The dishes at the UNO Chicago Bar and Grill, named after the famous Boston pizzeria, didn’t match the levels of the original. In fact they need to work on both the freshness of the ingredients as well as the preparation, says Chahak Mittal
Love the Chicago-styled deep-dish pizza? You can thank UNOs pizzeria for that but only if you are in Boston where it set up its first outlet in 1943. But if you think that the same quality has been replicated in the capital region, you are bound to be disappointed as it doesn’t seem to reach up to that level or make a mark anywhere close to it.
As I made my way to the UNO Chicago Bar and Grill, at the Gardens Galleria, Noida, along with a companion, we were remembering that the place had been a legacy for almost 80 years and we hoped to be treated with its authentic taste. The interiors were a retro throwback especially with their orange and black tiles and the checkered floor.
Without much ado we decided to start with the Muchos Nachos, which were baked yellow and blue corn chips served with fresh salsa and sour cream and Mexican bean chilli as its toppings. The presentation looked inviting but the taste was something else. As we bit in, a pungent taste was certainly not what we expected. I wondered if it was flavoured with blue cheese, which could account for the sharp smell, but that wasn’t the case.
Next up were the cottage cheese skewers. Bits of capsicum, red and yellow bell peppers and cottage cheese or paneer were stringed on a long wooden pick. Properly cooked and roasted, this one tasted just right.
The skewers were followed by the bruschetta duo which featured finely-chopped tomato with olives and chopped mushroom. The Italian antipasto was served with grilled garlic bread, topped with olive oil and salt. The bite-size of the bread kept us wanting for more as the flavours were perfectly balanced. Then came the wild mushroom chipotle poppers which were as crispy as the ideal chicken wings. However, one bite into the poppers and we realised that the filling with cheese and mushroom didn’t agree with our tastebuds as the pungent taste again came to the fore. We savoured the outer crispy layer but couldn’t agree with its filling.
Despite our frequent run-ins with the caustic taste, we still hoped that something would elevate the experience. So we decided to order the Mexicano extra thin-crust pizza. Well, extra thin is always in, no? Here, the pizza, layered with double cheese and topped with mixed peppers, cilantro, red onions and cajun cottage cheese, did try to make up for all the other flaws scoring overall in taste. But here too there was a slip, it was slathered with what they called was pesto sauce but which tasted more like a mint chutney. It was this flavour which seemed to overpower the other more pleasing ones. When we wondered aloud as to when and why was a pizza topped with pesto sauce, the server told us that it featured as a recipe on the original menu. We felt that they need to work on their recipes and add some of their own unique elements rather than just blindly following some rule book.
Despite the disappointments, we ploughed on and ordered a triple chocolate fudge brownie, that described itself as ‘gooey on the inside and crusty on the outside’. It was served with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry on the top. This one did seem to rejuvenate our tastebuds that had just been battered by a bunch of flawed dishes. The brownie tasted like a blast of chocolate in our mouths and lived up to the description. My score for the place would be two point five. And point five here is for their constant efforts of presenting their best.