A lunch outing with family after a long time. We finished some shopping in Thiruvanmiyur and as usual I relied on Zomato for pointers on some nice places to eat around that area. Finally it was a tie between Olive and Basil and That Madras Place, and I’ve not been to either of them. Wife and kids preferred Continental to Chinese today and hence headed to That Madras Place.
Followed the directions on Google Maps and reached without any difficulty. Parking was on the road and I was lucky to find a spot immediately and parked my car. There was a watchman to help.
As we entered, the place was pretty small and sort of cramped and then remembered this was more a cafe than a fine-dining restaurant. We didn’t have a reservation and we just walked in. There was a four-seater table available and we were lucky to be seated right away. At that moment, almost all other tables were occupied.
The first impression after being seated wasn’t very pleasant. For about five minutes or more, there was no one to attend to us. Glasses for water were not placed and I had to ask for it. After a quick look at the menu, we ordered an Egg Omelette with extra stuffing of cheese and mushrooms and Old school masala, Parsley Garlic Fries, and Chicken Schnitzel along with Lemon Ice Tea and Strawberry Pineapple Italian Soda. Egg Omelette was served with two slices of brown bread and a hashbrown (Aloo Tikki) and grilled tomato slices. It was decent, but couldn’t quite make out what the ‘Old School Masala’ was. Parsley Garlic Fries was very tasty and nice aroma of garlic with green chillies tasted good. Chicken Schnitzel with the dip was yummy and we all loved it. Surprisingly, there was no knife on the table. I had to ask for it and again, it wasn’t easy to make an eye contact with the waiter. Finally managed to get one after a few minutes. Didn’t see a knife on the tables next to us too. Probably they assumed that people would use their hands :/ Lemon Ice Tea could have been sweeter and the Strawberry Pineapple Italian Soda was very good.
The most lousy thing this afternoon were the diners on the table next to us. Apparently a couple, who were most probably into IT or BPO were entertaining a foreigner over lunch and damn it, they did not have the slightest courtesy to talk softly. They were going on and on for more than 30 minutes about their company, their project, and colleagues, absolutely without any consideration for the ones who were dining next to them. After we finished the starters, I couldn’t take it any longer. I asked the waiter to shift us to a different table, far away in another corner and then it got better. Shamelessness of a different level I would say !
Now back to the food – We ordered A Spicy Grilled Chicken, a Chicken Lasagne, an Alfredo with Spaghetti and Chicken and another drink Raspberry Vanilla Italian Soda. Spicy Grilled Chicken was wonderful, the chicken was soft and succulent and tasted good. The grilled vegetables had a nice flavor and kids liked it. Alfredo with Spaghetti and Chicken was wonderful and the cheesy white sauce was yummy. Chicken Lasagne was barely okayish. There was something that was not okay about it that I am unable to describe it well. All of us were like ‘it tasted better than how it smelt’. It was most-likely the same dish from our next table that wasn’t smelling very pleasant and we all felt it earlier. Probably it was the cheese or whatever, I am not sure. When I ate it, it was better and I didn’t have any problems, however my wife skipped it. I’ve had Lasagne many times both in India and in Europe and this is something that I’ve never experienced before. So I’m really not sure what was wrong with it. All the dishes were neatly plated and looked very nice. Except for the lasagne, everything tasted super good! The drink that came next was pretty much just 7 Up with a faint flavor of Raspberry. Couldn’t make out much otherwise.
Finally we were quite stuffed, I just opted for a black coffee and decided to share one dessert among all of us. Curious about the name Theobroma, ordered that. It was a layered cake and looked like different layers of chocolate and it was very yummy and sinfully rich! For each and everything I had to first try to make an eye contact and then call the waiter and then I would get it after a few minutes. Even for the check, I had to wait for more than five to ten minutes.
The lunch set us back by 2.6K which included a service charge of 5%. The service wasn’t anything worth mentioning and hence didn’t tip in addition to that. Normally I would make it up to 10% of the bill. I felt probably they were under-staffed at peak hours. There was one guy in black trousers and white shirt who took the orders for all the tables. The other guys in black shirts only served I suppose. So that most-likely added to the waiting time.
Overall, the place serves good food, ambience is not the nicest, but manageable and the place is a bit too loud to my liking and it is pricey. So I wouldn’t be too keen to visit again unless I am out of options when I am in and around Adayar.
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