Review: Mocha, Koramangala

Mocha
577, Kalyana Mantapa Road, 80ft Road, 8th Block, Opposite to Bethany High School, Koramangla Main Road, Koramangala , Bangalore
Landmark: Near Koramangla Police Station
Phone: 30224711


I'm not sure why we chose Mocha to satisfy our sheesha needs, but we did. I don't want to call my Mocha experience a complete disappointment because I was really digging the decor of it all but nothing really stood out for me. I guess it's the "chain" hookah place of India because I noticed that Chennai has a couple of branches as well. And it really did have the "chain" feeling to it. It's like having a burger at McDonalds. It's good but it's not personalized and doesn't have that extra touch.

From the outside, Mocha looked like the typical cafe/hookah joint. There are two floors, and the smoking section was on the top floor. The staircase to the smoking section is on the right when you first enter Mocha. The pathway to get to the staircase was interesting to say the least. We had to cross a small bridge like structure and fight off plants and I was afraid I was going to have to wrestle with some snakes to get there. I love me some hookah but I'm not that desperate guys. It was nicely done, actually and that deserves some major kudos.

I guess the decor and the ambiance is the only reason to visit Mocha. The seating arrangement was interesting. We went there on a Saturday evening and the place was quite crowded. We were directed towards a couple of swingsets but we decided to switch because it was rather uncomfortable. Uncomfortable is definitely not what you want when you are relaxing with some good hookah. The decor was excellent and it had a real Mediterranean feel to it from the couches and the sofas to the general vibe.

We obviously started off with some hookah. We ordered the Maarakesh flavor. It was a milk based rose flavor and I felt like I was drinking a glass of ice cold rose milk that mom used to make. It was definitely a interesting choice but not something we would choose again. The service was very good as we had to keep bugging the waiting staff to refill our coal and they did it without rolling their eyes at us at any point. The hookah experience was decent and it was further improved by the always beautiful rainy Bangalore weather.

The food. We started off with a black forest shake and a coffee float of some kind. It was basically a scoop of vanilla ice-cream in a cup of coffee. The cup they served it in was more interesting than the drink. The black forest shake was pretty good and the serving size is huge as you can imagine. It came with a layer of whip cream and I felt like I had to drop down and do some pushups just to get rid of the guilt factor. It was insanely huge.

We didn't order much off the actual food menu since we went there basically for the hookah. We ordered the chilli bean nachos as the starter and the cream cheese panini. I liked the former but could do without the latter. The panini was quite soggy and it was almost falling apart. I was expecting a lightly toasted and firm sandwich but got a mushy mess. The taste was good but it didn't really improve the dish.

The service was average. The refilling of the coal was a plus but the service was quite slow. I guess the crowd could be used as a reason for that but I really didn't want to wait half hour to get my panini. The waiting staff were friendly and courteous and that was a huge plus for me.

It was an average experience, overall. If you want pretty good ambiance and a place to just lounge about with some good hookah, Mocha is a decent enough option. But don't expect anything out of the ordinary.

Items ordered:

Hookah - Marrakesh
Drinks - Black forest shake and coffee float
Starters - Chilli Bean Nachos and Cream Cheese Panini

Total cost - 900