Pages

Friday, April 11, 2014

Viva @ Taj Vivanta

While traveling on S.P road, I eye this place imagining the splendor inside. When I stepped inside, the ambiance didnt disappoint me. Hassled as I was by the hot sun and the unusual traffic at that hour, the cool interiros provided a great respite.
I wanted to try the Thai cusine as suggested by a couple of foodies but as my friend was much delayed in joining me, I thought of starting with their buffet at Viva which at the first glance looked vast and scrumptious.
The very well trained staff offered a courteous and pleasant service.
I was offered a onion-scallion-potato soup which was very tasty (or is it the hunger that spoke). The vegetarian section had four starters: the potato kebabs which were very soft and not crunchy at all...yet decent in taste. Next was baby corn fry, finger chips and thin-crust pizza slices. Of all four, the pizzas were the best.
I die for the salads at any restaurant and I was surprised to see the wide array of salads!  I went for the hummus and pita bread, the various assorted steamed veggies, sprouts, the garlic bread, various slices of cheeses and the papdi chat. Must be about 10 variants...and disappointingly none exotic or exquisite. The salad counter had some lettuce and Waldorf salad as well. Waldorf Salad, my favorite, had just a smearing of cream and very few walnuts sprinkled here and there...a very watered down version of the original. I munched on the lettuce leaves which were served with no dressing at all. The only salad (?) I enjoyed was the chat with its various masalas, boiled potatoes and papdis which I mixed and made for myself.
The main course had about six items (curries and vegetables) and pulao, each one tasting worse than the other. I had one spoon of each dish just to taste but none met my minimum expectation. Very, very bland experience.
Last was the dessert section and again I saw a huge array. I dont have much of a sweet tooth but then I enjoy a variety. There were three, the carrot halwa, caramel custard and some pudding...rest were all assorted pastries! There is an offer of 225/- for just the dessert buffet for the extremely sweet toothed person. I think there were about 15 varieties in all. The sweets were all great to taste but then having some 8-9 pastries is beyond my capability.The total, incuding taxes cost me 1000/-

My rating:
Food: 2/5
Ambinace: 3/5 ( Had a fly buzzing around!)
Service: 3.5/5
VFM: 1.5/5
Will I go there again? Not likely.