Fusion 9
Overall
3.5/5
Ambiance
3.0/5
Food
4.0/5
Service
3.0/5
Fusion 9 or F9 (InOrbit Mall) is part of the mutli branded Fusion Hospitality Private Limited (FHPL) promoted by two professionally qualified Hoteliers namely Mr.Arvind Kaila & Mr.Shankar Krishnamurthy. Starting with their flagship brand Fusion 9 (Restaurant and Lounge Bar), at Banjara Hills, they also started in the chain of Confectionary cum Cafés under the popular brand Deli 9. As such in hyderabad , they have following outlet:
Fusion 9 @ Banjara hills - flagship restaurant that specializes in global cuisine.
F9 @ Inorbit Mall, Madhapur - A brand new ambience.
Coastal Spice Kitchen @ Banjara hills - Great Lounge with interactive activities such as karaoke nights, Jazz nights.
Deli 9 @ Banjara hills -Hyderabad's first true blue delicatessen that serves desserts, cakes, chocolates, breads.
Deli 9 @ Life style mall at Begumpet - Operates as a Confectionary retail cum 30 Seater Bistro serving.
Now with all this mammoth decor and setup, did the food deliver? Les get on to it :)
Visit Scenario:
Our Regional VP from US had been in visit to our India office and he wanted to take a pack of maners under his wing for dinner and have some real good corporate discussions and fun as well. So based on few people's recommendation, this place was finalized for dinner for pack of 8 on 07 Mar, 2016.
Ambiance (Decor & Interiors):
Fusion 9 is a unique multi - venue All Day Dining concept (12 noon to 12 midnight) comprising of a combination of a contemporary Indoor dining space & outdoors Open Deck & Lounge dining set around a Sky bar. One can choose to party away under the stars or laze around in the Outdoor lounge over a few drinks, gazing upon the breath taking view overlooking the Durgam Cheruvu (the secret lake) or experience the Indoor restaurant with mood lighting which lends a quaint warm feel to the place. It also hosts in-house famous Deli9 counter,serving world class desserts & confectionary offerings to the buzzing IT Madness.
Now as such the place impressed me with its grand mamoth size dining space and it really looked classy though I felt little bit more lighting. But here is my problem the place started to stink. I read in one of a recent review that the smell was not plesant considering it is fine dinging. Really I felt the same. Something bad about it felt right away which made me to sit uncomfortabally but since it was company arranged dinner, I thought to adjust. Overall the entire grandeour that made me go WOW, the smell made me OK I need to go throught this before I step out. Not impressed and felt disappointed as I did mention to one of the servers to apply some room refreshners or something. But no response. Drop bomb for me.
French Kiss - One of the costly cocktials in their menu which is nothing but Vodka, Pineapple Juice and Cranberry Juice. Since it was happy hours with 1 + 1 offer. I tried the same but wasnt impressed. The vodka as such was not married well with the juice and it was a direct shot with some dilute juices in it. Overall for 425++ the drink did no justice at all.
Brocolli Cheese Kebab a good try out with cheese infused brocolli kebab style fry. The dish could have had better presentation and frankly for 375 for a veg dish, I need justifable quantity. This hardly had 10 pieces in d serving. Flavors were decent but the cheese didnt marry well with the star ingredient. Overall OK dish.
Chicken Dumpling this had a good presentation and nice aroma with it thought priced high for 395 for Chicken version. The dumpling as such had a decently made momo outer layer but the chicken inside had no flavors or seasoning. The chicken was cooked well but could have had more appeal in its entirity. This was decent one.
Iranian Joojeh Kebab This was their F9 signature dish made of chicken with garlic cream. Again lacked presentation but surprisingly the flavors were very good and the interestingly made garlic cream with well cooked chicken made our taste buds finally feel a relief. Overall a good dish .
Smoked Paprika Tenderloin Steak - Beef dish which many people didnt prefer but I wanted to try as the naming and description sounded very interesting to try. Basically this a smoked pepper steak cutlets with pungent blue cheese butter. The serving was very poorand there was visual appeal for the star meat. The beef was almostabove well done. Little tough for my liking but the butter on top was actually very good and went well with the meat. Overall another good dish although could have WOWed me easily with the cook on the meat.
BBQ chicken with sauteed veggies & Mashed Potatoes was my entree` choice as I'm a fan of mashed potatoes and if you have that in the menu you got me. This dish easily impressed me in the quantity and the presentation though there was no mash gravy to go another level and simple sauce drizzling to decorate the same. The BBQ shicken had a good layering of the sauce and as I sliced in with my knife it just melted, WOW was the word, the chicken was so softly cooked yet not so meshy in terms of serving. The veggies went well with the chicken as well. The mashed potatoes could have been definitely on the better side as it lacked the pepper and cream butter richness. But none the less this dish served me completely for its price and definitely wrapped up my meal on a happy note. I wish they could have made the chicken a bit more hot so that the mash wold have gone lot well in a perfect marriage.
My other collegues tried Zafrani Veg Biryani, Pepper chilly Chicken , Malabar Mutton Biryani and Kung Pao Chicken which they all overall seemed to be just OK and not WOWed. But them being normal foodies I wouldnt be surprised if some of the dishes were indeed good but their feeling was overall they weere all OK..
Service & Hospitality:
For such a fine dining place which screams grand spacious decor and ample space to host a big lavish throw down party, I wish the service was more proactive and courteous. Not that the servers were rude or something but they lacked activeness and smile in them. I understand it was a Monday dinner where 90% of the place was empty but that does not leave you to WOW the customers in your service aspect. Overall was a very decent affair for me considering the dishes we ordered , we expected a bit more attentive one. Overall a decent one Nothing to pin point. I wish they are more attentive on weekends.
Verdict:
Overall a good place if you are shopping in the mall and still want a fine dining experience without stepping again into the roads. The place is so huge that seating and privacy I guess wont be a big issue. The food is overall above GOOD I would say but easily could have impressed us with few gaps filled in. Will I dine in here again considering the ambiance aspect, may be as I still liked some of the dishes I tried . Another visit might seal the deal for me as their menu is quite vast and definitely gives an option for me to try others and see if they get me better opinionated. But cocktails they definitely got to work considering the price I pay, I expect class in them. Overall not THE BEST but above OK experience. Give it a try.