Round, Square, Fat, Thin but Only Barottas - Barottas, Home Delivery, Chennai

What: Barottas

Where: Vadapalani Main Road, Vadapalani, Chennai

Only Home Delivery. Order Online via Mobile App or Website

Cuisine: South Indian

A day off to my kitchen and I go searching for food delivery options. And the fancy letters reading the word "barottas" got me curious not just with their colourful website but with their barotta varieties. With cheese, chocolate and paneer barottas in line I was excited to give them a shot even though I am not barotta person. And I love to make my own combos when given a choice, after the virtual eating session I spotted, "flat 50% off on first order via app". Could things get any more exciting?

Without much wait I downloaded the app, picked two combos of my choice, selected checkout, entered the discount code and submitted the order. There was no acknowledgement for my order and it wasn't placed properly; so I followed the same procedure and the dialog box popped up saying, "The discount code is already used". Surprisingly I maintained my calm and tried multiple times but nothing seemed to work. So I asked my husband to try the very same and the same story got repeated.

Now I lost, called their customer care and explained the whole issue. And I was so happy the way they handled the complete situation; they themselves weren't sure about the technical glitch so they requested to give them time and finally made sure to take the same order via phone. With the discount they said the bill amount as Rs. 385 INR (whereas the bill amounted to Rs. 349 INR in the app); possibly it is in the tax section where they went wrong while calculating manually but I didn't want to make huge fuss for this error. And finally as promised the order was delivered on-time.

Loved the care they have put in packing the food and accomplishments like tissues or spoons. And let me come to the food, I opted for two combo boxes: (1) My Box and (2) Barotta Box.

My Box

For 'My Box', you can choose a Starter or Curry and a Main Course, which comes with Salad, Salna, Raitha and Drink. The Veg Curry was rich and good with chunks of paneer and mushroom but the let-down is the overpowering hit of cinnamon. The barotta is an overload of cheese but after a few bites I didn't enjoy them as I didn't like the bland taste of cheese, so the Cheese Roti Canai is exclusively for cheese fanatics who would not need a curry for their barotta.

The Salna was the stand-out dish and it was perfect for the barottas. And there was my second box 'Barotta Box', which comes with Salna, Raitha and Drink along with a choice of two starters, two main courses, one dessert and one soup or curry. I enjoyed both the starters, Spicy Paneer and Kadal Erra (Prawn) Varuval, in terms of taste but looking at the amount of oil I wouldn't like to taste them again.

Barotta Box

Again the issue with Mutton Paya Soup was the balance of flavours, the level of pepper was high for my liking but the cook on the mutton and the soup consistency was good. Coming to the mains, they got to work on their Dum Chicken Biriyani. The biriyani wasn't bad but Chennai has some amazing biriyani places and they are nowhere near to the taste.

Definitely wasn't crispy but it was soft and there was 5-6 Crispy Coin Barottas. Considering the size it shall be apt for a person. With salna the barotta was bang-on. Their dessert varieties are interesting and no disappointment was the Thean Mittai (sugar candy). A drink is a good addition but it wasn't refreshing and packed tender coconut drink is a 'no' for me.

The price of the combo box depends upon the selection of your dishes. Obviously the vegetarian version is cheaper than the non-vegetarian; also combos are ideal if you want to cut down your prices as well as try different varieties. Without discount the two boxes would have cost Rs. 718 INR (including tax).

They only deliver and they don't have an outlet; you can order via their mobile application (Barottas) or website www.barottas.com.

Breaking Down Points

Online Order: Negative. I hope they have fixed the issue but for me this was the major negative.

Packing: Positive. Done to perfection.

Delivery: Positive. On-time but they can work on the communication part i.e. could update the customers on the whereabouts of the order.

Food Variety: Positive. There is plenty to choose from but definitely the non-vegetarians have upper hand.

Taste: Average. Few standouts wasn't enough to make me happy. Should work on consistency and flavour balance.

Quality & Quantity: Average. The portion size is good but choose wisely and they can work on the food quality and consistency.

Customer Service: Positive. I appreciate the way they address customer queries.

Price: Costly. Approximate cost for two is Rs. 700 INR. If they could nail the taste I would have been happy paying the money.

So my Verdict!

Barottas! A Nice concept for heroing the barotta and it's their combo boxes that gains them more points. Also the barotta variety is the main attraction. But they have a long way to reach in terms of mastering the taste and quality of the food.