12 November,2014 07:52 AM IST | | Hassan M Kamal
If you can negotiate the unpredictable prices and slack, rude service, The Bar Stock Exchange's novel idea could make for a bullish encounter
The Bar Stock Exchange
The Bar Stock Exchange
Food: Good
Service: Bad
Ambiance: Great
After dead-end trails, we reached The Bar Stock Exchange (TBSE), finally, on a Saturday evening. Inside, despite its dimly-lit interiors, we liked the vibe - happy folk, ample seating and a separate zone for smokers. We seated ourselves at a table and waited to be tended to. When our patience ran out, we approached a server with our orders: Johnny Walker Double Black (Rs 460 for 60 ml) and two Budweiser pints (Rs 152 each).
The interior is decorated with symbols from the world's most popular stock markets. Pics/Nikesh Gurav
As we sipped on our tipple, we were keen to understand how The Bar Stock Exchange functioned. Like a stock market, the prices of drinks fluctuate as per demand displayed on two big screens, and via their app, The Bar Stock Exchange app. You can also place orders via the app at a price existing at the time of order. But in reality, as we discovered, it's a marketing gimmick. We found the price of the Royal Stag 30 ml to be hiked to an unbelievable Rs 1,62,827, and often, we were charged at MRP, even when the listed price was higher.
Long Island Iced Tea
Our second round included a Long Island Iced Tea (Rs 250) and 30 ml Glenmorangie (Rs 242) on the rocks (R1) placed via the app. A few minutes later, a staff walked up to our table to inform that Glenmorangie wasn't available, and so we requested for a Glenfiddich whisky instead. The order was confirmed verbally. Suddenly, we received a notification that our order had been cancelled.
So, we order again, this time, a Bud pint (its price had risen to Rs 168) and a Long Island Iced Tea. Our order arrived after 10 minutes. Around this time, we had requested for our table to be cleared but it fell to deaf ears. Fifteen minutes later (and a still un-cleared table) we ordered for Bloody Mary (Rs 251), Whisky Sour (Rs 252) and another Long Island Ice Tea using the much-hyped app. A while later, the same burly attendant who had cancelled our previous order, arrived at our table. We requested to add food (two pizzas) to this order. To our disbelief, he refused to add our request for pizzas. "Sorry, the last order was at 12.30 am," he said. But it was 12.28 am. When we pointed to the time on our watch and on the big screen, and how we had been waiting for an attendant to take our order, he insisted it was 12.30, and didn't budge.
We didn't expect this kind of behaviour, more so, after a bad service. Overall, TBSE could have been a great experience, but thanks to its snooty staff, it turned out to be a nightmare. Eventually, we had to make do with Chicken Nachos (Rs 204) and Mexican Bean Nachos (Rs 175), which tasted good, but by this time, we didn't care.
