Restaurant Reviews

The K Factory, Baner, Pune

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The K Factory, Baner, Pune

Postby manish » Wed May 11, 2016 5:46 pm

If you visit the same restaurant twice in a week it is obvious that you love their food. That's what happened with us few days ago at The K Factory in Baner. It is a new restaurant located near Kapil Malhar on Baner road. They not only have great tasting food, but also have a good variety of eclectic dishes that you don't find elsewhere easily. Have a look at this salad before I get into more details.


Factory Special salad at The K Factory


During our two visits, we have had a chance to taste several dishes there and I must say, the majority of them were really tasty & exclusive. This is the combined spread that we tasted -

  • French Onion Soup
  • Tomato & Basil Soup
  • K Salad
  • Factory Special Salad
  • Pasta With Veggies in Pommodoro Sauce
  • Stir Fried Sweet Potato Squash With Bokchoy
  • Hasselback Potatoes with Cottage Cheese & Spicy Peppers
  • Sweet Crepes with Strawberry, Blueberry & Creme Cheese
  • Tandoor Roasted Vegetables & Cottage Cheese Flatbread
  • Caramel Panna Cotta
  • Mango Meringue Mess
  • Pan & Gulkand Ice-Cream
  • Café Espresso

As you can see, it is quite a lot - we really love our food!! :D
Do have a look at the photos and see if you find it tempting enough!


French Onion Soup at The K Factory


Tomato & Basil Soup at The K Factory


K Salad at The K Factory


Factory Special Salad at The K Factory


Pasta With Veggies in Pommodoro Sauce at The K Factory


Stir Fried Sweet Potato Squash With Bokchoy at The K Factory


Hasselback Potatoes with Cottage Cheese & Spicy Peppers at The K Factory


Sweet Crepes with Strawberry, Blueberry & Creme Cheese at The K Factory


Tandoor Roasted Vegetables & Cottage Cheese Flatbread at The K Factory


Caramel Panna Cotta at The K Factory


Mango Meringue Mess at The K Factory


Pan & Gulkand Ice-Cream at The K Factory


Café Espresso at The K Factory (Note the quantity served!)


As you can see, dishes are not only innovative & fresh, but the presentation is awesome as well. I really loved their plating and it makes food all the more desirable.

Food

Let me come to the crux of the matter - taste of the food. In a single word, the food is delicious! The soups were hot and palatable and we all agreed that Tomato & Basil Soup is much better than the French Onion Soup. Quantity of soup is strictly for one person, in fact people might find it less for even a single person. They served our soups with nice accompanying bread and they were indeed nice. The salads: K Salad was good but factory special is really exceptional. Both salads are different and quite tasty! The veggies were fresh, crispy and taste was lovely. I love salads, and factory special has become my latest favourite! BTW, they "forgot" to add caramelized walnuts to our K Salad and when we mentioned that to the young lady Kiara looking after everything, took the salad and brought it back with caramelized walnuts in some time.

In the main course, the pasta was wonderful - Penne pasta cooked al dente with right amount of tasty sauce. We added veggies to it and that made it perfect. Another dish, Stir Fried Sweet Potato Squash With Bokchoy was good, but perhaps rather average as compared to the rest of the menu. The menu mentions that it is served with sweet chili rice, but we didn't get any! When asked to that same lady Kiara - she mentioned that it doesn't come with rice. So I am not sure why menu mentions it. Anyway!

The recommended dish Hasselback Potatoes with Cottage Cheese & Spicy Peppers turned out to be a disappointment. The diced paneer (Cottage cheese) topping resembled tasty paneer pepwiches that Pepinos at F. C Road used to serve (closed permanently). However, we didn't like its taste much, I would rather skip it next time.

Coming back to the next recommended dish: Flatbread, smarter cousin of regular pizza - this was really awesome. We chose Tandoor Roasted Vegetables & Cottage Cheese Flatbread and though I don't like pizzas much, this was an exception! It is not overloaded with cheese, yet you get that nice thin-crust taste and roasted veggies just enhance it further. I'd highly recommend it if you love pizza, in fact given its taste and low cheese, people who don't like pizza much might love it as well - just the way I did!

We also tried Sweet Crepes with Strawberry, Blueberry & Creme Cheese - and this was quite a good dish with enough fruits and delicious crepes with creme. Given its sweetish taste, I think kids, or anyone with sweet tooth would love it!

Coming to the desserts, we tasted some really mouth-watering ones here. As you can see in the photo, Caramel Panna Cotta looks exquisite and tastes good as well, but not exceptional as such (Le Plaisir takes the crown for the best Panna Cotta: Espresso Panna Cotta). The Mango Meringue Mess howerver is really lovey, but given the quantity you can finish it quickly in just a few spoons. But it just melts in the mouth and awesome Alphonso taste lingers on. Their Pan & Gulkand Ice-Cream is something quite exclusive - it has a delicious blend of Paan & Gulkand in an ice-cream that I have never tasted before. I'd highly recommend this!

We also tasted their Café Espresso shot, and as you can see in the photos, it was really a tiny shot. And though coffee aroma and flavour are lovely, it is unbelievably bitter. Much more bitter than most other dark espresso shots. Try it only if you like your coffee really bitter!

As it must be evident from my long discussion of the spread, most of the food at The K Factory is really good. Absolutely palatable and tempting!

Ambiance

This is a relatively large space which can sit plenty of people but it is often crowded and may take 15-20 mins before you get a place to sit. The ambiance is quite pleasant, young and vibrant. They have few TV screens and you can find people watching IPL matches there these days. The tables tend to be on the smaller size and it is often a challenge to fit all that you have ordered on that table. But otherwise, the ambiance is quite likable.

Service

This is probably the only problem with The K Factory - I have read it in other reviews as well. We had our share of problems on both occasions but nothing really appalling as such. First time, when we ordered the soup and asked for one potion split into two, the staff curtly refused in these words: "We don't serve one-by-two". When soup arrived we realized that such a small quantity cannot be shared at all. I think they could probably put it more politely explaining that their soup quantity would suffice only one person. As I mentioned earlier, they forgot to add caramelized walnuts in our salad, and though the young lady had them added, there was not even a hint of apology. On the second occasion, Café Espresso shot was misunderstood for another ice-cream and they were quite upset when we asked to take back the ice-cream. The staff just mumbles as they take or serve the order, they were not very attentive when it comes to refilling the water in the glasses or taking back the finished plates to clear-up those small tables. They don't look rude as such, but they seem clueless - either most of the staff members are new to this industry or they are unable to cope up with the high volume and crowd. They seem quite indifferent. In fact, if they get any more indifferent/apathetic - they could be easily mistaken for government employees! :P

Jokes apart, apparently the lady in-charge Kiara seemed quite dynamic and she was trying to manage everything efficiently almost single-handedly, but it must have been difficult for her on busy weekends. I didn't get a chance to catch up with her and talk about the restaurant.

They have a pretty good restaurant and menu - but they need to improve their service as soon as possible. I think their staff needs some training immediately.

Value For Money

When you first look at the menu, the prices look on the lower side. However, when you see the quantity you realize the prices are not really low. In fact, for something like soup - they actually seem a bit high. But for most other dishes, I think price and quantity are matched well to say that prices are justified. In fact, with lower quantity for lower price you get a chance to try several dishes. I quite like this strategy to offer lower quantity as long as prices are kept low.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend The K Factory if you love trying new dishes - I can assure you that the food won't disappoint!

Recommendations

You can definitely try these at The K Factory: Flatbreads, Salads, and all Desserts!


Rating -

Food - 4.5/5
Service - 2.5/5
Ambiance - 4/5
Value for money - 3.5/5

Overall - 4/5
Restaurant info on Zomato
manish
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Name: Manish Hatwalne

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