rajputana

rajputs in general are known for their hospitality and are known for their indulgence in food both vegetarian and meat from north india.

chef jugesh arora after trying out with tadka talk a resto in chennai has now tried to bring in this new royal experiance from rajputana.

was it royal ? did it satisfy the thirst ? lets see.

# the resto is open only for dinner all the days.
# has both buffet and al a carte, and both veg and non veg.
# veg buffet priced @ 750 inclusive of taxes and non veg @ 850 inclusive of taxes.

items served in veg buffet were

# welcome drink - jaljeera

# soup - choliya di rassa, nothing but a tomatoe shorba

# 3 starters - slice of cottage cheese, piece of grilled cauliflower and piece of corn kebab.

# main course - 3 side dishes and 1 black dhaal and lahori subj biriyani with raitha, pappad served with your choice of bread.
side dishes were - panner based, aloo based and one veggie based.

# 4 desserts - tiny glass of lassi, phirni, kulfi and fresh cut mangoes

the starters and desserts were awesome
but the main course was a complete failure cos all the side dishes were sweet inspite of telling them to make it spicy, and lacked the flavour. black dhaal was gud.

biriyani tasted like tomatoe rice seriously, no flavour.

# pricing - buffet pricing is vfm , otherwise ala carte is defy priced on the higher side for the taste offered. buffet is unlimited :-). it is advisable to go for a buffet in case u are planning to drop in here.

# ambiance is classy , the setup is rajputana style, nice high lifted chairs, breezy. it also has an ac room seating inside which also has a nice view in case u feel sultry outside.

# service - verygoodand friendly guys.

# ala carte pricing - would cost u around 1k to 1.2k per head.

final verdict - i would not go back and nothing was royal as such.
you could only except few idols for display to give a rajputani flavour :-(

there are some things in this world so closely linked that one without the other really makes no sense. one of these is the rajputs and the heavy rajasthani food that their desert home is so known for. oddly, this restaurant named rajputana has not a single rajasthani dish. 

the ambiance is an emphatic win, with the rooftop area being one of the most spectacular places in the city to have a meal. even the abominable cmbt appears monumental from here. 
with valet parking, decor that is thematically perfect and that view, it is very hard to see how things can go wrong. yet go wrong they do.

not with the service though. that is fairly good, with one waiter in particular appearing very familiar with the food (we failed to get his name, which just goes to show nogooddeed is appreciated these days).

the food is the let down here. the welcome drink had so much pepper it could have cured an army battalion of the cold. of the 3 starters, only the paneer worked, with the cauliflower grill appearing to be raw cauliflower, impaled on a skewer.
the mains weren't any better, with just the dal being even edible. the kadai paneer stood out for its total lack of any flavor, which was bizarre given the paneer in the starters was pretty good.
desserts were better, but nothing could save this meal.

pricing is very steep. we were invited in, so our meal was free, but the vegetarian buffet at 650 plus tax is mind boggling given the poorness of the food.

overall conclusion: pretty settings and mood music do not agoodrestaurant make! rajputana needs to get their basics right. perhaps starting with the name.

it was for our friend's treat! we dropped here around 7ish... we had pre-booked the table... surprisingly it was empty when we reached 😜 but later on the crowd began to come thou. 😉😋

ambience- mind blowing! rooftop,dim light, not so high noise, the ipl screen... it was amazing guys... better than azuri bay!😊

service- mr.ajith, the so called famous person in chennai after thala ajith is this guy i think! he was sooo humble... we were asking him for suggestions in starters and all those starters was sooo good... keep it up guys :)

food- we were welcomed with complimentary drinks: chocolate shake... it wasgood:)

for starters we had paneer, corn and gobi! all the 3 was top notch with right amount of spices and grill... 😍😍😍😍

coming to main course we had multiple breads and side dish... quantity was decent :) we were full by the end and even had few dal makhani left 🙈

dessert- they gave us this astounding gulab jamun and you know the best part of that, it was on the house 😋
i mean seriously guys, you could literally drop pff this place if you have got some special occassions like bday or anniversaries!

this place is no short from legendary. 😍😍😍

rajputana instantly strikes with its skyrocketing ambiance and that rightfully takes centerstage. it's a wondrous sight to witness the sky lights to the outside in a very well done up elevated roof top restaurant. there are lovely cottage like settings for couples and small families and the dim lights with old school mild bollywood music playing across adds to the decor. it has a lot going for it on the class side but it's on the food that they need to do some giddying up to make the experience wholesome and complete.

the restaurant is located in koyambedu near the bustling cmbt bus stand and is conveniently located on the top floor of jp hotel. they are open only for dinner and have both buffet and ala carte. it was an 'on the house' meal and we got our hands at the former which in actuality is priced at rs 750 for veg and 850 for non veg. the food was quite a mixed bag with a few items being top notch but the majority of the food turned out being disappointing.

chose the veg option and started out with a mocktail which was spicy and just didn't taste right. next was the black gram soup which was passable with the ingredients being soaked right at the bottom. we had 3 starters in the form of a paneer, corn and gobi and the rating scale for them went fromgoodto decent to bad. the paneer was the hands out winner in this section, being soft, chunky and presentable. the gobi at the other end of the spectrum was such a dampener not being grilled properly and was rather tasteless. on the main course we were served indian bread, pulao, biryani and 3 main course dishes. really not much to complain on the nans and rice but it was on the gravies where they have lots of catching up to do. the dal was delicious but the veg makhanwala left a lot to be desired and the kadai paneer which is supposed to be spicy had a rather funny taste and was flavorless. in effect was forced to have majority of the meal with the black dal for company. on the dessert section we had phirni, lassi and kulfi. whilst the former two were no doubt nice it was the kulfi which won the day. it just had the perfect feel and texture to it and it was a delight gobbling them up. also was a prettygoodway to end a rather ordinary meal overall.

this one's a sit down buffet and one factor which was bothering was the time taken to serve the food which was taking for ever.
whatever encomiums one showers on the ambiance, the food needs to match up because whether you like it or not its what you eat which is key and gives maximum weightage when visiting a restaurant. they have a lot of ground to cover up here and hope they take the necessary precautions to ensure the best in food and service supporting the already prevelant top draw ambiance.

there is a huge difference between a food critic and a reviewer. a critic knows everything and can differentiate the best and the rest. on the other hand, a reviewer is someone who goes along tasting whatever food he stumbles upon and comments whether he took another bite or kept walking in search of more food. while i was living inside a little bubble thinking that i'm very much on my way to become a critic, rajputana comes up with a needle to burst my dream and get me back to reality with a pat on my back saying i'm still a meager reviewer.

the amount of so called knowledge i possess over south indian and north indian cuisine can be described in a simple manner. if my expertise over south indian cuisine can be compared to a lake full of water, then my prowess against north india can be described as something similar to the amount of dew left on a leaf in the early mornings. of course i can differentiate the food types but i can't even tell the difference from rajasthani and gujarati food. so when you throw such a guy in a restaurant called as rajputana, he is going be straight on the face with his feedback.

rajputana is a newly opened rooftop restaurant located at the 'you blink, you miss' type of hotel called jp hotel at inner ring road, sorta opposite to koyambedu bus terminus. the brilliant guy in me decided to search for rajputana on google maps instead of searching for jp hotel. what difference would that make could be a question. the answer is 10 minutes of agonizingly driving a car thru small streets and ending up in a dead end only to see jp hotel's signage and realising i have an entire block between me and it. google maps ruined the location part of it. then i had to reroute and get to this place. on that day jp hotel was hosting an event so they were redirecting all cars without even asking where the person was heading to. when they told me to do the same, i asked them if they have valet. only then they asked where i was going to and when i replied as rajputana, self service got upgraded to valet parking. jp hotel looks like one of those hotels that has already seen its glory days. after a ride up the elevator, i reached the gang who cursed me for being late. ambience was awesome. the view was spectacular and the mild breeze was so soothing. they have indoor seating too but the weather was picture perfect for us to be outside.

we were about 11 and it was a bloggers meet. so it's self explanatory that it's an 'on the house' experience and therefore the pricing point of view won't be commented upon. service was fairly decent. they were really courteous. i've kept the food part of my review at the end as it was pretty disappointing. the welcome drink which was meant to have just a pinch of spiciness to give that kick was loaded with it, making it unpalatable. chicken soup wasn't good. starters weren't impressive either. paneer tikka was soft but the flavor hadn't penetrated the paneer to give it agoodtaste. but when compared with others, it seemed to be the best starter. chicken starter was really rough in texture. the only saving grace was the fish cutlet which was pretty good. corn and cauliflower were downright disasters. mains was very simple with rotis and sabjis. the rotis dried out fast because of the wind but naan wasgoodenough. out of the three gravies for non veggies, none stood out to be even a modest winner. dessert ended up to be the best part of our meal. by it's own, still it wasn't awesome by any standard, but when compared with the complete experience, the dessert was far more better. the kulfi and lassi were pretty good.

at the end, we were rather left discontented by the overall experience. when i overheard the price to be somewhere around 700rs for a non veg buffet, i seriously questioned myself over the vfm part of it. rajputana is a classic example of how a restaurant can get everything else right apart from the food which is meant to be the most important factor. that said, as mentioned above, i'm not certain if this is authentic rajasthani cuisine. if it is, then they don't have a fan in me. 

ratings break up:-
location:- 4/5
parking:- 4.5/5
reception:- 3.5/5
food:- 2/5
customer service:- 3.5/5
ambience:- 4.5/5

i decided to visit this place on a saturday night dinner so i called and booked a table for me. the manager was friendly and got a seat for me.. the restaurant was not that crowded. i decided to go for the buffet instead of a la carte. they served the welcome drink which wasgoodand starter's were very less they serve chicken,mutton,and fish. first they serve a very small quantity and if you want to more you have to wait for atleast 5-8 minutes to get more. the main course will be also served at your plate they serve chicken biryani which was not that hot and the taste was really bad.. the roti's served was ok with chicken and mutton gravy's the desert was reallygoodespecially the phirni and kulfi. overall the food was not worth for the money... the buffet cost's 750 + taxes and the nett price will be rs.925

it's a decent roof top restaurant.goodview but unfortunately not great food. we were disappointed. food taste was not up to the mark. service was too slow. while the gold benefits were well taken care of.

ambience - 4
taste - 2
service -2
value for money - 2
quantity - 3

small place butgoodambience. food taste was excellent especially biriyani and chicken.

friendly and courteous staff, great buffet, warm service. lovely place. have been here 4 times and each time it is different menu with variety and great finger lickinggoodtaste.

i have had buffet in over 25 restaurants in chennai and this is the worst ever experience of all. called the manager twice at noon for booking the table and he called back after 15 minutes. i clearly asked him how many starters and main course dishes and the reply he gave was 7 veg dishes and 4 non veg dishes, 2 breads, 2 rices and 3 desserts which will amount to 1100. i said okay and during the buffet they served only 3 veg and 2 non veg starters. when asked them about the starters they were like 7 veg dishes include 3 starters and 3 gravy for the bread and a veg pulav and 4 non veg dish refers 2 starters 1 gravy for bread and mutton buriyani. i was like wtf who would spend 1200 for such a buffet. he was like which restaurant would give 7 veg and 4 non veg starters in chennai? almost all the bbq/buffet restaurants serve over 40 items in total with atleast 12 starters. there was argument going on for like 5 minutes. the manager had call recorder in his mobile and when we heard to it my question was how many starters and how many main course items. the reply he gave was 7 veg dishes 4 non veg dishes 2 breads and 2 rice items. (anyone woukd have thought this as 7 veg starters 4 non veg starters, the breads and rice were main course). he was telling to me like i must have again asked him how many starters do the 7 veg dishes include. and then after some argument he agreed to give an additional veg and non veg starter to which we said we don't need it and we will pay the whole money and i will put the matter in the review. he said go ahead and post what you want. really really disappointed with the response the manager gave. the only positive thing was that the staff were all friendly. among the starters only paneer and chicken grill were good. fish 65 was the worst and it was smelly (we think it was very old one taken from refrigerator). two among the three desserts were good. main course too was just okay. overall a worst worst worstest experience ever. whenever we used to cross this hotel, my father always says that this hotel will be verygoodsince he has had food in some other branch (which tempted me to give it a try). he was shocked upon hearing my feedback. don't ever go for this restaurant. there were only 4 other people apart from us that too on a sunday.

superb location andgoodambience verygoodservice and staff are very friendly .. roof top view must try .. must try once and value for money

had this place on bookmarked for a while and i finally got to visit this restaurant. it’s located on one of the busiest roads of chennai making it really hard to ignore it.
this place is a roof top restaurant which serves some delicious food from the north indian cuisine. couldn’t take much decent pictures of the food as we had visited this place for dinner and it was quite dark.
we had ordered the following
-the tamatar ka shorba soup just to start off a bit fancy. it was just a plain tomato soup with a thick consistency, just a note for those who would love their soup that way.
-shebnam ke mothi for starters which were stuffed mushrooms with grated paneer and cheese over it. definitely a different starter from the ones i usually opt for in starters. a bit bland but well complemented with the mint chutney. wasn’t spicy and might be a bit bland if you have too many of these so 1-2 pieces would be fine.
-also, the murgh malai kebab lucknowi which were tbh the non vegetarian version of the shebnam ke mothi replacing the mushroom for chicken.
-garlic naan, tandoori roti, kadai paneer and jeera rice for mains. there isn’t anything i would point out as a flaw and you can feel free to try any of the above dishes.

loved the service at this place which definitely deserves a special mention because every waiter was assisting us so well and helped us feel comfortable throughout our dining experience. the ambience was fairlygoodand definitely a place i would consider visiting again.

it was a dinner treat for a colleague from different location and team decided this place . just opposite to cmbt and hence might be easy for.commutation it was an ala carte order and below is my observation

ambiance - roof top (my favourite) and great , climate cooperated actually

parking - valet

started with a litchi welcome drink - not bad

pappad - ok

tried mostly nonveg but nothing was served hot

chicken starter -goodenough

fish tikka - useless , salty

paneer tikka - ok

mushroom pepper - good

it was just chicken biriyani fpr me in main course - although not bad , still longing for a perfect recipe in chennai..

overall experience was not bad , hence 3.5 ( . 5 reduced because of not serving hot and over salty fish tikka )

staff behavior - just ok ,won't attract you for a second time

cost - in between moderate to high

this place has been in my food bucket list for a long time. the ambiance and arrangement wasgoodfor a rooftop restaurant for a chennai climate.
in terms of food, we were served with starter drink when we arrived which was little unusual but good. 
the served food quantity wasgood- 4/5
we ordered the non veg(murgh malai kabab lucknow) and veg(multani tikke) starter which tastedgood. the paneer was soft , tender and fresh.
in main course , we ordered nan with gravy. 
overall , can rate food for 4.5/5
service: 3.5/5
ambiance:4.5/5

overall, it can be agoodplace to dine and enjoy the rooftop ambiance.

very nice ambience and view of koyambedu from roof top is excellent. verygoodhospitality and service by dhivyananth. items in buffet is limited however over all experience is good.