Brooklyn Shuffle Diner, Pune: An American Diner with a few kinks

As we entered ‘The Brooklyn Shuffle Diner’ we felt we had stepped into a diner in the US of A. Bright red sofas, blue chairs, lamps hanging low over the tables, wall graffiti and retro music. It definitely felt like an American diner.

We were in the mood for cool non-alcoholic “mocktails” but there wasn’t much of a choice listed on the menu.We asked our server if the bartender could make us non-alcoholic Margaritas. He came back with a ‘yes’ as the reply.

We happily chose the Lime Margarita and the Orange Margarita (Rs 150/- each). Alas! Our happiness was extremely short-lived. We know our drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and those were not Margaritas. The orange one was fresh orange juice, watered down with a dash of salt added to it. All in all, both the Margaritas were no great shakes. Pun intended? But, of course! After the Margarita fiasco I decided to give the Apple Lemonade (Rs 150/-) a try. It had neither the flavor of apple or lemonade. Somewhere along the way, both seemed to have lost their way.

I’m a die hard fan of onion rings, so when I see it on a menu, I usually can’t help but call for it. This time was no different. The onion rings were crisp, well coated and, best of all, thickly sliced. Most restaurants don’t slice the onions too thick and resultantly, we end up eating oily batter. Such was not the case here. Moreover they served it with a lovely herbed mayo and were kind enough to bring us some extra mayo when we requested for it. A must try for all onion ring lovers.

We also tried Stuffed Potato Skins (Rs 180/-). They served it with salsa and sour cream. The dish looked very colorful and delicious but the stuffed potato skins, the salsa and the sour cream were tasteless. Avoidable.

As we sat whiling away the afternoon, we called for a Crunchy Potato Burger (Rs 200/-) and a Roast Beef Sandwich (Rs 250/-). We requested some variations to the burger and the sandwich. They messed up our variations a teeny-weeny bit. The onions in my sandwich were quite raw in spite of my requesting them to give me sweet, grilled, caramelized onions. Plus they forgot to add grilled onions to the potato burger. However, I would have the beef sandwich all over again. Good quantity of beef, cooked to perfection, served with onion rings, fries and salad (crisp ice berg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and olives drizzled with balsamic vinegar). We requested them to give us potato wedges with the burger instead of fries. The wedges were batter fried, but delicious.

For dessert we chose Chocolate Brownie served with ice cream topped with chocolate sauce, and the Chocolate Mud Cake served with Cranberry compote (Rs 150/- each). Both the desserts were good. The brownie was warm and gooey. The chocolate mud cake was nice. The cranberry compote served with the mud cake complimented it beautifully.

They also have a fixed ‘Lunch-Munch’ priced at Rs 225/- (veg) and Rs 250/- (non-veg). I did visit the restroom and found it to be clean. I gave them an additional brownie point for that, but I took it away just as quickly because I saw flies at the windows of the restaurant, also at my table and they couldn’t do anything about it. They need to attend to the problem immediately because it reflects very badly on their level of hygiene. I won’t give them any marks for the drinks but except for the grilled onion mess up I mentioned earlier, they serve good VFM food.

Ratings (Out of 5)

Food: 3.5 | Ambience: 2.5 | Service: 3.5 | Overall: 3.0

Meal for two: Rs.1300| Alcohol: Yes | Credit Card: Yes | Timings: 11.30 am till 11.30 pm

Address: 390, Sanskruti Lifestyle Complex, Opposite Post 91, Lane 7, Koregaon Park, Pune.

Tel: 9833689307