This place has been on my to-do list soon after they opened, because I was quite excited to see how chicken would taste which was cooked with infusion of sauces and with no extra oil. It sounded different and I was excited, but somehow a visit to this place never happened. This visit was not planned either, it was a mere accident.
After finishing some personal work, we were quite tired and wanted to have something to eat. Driving on R K Salai, thinking of all the options around, suddenly I spotted this place. Looked no further, we decided to eat here!
The place has a valet parking and that’s convenient. We were a little too early for dinner, around 18:00 hrs, and the place was almost empty, barring one other table occupied by a couple. The ambience was pretty good and it was very spacious too. I liked the lighting and the whole set-up in general. We started to browse through the Menu and were ready to order. The waiter explained every item in detail and helped us make our choices. He definitely knew what went into each dish and was able to explain that well.
We ordered Chicken Bites, Tovo Tender Winglets for starters and Vanilla Fudge and Cream and Berrynami to drink. We didn’t have to wait very long before they were served. The Chicken Bites was deep-fried chicken which was crispy and quite hot (as in HOT because of chillies) for my palate and the kids struggled too. There were five pieces in all and kids managed to eat a piece each. Tovo Tender Winglets was even hotter and kids barely ate that! That’s when I realized that I missed the significant last line in the menu which said ‘served fiery hot’ :O The drinks came in handy – Berrynami was a mix of all berries and it was good, nothing worth raving about. The glasses were small and I would normally expect a slightly bigger glass when the drinks are priced around 180 bucks each. Some more ice in the drink would have made it better, perhaps. Vanilla Fudge and Cream was good, again in a similar-sized glass.
Hoping that the main course would be better, ordered a Gourmet Bun and half portion of S & S Chicken. I was told it works like this – You choose a base, select the infusion sauce and Regional Topping. So for the Gourmet Bun which was basically a Burger, my son chose Kashmiri Zings as the Regional Topping and the waiter suggested that Chilli Peppery infusion sauce would be good with it as it would balance the sweetness of the topping. I tasted a bit of it and the chilli peppery sauce was too pungent to my liking and it looked like an overdose of Tabasco, a mistake that I did way back in 2003 in Germany, when I wanted my lunch a bit more spicy. My son somehow ate without complaining. Of course as the name said, it was hot too.
For the half portion of S & S Chicken, selected Tangy Cheese and Herbs as the infusion sauce and Mogul Laces as the Regional Topping. When it was served, we were informed that it was Chettinad Zests topping!!! A mix-up with the order was the last thing I expected. Of course I was in no mood to change it as we were hungry and started to eat. AGAIN, very very HOT ! The subtle taste of a regional topping that we never ordered was drowned in the hotness of the dish ! My wife gave up, my daughter was in no mood to taste any, my son fought with half of the Burger and gave up. I managed to finish the burger and about half of the S & S Chicken. Really couldn’t think about the taste when all that mattered at that time was how to encounter the hotness.
Decided to order a couple of desserts so that it would make things better! Ordered a Carrot Cake and a White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse. The Mousse came in a bottle, and I thought it was very little. I wasn’t impressed with the quantity. Carrot cake was really good, the best of all that we ordered and was fairly of decent size too.
With this we ended our dinner at Tovo. I would say I wasn’t very pleased with the food! Partially our selection, partially their suggestion, a mix-up in order and too little quantities of drinks and desserts, I would say it was just an average experience.
The service was good, but we were attended by two different people. One who took the order for the starters was the one I mentioned about earlier in the post. Another person took the order for the Main Course and that was mixed up.
The dinner set us back by about 2.4K and I would have expected a more pleasant experience overall. When I filled in the feedback form and wrote that my order was mixed up, the waiter tried to justify that it was what I ordered, albeit politely. I was pretty sure that he mixed it up, nevertheless, let it go!
I’m not very keen to visit again, and just for the record, we weren’t half as satisfied as we were after a meal in Nando’s, not once, but everytime we’ve been there!
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