Gesmo Restaurant — Restaurant in Ladakh

Located at the intersection where Zangsti Road and Fort Road meet, this eatery is hard to miss. It has a small indoor sitting area with tables ideal for small groups of four or less.

They have some baked products on display on one side of the room. I tried the almond cake on a previous visit and it was quite good.

This time, I brought my friends along so we could try some dishes on the menu. The menu has a large selection ranging from breakfast meals to Indian, Chinese, Italian, and Continental cuisine.

My friends ordered a Chicken Sizzler and a Pepper Garlic Steak, and I asked for a normal Chicken Steak. We also got two Lemon Sodas and a Ginger Mint Honey tea.

I had read some reviews online of the restaurant, so I was expecting a long wait. The restaurant was quite full although it was around 3 PM by then.

After a while - I didn't check how long - our drinks arrived. They looked pretty normal, nothing fancy, and tasted exactly as their names suggested. We sipped and chatted, our hunger growing stronger by the minute.

Being right next to the main road, there are many things to watch while waiting for your food. We even saw a car bump into an elderly-looking tourist. The car was moving slowly, so the man did not get badly injured.

Finally, our plates of food arrived. The restaurant did not have mashed potatoes to accompany our dishes, so we all got fries. Another amusing addition was the fried rice that came with the steaks and veggies. Never seen that before.

Personally, I thought the sauce went very well with the steak, but the steak itself was of average size. The fries were soft enough, but the veggies were quite flavorless. My friends, on the other hand, found the taste and quality not up to the mark.

The restaurant has a wide range of dishes on offer, so it would be unfair to judge them based on the three dishes that we tried. I think it is one of the eateries worth checking out in Leh. Our bill came to Rs. 1522,...

The GESMO is a long-standing landmark in Leh's tourist district. I remember having breakfast the last two times I was here and how much I enjoyed it, sitting by huge windows overlooking the busy street. A great place for good food, people-watching and overhearing travel stories. The GESMO's old premises have been torn down a bigger and finer building is coming up in its place. The process could take up to two years more. Meanwhile, fear not, the café-restaurant has moved into the first floor of the building opposite its old premises, in a fine, colourful, even fancier premises. There're plush sofas, blue cushioned chairs, and an awesome narrow oitdoor light blue balcony with high chairs, overlooking the happening Fort Road. Since it was breakfast time, I ordered an Indian breakfast. Not my first choice, but the prices fort the set GESMO breakfast have moved northwards and beyond the budget of Indian backpackers like me. The GESMO also doesn't have brown bread, so all the more reason to avoid its western set breakfasts. The GESMO has always been a pro in how the food is served and laid out on the plate. It's good to be pampered this way. The aloo paratha was delicious, soft and crunchy. The masala omelette very authentically Indian. The masala chai that came with the breakfast could've been a bit hotter, but never mind. The experience sitting in the balcony with my meal, and watching the world go by was...

I went to this restaurant with high hopes, assuming it has good rating and middle of the market location leads more to the credibility, but my experience was the least expected.

The service is pathetic. At least, in my case, it was. The waiter took our orders, which were a pizza, butter tea and watermelon juice. Nothing fancy, time consuming.

And then the wait started. 20 min later the waiter comes and tells sir, the pizza cannot be made as the base is finished. We say, okay, no problem. Please do grilled sandwiches instead. He obliges and goes back to the kitchen.

And then the wait startes. 20 min later, we get our tea and juice. At this point it is 40 min past the original order time. We still accept and ask to expedite the Sandwich order please. But, time goes on and on and we do not get our order. People who came after us got their order and even started leaving after finishing. 40 min later, after politely telling the waiter that we are leaving and please let us know the bill, he does get the sandwiches, which haven't been grilled at all( I have shared the picture). You can compare it with the pics other people have uploaded.

Overall, the taste was good, ambience was good as well, but the service ruined the experience. So, if you are planning to go here, keep this in mind, for else...