Lotus Cafe — Restaurant in Mumbai

My family of 4 visited the Lotus Cafe at JW Marriott, Juhu on 08/11/2023 for a buffet dinner. We ordered and received a bottle of champagne. Upon starting our dinner, we were approached by Ms. Grace about a Club Marriott membership. She offered us a flat 50% discount on our current bill as an offer to purchase a Club Marriott membership. We denied.

At the end of our dinner, we asked for our bill and I gave my credit card to the server. As the server was about to insert my credit card into the POS system, Mr. Wasim from the same department approached us and stopped the server from continuing the payment.

He then told us that he will offer us a flat 50% discount on our total amount of INR 27,577.60. He pointed to the bill and told us that the 50% discount is the same amount as the cost of the membership. We agreed, signed up for the membership, made the payment and then Mr. Wasim brought us a bill that only had a 50% discount on the food and only 30% on the alcohol order.

This was the first sign of trouble.

I then asked Mr. Wasim to cancel my membership and charge me the full amount of my F&B bill on my credit card. He then tried to convince me and agreed that they made a mistake and did not notice the alcohol amount in our bill. But there was a champagne bucket next to our table, how was that missed?

Next, I got into a series of arguments with various people: Mr. Wasim's manager, who again tried to convince me to keep the membership. Then she agreed to cancel the membership but said that it will take 15 days to process the refund. I denied, offered to pay 50% of the bill right away. They did not agree. After 30 minutes of discussions with Mr. Wasim and his manager, I asked for the manager at Lotus cafe - Mr. Peter Sethi then approached us. He instructed Mr. Wasim to resolve this matter in 5 minutes. I then waited another 25 minutes, after my dinner arguing with various people.

Exactly 60 minutes after I submitted my credit card to make the payment, I received an email confirming that my Club Marriott membership was cancelled. I was exhausted at this point. I agreed to pay the full amount of the bill so that I could take my family back home.

At 11:45 in the night, after a night of celebration and a bottle of champagne, after 1 hour of arguments, we...

It all started from here. 20th July 2013 my first visit @jwmarriottjuhu and I started my food journey with same inspiration. I stepped in almost near about 8 years and nothing has changed except staff. Lotus Cafe is located on ground floor, having sprawling seating, classy ambiance, soothing music. After some misunderstanding about reservation, I finally got a seat. Coming back to the food, I loved the placement of the counters no confusion whatsoever thanks to the courtesy of the immense space. The two regular starters were paneer tikka dry and hariyali kabab were cold and that unexpected.  However there were live counters. Chole kulche, kadhi pakode were spicy and hot, dahi papdi chat was having balanced of chatnis, pizza was hot and soft. Didn't disappoint at all. Captain was so courteous to serve me lemon virgin mojito that was so flavorful. In main course I had wok noodles along with the stir fried vegetables, mix veg, dal makhani, kulcha, and Biryani. Main course was good, served hot no complaints whatsoever. However for me noodles and stir fried vegetables were winner. Lot of chaos for desserts as Indian desserts were finished and took lot of time to replenish. Here some of the customers were complaining. Despite bringing to the notice nothing has happened. Strange! But desserts were fantastic. Ras malai, chamcham, rabdi, angoor Basundi, malpua was superbly delicious. I avoided western dessert as I found more variation in Indian desserts. Right then.. I loved the food quality, staff was courteous. However slow service, cold starters and lot of time taken to replenish the desserts left me little disappointed. But I still feel that it was worth visiting there. I enjoyed the food without a doubt. Mariott has really retained their brand with regards to their...

The ambience here is truly great and has always been a highlight 🌟. I’ve been visiting this restaurant 2-3 times a year for the last 5-7 years, and earlier, the taste they delivered was gold. Back then, they really tried to include everything in their buffet, and the dessert section used to be huge and impressive 🍰🍮.

Now, let’s talk about the breakfast buffet—it’s pretty standard, similar to what you’d find at any 5-star continental breakfast 🍳🥐. They do include a few Indian dishes, but honestly, breakfast here has never excited me since the beginning.

As for dinner, it used to be something I truly looked forward to because of how flavourful and varied the food was 🍽️. However, over the last 2-3 visits, it feels like something is always off—sometimes it’s the salt, sometimes it’s the flavours. The food feels same-same now, and perhaps I’ve become fed up of eating the same dishes repeatedly. There’s nothing new or exciting anymore, and the taste is not extraordinary enough to crave anything specific. I used to love the pizza here; it was one of my favorites. But lately, the taste has literally deteriorated 😞. It’s just not the same anymore, and it’s disappointing to see the quality drop. Hope they bring back the original flavors they were known for.

That said, this place still shines for its ambience ✨, and for newcomers, it might still feel impressive and worth the visit. But for me, my interest in visiting Lotus Cafe is slowly fading away 😕. I guess it’s a matter of having it too many times.

Still, for the overall experience, I’d rate it...