Pesto Pesto

Pasta with Vegetables

Lasagna

Cafe Mocha

Potato Pizza

Spaghetti Kitchen, Amanora Mall, Pune

Last weekend I visited Spaghetti Kitchen at Amanora Mall. I received some positive reviews from my friends so I was expecting a lot from the restaurant in terms of taste and flavor.

Assorted Bread

The ambiance is soothing with nice music. The complimentary assorted breads were a nice touch but they did not fare well on the taste buds. The restaurant could provide some freshly baked Italian bread instead of assortment and it would do wonders.

Bruchettas

 For starters, we ordered Bruchettas and Parmesan Cream Cheese baby Potato. It is nice as they provide English name and description for the dishes. Both of them tasted well. But I was still waiting for something extraordinary.

Parmesan Cream Cheese Baby Potato

Sicilian Garlic Chicken

 Later we ordered Sicilian Garlic Chicken with Fries. The quantity for both these dishes was way better when compared to other vegetarian starters. The taste of Garlic was missing with Chicken but it was flavored with lots of tomato as popular in North Indian cuisine.

Fries

Fettuccine with basil Pesto

 For main course we ordered Lasagna and Fettuccine with basil pesto. Both the dishes were great but lacked in quantity. I preferred Lasagna over pasta because I have had better pasta in many a places. I found the dishes lacking in cheese contrary to my beliefs of Italian cuisine.

Homemade Lasagna

All Vegetables Pizza

Finally we summed it up with an All Vegetable Pizza. They only serve pizza with thin crust. The pizza looked very nice but tasted very bland. There was not even anything ordinary, leave alone extraordinary with this one. Overall the ambiance is nice but food lacks the luster. There are far better places if you want to have a slice of Italy.

Exotica - Zafran, Yerwada, Pune

I visited Exotica - Zafran restaurant yesterday. It is situated within the Panchshil Tech Park at Yerwada, Pune. The first thing anyone would notice about the restaurant is its location. It is on 7th floor with a feel of roof-top restaurant. The weather was nice and there was nice breeze flowing. There are three restaurants within Zafran. We opted for Exotica which serves north Indian delicacies. It is also equipped with a bar.

Vegetarian Kebabs

We ordered vegetarian platter for starter. It included two types of Paneer Tikka, Tikki and two types of Seekh kebab. Three out of five items were excellent. One of the Seekh Kebab (probably Hara Bhara Kebab) was not up to the mark. The restaurant also served complimentary Papads.

Papad

Fusilli Pasta

Next we ordered Fusilli Pasta. This was not in the menu of "Exotica" but you can order from the menu of other restaurant "Mozzarella" as well. This was excellent with right combinations of vegetables, cheese and sauce.

Daal Makhni with Paneer Lababdar

For main course we ordered Daal Makhni, Paneer Lababdar and various types of Naans & Roti. Main course was excellent with the authentic flavor and taste. Daal Makhni was the best. From bread section, Missi Roti was tasty and well cooked. We were disappointed with the Lime Soda as it was unable to produce the desired effect.

Missi Roti and Naans

Lime Soda

We finished our journey of taste with "Litchi Malai". The taste was good but the Litchi was filled with sugar syrup. The reason for the same may be the unavailability of Litchi in this season. Overall the taste is good, ambiance is great and the price greater...

Malai Litchi

Pizza Hut, Kalyani Nagar, Pune

I had a small celebration with my friends at Pizza Hut, Kalyani Nagar. It was a weekday and the place was deserted. We inquired about the various deals/ offers that were available. There were two deals - one was four course meal and another was combo offers.

Tomato Soup

We ordered both the deals. We opted for Tomato Soup for combo offer. It did not look great but taste was quite nice. I never expected such taste from Pizza Hut. For appetizers we ordered Cheese Nachos. They would have been great if were crispy. They became soggy and were unable to produce the desired effect on our taste-buds.

Cheese Nachos

Chicken Skewers

For starters we ordered vegetarian platter and Chicken Skewers. Non-vegetarian food was great tasting and nice with respect to quantity vs price. On the other hand, vegetarian platter was not adequate for the price and the taste was also not good. I would recommend not to try the vegetarian platter.

Veg Platter

Pasta

For main course, we had pan pizza and pasta. Pizza was decently baked but it was low in toppings as always. I have a complain about eateries in India which are serving pizza. None of them serves pizza with good amount of toppings or cheese. It was served hot so we liked it.

Pizza

Desserts

Finally the deserts - Ice cream and cheese-cake. Both the things were nice to have. We good a good surprise as we received corporate-discount. But the joy was short lived as we found a huge amount in service taxes and VAT. These joints should follow McDonald's pricing model where you know beforehand, how much you need to shell out.

Cream Center, Kalyani Nagar, Pune

I visited Cream Center, Kalyani Nagar on last weekend. It is a pure vegetarian restaurant serving variety of food and beverages. We were told that nothing in available in Pizza section.

Corn n Cheese Balls

We ordered Corn n Cheese Balls, Nachos for starters. Presentation of nachos was a bit different due to their large size but the taste was nothing near exquisite. Cheese balls were nice.

Nachos

Pasta

Later we ordered Falafal and Pasta. Falafal did not produce the desired taste or flavor. They were more like "Alu tikki" from north India. Pasta was decent. I was surprised as they did not serve Falafal with Hamas.

Falafal

Quesadillas 

Finally we had Quesadilla and Dinner combo. Quesadilla were decently prepared but I would always prefer with more cheese. The Dinner combo was a good deal. There was variety and you can make your own combo by selecting various courses. 

Dinner

I opted for Chole - Bhature which tasted great. One more thing is worth mentioning that we got a Margarita free with our Nachos. It looked nice but the taste was nothing special. They need to put more concentration on taste rather on presentation.

Peach Margarita 

Volare, Pune

I visited Volare restaurant twice within a short time. This restaurant is on Baner Pashan Link Rd, thereby it is not crowded on weekends also. It also has a dance floor on first floor. The staff was very friendly.

We ordered variety of delicacies. The chicken reparations were good. We ordered chicken satay and chicken steak. Both of them were great. They could have done them better by keeping the juicy texture of chicken intact. Accompanying sauces and fries were also tasty. 

 

Chicken Satay

Chicken Steak

The best part was Pepperoni pizza. It was a thin crust pizza that was properly baked and produced aroma to entice one’s appetite. 

Pepperoni Pizza

We were disappointed with the dessert because the Brownie was not even hot, leave alone sizzling. But overall the food was nice and ambience was soothing. They can enhance it using some noise suppression techniques in the ground floor restaurant. 

Brownie with Ice Cream

Second time I visited the restaurant. There was rainy season and restaurant provided Sawan special vegetarian meals with options for soups, starter, main-course and desserts.

Tomato Shorba

Tangy Potato Wedges

We ordered one Sawan meal which included Tomato Shorba (Soup), Tangy Potato Wedges, Pasta with pesto sauce, Pizzlets and Chocolate mousse. All the courses were good except Tomato Shorba. It was way too spicy and oily. Pasta was good but they need to work on their pesto sauce.

Pizzalets

Penne Pasta with Pesto Sauce

Mousse

Nachos

Later we ordered Nachos, Chicken Basket, Double Pepperoni pizza and dessert. Nachos were good specially the accompaniment sauces. They provided salsa, guacamole and tarter sauce with Nachos.

Salsa, Guacamole, Tarter Sauce

Double Pepperoni

I did not find much difference in Pepperoni or Double Pepperoni pizza. It was tasty as usual. We need to ask for Tobesco sauce for pizza. Chicken Basket was nothing but crispy fried chicken breasts with fries and tarter sauce. But it was nowhere near tasty as chicken steak. I would recommend chicken steak any day.

Chicken Basket

We ordered Sundae for desset. The dessert took 10 minutes to arrive. I never expected it in a glass which was . The dessert was tasty but it was tough to taste all those layers due to presentation. Overall the experience was nice. The retaurant is value for money.

Dessert