Last weekend, we had a huge meet-up with friends to celebrate. The occasion was the birth of a baby girl for one of the guys.
Based on good recommendations, we decided to go to the Serengeti restaurant in Total Mall, Madiwala.
Set amidst a lush jungle ambience complete with sound effects and a life-size elephant, it transports you to a tropical rainforest environment (somewhat similar to Rainforest Cafe).
There is a huge elephant at the entrance with a mechanized trunk that moves when you enter. The elephant is followed by a cute bridge that leads you to the dining area. The waiters are all dressed in forest garb looking a bit like Shikhari Shambu. There are tons of animal dummies strewn all over the place, which provided a good distraction to all the kids. The ceiling is covered with artificial green leaves and trees. There are also some streams and some artificial rain.
Overall, the atmosphere was very good. A little on the dark side, which I did not like. The snubnose was also very uneasy at first, though she soon settled in and began to feel quite comfortable. I also did not like the damp smell that was prevalent because of the artificial rain and the streams.
Once we were seated, we opted for the fixed menu and settled in.
The fixed menu consists of soup, naan, one side dish, one dal, one pulav, and curd rice. Dessert was gulab jamun and ice creams.
The food was overall very good. The soup, the naan, and the dal were excellent. The gulab jamun sucked. We had ordered paneer tikka starters, which were extremely delicious. The snubnose polished off quite a few.
I did feel that the price (Rs.300/- + tax) was a little bit steep, when there was not too much choice. However, that is mere quibbling.
Generally, we all enjoyed the meal, and lingered chatting and catching up for a long time. Most important, the kids had a blast 🙂
More photos below:
Btw, there were a few downers:
- Serengeti is not a rain forest in Africa. It is actually a plain, so this restaurant is not very accurately named
- North-Indian food, nothing remotely African
- The yucky restrooms and the basement parking
If you can overcome these blah things, you will enjoy a good experience at Serengeti :).
We have been there few times..the ambience is almost simliar to what you wrote about Serengeti. Food is good. But it is really crowded. On weekends..the waiting time is like more than half an hour.
Its a decent one…you can visit. Lemme know if you go there, how did you find it.
Thanks, will definitely let you know how I find it when I go there 🙂
Sounds something similar to Rainforst restaurant in Adyar! Have you been there?
No, I haven’t been to Rainforest although I have passed by many times.
I guess it would be pretty similar to Serengeti.
Have you been there? how is the place? worth visiting?