The Ohri’s chain has opened a new restaurant on Necklace Road just beside Moksh. It’s called 100 Degrees and sizzlers are what they claim to be good at making. They’ve done some major promoting with hoardings all over town and ads in all the dailies.

We decided to check out the place on Sunday night. I called up and made a reservation and was offered a choice between a ‘beach side’ table and something inside. I was mildly amused. I know its on the banks of The Hussain ‘Sagar’ and everything, but let’s face it – That ain’t no beach! Anyway, I booked a ‘beach side’ table at 9 pm for four and hung up.

Picked up friends and reached the place at 9 only to discover that the entire reservation procedure was a big fat joke. People were spilling out into the street and it was all I could do to fight my way to the hostess’ desk. I reached the desk eventually and was asked to wait for twenty minutes. I was a little irritated but then decided to wait it out. We hung around near the ‘beach area’ which happened to be a little terrace with a sand floor.

The decor was a little puzzling to be honest. They had these stupid channels running on the perimeter of the ‘beach area’ and flanking the vestibule to the inside of the restaurant. The channels had water running in the them and I saw at least three people step into them. The damn things should be covered with plexiglass or something. I can see someone breaking an ankle already.

Anyway, we waited for over half an hour and were finally shown a tiny table in the ‘beach area’. It was a tiny little thing that reminded me of something my grandmother used to keep her dentures and spectacles on. The manager promised to shift us to a larger table as soon one was vacated and suggested that we order our drinks and appetizers at the tiny table. We ordered a round of drinks and some American Corn balls and some Bruschetta with assorted toppings.

The appetizers were disappointing. The Corn balls were starchy and the filling was too glutinous to have any particular flavour. The occasional corn niblet inside was just to justify the name. The Bruschetta was sad. We got three toppings – minced lamb, shrimp and salmon. Stone cold and just not up to the mark. The salmon was downright idiotic. It was a chilled slice of fish on a cold piece of bread. No seasoning or flavouring whatsoever to its credit.

We noticed that the service was failing miserably on all tables. People were losing patience all around. After we finished our first round of drinks, we asked four different members of the staff to move us inside. The table was just too small! I found the manager eventually and he made a big show of having just one table that we were going to get. The idiot then turned around and fled for the hills. He didn’t put in another appearance at our table.

40 minutes later, I actually got up, went all the way inside the restaurant and tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to get a move on it. They finally moved us inside and it felt like jail. The interior of the restaurant has been likened to the inside of a railway tunnel. They’ve got this ‘make your own sizzler’ gimmick going thats plastered all over the menu. We spent a good deal of time over it only to be informed by our waiter that ‘Sir, today is no’. In other words, it was unavailable.

We proceeded to place our order and were warned that one of the sizzlers would take twenty minutes. We changed the order again. The order was finally taken and we tried to make sense of the dismal interiors. Ventilation was pretty much non existent. Anyway, we waited for forty five minutes (I bullshit you not! 45!) for our food to show up.

At 12.15, I lost it and we walked out of the joint. I have to say, Ohri’s 100 Degrees was the worst restaurant I have ever been to and trust me, I’ve been to a LOT. Taking a reservation and then making your patrons wait for almost an hour is totally unacceptable. This place hit professional depths in every department.

The little food we had was terrible and simply could not justify the price. Pathetic service with a capital P. Don’t go to 100 degrees, people. It is an insult to catering establishments the world over. Congratulations to the Ohri’s group for managing to come up with quite peerlessly the worst restaurant in Hyderabad.