The Balcony Cafe — Restaurant in Punjab

Regarding your response to our initial review:

Thank you for your prompt/detailed reply; we did have issues during dinner aswell but didn't mention everything. After looking at the menu & talking to the 1.5 month new manager, we had informed him we would come back for breakfast. We asked the manager regarding avocados & he said they are available, when asked him where are they being imported from, he said "they come from our bakery"? We asked him to repeat what he had said & we were left speachless. The glasses were stained/dirty which we showed the manager & he did pass us more from the table beside us. The manager was also serving dishes over us & we could smell his strong sweat/oder; being polite we held our breath. We also mentioned the lengthy menu to which the manager said that the current menu is half of what it used to be. We inquired about # of chefs considering the menu, to which he replied, "see... we don't have many chefs BUT they have food knowledge & skills". We talked to him quiet a bit while waiting for our food. We also asked the female server if Pepsi Black is available & asked for 1 after she said yes (lack of information); after 10 mins of her going around talking to staff, another server & manager informed us that you don't sell Pepsi at all. We asked the manager about types of coffees etc. We asked for Americano & he kept saying 'American coffee'; he came to conclusion that you don't serve Americano (we found 2 types of Americanos mentioned in menu today (lack of information)). The Balcony was shaking last night aswell with people walking around. Bathroom is right beside where everyone sits & the drinks area. Everyone (guests and staff included) seemed to be using the same 1 washroom/toilet which was unclean/unhygienic. We got our soup & every sip was cold; we mentioned to a server who offered to heat it but refused as we were hungry & dislike food going back from table not knowing how its being reheated etc. Later we discussed amongst ourselves regarding the dried up rice in the sizzler dish which caused toothache therefore headache; manager was standing right beside us listening to our conversations & seemed like he just wanted us to leave as soon as possible (rice was over sizzled/burned, we didn't finish them). Regardless we paid our bill & left cash tip for staff hoping our breakfast experience will be better.

Now coming to breakfast. We tried to give the manager our order but instead of listening to us he went on a hunt for pen & paper while ignoring us. We were the first/only ones there when we arrived & a couple that came after us had already gotten their food before us. Regarding beans- if 'it's customer's choice' for cold or hot beans, why were we not informed or asked? Anywhere in the world we have never been served cold beans for breakfast, including in India at hotels/resorts. Yes he did ask us if we wanted them heated AFTER we were already served everything cold but who wanted to wait another 45 mins for heating up something that's suppose to be served hot; the 2nd dish we never got/saw. We were NEVER informed food was going to be late by any staff member. We had specifically asked for 3 EGGS as we had pointed to the manager that only 1 egg was mentioned for that dish on the menu; he said he can serve additional, but again, we only got one. Thank you for confirming that in your response. Forks did have dried food & we had kept them aside to tell the manager later byt never got the chance to. NONE of the cutlery (both visits) was "wrapped up in a tissue paper" as the forks were on one side of the mini plate and spoon on the other (proof in in the pictures from previous customers). By the time we got our drinks one by one (VERY SLOW) we did mention to the manager about proper ethics of serving drinks because he held the glass from the rim. He also grabbed a paper straw from the sipping tip & put it in the cold coffee himself; we discarded that straw & took another one knowing very well all straws at the table are already open/contaminated. Will right the rest...

Poor and super unhygienic service! What they call "balcony" is a shaking attic which is always shaking while you are eating. Half the food took 45 minutes to reach to the table and that also served cold; rest of the food we never saw. When informed about the cold beans, mushrooms and sausages to the Manager, he called the beans "sauce" mentioning its served chilled and was going to run down with our plate to heat up the mushrooms again and make the missing egg from this one dish we finally had gotten after so long. We walked out because of other factors as well; forks had dried old food stuck in them, our coffee cups were touched from the rims, straws were bare on table from how long also touched from top (sipping part) by the manager when placing himself in our cold coffee, server giving us a spoon she wiped well with cloth but touched the whole spoon with her hands again before placing on table amongst other things. The lengthy menu is overwhelming but lack of information from the manager and staff is unacceptable. Big hopes but bigger disappointment; we paid for the coffee and just...

Extremely peaceful place and very gracious hosting by the team! Loved their interiors, food and overall atmosphere. The staff was very polite and helpful. The food menu has a wide range of exciting options to choose from. We had sailo mushroom bowl from the continental mains which made me drool over their cooking. The creamy base with mushroom balls was a heavenly combination. We tried paneer tikka sandwich which was very filling with good amount of stuffing. The classic frappe and affogato were fine but the beverage menu is to be revamped and we are waiting to come back and try their new options! A soulful experience and a highly recommended place if you wish to enjoy in peace and teleport yourself to a cafe near the mountains! Lovely place in Jalandhar city! -...