli soup for the veggies which tasted like a Sweet Corn with some Broccoli thrown in - a 2/5 at max. Lacked spice and even salt.
There was a salad counter with some DIY Chaats - which sort of put me off because it was way too much effort to actually make your own Papdi chat from scratch. Not sure, if it would have dented resource allocation to have someone help us with the Chaats. I picked the one ready Alu Chat and to my utter disappointment, it was loaded with Mustard oil - almost felt like I was eating spoonfulls of pickle.
The mains for Vegetarians included - A Paneer gravy, Hing Alu , Black Dal, Basmati Rice and Some Chinese Sauce with Stir-fried Vegetables. Oh but wait, what are we supposed to have this Chinese sauce with? The Basmati Rice? Was something along the lines of a Noodles or Fried Rice missing on the menu or did the Chinese gravy land up there by mistake? Among the other things, no dish stood out - Neither too good, nor too bad.
Moving on to Desserts. Some milk cake, ribbon cake, gulab jamuns and a beer mousse. The Beer mousse will be loved by anyone who loves the drink. I personally am not a beer drinker so I couldn't make much sense of it. The Gulab Jamuns were each differently shaped - Just gave me a little bit of relief that I'm not the only one who can turn out bad gulab jamuns. To further accentuate the problems, I spotted a waiter and asked him if they also serve icecreams as part of the buffet. He said "You tell me, I will get you". He seemed to have only Vanilla and Mango and I picked Mango. Went and spread the word at the table and we placed in our requests for the two 'wonderful'(Sarcasm intended) flavours they had. And this un-complicated order took about 15 minutes to arrive. By the time I had given up hope on the place, my Mango icecream made its way to my table, just missing my head as he placed it in front of me.
The bill worked out to about 11,000 for the 16 of us. Not exactly a rip-off, but given this quality of food, that too on a Friday noon, I was disappointed.
I have heard great things about Barleyz for dinner, but given this experience, I'd really wish the Management would sit down and think if they even want to have a Lunch buffet at all? There is no point lying about the valet service and serving sub-standard, below average food to 15 people who might just have been repeat customers with their respective families if they would have just pulled off a decent lunch. Maybe they do a better job at outdoor seating or at A-la-carte, but after this experience, I for one am never going back.
http://www.zomato.com/review/gPAxN
