Bong Connection — Restaurant in Bengaluru

Decent homely food at very reasonable prices, no frills ambience, BUT extremely long wait time "on weekends". We are told that on weekdays there's hardly any crowd, so not much waiting.

It's a very small place, actually a mess than a restaurant, with a capacity of 20-30 diners max. It's right on the street. The downstairs has the cashier's desk and a kitchen. Service area is upstairs. I feel the place caters to mostly people from IISc, NIAS and MSR who miss home food or want a change from instt. mess food, without spending much. There is no attempt to attract customers with any form of interior decoration. Just a place to eat if you also have time to wait, or desperate (like me) for Bengali flavor but don't want to go all the way to a good restaurant.

The choice of authentic Bengali restaurant this side of Bangalore is limited. There's only Oh Calcutta, which we have visited several times. We wanted to try a different place, searched online and found this place. The menu seemed impressive. There's something for everyone. So we went to the Bong Connection for a late Sunday lunch, and were surprised to find that at 1:40 pm there were hardly anyone. But as soon as we sat down, the place got completely filled up. I think everyone must have wanted a late lunch!

There are 3 people running the place...2 people cooking and 1 person serving. And they don't have many things mentioned in the menu.

We ordered pabda shorshe, mushroom manchurian, alu bhaja, dal, rice and luchis. For beverage they had only the canned/bottled ones. No fresh lime soda etc. The rice came first, hot and steaming at around 2:30... that's about an hour after ordering... but none of the sides came until much later. By the time dal and alu bhaja came, the rice had become cold, and we had also already eaten most of it just like that because we were too hungry to wait any longer. Then we ate the dal like soup. Manchurian followed much later. At some point of time the pabda appeared. I had that with a few spoons of rice i had saved. When we were almost done eating the luchis finally came. This was the most confusing meal I have ever had. They didn't have any dessert even though the menu listed some.

My pabda was fresh and well cooked. The alu bhaja is the finely shredded crispy alu bhujia kind. The masoor dal is a bit too runny for my liking but it was tasty. The mushroom manchurian was really really good. The hot luchis were heavenly. The server was cordial and friendly, and visibly trying his best to do his job well.

BUT... And it's a seriously BIG BUT.....

the extremely long wait time, and different items coming at far separate timings makes it difficult to have a satisfactory eating experience. Actually it's very confusing.

Maybe, this place will do much better if they reduce the number of items on their vast menu (~ 200 items across 8 pages, Chinese+North Indian+ Bengali) in a small mess kitchen like this. Perhaps it's best to stick to the name and just serve a small but good selection of popular Bengali dishes. The place seriously needs to figure out a way to manage their service timing. The server did say he will bring items as and when they are ready. But certainly, bringing just rice after an hour of ordering and following with dal after another 20 minutes is not an efficient business model. It seems to me that this place is a beloved brainchild of a foodie cook. But they seriously need to LEARN or figure out a better PROTOCOL OF COOKING MULTIPLE DISHES FOR MULTIPLE TABLES, AND A GOOD SENSE OF BUSINESS to efficiently and successfully run a commercial kitchen. Hard work alone is not enough. My best wishes to them for the future. I really wish...

Bong connection is a classic example of mismanagement of talent in the hospitality and restaurant business. As I have wasted many hours sitting there, I spent a little more writing my experience review of all my visits. About Last Visit, Poila Boisakh: We pre-booked for dinner one day prior for 12 heads and offered advance payment so that no confusion happens. Booking was 7 pm onward; we called at 5 pm to reassure our booking, and the owner lady replied, "we have kept your food though we don't have any extra food left. Only those who have pre-booked will get food." We reached there at 6:45 pm and entered at 7 pm. We got our first dish at 8:45 pm and the 2nd dish at 9:25 pm. While we waited 2-3 hours for pre-booked food, they constantly served in Dunzo, Zomato (I have proof) and told us that food was not available for us(pre-booked). Serving order of foods is with gap time: fish fry-40min-rice-mutton-35min-Alu fry-15min-hilsa-15min-Amerchatni. Does any Bengali eat in that order? Also, in the name of mutton, they gave two good pieces with two worst 'chhat-maal' pieces. About the previous three visits:

1. Restaurant runs with a strength of 3.5 staff, as the male owner neither serves nor takes orders, only sits at cash counters. Their business model is "minimum quantity, minimum wastage, minimum loss". Still, whenever you pre-call and check for food availability, they will never clearly say don't come; we are out of food; instead they say " dada asun, dekhte habe ache kina". And you will go and end up seeing dal, fish items, veg items and mutton are always out of stock. With only 3.5 staff, they must know the amount of remaining food and correctly inform the customer.
2. On my visits in March and April (twice), I have found the taste is good ( except Shukto, horrible, which they never accept). I adjusted myself to the wait time of 40-55 minutes. But what happened on Poila Boishakh forced me to write the review. My suggestion is that you should run a cloud kitchen. Or be a chef in any big restaurant. You cook good (Except yesterday, we got semi-cooked mutton). Or at least take a crash course in hospitality and man-management from any school or from 'Roy hotel' near you. Your food taste is good & cheap, but I value my time and respect more. When customers use your dine-in facility, appreciate them, and listen to their feedback. Otherwise, I have seen many businesses boom and vanish in a few months in Bangalore. And those reading my comment will learn about the owner's rude nature by reading their rude responses to others. They are the least apologetic, have the worst management skills, and least prioritise dine-in customers. Only plus point cooks basic dishes well. Now it's up to you to visit and crosscheck my review. For dine-in I will give a minus 5-star rating. Just stop the dine-in facility and focus on the...

09/08/21: @Bong connection: Thanks for your response to my review. I just shared my experience and opinion, which to my understanding is within my limits and rights. However, the way you have responded to it and have gone to the extent of personal attacks surprised me. Responding to them is beyond my taste. However, being a food enthusiast and having visited restaurants all over the world, I was curious and have made a formal enquiry with appropriate authorities on whether you can actually tell a customer what you have told me for his/her reviews on a platform that is open for honest reviews and opinions. :) Best wishes and hope no other customer experiences what I had to.

08/08/21: After reading good reviews about this restaurant online, I ordered food from here. However, I was extremely disappointed. First of all, the food arrived absolutely cold. Secondly, the preparations were much below average. The "Luchi"s were of some odd shape and size, and were like thick papads. Not sure when in the past they were fried. The "Aloor Dum" was nothing but cold oil with some masala pastes and spices floating in it. The 'Mix Dal' was for some reason so very spicy. The 'Aloo Bhaja' was almost black in colour. At the very first glance, you can say that it was fried in burnt oil that was being reused. The 'Kumro Bhaja' was the only thing that appeared and tasted perfect in my entire order. The 'Daab Chingri' was okayish, modulo that it was most likely made of frozen medium size prawns available in the supermarket and there was unnecessary usage of green chilli. I do not know how so much of a difference between the food served at the restaurant (as reported in Google reviews) and the food delivered (based on my experience) is feasible. But as a Bengali, I did not find any "Bong connection" in what was delivered to me. In my opinion, it is a must avoid place if you are looking for authentic...