The Bangala — Hotel in Tamil Nadu

A second trip to The Bangala with friends and family. Easy to find on Google Maps. This is a peaceful oasis right in the middle of town!

Arrived a bit later than expected and had forgotten to call ahead for lunch. We were well received by the reception team and the team accommodated our request for a late light vegetarian lunch which was enjoyed by all. The combination of home made ice cream and carrot halwa was good. We intentionally kept lunch light and were looking forward to dinner - (based on our last experience)

The adults had a hectic agenda to check out the local handicrafts and more. The children preferred to relax in the pool all afternoon. Last visit the pool had been closed for renovations.

The room/bath was spotless and well kitted out. Mosquito nets on all windows. Airconditioning a must as it was warm. Worked well. Note the disposable ear plugs on the bedside table in case one wanted to keep out the morning noise from the streets!!!! ;-)

The kitchen chilled our (BYO) beers and after an enjoyable evening where we were well taken care of by the GM - George who incidently is from ITC Welcomgroup and is a seasoned hospitality professional. One could notice the difference in service delivery. A good combination of personal home touches with professionalism. Dinner was a super affair with soups, sourdough bread, quail, appam, prawn curries, pickles and more.

This is a unique experience that will be appreciated by folks looking for something qualitatively different. IMHO, folks used to standard hotel experiences types may find fault, judging from some other comments. However we had no such negative experiences. Our first visit was recommended by several friends who had been here already.

We were told that they had high demand and were planning to expand from their 30+ rooms to 20 more!!

There is a little boutique shop up front where we had picked up some baskets and the owner's co-authored book on Chettinad cusine - very well produced.

We look forward to our next visit.

Look for : the superb Athangudi tiles, the handicrafts, old vessels, attention to detail, old photographs and stories from...

I had 2 BIG problems during my stay at the Bangala, which is why I would never return and I would never recommend to anyone else||1) Terrible Service from George the Manager and Staff||The service is very impersonal and hierarchal. It is very clear that they do not treat all customers the same. If you are a "VIP" or a "foreigner", you are given preferential treatment in the form of better rooms, better seating at the restaurant, faster service, and more polite customer care. If you are a normal local Indian, you are barely acknowledged. However, interestingly, they are still happy to charge both the same price.||And this all starts with the manager, George. He is rude, unhelpful, biased, and money-oriented. When I arrived with my family, he didn't even acknowledge us. He didn't say hello, he didn't smile at us - we were just ignored. However, about 15 minutes after, a French group came into the hotel, and he immediately jumped out of his seat to greet them with a huge smile, escort them into the hotel, seat them at the restaurant, and make sure they had everything they needed. I saw this happening more than 5 times during my 2 day stay at the hotel||2) They Loaded My Suitcase (with extremely valuable items) Into the Wrong Car!||When I was checking out, multiple service men asked if they could take my suitcase. I clearly said "No", as I like to hold on to my luggage myself (I only had one suitcase) as a form of comfort / safety. I was repeatedly asked to hand my luggage over. After the 8th person asked me, I reluctantly relented.||When I get to my car, I don't see the suitcase inside. I find out that the serviceman put my suitcase in some other random car which was just about to leave! I literally sprinted to stop the car and get my suitcase out! This was a huge error, because I was traveling for a wedding, so I had expensive jewelry in my suitcase.||When I asked George how this could happen, I didn't even get an apology. He just stared blankly at me and...

Stepped in for lunch and it was one of the best meals of my life !! The staff were all v friendly and they make u feel at home!!! But.... I will defenitely not recommend this place to go with kids particularly with a bunch of kids.. They don’t have any rest room facility for kids particularly and by accident if a child spills water from the wash basin u may find someone from the management policing u , every time u step inside the wash room !! And on top of that they will even advice u that there r foreigners coming to this place and to maintain the cleanliness!!! Me myself being a doctor was surprised to see someone standing next to me and watching while was changing nappy to my 1 yr old son!! And I was taught by a manager how to maintain hygiene!!! Later when we took some time to leave the place , as we were a group of ten people with lot of kids,, one old lady probably one of the partners of that place came and literally yelled at us and our kids that they cannot play there as we were not staying there!! When I raised the question of paying hell a lot of money for a single meal ,she was just ranting about how our children behaved!! I think children from her house will sit at one place with finger on their lips !!

I saw women men dressed inappropriately with towels and swim suits at the restaurant!! They were whites!! And that was not an issue for the management!! Probably this place s management would allow anything if u r a white!!!

Overall I had great food but came out with full of frustration that I wasted my money on some racistic Indians who would treat fellow Indians inferior to whites!!!

And after spending half of my life in medical field , I got a class on how to be hygienic.. pls enjoy the great food!! But be cautious about people watching u and ur kids...