Peshawri — Restaurant in Tamil Nadu

First the booking - we had an important client visit and chose this place to wow our clients. Peshawari was not showing flexibility with our booking. When we changed the timing (well ahead of our earlier booking time) they told us they will hold the table for an extremely limited time window. And we were travelling~20kms to reach Peshawari.

Secondly, even after clear information was provided about our actual arrival time, we were made to wait for close to ½ hour outside. It was a bit embarassing to let our international clients wait. C'mon this is not any "run of the mill" restaurant.

Coming to the food, we ordered Paneer Tikka Subz Seekh Tandoori Aloo

For the mains, I chose the Dal Bukhara Paneer Khurchan Lachcha Paratha

Had non-alcoholic cocktails Cucumber Mint Cooler Pomegranate Ginger Martini

Paneer Tikka was yummy. The paneer was succulent and melted in the mouth. Subz Seekh was good as well while the Tandoori Aloo should be given a pass. Not worth the money or taste. Coming to portions we were four who were vegetarians and I had specifically asked how many portions I should order of each. They made us order 5 portions (2 each of Aloo and Subz) which was way too much. 3 portions should suffice 4 of us easily.

Coming to the mains, I was very surprised to receive the Lacha Paratha warm - later I realised I should have sent this back asked for a fresh & hot one. Dal Bukhara was very good. Though am not a fan of this Dal, we were left with no other option as the choices are extremely limited, so much so that they don't even have a vegetable subzi. It's either this dal or different kinds of paneer. Paneer Khurchan was outstanding. I had asked this extra spicy - beware their normal tendency is to cook bland to cater to international visitors - and boy, the chef did a fantastic job! Again, the paneer was succulent and the spices were cooked to perfection. So much so that one of our clients who doesn't like Paneer actually said he "loved it".

Coming to the non-alcoholic cocktails, loved the cucumber-mint one. Pomegranate Ginger Martini was good too but my vote is for the Cucumber-Mint one.

Service: here again I would have appreciated personalized service rather than different people flocking our table everytime we asked for something. Though the service was prompt, I got the feeling of a normal restaurant. Sorry Peshawari, this needs better management.

The seating (if you are not on the wall side) is only stool like - people with backaches - avoid or take the other side.

Overall, it was mixed experience and unfortunately not a WOW Experience (BTW, this is my first ever visit to ITC...

Long post Alert ! NIGHTMARE ON ITC - PESHAWARI

We have always been to all kinda places but never have we come across such POOR/BAD/WORSE experience and that too from ITC is just unbelievable. Don't know what kinda unit is run, as no one seems to be bothered about Customers. Our gang reached around 9 30 pm and for almost 25 mins I guess they were discussing who amongst them is going to serve us (Seriously)., but then too I think they dint have the courage to take the order. ( Not sure for what they are paid).. So we reached out to the Manager and then at last someone asks us if the order taken..... 😂 Never mind, we ordered 2 Family day out (more like a buffet which serves 6)..

We were already starving and looked like the starters were never gonna arrive (another 25 mins gone) At last the starters arrived and oops, OMG we forgot to keep the plates for the food and the lady runs to get the plates and in the mean time, the manager takes the starters which were to be served for us, to the next table.. (warehwah, unbelievable n the poor lady could only stare at her boss). This is beyond control now, and after another 10 mins the starters are served n no complaints on the food, they were just YUMM! Now we ask for a repeat of both the veg n Nveg and the time just keep ticking but they just don't arrive and few are already full of hunger now after all this miserable time waiting to be served just can't eat..not able to bear anymore, the main course weer served and then the deserts which was delicious...

11 20 pm and we ask for the bill, here is the catch, they don't get us the bill till 11 35. God knows what all the 6-7 staff who keeps roaming around the table does. We pay around 12k including all taxes n another 3k for the beers... (The only saving grace is that the bill read "WE DO NOT LEVY SERVICE CHARGE) & was so happy of their Self awareness (5* for them here).

ITC TEAM, If you do not wish to serve outsiders but concentrate on your in-house guests, pls be my guest, but just hang around a board saying " OUTSIDERS BEWARE - WE DO NOT WISH TO SERVE YOU". DONT MAKE FOOLS OUT OF YOUR CUSTOMERS.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS TODAY, WE WILL NEVER EVER EVEN DREAM OF COMING... KUDOS TO THE ENTIRE TEAM FOR BEING SO COLLABORATIVE, MUST SAY SOME TRAINING IN...

Pathetic is the only word that comes to my mind. There are few places which we don't wanna visit again and this is that kind of place. Uncomfortable seating, poor service. The food was absolutely flavourless. The food served doesn't match the description in the menu. The mutton seekh kabab was spicy and there was no hint of any other flavour. The tandoori pomfret was irrelevant to what was mentioned in the menu. The naan served was over fermented. This restaurant does injustice to dal bhukara.I request the management to hand over a copy of the menu to kitchen staffs and make them read everyday so they know what to make. I never have encountered such a poor restaurant in terms of taste and experience. The crockery are much better at standard restaurants. Also, consider revamping the restaurant to match the ITC brand. Trust me, whoever designed the restaurant is a disgrace to that community,and whoever set the menu is worthless.And I would seriously want to know the name of head chef,so I can convey him my feedback. If the same team set their restaurant outside ITC,they will be closed in a week. Do some justice to the charges paid by customers. UPDATE 1 : On 05/08/24, after mailing the CEO ,GM of ITC hotels, Food & Beverage manager called for feedback to resolve the issue,and offered refund,I denied. I'm hereby sharing the email details as these guys don't care about reviews. dipak.haksar @ itchotels.in, anil.chadha @ itchotels.in, General Manager of ITC Grand Chola Chennai - shaariq.akhtar @ itchotels.in and Food & Beverage manager Ganesh.Kuppusami @ itchotels.in , Feel free to email your feedback and experiences . Disclosure: The above shared emails are the professional emails of the employees of ITC hotels,and I'm in no way breaching their privacy. As a customer everyone has the right to share feedback on...