The Den is a small, easy to miss, wine bar on the lane off Linking Road. Despite being small, the tables are spaced out and the couches large and comfy. The lighting is just perfect – dim enough to create a classy ambiance without hampering reading of the menu.
They serve wine cocktails and have a good collection of imported wines served by bottle. The wines available by glass are, however, few. The wine cocktails are a must have. We tried champagne based ones and those were prepared really well. Also tried a couple of wines from their international selection. The problem is that the wine menu just has the names of wines – probably a small tasting note would have made the selection easier.
Food is a mix of Italian and continental cuisines. They served killer quantities. We had grissini – and what they served was 6 strips of normal toast bread (total quantity would have been just one normal size toast bread) with dips. In fact the quantity of bread was so little and the bread was so soggy that most of the dips were wasted. Had a potato based starter, which though was good in taste, again lacked in quantity. Other starters were just okay.
The markup on wines, especially the imported ones, is on a very high side. Couple this with taxes and service charge and you are looking at a markup of 1000-1500 rupees a bottle – not suitable for people who want to enjoy lots of wine. Probably the high pricing coupled with measly portions of food is the reason that the place was nearly empty on a weekend evening and most of those who were there were just hanging out with hardly any wines being ordered. It just defeats the purpose of having a wine bar. It is more like a wine café where people come and spend time over a single drink.
The service was really good – servers were very attentive. And they readily agreed to charge our bills to individual cards (this is really simple but somehow even some of the high end Bandra restaurants would not do that… strange). 3 stars for the concept, service and collection of wines but definitely needs improvement.
Rating: 3/5
Go for: Ambiance, wine cocktails
Skip: Food
