Spo0nman

Sounds a bit weird doesn t it? But, it s true. The pizzas in Java city are absolutely yummy, they use real cheeses unlike the dominos and pizza hut or the people at little italy. Must order is a boston back (it comes with a free margarita.)

Their chilled italian sodas and ice teas are also yummy, you can mix and match various flavors like kiwi, strawberry.

For a place called Java city their coffee is nothing to write home about. Avoid going between 5 pm to 8 pm on weekends as a really horrible band tries to play jazz, what they end up playing is cheezy Bryan Adams numbers.

The place is full of regulars who sit there and smoke four cartons of cigarettes in an evening, So, if you re a non smoker or someone who does not like it, better come in during non peak hours.

There is also a game room with xbox and board games.

I recently dined at the French Quarter for the first time, considering that it s not easy to make authentic french food in Bangalore it was impressive.

As soon as we sat down, we were presented with a choice of bread on the house, the brown bread was tender and fresh while the french bread was dry and should have been hot when served.

I started with the French Onion Soup, it s not easy to make good french onion soup, but they got it just right.

I followed it with their beef tenderloin and I found the beef to be a tad tough, the preparation was beautiful, subtle but I found the meat too dry to go with the sauce offered, that said, the sauce had subtle flavors which could easily have been ruined by too much pepper, the chef here knows how to hold his hand and the sauce was a perfect, the salad on the side was great. The french fries served with the steak were of as high quality as i ve ever had.

My friend ordered the tuna salad which was also great, the salad was made out of fresh crisp greens and lovely tasting tuna. It s very difficult to make good salad with bad ingredients, the salad shines with the over all quality of the place.

The staff was articulate and gentle, very non-intrusive yet they pay attention to your needs, bread was offered multiple times without asking and the decor is presentable if not authentic french.

The dessert was the most disappointing part of the whole fair, When I come to a french restaurant and order a cheesecake, i expect a cheesecake made in house ... not the whipped cream on baked bread that goes around all of bangalore in the name of cheese cake. To make matters worse it was almost frozen. unforgivable.

We finished off with a cafe´ which was espresso and not nescafe and was very good.

All in all a nice place to try ... the food is good, the service is excellent. They also have a selection of wines, i didn t feel like drinking so didn t try.

UPDATE: I visited the french quarter again after about 5 months and the place is now a dump. The food was stale and the service unpleasant. I don t know what happened but, it s very sad. I ve revised my rating to Average.

The bold interiors and excellent location fails to live up to expectations.

The fundamental problem with this place is it s staff, ignorant, unapologetic, indifferent and sometimes even surly. I can t begin to ridicule this shameless mockery of a restaurant, which is an insult to every man, woman and child who ever paid for a mouthful of hot food in Bangalore.

It s just too patchy. Even if the food were great, which it isn t, even if it were more expensive than some other places which it is I would not have minded this place.

I am not being a snob here, the place is supposed to be a fine dining restaurant not a idli sambhar joint and I went to judge it according to its aspirations. It charges above 500 Rs for a serving of appetizers and for that sort of money I would expect the standards of cooking you see at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

The place looks OK, in a Pavarotti meets Anu Mallik sort of way, with young, sloppy staff. They sat us at one end of a table, close to the long bar/pass, at which blank-faced staff stood idly, avoiding the glance of customers.

When asked for water they brought us bottled water. No acknowledgment of the invention of the tap. You have to start fleecing your customer even before they ve ordered.

They mixed up the drinks and made us pay for their screw up, They didn t know how to make a White Russian, neither did they know what to serve it in. When vodka and kalhua shaken 2.32 times arrives in a Champagne coupe glass, you should be scared. Instead, we chuckled. Big mistake.

The bruschetta is all we ordered, I took a bite, it was Maybe tomatoes. But old tomatoes. Topped with mould. And soap.

We escaped to the beauty, service and politeness of italia at the park. It s across the street Please take that 2 minute walk and eat decent food.

Forget little italy and forget all the other fake italian joints in bangalore and head straight to italia.

It's a small restaurant inside the Park and they have sitting for about 15-20 people I guess, I visited with about six friends and was greeted immediately and presented with an assortment of breads with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. the breads were tasty and appetizing.

The staff was patient with our 20 minutes worth of decision making on what to eat and politely kept serving us more bread. Once ordered the food came quickly.

I ordered the prosciutto pesto pasta, the pesto was great and the pasta brilliant, it was exquisite. The lobster and crab pasta was delightful. It was a preparation of lobster and crab meat blended with ricotta cheese and flavored with sambuca, tarragon, chives, garlic and fresh-ground black pepper.

The ambiance was underplayed but bright. the bill was about 4k for six people who ordered the most expensive things on the menu. It was a great experience.