Escape In | Beach View Restaurant | Best Roof top | Candle Light Dinner | Best Restaurant in Pondicherry | Best Nightlife — Restaurant in Puducherry

Extremely Disappointing Experience at Escape In - Overhyped and Poor Service My visit to "Escape In | Beach View Restaurant was a terrible disappointment. I strongly believe the overwhelmingly positive comments are completely misleading and fake. I urge potential visitors to visit and experience it for themselves before believing the hype. We traveled all the way from Bangalore to Pondicherry to spend our holidays, but this restaurant provided a truly pathetic experience. Cleanliness & Hygiene: 0/5 The overall cleanliness of the tables and the restaurant is zero—it was bordering on the worst I have seen. Shockingly, the staff had an obvious and very unpleasant body odor. Rude and Unprofessional Cashier/Manager The cashier (or manager) was the most rude and unprofessional person we encountered. The restaurant was, at best, only 50% occupied. I politely requested a 6-seater sofa table because my one-and-a-half-year-old daughter was asleep on my shoulder and needed a place to rest while we ate. He flatly refused, stating it was "full" and "booked." I even offered to move tables immediately if a large family arrived, but he still refused. When we reminded him we had booked via Zomato, he simply said the booking was "not available now." We were forced to eat our lunch while sweating in the heat, with my daughter sleeping uncomfortably on our shoulders. The shameless cashier looked on without any empathy. The Lie Exposed The biggest joke is that no one ever came to occupy that "reserved" sofa table during our entire meal. After we paid our bill, we sarcastically asked him where the "booked" people were. He flippantly replied, "They have cancelled." We asked him why he didn't inform us of the cancellation; we could have shifted, and our daughter could have slept comfortably under the fan. His cynical response was, "Sir, yours is done, right? You can pay the bill and go," before walking away into the kitchen. Billing Scam and Unwanted Order To make matters worse, one of his staff pulled a smart move. We placed an order for two cold lime sweet and savory soda juices. They did not serve them with the meal. At checkout, we were charged for them. When we questioned it, they suddenly offered, "Sir, we'll arrange them now." As we were sweating and simply wanted to leave, we refused. However, they quickly placed the juices on our table and insisted, "Sir, you didn't have the juice, but you have to pay for it now." This felt like a deliberate attempt to overcharge. Trust me, with such terrible service, unprofessional staff, and a complete lack of decency from the cashier, this restaurant definitely does not deserve any of the good comments it has received. It was a truly pathetic experience that marred...

Escape In

My parents love their traditional food, which meant we had to get them flavours that they are familiar with for atleast one meal! We did warn them it was going to be a llloootttttt of bread! Luckily, thanks to @google, and @googlelocalguides, I found this place on the beach, with a menu that had Indian (South Indian and north Indian), Indo-Chinese and continental food and nominal pricing. This was our first meal in Pondicherry.

I was already aware that the waiting time was really long when I read the reviews, but the food had excellent rating. The place was empty around 1:30 but was packed around 2 with no tables. Whatever dish came to the table after the 45 mins wait, was delicious, but we did get time to relax and talk after the three hour long drive from Chennai!

Here’s what we ordered: Fish fingers served with Mayo - At first you bite into the crunchy outer layer, and you reach the super soft, fresh and juicy piece of fish. This set the bar for the rest of the dishes. Prawn pepper fry - If you have a cold and you love seafood, this is a must order dish. The juicy prawns, are cooked with a masala of onion, tomatoes, spices and ground black PEPPER screaming with every single bite. This is a good heat that hits you! We however didn’t want to be so adventurous, so waited for our rice and roti. Egg fried rice - Hot rice, filled with vegetables and equal amount of fluffy scrambled eggs. Even though this is a simple dish, it’s super tricky that it can go wrong. This one was perfect. Grilled chicken with mushroom sauce, grilled vegetables and herbed rice - The combo of the well seasoned tender chicken breast, the herbed rice packed with flavours, fresh and crunchy grilled vegetables, and the creamy mushroom sauce (comes in a small cup) are a perfect marriage of textures and flavors and something that you keep going back to. Butter chicken with onion kulcha - I was saving the best for the last. This was the show stopper of our meal. Hands down one of the best butter chicken I have eaten and soft and crunchy kulchas. (Please order this!)

This first meal turned out to be unexpectedly an amazing start to the trip! The employees were humble, and the waiting time and the taste clearly showed us, that they cooked us fresh food after they down our order. They were all wearing masks, and the tables were cleaned and sanitised. Again, found a place that we...

This is a very good restaurant right on the shore of the rock beach. They have enough seating space, with additional space on the balcony where you get the sea view.

They have a good menu which comprises both indian as well as continental dishes. The Prawn Tempura was the best of the 3 dishes we tried, and this dish in particular was just amazing. There were 5-6 pieces of tiger prawns which were cooked perfectly, neither chewy nor hard. The outer batter coating was also just perfect with the right amount of seasoning. The prawns were so good, they just melted in the mouth. They also served honey chilli sauce with it which was a bit too sweet but went well with the French fries which came along with the Crab cakes.

Yes, we also tried the crab cakes that was one of their most recommended dishes. I was quite excited about this one, and the plate looked very much appealing with 2 pieces of crab cakes, some cocktail salad which tasted good, a decent serving of French fries which were okay and some Mayo on the side. The crab cakes, were slightly disappointing as they were too dry. They also used banana blossom to bind the crab cake mixture which I personally did not like taste wise. The outer layer was good, and the cocktail salad complemented the dish.

We also tried the chicken 65, which in the Tamil version is more of a dry pakoda type preparation. It was decent, the taste was okay but the chicken was a bit chewy. The service was good, the staff was humble. The prices are okay if not a bit high. The view from the balcony is really nice, except for the humidity. I would definitely recommend the prawn Tempura instead of the crab cakes. Also, I believe they have good...