Retro @ Ulsoor

I go to Sai Mandir and do bhajans on a Thursday (yep! I can sing … :) …but out to dinner? naaa..So catching up with the gang in a lounge bar on this particular day of the week felt strange and the whole time i kept thinking its a Saturday. I had taken the whole of last week off and really looking fwd for some company…so wat if its mid-week ?? Who cares antha sumne hodhe?? Dheeks ws leaving and that’s why we all wanted to catch up.

Another thing I was really desperate to eat was Dilkush/Dilpasand (the pizza shaped sweet thing with tutty fruity and coconut stuffing) at Iyengar’s bakery on Cambridge Rd. But it ws quite late and I spotted another bakery near Dheek’s place. So we ladies first gobbled half of this yummy thing, next dropped by at Sai Mandir, gobbled the hot hot vangi bath prasada (God bless them!) and headed to Retro, the lounge bar. Cambridge layout is where I grew up and everything bout this place makes me nostalgic. My school looks the same but Hot breads nxt to it is missing, the old house where we stayed is pulled down :( and there ws this dabba movie theater called Maruthi which has become a tiny mall nw :)

Retro, during my kiddo days was called Copa Cabana and was one of the happening places on Cambridge Road, when Bangalore was famously known as “The Pub City”. Maybe the management changed and it has now been renamed as Retro. The first time I visited this place was for a school reunion last year where I met kindergarten buddies nearly after a decade. The last time I had seen them all was during our Mango Fruity sipping days…and seeing them again sipping the hot beverages this time round was like “Wow! We sure have grown up?”

So coming back to Thursday eve, RCB Vs DC was playing and I suspect Zit chose this place coz it has this huge projector screen. This is the highlight of Retro. The wide seating area suits for a huge group of ppl to watch a good match any day. However, for the ones like me, who’s not a big fan of cricket (except Rahul Dravid n Anil Kumble) it’s irritating to watch all eyes glued just to the screen (Eg. Gana) But no regrets…all thanks to the hot baby corn n peanut masala which kept me busy. I had a fruit punch which ws nice and I sipped a bit of Prathi’s drink (Mango bloom) which actually tasted quite the same too :) After the beverages, we ordered veg biryani and the non-veggies had Shanghai fried rice. The rice was kinda bad and the boys din finish the Shanghai thing too.

Honestly, Retro is a good place just to hang out for drink and appetizers, but not really for dinner n conversation. The food actually comes from the family restaurant called Ruchi (same management I guess) which is housed below. We stayed put as the match was drawing to a close…but only to see RCB losing :(

Website: http://www.retroloungebar.com/

Address: 18/1, Cambridge Road, above Canara Bank,
Halasuru, Bangalore 560 008
Ph: 080 25363694 / 41320436
Timings: 12.30 pm to 3-30 pm & 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm.

Review :

Food : Stick to drinks and starters. Ruchi is claimed to be a good Andra style restaurant. But I won’t take a chance next time. Dheeks n me were actually inching close to the chat place below, by which time the rest of them arrived and trashed out our pani puri eating plan.

Service : It’s a huge place and takes over the entire roof and the waiters I guess feel they gotu walk miles from table to table. Service is thus quite slow. I don entirely blame them coz the relaxing atmosphere at Retro, I guess actually gets rubbed off a bit on them too.

Wallet factor : It’s not an expensive kinda lounge bar and really affordable. Drinks, 5 plates of appetizers and 2 bowls of rice cost us Rs.1700.

Ambience : Rooftop with bamboo blinds, airy and dimly lit and has a diff mix of seating areas. U can choose the huge couches or cusion chairs . There is also a bar with stools.

Other Attractive features : the huge projector screen, valet parking (which is a boon coz u don’t see parking places nearby anywhere unless u go round and round). This place is worth visiting for a gang of cricket fans (you boys will surely love this place) or a bunch of friends who wanna enjoy a drink on a cold rainy eve.

Cheers to Dheeks !