Barbeque Nation - Kalyan Nagar — Restaurant in Bengaluru

Oh how the once mighty have fallen!

I remember 10-12 years ago when i used to go to BBN almost every month, it used to be an occasion. The food used to be exceptional, the service top notch. Like i said, that was 10-12 years ago.

Fast forward to today, our Lunch trip turned to an absolute disaster for the whole family. Here we go,

The Grill kebabs were dry and far too salty. You could easily make out they had been prepared many many hours ago and merely kept outside with no care The Starters also had Chicken Leg and Shish Kebab options that for some reason our servers never bothered to offer us. I got to know these options also exist by seeing them being offered to another table We went on a day when they had "Biryani Festival" going on. I see 6 Small Handi kept on one side with basically no name plate on them so you have to keep asking the server which Biryani is Which. The Mutton, Fish and Chicken biryani only had rice left and quite literally no protein left on them. The Curries (Butter Chicken, Mutton) were mostly just sauce left with barely any pieces of meat left We had asked for Butter Roti but never got it Every single food item we stated felt stale and seasoning done wrong. Either an item was far too seasoned that it completely overpowered its own space or didnt even have salt at all

Im going to keep a Special section reserved here just for the Dessert part! The Kulfi were the iciest kulfi Ive ever tasted. And here's a funny iron, I got myself a Malai Kulfi which pretty much had NO malai whatsoever. Having Non-Milky Kulfi was my first and certainly my last!! Found 2 Cockroaches around the Ice Cream and Gulab Jamoon area. The Cake/Dessert section had half the items with no name plates so it was anyone's guess as to what they were eating The Cakes in the dessert section had several Fruit Flies flying on top which was downright disgusting

Service - As pathetic the food was, it was the service that hit the worst way. One shining light though here was Rudra who kept smiling and tried his best to make things better for us, so my sincere kudos to him! The cockroach issue was reported to one of their servers, who saw it run behind the soup counter and turned to me and said "Its gone now". Yes the server actually said that to me and smiled!! The starter we were never offered, were brought to the attention of the Manager, who turned to us and said "You should have asked us to get those to you". So next time, you must always memorize what the menu has so that you dont miss out since the servers are so damn incompetent

I gave 2 stars to the ambience as we were forced to bear witness to annoyingly loud music and tunes every 5 mins to celebrate some occasion or another at tables. While I love the fact that the restaurant is attempting to make the event special for their customer, the music should not be uncomfortably loud for other families. Esp when youre made to listen to it many times in a singl sitting

This was a long but sad end to my journey with BBN that started over a decade ago. One would think that BBN being the OG in this space, would be at the top of their game esp with the competition being so so good. Alas, thats not the case here and it looks like BBN has completely given up.

Price : Criminal to charge us INR 1000 Per Person (Total Bill Paid 5034) for the aforementioned experience. Just sad to see BBN is banking on its lost glory to charge such exorbitant prices for such a degraded setup. I can assure you at this pace, it wont last long as long timers like us are not going to come back ever. My 5k is well...

A far cry from what it was a few years ago. We decided to visit BBQ nation to bring in the new year and gorge on some delicious starters. What we got instead was kind of a rude awakening!

We visited the Kalyan nagar branch and right from the get go, we were shocked.

The building is rundown, the lobby and the elevator leading to BBQN is dirty and filled with cobwebs. We were asked to take a seat in the waiting area while our table was being set up. The arm rests of the chairs in the waiting area were sticky and dirty. There was a Christmas tree that was pilfered and destroyed (probably by kids) and the decorations were pulled down. There was a display rack with BBQN delivery boxes and that was covered in dust as well.

We were led to our table - YOU guessed it, the table was grimy. Our wait staff came in with our cutlery bunched in their hand and just heaped our cutlery on the table.

We were served a few veg. Starters while we waited for our non veg skewers. The coal that was brought in was barely warm, our non veg skewers were pre-cooked and placed on the coalpit. The meat was overcooked as well.

I remember going to BBQN earlier and they had basting oil, 3 to 4 different kinds of dipping sauces, a WIDE variety of meat on skewers and they'd bring in sheekh and chicken leg pieces off the tandoor as well.

This was a far cry from my previous experience. We had small pieces of overcooked chicken, fish and prawns this time. We had the wait staff come and serve us one chicken leg piece off the tandoor. We had another try to sell us non alcoholic beer and were given one bowl of mint chutney as accompaniment. I must say, we did enjoy the prawns. It was quite decent.

All throughout the hour we were there, the wait staff piled used plates and leftover bones right opposite our table. It was disgusting to look at and they spilled a few things on the floor and left things that way as well.

Moving on to their buffet, the salads at the salad station seemed old and wilted. Their curries had been sitting there for a while (the top had developed a skin). The chicken biryani rice and the white rice were dry. The dal makhani was the saving grace.

The dessert station was crowded and not stocked so patrons were standing around waiting for them to be restocked and eating around the station.

There were a few drawers opened half way and they were filthy inside. The cutlery was stocked there and a few more random things were thrown haphazardly.

We had one person approach us while leaving asking us about our experience and we lied so we could get out of there as soon as possible. He continued to talk to us and tell us that we'll receive a call and will be asked about our experience. He requested us to say it was excellent. Not good, not ok, but excellent! Apparently the management takes them to task if the feedback is anything short of excellent.

My question to the management is - HAVE YOU STEPPED INTO A BBQN BRANCH RECENTLY? It has the same decor and furniture that was there almost a decade ago. The chairs are rickety now. The standards are below abysmal and the onus does not fall on the staff. They can do only so much with what they are given.

To those thinking of going to BBQN, do yourselves and your stomachs a favour and GO...

HORRIBE EXPERIENCE. PLEASE AVOID THIS PLACE.. Our experience below: Lift was not working while we entered (during our exit, it was working, but was looking very scary and kid of not maintained well. So we took stairs).

No issues with reception and was guided to seat..

NOW THE HORRIBE EXPERIENCE STARTS: A lady attended and asked for food preference and we responded accordingly. However, her expression showed she is not in a good mood. Then she came with 2 plates and banged them while keeping in the table. Was shocked to see this kind of attitude, as if this work is a headache for her. It was now clear that this lady really has some issue with her/something bothering her. She badly lacks motivation to work and this is something their Management should look into.

Then comes the barbecue items. We entered at around 3.15 PM. After a couple of rounds, the person says we will serve barbecue till 4 PM. This should have been told while booking. Then I would not have booked. Anyways, we told to bring a couple of some barbecue items.

Now comes to main course. Though I didn’t wanted to have too much of main course, I just took little bit of noodles and sat back to have it. To my utter shock again, it was completely cold. I guess one of the staff saw it from a distance that I took noodles and he knew its cold, so he comes to me and asks how is the food. I was so angry, but somehow controlled myself and just responded its cold. He then said “don’t have it, I will warm it and bring it to you”. I said not needed and didn’t consume it. Then I went back and got a few jamuns and little of halwa. Jamun was good, but halwa pathetic. Now comes a staff and shows his unprofessional limit. He says sorry etc., and keeps repeating “galti toh insaan se hi hota hai na, kya kar sakte hai”. I was silent, though felt like saying “we too did mistake by coming here”. Then, they brings some shake kind of item and says its complimentary. I tasted a bit and it was just pathetic. Paid bill in the next 2 minutes and came out. Payment process also horrible. A link comes via message and we should make payment, to which I said at least this process should have been smooth. Then they gives the scan and we paid. Clearly told them not coming here again and will not recommend anyone to come here.

All these shows Management is not competent and feels that its all fools who comes here to eat. Such a pathetic service and food quality and they are happily running this place. I saw a few of management guys at a distance, having some meeting. Maybe I should have gone there and thanked them on such a great job they and their guys are doing. But I was really angry, so kept silent. Only thing running on my mind was, maybe we should have gone through some reviews. We have been to this place a couple of times(last was around 4 months back) and both food and service was great. So we just booked and this was our mistake. Anyways, it was a learning that one should always see the reviews of any place even though they had visited...