Restaurant Review: Sky Bar & Grill at FoodLink, ICC Towers
Senapati Bapat Road in Pune finally gets new well deserved stop for food enthusiasts. Atop the ICC Towers, the FoodLink Court has opened. With a lounge, an open air Italian restaurant and Indian fine dining, the place does definitely make you want to come again and try all the places. What amazed us was how [...]
Sahil Khan
23.05.2009
Restaurants
Senapati Bapat Road in Pune finally gets new well deserved stop for food enthusiasts. Atop the ICC Towers, the FoodLink Court has opened. With a lounge, an open air Italian restaurant and Indian fine dining, the place does definitely make you want to come again and try all the places.
What amazed us was how the designs were done. If one looks at the horribly maintained the Level 9 café on Wing A, one would surely want to give a pat on the architect’s back. Lovely work on metamorphosing the venue.
But I think that’s where we should stop applauding the place. We opted for Sky Bar & Grill (the open air restaurant) for dinner. The service, the food, the table setup- they all have a lot of scope of improvement.
After a 15 minute wait we’re assigned a table for three, the same size as a table for two. Being dark, the pseudo candles aka kerosene lamps dressed up as candles were not lit up even after us asking the waiter to do so thrice. The table was not set when we sat. The least they could do was to have the napkins, glasses and the spoons, forks and knives in place.
They handed us a drinks menu from which many were not available due to certain circumstances and that made my mind divert to the empty wine rack as a showcase at the entry of the restaurant. With an oversized food menu (which one can very much toss over and hurt someone due to its wooden holder), we once again had to ask for a flashlight so that we could see what we were to order.
We ticked off a thin crust pizza, a seafood soup and classic lasagna. For some reason people always attack the pizzas with forks and knives, especially when in a high end restaurant. I prefer my pizza by the palm. The soup was served in an over-sized bowl and hence we lost out on space with the bread basket and pizza too on the table along with our plates.
After the horrid so-called-lasagna at Sweet Chariot, the lasagna was a definite welcome. But they could have served it a wee more warm so that I could have not only gobbled it but also relished it.
Sky Bar & Grill has good food but not worth the price at their current state of affairs, which they can obviously improve. FoodLink needs more clientele. For a Friday night, it was empty. And they need more constructive feedback.
Sahil Khan
what do u mean by…’For some reason people always attack the pizzas with forks and knives, especially when in a high end restaurant. I prefer my pizza by the palm. ‘
ur such a looser sahil khan… i hate u for this…..
@aarti hehe…relax female…bcoz every1 around did so…even i did pick my cutlery up…but jst ddnt feel like it…so went at it with my hands…to each his/her own
agree with Sahil there….even I resorted to the ol’ way of the hand after a while…
what i hate most about this place, no wait, about most authentic Indian restaurants is the inability of the waiters/ attendants to converse or speak to us in proper English let alone attend to us.
well i loved the food here. i see they charge a lot for their service and their authenticity, but i see no or little worth of the charge. Except for maybe the tasty meager meal.
Hi Sahil .
Can i PLease ask you for your mobile NUmber n Ur details when did you visit our Restaurant .
I would definitely go through the reviews more n with the feedback we can improve more .
Thnks .
Vipin
@ sahil , i’m taking for granted that vipin pednekar (the guy who’s askin your number) is associated with the resto you reviewed.
so my question is , if i write an article on Pamela Anderson , will she too ask for my number ?
@arthur lol
Hi all,….this review is very old so please revisit the place and you will surely feel the difference .
hi snehal, i sure will do that. seems vipin and carmo took the feedback sportingly and made a difference. may i ask as to what did you order btw?
Very apt for the Restaurant. What you forgot to mention is the silly low volume jazz music played on BOSE speakers which I think is an insult to the BOSE. I did give a feedback on this to them. Also the menu is too small to think off anything especially the appetizers section. They have a good range of whiskey but need to add up some good cocktails. I was so depressed that I finally decided to have my dinner somewhere else. was satisfied with the funny sounding "Pizza Pazza".. A mocktail by the name of "Boro boro" <pineapple and passion fruit> is good. Also, one interesting thing is the beverage menu where they have put proper quotes about a range of drinks. Read them sometime and surely it makes you feel good.
jazz music isnt silly. its a temperament one develops. some like it, some don't. im not a huge fan of the genre myself, but would definitely prefer something light like jazz instead of the old bollywood intsrumentals which reminds most people of either shatabdi or crossword
The worst italian food ever tasted , authenticity is gone for a toss , The service too slow , if you want to date some this is the best place so that the service is really slow n no one will bother u at all .
but than do nt order italian its too too too bad . of course the quality of kitchen is un comentable please do visit the kitchen insisting on you will definetly understand the quality of the food ……:-( – if really some one would like to go for drinks yes it is good for drinks & Snack bite – outside in open air ….cool & make you feel hungry..
The only thing (rather 2 things) I liked are, the quotes on the drink menu and the view… Leave alone these 2, the place is over priced, slow, drab music, fake accented waiters (forget accent get the english rite dudes
)
how old r u anagha ?… cuz this place is definately not aimed for teenagers ..! i am a lady in my early forties.. have enuf money to spend… understand that quality of people in this country willing to work for under 10000 rupees cant apeak great english and also like softer music on a bose , love the view … love the oversized big italian style menu … and those gorgeous soup bowls must be so expensive and are so stylish ..love the place … u guys need some exposure … have u ever stepped of pune people ????????? i am sure u all r the kind of people who rave over malagha spice… my maid at home make food like that… wht do u guys know abt food and drink anyway ???? i suggest all of u to let this restaurant be n other restaurants too
hi jacquline,
glad that you like the place. i'll definitely let anagha comment on this when she feels, but till then allow me.
as you ask if we've ever stepped outside pune, i've stayed in the middle east for most of my life, been to UK and europe on various trips also, and i'm a north indian by birth. so i've developed a taste for cuisines from all these places.
fortunately you have the money to spend at places and not complaint, but when we spend our money at multiple places, we know what the entire experience counts as at different places. the money that i'd spend here will be well spent at another outlet of similar cuisine/stature.
i've been here not once but thrice, hoping it would've changed, but in vain. i don't agree with arnab about the slow music obviously, but they need to play better tracks. and this isn't for this place only, but many more. the music scene is pretty bad in pune. a week back my friend visited the place and was crying about the service. but we don't complain about the food. when i write, i talk about the entire experience, the moment i enter till the moment i leave.
raving about malaka spice? i don't deny the a lot of people love the place and swear by it, but we don't have that kind of maids to cook for us. getting a cook book is a different situation all together. i also like the food there, but they have become a bit snobbish and it shows in their service. last i ordered something, and the waiter couldn't understand. sigh.
and atleast for me, i know what makes a galawati kebab a galawati kebab, the diff b/w a biryani and a dum biryani, the real rogan josh, hummus and so on…plus i'm opening my own restaurant where i do care about the quality that i've hired a sous chef from taj in-flight kitchen and that we're applying for iso and haccp. so i'm sure i know food.
ps: did you know the reviews in the a certain newspaper are paid for? so though the food critic knows the in and out of food, beverages and the industry, it doesn't make a difference to most readers.
Sorry Sahil, I did not mean to say that Jazz is silly, The jazz they were playing was silly. I do appreciate jazz. But the ambience was not suitable for that genre. And the volume was too low to be heard properly. And off course not bollywood instrumentals … they can play carnatic or sufi instrumental though.. piano and flute instrumentals would also be good .. peaceful and serene.. Also the location of the speakers is not good .. its at one corner of the lounge .. just as a showpiece.
Hey Guys…Foodlink do not play Jazz music …there is a DJ good english numbers of your choice.
don't know whr arnab picked up jazz at foodlink, but i certainly don't mind it to the shatabdi musicals.
They must have changed it now .. 2 to 3 months back they were playing Jazz. And I guess they got a DJ recently. As I said, the last time I visited, I found no music. And probably the feedbacks helped!
dude that s the only JAZZZ thts wht we all talking on —
@jac
thats very mean on ur part…what kind of reply is that…u like the place good for you…dont have to get personel…not kind not nice and i dont wanna say anything else…
we went to the sky bar a few nights back and were suitably impressed , it straight away reminded us of SIROCCO restaurant in bangkok though it was no where as expensive . the circular bar on the terrace which affords a stunning view of the skyline is clearly inspired by sirrocco which has also been copied by the AER bar at four seasons in mumbai, the only diffrence is the food here rocks wheras at AER it sucks. for a place this classy i think the rates were very reasonable , i guess its not really a place meant for teenagers on a budget.
definitely agree with you that the food is pretty good at sky bar. but we didn't have a good experience with the service when we went. probably might've improved since then.
but teenagers on a budget? i'm pretty sure they wouldn't step in if they can't foot the bill. and anyways, teenagers aside, everyone does a comparison to the amount they pay at various places of similar nature.
We celebrated a family occasion, couple of weeks ago at the sky bar and had an experience befitting the occasion. The service was prompt, the food excellent, specially the Pizzas. The heady cocktails and the ambeince combined to make a truly wonderful experience. highly recommend this place!!
glad you had a lovely time! seems time it is for us check the place out pretty soon…thanks for your comment…
ppl, plz avoid personal attacks. any such comments shall be deleted.
hey sahil well i own the place cafe level 9 and i saw what u just wrote about it well should tell u its a company cafe(cognizant) and just for the students sake we started the cafe in evening at very low prices….so dat evry student away frm home can afford it….we can be high maintenance but we don't want to but people like u don't get it…..so be careful with ur reviews
hi siddharth, this is a 10 month old review. and my comparison to l9, well, i remember broken chairs and service which was irregular. but anyways, i was there last week only and i was made to order before i could go out onto the terrace. i understand many people visit your place just for the scenery and hence don't want to feel short changed. maybe tighten up your service. bcoz no one definitely doesn't like ordering even before getting themselves a seat.
and about the irregularity, in the past couple of years, the service has changed hands so many times i've lost track. from being served thalis to the discontinuation and so on.
you're doing a good job by providing food at low prices, but this isn't a food review. i write about an experience. i used to love this place 2 years back. but its lost its charm with time.
I just returned from foodlink very very mad – the service was fair, the food average but most ridiculously i got charged 900 bucks for a VEG platter that was not even a full platter!! When i pointed this out i was told that the chef prepares the platter separately and hence the rate. I'm still feeling cheated as the platter was nothing but an assortment of 5 starters that were on the menu and would not have cost me as much if i had ordered all of them separately instead of a platter!! The last time I had gone there they refused to accept a genuine Rs 500 note saying it was a fake – I took it to the bank next day and they told me it was genuine and even changed it into Rs 100 notes!! I am definitely never going back and would not recommend the place to anybody who does not want to spoil their evening!
hi there! did you speak to the managers there? i'm really surprised at something like this from a place that boasts about its service.
i've had my order replaced many times at places when i haven't found them up to the mark, but obviously not without citing the proper reasons.
I spoke with various levels of management asking them for some logic to this absurd pricing – the only response I got was that that's the way it is… I'm getting the feeling that just because I ordered something off the menu these guys took the opportunity to fleece me – not something I would expect from a "fine-dining" restaurant. Hell, even the Machaan at Taj Mahal Delhi does not charge that rate!! When I asked for the complaint register at the reception, I was asked to recite the whole affair and was then told that they had run out of feedback cards but they would record it later on!! It all seems like one pathetic racket and I hope these kinds of fake class acts shut shop soon to make room for a place that can treat a customer with some genuine respect.
shocking! a really bad one-off experience it seems.