Jay cafe — Restaurant in Rajasthan

(If you don’t have time to read the whole thing, jump to the ‘Worth the price?’ section)

I usually don’t leave long reviews of places I visit but I feel obliged to do so here. Sharing a broader perspective of my experience at Jay’s Cafe from a few days ago.

Before I share my review, let me state that Bundi happens to be the place where my grandparents lived all their life and I spent most of my childhood summers in Bundi. I grew up in Mumbai - one of the most expensive cities in India if not the most. I have lived internationally for more than a decade and traveled quite a bit in India (including the rest of Rajasthan). I am sharing all this to let a review reader know that I have eaten a lot of different cuisines around the world and have a sense of food quality and what it’s worth.

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How I’d rate Jay’s Cafe - Worth the price? - 1/5 Taste of Food - 2/5 Hospitality - 4/5 Ambience - 2.5/5

Worth the price?

(Rates we paid on Dec 21st, 2022) Unlimited Thali - Rs.350/- (crazy expensive) Dry-Fruit Lassi - Rs.150/- (crazy expensive)

The thali you see in the photos was served as an unlimited thali to us for INR 350 (Rs. 350/-). I’ve personally had better tasting unlimited thalis for Rs.100 or less just a 10-15 min walk from the fort in the main Bundi market. There are so many restaurants that will serve you better taste and that too unlimited for literally less than one-third the price of Jay’s Cafe. I acknowledge that other restaurants in the area are also expensive and as an Indian, I can see so many foreign nationals visiting who are the target audiences of these restaurants (sad state of tourism in India). So foreign nationals, please be warned. If you’re eating at Jay’s Cafe, you’re paying 3 times or 3.5 times the food you can get at a 10min walk in the main market (which is worth visiting anyway).

However, the difference between those restaurants and Jay’s Cafe is they are serving western food (pizza, lasagna, etc) so maybe that’s the cost of wanting to have a pizza in a small place like Bundi. But an Indian restaurant couldn’t possibly be charging such exorbitant prices for Indian food in a small city like Bundi.

We also ordered special lassi with dry fruits that cost us Rs.150/- per glass. As other reviews have mentioned, you can get the same thing for Rs.50/- or less 2-3 shops down from Jay’s Cafe at a dairy or lassi shop.

Interestingly enough, unlike other restaurants, Jay’s Cafe doesn’t have its menu posted online (likely because people will know how expensive they are) and they don’t have a menu in the restaurant either. So you order, and at the end of the meal, receive the shock of your life with their prices. To make it worse, they take only cash. In a country where I can now pay for a cup of tea worth Rs.10/- with Google Pay, how the hell can you not accept any form of digital payment (CC/Paytm/UPI, etc) for such high amounts?

Because of my connection with Bundi, I keep visiting Bundi with friends and family often and Bundi Fort is a must-go. I am making a point to not go back to Jay’s Cafe and warn anyone in my circle visiting to not eat at this place because of the unjustified prices for otherwise mediocre food.

Taste of Food -

Food is cooked by Jay’s family so you’re getting home-cooked food. The taste is not that great - doesn’t have the signature Rajasthani taste in it if you’re looking for that. If home-cooked food is your thing, I guess you could go for it. But Rajasthan is known for delicious food and you can taste the range - from small restaurants to fine dining. This is not that.

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Please don’t get me wrong. Given my ancestral connection with this city, Bundi has a special heart in my place and I always try to support local businesses as much as I can. If l eat or shop in Bundi and get charged 2X for what I think it’s worth, I happily pay. But if you’re charging me 3X (or 3.5X in this case), that’s where I draw the line. Sharing pictures we took of the food we were served so you can...

We met Jay a couple of years ago when wandering around the fort and made the wise decision to use him as a guide to explore further afield sticks in hand to keep monkeys at bay. He was entertaining, funny, speaks excellent English and was excellent company. In fact we ended up spending quite a lot of time with Jay over 3 days. What a genuinely lovely guy. Sad to see how some more affluent business owners nearby looked down on him and tried to intimidate him. So pleased to see Jay has established his own cafe Whilst he had not opened it when we met he did organise a meal for us served on a table laden with petals. It was the best meal we ate in 3 weeks in India. In fact going to Bundi and meeting Jay was the highlight of our trip he made such a mark. Despite usual reservations we agreed to visit friends who sold silk scarves and silver and bagged some bargain. Also lovely, genuine, small business owners. Should have bought a few more silver bangles they were so cheap. So pay a visit to the cafe and let him guide and entertain you You will be glad you did. We miss you Jay. ...

Jay kind of forced me to write a review by asking me ten times, so here is my honst one. The positive first : The Lassi, Chai and Pakora was very good. It was fresh homemade food. The mother was very sweet and gave me a present which I much appreciate. Jay and his family were kind and welcoming and funny.

The other part is you are way to pushy.. you need to chill. While we were there it was OK, but after a while I didn't feel comfortable. Once we got out I had time to think and I felt a lot of pressure from your side forcing us to have dinner at your place. You should reconsider your prices, because for India, they are way to high. Luckily I asked the prices before we ordered, since they don't have a menu. Otherwise I would have been surprised, because its three times higher as what you get at...