Date: 7th April 2018
Venue: Imly, Rajouri Garden
Many of us are vegetarian on some days a week and many of us have vegetarian family members or friends who refuse to eat even vegetarian food at a restaurant that serves non veg. Imly comes to rescue on such days and with such family members. Though there are vegetarian restaurants galore like Haldirams, Bikaners and Hira Sweets but all of them are self service. Imly stands apart in this respect. No self service required and you are served on your table.
We had visited the first Imly outlet at Rajender Nagar some time back and were very impressed with their food and the train concept. The Rajouri one has a bus theme and apparently is bigger and spacious. We went with 7-8 family members and they ordered various items – from fried momos to bharwan gol gappe to bikaneri parantha to soy chop platter and pao bhaji. Most of the stuff ranged from above average to good.
Bikaneri parantha and gatte ki sabzi stood out from rest of the fare. It was unique, tasty and is a great option for Rajasthani food when you need a break from the regular dal bati choorma or Rajasthani thali. The menu is extensive and one is spoilt for choice. My mother didn’t want to go through the menu and ordered her all time favorite chole bhature. This was a total spoiler for us. This was the unimpressive dish on the table. Bhature were big and too dry and hard to swallow. Choley tasted like they were made yesterday. Didn’t work for us at all. Very disappointing.
But rest of the items made up for that. Bharwan golgappe were delicious and were served in a tiny version of a giant wheel with one gol gappa on each seat. We just wish there were more seats in the swing 🙂 so that we could have more gol gappe. It was very tasty but not value for money.
The service was fast and they took feedback from everyone on the table. For us food bloggers, its business as usual but other family members specially the junior ones felt really special that someone is asking for their opinion and we were surprised to see they had so much feedback to give.
One of my nieces really wanted to sit inside the bus kind of enclosure but looked like it was (unofficially) reserved for dating couples. She was a bit disappointed but later got busy with her food after I promised to take her to Imly again and make her sit in the bus area when there are no love birds around.
We like Imly and would recommend this for vegetarians who love street food and want a casual dining place to go with family and friends. We are looking forward to try out their other outlets as well.
Dear Management of Imly Restaurant in Rajendra Place.
I went to Imly in the afternoon with my family and relatives (Mostly kids). Despite spending more than Rs 3000, I felt that the VALUE FOR MONEY was missing.
It happened the following way :
(a) Though the order for starter was given together, but it was served in four seperate installments destroying the thrill of combined eating by the kids. Same happened for lunch(Main Course) as well. THIS IS MUCH DEPARTURE FROM THE ESTABLISHED PRACTICE OF SERVING THE ORDER TOGETHER IF TAKEN TOGETHER, THAT TOO ON A SAME TABLE.
(b) When the requested TANDOORI ROTI was not served for more than fifteen minutes, then the time when I reminded him was logged and I was told that the order is only pending since eight minutes , hence in order.I THE ARGUMENT BY THREE OF YOUR STAFF TOGETHER SUPPORTING WAS VERY EMBARRASSING AND I TOLD HIM TO NOT TO MAKE A SCENE AND BILL THE SAME TO ME.
(c) The ordered Dessert was served in a very unprofessional manner. THE SERVING WAS DONE EVEN WHILE THE TABLE WAS BEING CLEANED. THIS HAPPENED WHEN I WAS INTERACTING FOR PUTTING UP THE BILL. THE SENIOR STAFF OF YOUR RESTAURANT HIMSELF OBJECTED TO THIS AND IT WAS SERVED LATER AGAIN CORRECTLY.
(d) Fifteen percent Discount was displayed for School going kids. Insistence was on production of school Identity Card ffor availing the discount. This strange insistence made me spend avoidable additional FIVE HUNDRED RUPEES (Approx 15 % ). IS IT BY DESIGN A PLOY TO DENY THIS ADVERTISED DISCOUNT KNOWING VERY WELL THAT THE KIDS WONT BE CARRYING THEIR IDENTITY CARD. THE VEHEMENT INSISTENCE ME SMELL A RAT. LET’S BE GENTLEMANLY KNOWING VERY WELL THAT THERE MAY NOT BE ANY NON SCHOOL GOING KID COMING TO SUCH RESTAURANT.
I COULD NOT KEEP THESE BURDEN TO MYSELF, SO I AM PASSING THIS TO MANAGEMENT. PLEASE LOOK INTO THESE ETHICAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES.