Critic's Review: A Charming Rooftop RestoBar But The Food Disappoints

A beautiful rooftop in Kharadi that's pleasing to the eye, but might ruin your taste buds.

DECOR

The beauty of rooftops is that the open-to-sky setting and the sweeping view of the city adds instantly to the charm of the place. Not to say that the decor at Texas Tower isn't good. It's done up rather nicely.There's an indoor section, where they also serve buffet and different outdoor sections that span two floors. The rooftop with a dedicated bar seems to be a crowd favourite.With comfortable furnishings, non-intrusive music, and constant breeze for company, it's a great spot for an evening drink.

FOOD
Paying homage to the Texas in their name, the menu has a small Tex-Mex section, but is mostly made-up of the same mix you'd find in a local watering hole - kebabs, North Indian, some Chindian and continental. We decided to order in a bunch of snacks to go with drinks. Stick with your preferred spirit/beer; the cocktails we tried, especially the margarita was catastrophic.

The cylindrical crumb-fried jalapeno poppers were oily. Cheesy (the only good part), but getting a bite of jalapenos was a case of looking for a needle in a haystack. The wok-tossed chicken, their take on the ubiquitous chilli chicken, was alright, and credit goes to the bell peppers rather than the sloppy cornstarch-coated chicken bits. The crumb-fried hot & crisp Joe's shrimp was crisp, but definitely not hot. Flavourless with the oily and thick crumb dominating the palette, this was one of the rare instances where we wasted prawns. The only redeeming factor in the dish were the fries. Treading carefully, we opted for the harmless sounding California potato skins from their Tex-Mex menu. As per the description, it was to be topped with a cheddar sour cream. What we got instead was processed cheese on shrivelled, dry potato shells stuffed with...lumpy paneer bits tossed in chilli flakes! The grilled chicken tacos were better. Stuffed with desi rajma (red kidney beans) masquerading as refried beans, topped with cheese, we had to dive in to find two measly bits of chicken in our taco. Hoping for some respite, we called for a sizzler, which looked like the most popular order. Compared to the other dishes, the chicken shashlik sizzler was a shining star. But if you've been to any half-respecting sizzler joints, you'll realise that the hot plate here is far from good. As the last lease of hope, we ordered Indian food! Kalmi kebab, and paratwali biryani, where the biryani is served on a plate. Marinated with yoghurt and black pepper, the over-charred tender chicken drumsticks left a bitter aftertaste. And the biryani that read flavoured with saffron was so generously doused with kewra water, that it didn't taste anything like biryani.

PLUS AND MINUS
During both our visits, the place was packed. If having a proper meal isn't on your agenda, the setting is beautiful to grab a drink, especially in Kharadi. The food needs tremendous improvement, and so does the service. After goofing up an order, our server responded with a shrug and a "can't do much, please bear with it" response.

Meal for two: Rs 1,500 
Address: 9th Floor, Stellar Spaces, Opp. Zensar IT Park, Kharadi South Main Road, Kharadi, Pune
Contact: 020 60220022
Timings: 12 pm to 12 am 

Critic reviews are anonymous and all bills are paid by them.

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