Anything but Imperial

La Rotande, the all-day restaurant at Imperial Palace, will be great for a quiet dinner provided they overhaul the place

The website of Imperial Palace, a luxury business hotel, describes La Rotande as a place where 'you can relish (a) multi-cuisine buffet and meet over fine coffees'. Imperial Palace is located in Royal Palms Estate, a 240-acre 'lifestyle township' in the heart of Aarey Milk Colony in Powai. Getting to the place after sunset can be a bit of a task, since there are no streetlights along the way and the ride is a bumpy one. But we trudged along, with hope of a sumptuous buffet awaiting us.u00a0


Greek Salad
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The first sign that something was wrong was the loud, bordering on vulgar Bollywood music that we could hear even before we'd entered the 'business' hotel. We dismissed it as a private party. The party was on right outside La Rotande. So, for a view we had a boisterous crowd shaking to terrible music. The option? To watch IPL on a bleary screen. We went for that.

As soon as we settled in, the waiter gave us a table d'hote (TDH) menu, which offered a five-course meal with frugal options (Rs 800 per head, plus taxes). The buffet was apparently cancelled since the hotel didn't have enough occupancy. With trepidation we placed the order u2014 Seafood Chowder, Greek Salad, Thai Lamb Salad, Chilly Paneer, Paneer Makhani, Methi Murg and Yello (that's the way it was spelt on the menu) Dal. Disappointing. The typos, and flavours. Methi Murg and Yello Dal get a 6/10 but would you really go all the way to a back-of-the-beyond for Dal Roti?
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The few waiters assigned to serve us would rather have watched the T20 match. One of them even blurted an expletive when his favourite team missed a catch. Also, this place is not quite the 24-hour restaurant it claims to be. By the time we were done with dinner, the staff had cleared the cutlery from all the tables. If you intend to stay at Imperial Palace you probably have no option but to order from the restaurant. But if you want to give the restaurant a try even after reading this review, don't say we didn't warn you.

At: Imperial Palace, Royal Palms Estate, Powai. Call: 28716000
Imperial Palace didn't know we were there. THE GUIDE reviews anonymously and pays for meals.