The Big Chill Cafe — Restaurant in Delhi

This restaurant has always been about great food, a warm and retro movie poster theme ambience and good music. We've been going here for well over a decade now, but this time I felt a couple of dishes could have been better. The Veg. Lasagne is quite average and could do with a little more flavour and have a softer filling of veggies as well. The Biscoff Cheesecake also has slight room for improvement.

The Four Seasons Pizza was really good, with a generous topping of veggies and had great flavour too. The Garlic Bread with Cheese was also pretty good and so was the Chicken Burger, although it seemed a bit overpriced. The Coleslaw accompaniment has huge room for improvement because it was low on flavour and very high on sugar; tasted more like a dessert!

The Penne Mushrooms in Tomato Cream sauce was quite nice, but nothing to write home about. I prefer their Baked Canelloni any day because it is usually delightfully tangy, rich and simply bursts with flavour.

One shortcoming that we noticed was that the cutlery holder had very few forks and spoons, as a result of which we had to call for constant replenishments. This is something that they should have proactively stocked up well in advance, knowing that we were a sizeable number at the table. The other thing that we didn't quite appreciate was that when we asked if they could get a small cake since we were there to celebrate an elderly relative's birthday, they quickly obliged by asking us to select a pastry slice from their showcase, but ended up charging us for it as well! That certainly didn't leave a good taste in our mouth because normally all restaurants give a complimentary cake, pastry or dessert to celebrate a special occasion. Although they brought candles as requested, the fact that we were charged for it didn't reflect great customer service at all. In the last four months, we've celebrated two birthdays in other premium restaurants where they happily brought us expensive cake slices/desserts without charging us a Rupee for it because they wanted to do their bit to make the occasion special. On the other hand, we were charged Rs.360 here for a celebratory slice of Cheesecake!

In terms of space, this is one of the most spacious branches in the chain. However, since it has two floors and no elevator, those who have a problem ascending the stairs might find it a bit inconvenient to reach the first and second floor. There is no ground floor.

Overall, the experience was a tad above average. A little bit of thoughtful customer service may have made all...

The whole vibe of the cafe is geeky yet modern, with classic Hollywood movie posters covering the walls and even the stairwell. You're sure to spot many known posters from LOTR, James Bond movies, Harry Potter franchise to The Mask of Zorro, Casablanca, Psycho and many more retro movies. The menu too is covered with posters in the same style, but not the items on it. I see it as a missed opportunity to blend your favorite movie names with that of the food items you order. That said, the food itself does not suffer from any shortcomings. I had ordered a thick crust pizza with a white sauce pasta (exact names of which I don't remember). Also, ordered a Mississippi Mud Pie, which is a special of this place. It's brownie base had become particularly hard and not at all easy to break with a spoon. Otherwise, the taste and layers of chocolate, caramel and coffee flavour in it are surely, surely recommended. Just beware, it is quite heavy to have on a full stomach and definitely not to be ordered if you're eating alone. In fact, even for 2-3 people it's quite heavy to finish among themselves if you're eating it...

My experience with The Big Chill had been fabulous until that one fateful day when I stepped in to order cake for my retiring professor. The stakes were high, there was a gathering of esteemed guests and the cake had to be better than perfect - so I thought where else but TBC! Their 1 kg cakes cost a mind-boggling ₹2,500 or so in case you were unaware. I'd been a fan of their rum-infused truffle for a long time. Ofc I had to get it. I needed two cakes, and I'd never tried their cheesecake. I asked for a taste test - which they outright refused. For perspective, a 1kg cake at a local bakery costs around ₹800. So my argument is this: when I'm giving you my business, no less than 5k of it, do I not deserve to have a tiny taste to see if I'm making the right choice? Do you not trust your customers?

TBC isn't the only bakery to refuse taste tests to customers, I'm aware, but I hope they take my suggestion as a gesture of faith in their customers. Every sweet shop across the country does it,...