Hippie@Heart, Bhandarkar Road — Restaurant in Pune

#harryhearsyou | Pure brilliance and nothing beyond that. That's how I'd describe my experience at Hippie at Heart in Bhandarkar Road, #pune.

It'd been 19 months and counting, since my last proper dining experience at a watering hole/short eats restaurant, where the young crowds flock and the seasoned campaigners come to unwind. I must admit, having a restaurant at a prime location in #punecity does have its advantages, i.e, everyone knows about it, and everyone swears by the specials.

A group comprising of nine members, consuming good food and limited spirits generating a bill of under 1k per person. You have to be kidding me! Now, that's something to put a star on. 🌟

I loved some of the offerings and specials, and I'll try to order them down as per the effect they had on my palate.

Must-trys include:

Chicken Popcorn and Peri-Peri Fries 🔥 Prawns Tempura with Sweet Chilli Sauce (😋) Chips Dip, Jerk Potato Wedges (Vegetarians Delight) 🥔, Veg Tempura 👍 Stuffed Mushrooms and Cheese 🍄 Spaghetti Aglio Olio 🍝 Chicken and Bacon Caesar's Salad 🥗

The in-betweeners:

Ghee Roast Mutton (great spices, but not ground breaking) 🙄 Indiana Pizza (Doesn't pack a punch, but flavors are intact)😬 Tandoori Paneer Pizza (I've had better versions, but this isn't bad either!) 🧐

Liquids (Soft and Hard)

Cucumber Tonic Water with Lime 🥳 Redbull with Lime Squeeze 👍 Peach and Lemon 🍋 Ice Teas

My colleagues did have some very kind words about the Drifter Belgian Wheat Tower and the Kokum Cider 🙏

If I were to put a number against the overall experience, a 4/5 would definitely find a mention. Holler out to the Table Executive - Nitin for swift and timely service, a hat-doff to the chefs, and the victory sign for the ambiance; very inviting and high on energy!

Waving out to the management, and thanking them for being such gracious hosts to me and my colleagues and their families who tagged along. Three cheers to everyone! 💫💯🎉

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Went here famished on a sunday evening to chill with some friends . The place is buzzing with people and i gotta say , it justifies it's name . It has got a hippie feel to it and the place gives you a goa kind of vibe.

They have events almost every weekend and when i went there was a flea market in action, display of handlooms, jewellery and handmade soaps and what not! , amazing place to be!

Lets get to the real deal - FO:OOD!

We had plenty on our table -

STARTERS Hummus platter Veg popcorn Chicken popcorn Spinach and feta vol - au -vent Lamb vol -au - vent Tapenade

SALADS Budha bowl Carpaccio

PIZZAS farm fresh Chicken chorrizo

MAINS pad thai Pork ribs Spaghetti meatballs

Everything served here is quite relishing and fresh and gourmet. Hummus platter was really top notch . Pita bread and falafel were served with three kind of hummus and to my surprise, it was good with a pizza slice too! Lamb vol -au - vent was something new to me , it was a puff with a filling and it was really scrumptious. My favourite though was tepenade , crispy biscuit topped with cream cheese , damn it just melted in my mouth . You cant really have just one .

Salads are most important to me when i go out to eat and in here i was really happy with what they have got . Firstly the plating was royal and the salads were packed with flavours . The only thing i didn't like was , the veggies were not crunchy and bit over sauted but the flavours were mind blowing.

Pizzas are speciality here as they have wood fire ovens and a pizza chef to produce some really good pizzas . We had chicken chorrizo and farm fresh , both had a nice hot crust , authentic and saucy! Cheese was adequate which made it really tasty . The caramelised onions on chicken pizza were a delight to my tastebuds.

Its always unfair to the mains because the stomach is already drooling over the starters . But i liked thai pad , flat noodles with good proteins .

Overall i think the place has good hospitality , awesome chilling crowd and litt ambience!

Check my feed on Instagram @whatscookinginindia...

Great ambience and vibe to chill. I usually don’t write this kind of reviews but this was a bummer. For a Monday night the place was pretty full, with one server who juggled all tables. He did a great job handling the service. But there is always that one person who likes to spoil the show. We experienced this with the manager. There were a lot of things on the menu that were unavailable. We managed with why was available. Our group were catching up after very long coming together for a family wedding and looked for a hippie style place with a heartfelt buzz as the name suggested. But at the end of fun filled night and after paying a decent 5 figure check, it short lived by the manager’s sudden disrespectful tone without any apparent reason. He approached us and said ‘you have to get out’ and no prior notice to leave. It Felt more like you have paid so now we don’t need you. Out of self respect we gave him some feedback on his behaviour but it was met with a sarcastic eye rolling apology and a smirk that screamed we just want you out. The feeling of an entitled establishment was recognised that once you have paid your due you are now just another stranger at the premises. Well suited for a place that sells its services posing as hippie at heart. More like hippie until you pay your bill then snobby debt collectors. For us the name didn’t really suit as the package says. As a visitor back in my hometown after years, I saw just clear corporate greed and from a short lived fame. The definition of hospitality was distorted by their customer service and bad leadership. I would never go here again and wouldn’t recommend a more fake place for any person trying to entertain your guests. This is not real Pune and there is real hospitality spread across the city. This review is just a guide to warn customers and hopefully for the management to take note not to be stuck in...