THE RICE BOWL LAVELLE ROAD

I am currently on the lookout for a Chinese place that is not too far off from where I stay, great clean food, and to be able to visit whenever the cravings hit (which is verrry often) sort of like a Chinese adda. Decades ago, I used to visit Rice Bowl on Lavelle road with friends and had some awesome food and good memories associated with this place. Nostalgic to relive those days, I headed over to this place. While the menu still offers a lot of variety, just the kind I like, the experience was nothing to write home about. Ambience was 5/5 with its plush red chairs and soft lighting. There’s ample seating space and it was a Monday so I could eat quietly in peace. Started with the Kimchi – fried cabbage in sauce usually a favorite of mine but this, this was so dry and stale! The sauce was spicy. I had asked for bottled water which took ages and involved a lot of scrambling about to get. Then I ordered my usual favorite for the main course – Chilli garlic noodles and vegetables in Manchurian gravy with addition of Broccoli. The noodles were the best, the gravy was tasty but the broccoli was not cooked and really chewy! After I tucked in the main course, I ordered dessert and this is where things went downhill even more. The menu mentioned Banoffee Pie and I get this colorful ice creams while announcing that it is Banoffee pie. I asked them where the crust part of the pie was. Turns out they dint have the dessert so they gave me a Banana split instead. They dint even inform me about it. I still wouldn’t have felt that bad if the split was good but no, it was three scoops of bland, boring flavors – I’ve never tasted ice cream that was so…well..tasteless! I look forward to desserts after every meal when I eat out so this totally ruined it for me. I did get an apology from the manager, which was nice but all in all, not a good experience from someone who once loved the place! Service is truly pathetic. Everyone’s polite but it is like they have the attitude of they’d rather be working elsewhere or doing something else. Nothing smart and spruced up about them. The girl who served me dint come anywhere near me post the dessert goof up. Would I go again? Quite unlikely, unless I crave the chilli garlic noodles again. And so the hunt for the perfect Chinese adda goes on…. Overall rating: 3/5…generous with the rating only because the noodles and spring rolls (takeaway) was good. Ratings for reviews 1-No! No! No! 2-Just about average 3- Good. Can give it a try 4-Great!! 5-Yes! Yes! Yes! and I’ll tell all about it. Details: 40/2, Lavelle Road, Bangalore. 12–3:30 pm, 7–11 pm