Lal dabba

Red Box

Burrp page: http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/red-box-cafe_andheri-w_mumbai_bars-pubs-restaurants/134272475

Place: Between Fame Adlabs and Infinity Mall, Andheri (W)

Food:  - 5/10

Menu variety:  - 6/10

Service:  - 4/10

Ambiance:  - 5/10

VFM:  - 4/10

Food
I have probably never had a great experience at Red Box. And yet we go there because sometimes it's the only place with tables available. Somehow, I've never got the succulent feel to any meat here. The vegetarian food is good, though and I think it's the first time I've ever said that!

Menu variety
They have a decent variety of starters, salads, main course, pastas, pizzas and sizzlers. Having a good menu doesn't necessarily mean good food, though!

Service
It seems like the waiters in the indoor section of the restaurant are always too busy for you. I don't feel as welcome as I'm used to in other pricey places. Also, with the loud music, every thing has to be shouted at least twice to the waiter. These guys working here are gonna have serious hearing damage later in life.
Last time I went, I ordered a chicken sizzler. Not only did it taste below average, check out what the plate looked like. And the staff thought nothing strange of it!

What a sizzler plate!

By the way, you see the mashed potatoes on my plate? I repeated 3 times while giving the order that I wanted it in a separate plate and not on the sizzling plate. They have no idea, these guys.

Ambiance
The music is TOO loud! There's no dance floor. Why does the music have to be so loud? You can't have conversations and you can't place an order conveniently. The outdoor section is better in that way. At least you can catch up with people without worrying about getting deaf.

Value for money
It's an expensive place (for a plate that looks like that!), the food is average and the ambience will make you deaf. What value for money?

Location
Conveniently located though, on the Link Road, between two major cinema halls and in the midst of many other restaurants.

And in conclusion...
If you're in the vicinity, you'd rather go to TGIF.

UPDATE 28-Aug-2010
A long day at work ensured that I got free only at 23:15 hrs last night. Not wanting to end up with a damp Friday night, I called a friend and reached TGIF at 23:50 hrs, by which time the mall was not allowing anybody inside. So it was off to Red Box for my quota of drinks.

We sat outside yesterday and I don't know if it the staff is trained differently for this section of just too many people have complained about their bad service, but there was a huge improvement from the last time I visited this joint.

• The waiters were extremely nice to us
• My friend was asked if he wanted his beer with foam or without. When he said without, he was served the beer with absolutely no foam. Zero! Really!
• When I ordered my dinner, I didn't realize I chose from the sizzlers section (the Pink Pepper Chicken was good, but I don't know why all chicken dishes at Red Box have a distinct flavor that I don't like and I just can't pinpoint). So when the dish arrived, I stated, "Oh I didn't know this was a sizzler." To which, the captain asked the steward to move the sizzler plate to another side of the table so that I could wait out for the smoke to die! I told him that was not necessary. But really, at Red Box? Is the captain at the outdoor section better at his job? Maybe!

Some things never change, though. Take a look at how worn their menu was. If you charge us 200 bucks for a small peg of whiskey, I want to see a menu that looks better than that of an Udipi please!