r/mumbaiFood

Went to The Bandstand Pantry, Bandra yesterday and noticed that they had added a 5% service charge to the bill (₹144.25).
When we asked the waiter to remove it, he told us that he cannot remove the service charge.
As far as I understand, service charge in restaurants is voluntary and customers can ask for it to be removed. The CCPA guidelines also say restaurants cannot force customers to pay it.
We obviously ended up paying the bill, but I’m curious about what the correct procedure is in this situation.
Has anyone else faced this at The Bandstand Pantry or other restaurants in Mumbai? What to do when a restaurant refuses to remove the charge?
Bill attached for reference.

Went around 2.30pm on a Friday afternoon & had to wait around 40mins before finally getting a table. Pomodoro doesn’t take reservations, its walk-in only.

Slide 1: House Bread with House Dips (7.5/10) - The bread felt really fresh & light. Dips served were the Pomodoro dip & Pesto dip. Pesto tasted quite good!

Slide 2: Thick cut Fries with Parmesan & Truffle Oil (9.5/10) - Honestly the best dish apart from the Tiramisu. Fries were perfectly crisp with the right amount of truffle oil. They were neither too thick nor too thin. The dip was good too.

Slide 3: Truffle’d Chitarra pasta (8/10) - This one is linguine pasta in butter sauce with parmesan & shaved truffle. This is one of the best pasta i ve had in a while. Pasta was cooked al dente & had the perfect bite to it. However, they could add a little more truffle shavings especially considering the price we paid for it (Rs.805/-) Also people who don’t prefer mild tastes can skip it since they may find this a little bland.

Slide 4: The Pomodoro (4.5/10) - This is fettuccine pasta in a tomato based sauce. This one lacked flavours, found it quite underwhelming. Totally skippable!

Slide 5: Tiramisu (9.5/10) - Saved the best for the last! This was the best dish & i could totally go back it!!

Overall (7/10) - Good food & vibes. However, they dont have a waiting area & it gets a little annoying to wait outside on a hot day! Minus point for this!! They must start taking reservations. Would advice people to reach right when they open.

Hey i just like to eat the Schezwan sticks as a snacks but this disappointed me today I just bought this packet from the local supermarket of my area and i just shocked when I looked close to packet and I saw that there is a kind of sticker on the label I removed that sticker and it came as tomato sticks what should i do right now please somebody tell me about this

Hey everyone! ❤️

I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all the love, support, reviews and constructive feedback on my post. I honestly wasn’t expecting such a positive response, and it genuinely means a lot to me.

I’ve also received some really helpful feedback regarding the pricing, and I’ll definitely work on it and see what makes the most sense.

Since this is my first time doing something like this, I need a little time to properly plan and execute everything — including figuring out how to take orders, whether to keep it pre-order based, quantities, timings, packaging, etc., so I can actually make it a regular thing and do it properly.

I’ll be back after Navratri with an update. 🐟❤️

Also, if you have any suggestions for delivery options, delivery charges, or how I should price it, I’d genuinely love to hear them! Any ideas on what works best for homemade food would be really helpful.

I’m really sorry for the delay, and thank you all for being so patient and encouraging. Your response has honestly given me the confidence to take this forward!

Made these for the first time and they came out so delicious and fresh! Do try this recipe.

RECIPE>>>>>>

Ingredients:
- 4 tbs ghee
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup besan
- 2 tbs wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 3 elaichi
- a small piece of jaifal
- some toppings (I used seeds)
- Brown parchment paper
(Makes 8 nankhatais)

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Recipe:
- Take 4 tbs ghee in a bowl and add 1/2 cup sugar to it. Mix well with a spoon.
- Add 1 cup besan and 2 tbs wheat flour. Then add 1 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, a well crushed mixture of 3 elaichi and jaifal powder
- Mix the dough well with your hands.
- Take a brown parchment paper and place it in the air fryer. Then make small rounds of the batter and press them to form small discs.
- Place the discs on the parchment paper and add your toppings.
- Cook in the Air Fryer at 170 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Take them out in a serving plate and wait until they are cool.

They’re ready to be served!!

Sparkling Dark Chocolate Medovik Cake from Harley's Fine Baking, BKC, Mumbai - The quality and taste was exceptional. Really appreciated the intelligent packaging and the candle with the pointy thing at the bottom and matches sent alongside it. My only complaint would be that for a 600g cake, it looked and felt small, especially at that price. Otherwise though, I wanted a unique birthday cake experience and I got one.

First slide ( Bhut fried chicken) : it was so damn spicy (I underestimated the spice level) , it tasted good but for like 2 bites then I couldn't finish it (that's on me😭)

Second slide left side (the southern crunch) : this one was really good like 8/10

Third slide : potato onion rings , kinda mid

Overall the taste was good but the place had a weird smell

Tried the

Alba garlic bread (5/5) - the bread is regular focaccia with chillies and cheese but the butter is insane, soo creamy, so light, it’s beautiful, topped w garlic and chillies. I recommend you to share this since it’s heavy but worth it.

Rigatoni Vodka (no vodka) pasta (3.5/5)- A great dish for people who love spicy food, it’s advertised as a spicy dish but I found it to be mild wrt my spice tolerance. It’s not like the red pasta we get usually, the pasta is al-dente so the first bite might feel a bit different but it’s creamy,slightly spicy, the chicken is well cooked but the amount of chicken is less. Give it a try if you like a spicy pasta
(They recommend the truffle pasta but that’s an acquired taste and I’m not a fan, plus it was the most expensive pasta on the menu)

[There was no waiting since I went on a Monday but I’m sure there’ll be some if you choose to go on the weekend.
They add an optional 7% which I removed.]

I wanted to try dessert but I was full, maybe next time
Do check it out guys.