The Punjab Grill Restaurant Review

I had heard a lot about The Punjab Grill and snatched the first opportunity to have lunch there. Two important Delhi names were associated with it – The Dabur Family and Jiggs Kalra so the expectations ran high.

Warning – This one is a sure spoiler. Those who have it in their ten things to do before they die – must not read any further.

So here we go:
Location: Ambiance Mall, Gurgaon – Delhi Gurgaon Border – NH – 8, India -Excellent 10/10
Interior: Characterless when you relate to the theme. The interior could have been for any restaurant – but looks like it is a functional Coffee Shop format deployed on a fine dining restaurant. – 2/10
Hostess: She was doing a good job – 8/10
Staff: Lack of training, lack of ownership. The restaurant manager walked in while still at his tie, something I have never seen before. Was not participative and didn’t move to any table for any attempt on service or retention. Once in the manager, was seen standing inside the  with his staff and was talking loud enough for comments from about 20 feet away. 2/10
Food: The Buffet spread was cold, starters were very cold – Cold fried fish and cold paneer tikka on a winter afternoon can be a real put-off. No soup or shorba in a buffet is tough to digest. Salads – if you call beansprout and dahi bhalla a buffet salad spread it is fine. Three veg, three non-veg dishes and you are done. Overall 3/10 Details follow:
Crockery: 8/10
Cutlery: 2/10 Crockery and cutlery don’t talk to each other.
Table and seating: Just about OK for a fine dining restaurant 5/10
Starters:
Preparation was very ordinary and recipes nothing great to talk home about. I had fish fry: 5/10 (after a fresh serving – cold one which was there can’t be rated).
Paneer tikka, quality of paneer was fine, preparation was ordinary 5/10
Malai Kabab – Veg – They were probably the best dish on the menu. I liked it, perfect 10/10
Broccoli Grilled: It was tasty and unique in recipe – 8/10
Papad: Full of oil, drenched – 2/10
Main Course:
Veg Pulao: 6/10 – regular pulao, rice could have been better
Punjab Grill Exclusive Veg: Don’t touch it. 100% useless – no flavor, no taste no unity between vegetables put together.
Shahi Paneer: Bad menu choice for afternoon buffet, but as a preparation it was fine 7/10
Khumb Mattar: Peas were not cooked well, they were kind of raw, as if they were just added to the gravy. 3/10
Dal Makhani: Good – somewhere close to the taste Bukhara is cultivating. 7/10
Desserts: Nothing had, presentation looked poor – was not inviting enough.

On April 11, 2010 –

We as a family once again went for lunch to Punjab Grill.

Here are some photographs and tweets

Some quick bites.

1. Still avoidable
2. There was no waiting on Sunday at 2:00 PM despite hype and loads of PR that you don’t get a table without booking.
3. Staff and food both remain an issue
4. As an overall experience it was just about better
5. I would not recommend this place and would not like to revisit or review it again