The Cheroot Malt Bar — Restaurant in Tamil Nadu

This place markets itself as an “Exclusive cigar and malt lounge” but is everything but that. We went as a group of 5 - two couples and a single lady. This is a list of my issues with Cheroot:

Low barrier of entry: the package is only 2.5k per person for unlimited drinks. That’s way too low for an “exclusive establishment “. Also because you are allowing stags, coupled with the low entry fee, you have all kinds of creepy men in the lounge which is disconcerting for the women, which brings me to my next point. Unsafe: Cheroot is not safe for women. There were only 5 women in the whole lounge, 3 of who came from my group. Most of the stags kept lecherously staring at us, and two men literally tried to dance with one of my girl friends without her consent. Bouncers did come in after the men in my group told them to take care of those two men; but we continued to be ogled at throughout our time there. I would not recommend this place for single women or female stag groups. In-edible food: Food was horrible. Period. There was a paneer croquette given as part of starters. I think the chef has mistakenly added some sweet stuffing for some dessert in the filling. Bad music: The music being played is mixed poorly and does not give the good vibes needed. They tried serving expensive whiskey in cheap plastic glasses. The rationale provided was that we might get drunk and break the glasses. This is unacceptable for a 5 star establishment. This shows that the lounge is frequented by drunks due to low barrier of entry. After we protested, they gave us real glasses; and we didn’t break any. :)

Here are some suggestions for improvement: Increase the barrier of entry: Increase the entry fee across the board, and make it more expensive for stags, as in the standard in major clubs and lounges across the world. This somewhat prevents the wrong sort of men from coming in. You can also make it couples only. Make it safe for women: The success of a lounge comes from the footfall of women. The more women who come, the more safe it will be. Come up with incentives to bring them into the lounge and make them feel safe. Improve the food and music.

PS: ITC, you have accepted that this “exclusive lounge” has now transformed into a haven for uncontrollable drunks....

Went here on a Saturday night to alert with a bunch of friends. We all enjoyed thoroughly!

They have a weekend offer where one has to pay Rs. 2000 for unlimited liquor starting from 10pm. The best part is, while not all spirits are part of this offer, the spirits that they serve are not the usual cheap ones. They have brands like Chivas, Jacob's Creek, Absolut etc on offer, which is great.

As expected the place is fully packed on a Saturday night and if you're lucky you might bump into some of Chennai's famous people here. It's a super classy and elegant place so the crowd it attracts is very decent even on weekends. They are very strict with entry. Men and women both need to pay the 2000 for entry and stag entry is not allowed.

I only had one complaint that, when we asked for a table(that we had reserved much earlier) they took too long to respond and point us to our table. We had already finished our first round of drinks by the time they seated us. This was a little bit of a bummer.

The music was great throughout. Initially it's quieter but as the crowd starts pouring in, it gets louder and more groovy. We had lots of fun dancing all night.

All in all, definitely recommend this place for those who want a good night out with friends and want their money's...

So the ambience is good, the problem was with the limitation of starters between 10pm to 2am. Like even if we want to pay and order , the options are very limited, close to nil in fact. Now comes the bigger problem, at a stage when the stags around us start misbehaving with some of our group members, the bouncers come to the rescue , but take a tip from this guy and let him stay inside the club instead of asking him to leave the club. Then there is another bouncer assigned for our group, who reminds us every 15mins that when you leave please make sure to tip us generously. My problem is not to tip someone, but when it is asked repeatedly when the situation has already escalated and we are not feeling secure at the place then it's unprofessional. I don't think the management of such a reputed brand has hired professional members competent enough to maintain the name of such a brand. Music wasn't any great as well. All in all, barring a few staff members behaviour, the overall experience wasn't great. Not...