The Salvation Cafe, Dharamkot - Coffee, Food & Experiences — Restaurant in Himachal Pradesh

I hope this is a one-off bad experience and others don’t face it. I am livid right now and thus need to vent out about my experience. I have been here 5 years ago and since then I have absolutely missed this cafe so much that I believed I am going to enjoy the same old taste. What I’m most worried about right now is I’m staying at Zostel for an entire week. I don’t know how I’ll manage my daily food considering there are very few options around.

We ordered Easy Digest tea. What they gave me was a tea bag with peppermint and fennel seeds dipped in hot water. There was absolutely zero hint of ginger or lemon. I mean, c’mon!! Its easy to understand if a tea has ginger or lemon, they both have quite distinct strong flavour. And yet, there was absolutely no taste of ginger or lemon. Now, I believe what happened was they were supposed to prepare a ginger lemon tea and then dip this herbal tea bag. But perhaps the crew or the chef is not trained for this item. I did complain about it, but they dismissed me saying this is how it is supposed to taste. What I’m most concerned about it, they did not take my issue seriously and disregarded it making me feel that I dont know how it is supposed to taste.

We ordered Paneer burger. The last time I was here - 5 years ago, it was finger licking good! And I recommended my wife to have the same. Hoping she would absolutely love the taste because she loves paneer. But what we received was a burger with veg patty. There was no hint of paneer. Maybe there was a mixup with someone else’s order. After my experience with the crew about the ginger lemon tea, my wife said there is no point telling them about this issue, because they will just tell us that “this is how paneer burger is supposed to taste”. But we decided that we did not want to go through the trouble of having to convince them that our taste buds do not taste paneer. We just wanted to quietly finish our meal.

During billing, when I mentioned the paneer issue, they did eventually charge me for veggie burger. The 40rs discount does not change our mood though. People come here to experience good food and experiences. Not to save money.

Other items: We had vanilla latte which was amazing. Mushroom melt sandwich was meh. I highly recommend the crystal salad.

Anyways, I hope the management can work on these mistakes so it does not spoil anyone else’s mood....

Salvation Cafe @ Zostel, Dharamkot

Today( Jun’19) I decided to ride my way up to the Salvation cafe on my bicycle and the moment I reached there... I looked around and salvation it was indeed( do check out the pics)

At the very entrance a map of the the areas around greets you asking you wether have you been to these not to be missed places ... kind of motivating you to visit them if not already been there.

In the courtyard is the cafe and just adjacent to that happens to be the restaurant. On the other hand we have the accommodations( read Zostel).

From the very beginning the vibes were so positive and the atmosphere oozing out with energy.

There was a guy playing guitar, a bunch of collage going guys playing some board games and couple of them with their books.

Self was warmly welcomed by the staff and subsequently greeted by the the co host Minal, who happens to be an excellent host to say the least. She sat around for an awesome, insightful and an interesting conversation as I sipped through my coffee and her pet “mogli “ kept looking at me every now and then.

The co host apart from running the hostel and the cafe also indulges herself in making some superb hand made cards.( Decided to buy some of them)

As I prepared myself to depart from the place, I thought of taking some pics as souvenir. Minal promptly helped me by showing the best location for the same and also clicked a couple of them.

Overall an excellent experience, full of warmth and high entropy, things which a Zostel is known for.

Keep it...

As this place is part of Zostel, the location is impeccable—offering a beautiful view of Mcleodganj city. The rooftop seating provides a great open view of the sky, making it a perfect spot to relax.

The food is totally worth the cost, and they prepare your order fairly quickly. They are mindful of patrons’ preferences and even offer vegan options, which is a big plus.

The staff is very polite and attentive to detail. There were two bhaiyas and a really cute barista (Ms. Five Two… XD). They take their work seriously and are also incredibly friendly. Definitely a 10/10 for brownie points!

If you're a solo traveller looking for a peaceful time, just pick a book from their collection, order your favourite snack, and enjoy the view while reading. But if you're more of a social butterfly, they also have a solid game collection—including, but not limited to, Carrom, Chess, Uno, playing cards, Connect Four, and even some spicy card games. 😜

All in all, it's a great place to spend time with friends—or make new ones during your trip.

I met a lot of really cool people during my 5-day stay and had some great conversations. What I’ll miss most, though, is the amazing person I met on my last day—someone who had just returned from her trip the day before. I genuinely wish my trip had been a little longer or she would have come a little sooner, so I could have gotten to know this zealous soul a bit more. Still, I wish her all the success in her future endeavors and hope our paths cross again...