Missing the Mark

There are food joints I get told about as wonderful places which I will especially like being a foodie and all that.  These range from street food vendors to five stars. If these recommendations are made by more than one person I tend to believe and look for an opportunity to try out the fare.

At times these recommendations turn out to really be the finger licking experience they were foretold to be but sometimes try as I might I am unable to discover the 'amazing food' I was recommended. I guess the reasons can be many - different tastes, a bad day at the restaurant, my expectations being set too high and maybe just a bad day for me.

A name that tops the list for me in this regard is Sagar Ratna - try as I might I am unable to like their fare. I have been to various outlets at various points in time but somehow they all leave me unsatisfied. Their dosas always need a little more crispness and their sambar a little more flavour. Yet many, many friends call it their favorite south Indian food joint, one they visit on a regular basis.

A second one is the coffee shop chain Costa Coffee - a place often sought by fellow colleagues as a quick place for a bite and a meeting. While I am good with a Barista and even a Cafe Coffee Day somehow Costa never does it for me. I am yet to fathom what it is that bothers since honestly apart from the coffee mix which each place has as distinctive - the kind of 'bites' are very very similar and yet given a chance I prefer a local eatery to a Costa anyday.

A recent disappointment has been Cafe Delhi Heights - a chain that boasts an unusual decor and a pretty regular spread at high prices. It is the favorite 'party' place for office colleagues and I have ended up going there quite a few times but somehow neither their cocktails nor food seem to impress. A place that serves a platter of Pita bread and hummus at a price of 475/- is expected to atleast keep the flies away. Sadly that's not the case and one ends up shooing away flies with one hand while nursing a drink in a discarded jam jar with the other. 

Being always a part of a largish group 20+ people at the minimum, we always end up ordering quite a few veg and non veg dishes. Sadly am yet to find one that I really relish and can recommend. I notice the vegetarians ordering jalapeno poppers and pita & hummus every time - seems there is a dearth of choices in that section. As for the non vegetarian section ordering and reordering factory made sausages can only mean that nothing else is really repeat worthy.

The place however seems to get a fair amount of good word on Trip Advisor and while no one says its really awesome and the high prices & flies feature there too - no one seems to be disappointed with the place, except me. I did notice that there are no blog posts about the Cafe though. 

Or perhaps I am breaking some Food blogger/ reviewer protocol which says that dont say negative things about a place - only post happy reviews. 

Any which way I am known for stating bitter truths as is...so here is my list of pet food place peeves.

Do you have any?