Comal — Restaurant in Bengaluru

Here we have another restaurant that has captivated Bengaluru City’s dwellers ever since it opened and dare I say it did open with much hype. Unlike a fine dine that serves food, this quaint 41-seater restaurant is a Mexican Cantina run by chef Varun Pereira and Entreprenuer Pratheek Reddy, inspired by the Mexican culture while on a road trip in that country. Now, I can completely agree on the fact of the lack of authentic Mexican Restaurants in the city that offers a vast variety of international cuisines. Another reason, why I could be a bit out of understanding for the flavours of Mexico. Can’t compare it to a standard. However, I shall just talk about the taste and the experience. Now, while booking itself, it is quite obvious that no person will eat food worth no less a thousand rupees. So, I and my friend made a reservation at the restaurant at 1.45 PM on a Thursday worth a 1000 that will be deducted by the end of our meal from our bill. The interiors were aesthetic and opulent. They do set the mood for a special meal, indeed. We went for the Chef’s table and yes, it is for the best experience: one, for the best recommendations according to one’s needs and preferences. Two, for watching everything made in front of you. Coming to the food, we ordered Broccoli Chile and Aguacaté Tacos for appetisers Chile en Nogada and Comal Roast Chicken for our main course, the obvious churros with Chocolate dip and a Horchata and a Michelada for drinks. The roasted Broccoli Chile was a robust start to our meal. Quite smokey, hot and spicy with onion rings, roasted jalapeno, mashed potato cream and fresh Coriander. Yes, it screamed Mexican or at least, the basic idea of it but what it also dearly needed was a squeeze of lemon to balance the flavours that were just powerful on the palate. A strong Mexican start. And it gets even more Mexican. No Mexican meal is complete without Tacos. The Aguacaté Tacos were quite interesting. Sliced ripe avocados with light dressing sauces and a soft taco shell enveloped in a cheesy crust. The smokey Romesco-ish salsa on the side gave the taco the much needed boost of flavour. It was still a great Taco but it just wasn’t what I really expected. It was rather mellow or maybe a little unexciting to go back for. The main course, my vegetarian Chile En Nogada was essentially a fried rice bowl dressed in Coriander, sesame seeds, a side of Walnut Cream Sauce and Jalapenos stuffed with Caramelised Onions and yes there were specks of nuts as well in the dish as well. Now, I can’t be sure if this is how a Mexican main is supposed to be but the dish was rather too sweet for my taste. It was certainly a challenge to finish it. The herbs and the sauce couldn’t help it be delicious and exciting. Honestly, it fell flat on the first spoonful. The Roast Chicken ordered by my friend was equally or even more sweet according to him. It was equally challenging for him to finish. The dessert, the Churros, can’t say that I know for sure how they were created but the taste was just like regular friend donuts with sugar and chocolate glazing. The cinnamon flavour just made it taste even more like a donut. Yes, indeed they looked utterly delicious not sure if they were supposed to taste exactly like donuts. The Horchata made out of condensed milk, almonds, cinnamon and other ingredients was quite interesting and tasty. Unlike nothing i ever had. It had a dessert like finish and it blended so well with almost all dishes. The Michelada was a beer cocktail with an Jalapeño bomb. It was hot, spicy, and utterly punchy. A savoury cocktail i never seen or tried before. Overall, the food was interesting and new to my palate but it certainly had its fair share of misses. It was an immersive experience but I’m not quite sure if all of it is worth the high pricing since the bill came out to be 3707 which was pretty high for a meal for two. The service was impeccable. Attentive and polite. Well trained. No complaints there. Also the reason why they levied a heavy service charge too but okay. 3.5 stars!Think twice...

Comal (Comaal) is the new sensation in town. It’s fashioned after a Mexican cantina and Comal is the flat iron “Tawa” of Mexico. Visited on January 7th. My impressions of the food, based on my living in Texas for 20 years, and experiencing Mexican food, not including Tex-Mex.

I’ll start with the food. It, along with attempted good service, were the highlights.

The small plates (platos chicos) 1.⁠ ⁠Chips and Guacamole was very good. The plantain chips is classic southern Mexican Tostones. The corn chips were good. 2.⁠ ⁠The Carne Asada was very good quality meat. Properly done. Good flavours. But it appears, the steak was sliced before resting, so juices were out, not in. 3.⁠ ⁠⁠The Pork Belly Chicharron was again very good. Lovely crispy. 4.⁠ ⁠⁠The CDMX fried chicken was above average. The sauces were very nice. Yellow pepper and banana hot sauce was my favourite. 5.⁠ ⁠⁠The Esquites was average, saved by the crispy bits of pork. Lots of lukewarm corn. Congealed Queso on top so it didn’t mix well. But points for efforts. If the queso was nice and hot it would make this dish very good.

The tacos Al Pastor (Pork) average. The highly recommended Baja style fish tempura was sub-par. Saving grace, they use sea-bass not basa.

Tacos were lukewarm. Flavours were mediocre to below average.

On the main plates The Pescado a la talla was well flavoured. Good fresh fish. Very nice. My observations for the owners. Don’t plate hot grilled fish on top of cold greens; on the side or in a bowl please, and the menu should describe what you serve. “Roasted Whole Fish” is very different from a fillet.

The Comal Roast Chicken was average. The skin is almost burnt. Lukewarm. Starting to dry out. Was is worthy of the Comal hype? No way José. (Later as I was leaving the restaurant, I saw the team packing away the unserved chicken in big containers.)

And now, this is where the hype goes off the rails.

There is no ambience. The music has no theme. Its is all over the place. From Hard Rock to Country to Jazz to heck I don’t care. It appears that who ever controls the music volume earlier worked in a nightclub or the artillery regiment. It was LOUD!!!!!! I was almost ready to leave. It was Anjali and my anniversary, so I put earplugs.

You need to make a reservation through airmenus and pay a deposit. Comal has two sittings. 7pm to 8:30pm and 9pm to 10:30pm. We arrived at 9:02, but were seated only at 9:20. Comal needs to live up to its hype. If you have organised timings and seating, follow it. Don’t accept walk ins which disrupt your flow and timings.

Clearly, the owners have overfilled the restaurant, and do not have enough staff. Multiple calls to the restaurant, to enquire about parking, went unanswered. The staff were running around like crazy. Full marks for effort. Fail for the experience. But once the restaurant started emptying by 10pm, then service response improved. They do have limited parking in the building.

Most of the food was lukewarm at best, except the Carne Asada, Chicharron and Fish. Platos Chicos and the Grilled Fish were the very good dishes. I will go back for those. Everything else was average to sub-par.

Because of the excessively loud music, everyone around you is yelling to speak to their table partners.

I give Comal 3.5/5 at best.

Will I go back? Not anytime soon.

Do I recommend a visit? Yes, but go eyes wide open, and ears properly padded. May be enjoy the platos chicos and then go someplace else...

It's a quaint little cozy place with a nice vibe and ambience. A hidden washroom entrance is quite interesting.

There are limited vegetarian options. So 4 of us who visited ended up ordering most of the vegetarian dishes in the menu.

Few dishes were slightly on the sour side for our palatte , yet was good taste wise.

While they mention their menu keeps changing, here are the dishes that we tried during our visit.

Pickles The veggies used were interesting - lady's finger, radish, carrot, beans. It was quite strong and blended well with the cream that came with it.

Jackfruit flauta Interesting and tasty. The shell was light and crispy. Filling was flavourful

Bread and butter Bread was interesting and was slightly dipped in butter. The chilli butter that came as a side was delicious to eat just as is.

Chips and gauc The banana(plantain) chips and corn chips was quite light and crispy. The quantity of guac could have been a little more, nevertheless the taste was nice.

In tacos, canasta and aguacate The tacos were decent. The fillings were quite good. The charred pineapple sauce was quite tasty.

Comal harvest salad We tried a bit of salad before mixing the buratta cheese and later mixed the cheese and had the salad. Both ways, it was quite good.

Jackfruit Barbacoa Quite a scrumptious one. Out of the dishes we tried this had a spicy profile. We tried the rice with each of the sauce, salsa in the plate. Later we mixed everything and had it as well. I preferred the one which was mixed with everything. It was quite flavourful and balanced.

Orange float Initially seeing a can of fanta coming with the cream was a bummer. But once we tried it, it grew on us and was quite an interesting drink

Churros The size was a bit thick than the ones I have had before. Taste wise a bit sweeter for my palatte. But a Mexican meal isn't complete without a churros!

Overall quite a nice dining experience.

As the restaurant is in a complex building, you can get few spots for car parking right in front...