Pi - Hotel Avasa
Overall
3.5/5
Ambiance
4.0/5
Food
3.0/5
Service
3.5/5
Pi Avasa is though one of the closest fine dining options from my office, never enticed me as such to tick it off from my fodoie bucket list for a long time. A Really long time..... The pricing could bthe reason but I never get to hear much about except few foodies and never was excited as well. But the look and grandeour from outside definitely speaks about the place and certain things like dining in Pi just doesnt work out planned but happens.
Visit Scenario:
My new project team wanted to plan their quarerly team outing for a team lunch and they selected this place and as it was my pending list, I thought what better way to tick it off but frankly I wasn't super excited to try out this place may be because of not mcuh vibe or word of mouth.
Ambience (Decor & Interiors):
Located in first flloor, the place is aptly decored to be a fine-dining experience but with a elegant and classy touch everywhere. Huge dining area and welcoming space and sufficient seating capacity. Th high hanging glass chandelier and the big gaint water pond setup in the middle added luxury to it but the color vibrancy was dull and wasn't WOWed but definitely speaks grandeour. A nice warm welcome and aptly seated space awaits you in PI Avasa. Light Green decor everywhere to keep it subtle and calm and completely unique seating arrangements with some rubber bush like layerings which was very unique and first time for me. Comfortwise were good and not much to relax upon but overall everything felt good but did food served compliment it? Lets see....
Their buffet spread is one of the huge ones I have experienced in Hyderabad ranging from cold salads, starters, south indian, north indian, asian, italian, contintenal, live pizza counters, live paster counters, live kebabs counters, indian and continental main courses and of course THE BIGGEST DESSERT ARRAY in any buffet I have eaten.
Since the buffet spread was huge, I will just review the best dishes in my opinion and the dishes that fell flat alone.
Dishes Ratings:
Cold Salads - Good. Vibrant and nice varities for veg and non-veg. My pick was the Shrimp & Peas Cocktail and Chicken Tikka Chaat both were nicely cold and super yummy (3.5/5)
Indian Starters - Good. Corn, vadas, veg and non veg kebabs, cheese balls. Fresh hot and well flavored (3.5/5)
Pastry Buns - Very Good. All flavors were soft spongy and perfectly baked all across (4.5/5)
Rosted Herb Chicken - Damn Good. Nicely cooked Chicken and rosemery & Basil perfect combo flavored (4.5/5)
Tandoor Kebabs - Good (3/5)
Asian Cuisine Dishes - Above Average (3/5)
Indian Rice Items - Average (2.5/5)
Live Pizzas - Soggy and undercooked because of timing or doughe issues. Below Average (2/5)
Desserts - There literally 25-30 items easily in desserts section whic blew my mind out . Mostof them were appealing, fresh and abundantly filled up. This buffet is a pure HEAVEN if you are desserts Lover like ME. Most of them did impress me in terms of presentation , flavors and freshness (5/5)
Areas of Concerns:
Live Pasta Counter - Absolutely pathetic. When you have a live counter your chef needs to know what's up in staake and be readyto cook up some yummy pastas based on customer's choices. I orderd for alfredo sauce penne and arabiatta sauce penne samples for my table . They were served in 10 minutes. I did instruct them not to put dry grated cheese on top of pasta which didnt melt at all and cheese was such raw and cold. The live counter chef did get that but did exactly the same thing on my servings. Tastewise both were awful. Alfredo sauce version was not at all creamy and like plain milky flavour and arabiatta was a JOKE. Lets not even go there. (0.5/5)
Service & Hospitality:
PI Avasa's Customer Engagement was the only consoling factor for me as they were prompt, courteous and always alert to serve customers. Since ours was a big table to handle, they did deploy multiple waiters and took good care of serving table side. Overall good service but did I feel connected to the fine dining style of service. Probably not.
Verdict:
Overall for a corporate discounted price of little of Rs. 1000 /- I was thoroughly impressed on desserts choices and varities which unfortunately was the only promosing thing. M<y major coner was nothing stood out as a signature product of this dining experience. No single dish or dishes screamed the uniqueness of this buffet. OVerall not a bad chocie for 1K Buffet categories but I mostly may not come back again until its a corporate event or any other's planned event. Its definitely not a good bye but definitely adios for now.