Purple Haze
No.65, Jyothi Nivas College Rd, 5th Blk, Koramangala , Bangalore
Landmark: Opposite Udupi Krishna Bhavan
Phone: 41104747
How do you celebrate international beer day? By getting sloshed on beer at purple haze, of course. We decided to celebrate this wonderful occasion by checking out a place we've heard a lot about. We had an unusually difficult time locating this place and were driving around for a good 15 minutes while circling the same roads twice. Patience is definitely not our virtue, especially when it comes to beer. Beer, NOW! We finally located purple haze in what looked liked a narrow alleyway and once that was done, good times were had by all.
I wouldn't recommend driving to this place in a car because there is no possible way of parking in a narrow street. We had a difficult time parking our bike as it is. From the outside, purple haze looked like a trendier version of your local watering hole with it's lighting and the host standing outside welcoming people. It had a much better opening act than my other favorite pub, Jimi's. Once you enter inside, the trendiness kicks it up a notch. We entered the non smoking section on the ground floor accidentally and sat there for about 5 minutes before we realized that the smoking section is on the first floor of the pub. The signs clearly state that on the outside but as I said, no patience until we get that first pint of beer.
The smoking section was humongous, compared to the smoking section of Jimis but be forewarned, the place fills up quickly. We went there around 7 and only couple of tables were taken but within half hour, the place was full capacity. So if you are planning to come here after 7, be prepared to wait it out. The seating was quite intimate, to say the least. If you turn the wrong way, you'll probably hit someone in the face and that's not a good thing when dealing with drunks. The seats were kinda hard and after an hour or so, it can get quite uncomfortable. I recommend moving to a table for 4 where you can enjoy comfy couches instead of the wooden chairs.
The ambiance was terrific. This is a hard rock/heavy metal pub at it's core and the decor further proves it with posters of Hendrix, Nirvana, Floyd and Morrison adorning the place. The music progressively got louder through out the night with Lamb of God playing at full volume at it's peak. You think you know loud music but you actually don't until you hear Lamb of God and SOAD at full volume with people head banging away and creating a ruckus. It was an amazing experience punctuated by the entire bar singing Metallica's enter sandman in its entirety. I'm usually pretty laid back and chilled out but even I had to join in during chorus. You'll definitely enjoy the people and the ambiance of this place if you enjoy hard rock and metal.
The food. You don't come here for food, period, at least not for the main coursey type. You have a variety of starters from chicken tikka to hariyali kebabs and chilli fish along with sandwiches and burgers. We opted for those three starters along with peanut masala as our starters. The food was unusually good. I was expecting typical pub food but it felt like we were having food from a good restaurant. The quantity was decent, one starter can be shared by two, but the price was a tad on the expensive side. The quantity and quality was top notch so you can look past the cost of it all.
Purple haze also has a vast alcohol selection. Whatever you want, it's here, from Jack Daniels to an assortment of wine. They have a pretty good selection of beer as well; your usuals Kingfisher, Fosters to Heineken and Corona. That was a major positive for me. When I saw Heineken, I practically shrieked like a little girl. Major kudos on the selection of alcohol. Happy hours are on Monday through Thursday from 12:30 to 7:30. You get 25% off on all alcoholic drinks. Unfortunately we came here on a Friday which put a damper on things.
The service was amazing. A very pleasant, courteous and quick staff. Even with drunks like us hooting and hollering away, they were patient while taking orders and made sure to check up on us at frequent intervals. One quick note on service. It was pouring outside, a torrential downpour and we were pretty drenched before we entered the bar. Once we started hitting the beers, we didn't notice a small pool of water surrounding our table. The staff noticed it, even with the dimly lit room and cleaned it up immediately. Little things like this matter and that's why they get high marks in this category.
Purple haze is a safe haven for alcoholics. From great ambiance, awesome staff, amazing starters and a ridiculously vast alcohol selection. I don't usually give out 5 stars to any place unless it impresses our socks off and purple haze deserves that more than any other place we've visited. I think purple haze has become our new favorite watering hole.
Items ordered :
Alcohol - 2 pitchers of beer and 3 large shots of royal stag whiskey with sprite
Starters - Chicken Tikka, Chilli Fish and Peanut Masala
Total cost - 2150
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