Onesta is a very popular restaurant in Koramangala, which thankfully has opened a new branch in Indra Nagar as well, closer to my side of town. A good thing because this is one joint I'm pretty sure I will frequent quite often.
What is Onesta?
This is a casual dining joint situated bang on CMH Road in Indra Nagar (right opposite to the Puma showroom in case you are looking).
Located on the top floor, it is an easy-breezy and cool place to hang out. The decor is bang on - very charming with lots of greenery, and quite beautiful lighting.
The cuisine is Italian but mostly they specialize in pizzas, though they also have other foods such as bruschettas, lasagne, breads, short eats, and desserts.
What is so unique about Onesta?
The prices. These are really, truly honest prices. There's not a single item in that menu over Rs.200/- and quite a few dishes are much lesser than that.
Apart from the baseline pricing, they also have a uniquely fabulous offer.
Eat as much pizza, as many desserts, and one non-alcoholic drink from the menu all at the rate of Rs.350/- per head for vegetarians, and Rs.450/- per head for non-vegetarians. No sharing of course, but still this is a great deal! And unlike most restaurant deals, which are weekday only, lunch only type of affairs, this pricing is available all the time when you want it.
Awesome!
The taste. The food is seriously good. There is a variety of veg and non-veg pizza options, each pizza roughly the size of the pan-shaped pizzas you get from Dominos and other such places.
I thought the small pizzas were totally acceptable. If you opt for the meal, you can order as many pizzas as you want, and so the size of the pizza really doesn't matter too much (especially when the pizza costs approx Rs. 150/-).
The pizzas come with two base options - thin crust or Italian.
Apart from the pizzas, I tried the short eats, and the desserts, and they were all uniformly good.
What we ate
We started with the cool drinks, ordering a variety for all of us to sample - green apple coolers, virgin mojito, and fresh lime basil fizz.
My drink of choice was the virgin mojito and I liked it quite a bit in spite of the mint leaves getting stuck in my straw and blocking it up. For starters, we ordered up a huge variety.
Mayo was drizzled over the herbed wedges and the french fries, and I am not really a mayo person. Still, I thought both the dishes were fairly well-done. The bruschetta dishes were also good. I think my favorite of them all was the tomato aioli, which tasted as good as it looked. Also highly recommend the broccoli and cheese bruschetta.
As for the main course, the pizzas, we ordered a ton, and I loved pretty much everything I tasted. My favorites though were the 3-cheese mushroom pizza, mexican veggie, and the bulls-eye pizza.
The non-veg pizzas were also really good, I believe. However, this was one of the few restaurants where the non-vegetarians enjoyed the veg dishes as much as the non-veg. Make of that what you will.
And now we come to the desserts - pretty much the best part of the meal.
One really cool thing about the desserts is their size and pricing. The servings are really teeny tiny but then so are the prices. Nothing over 50 bucks, plus all the desserts are visible through the fridge, so you can estimate the size and pick out two or three different varieties.
When I think about it, this is such a fabulous idea. I mean, how many times have you ordered a dessert in a restaurant, been presented with a huge offering, only to realize after two spoons that you don't like it very much at all?
With the way Onesta presents its food, you feel so much more encouraged to experiment and try different things. I wish more places would do something similar.
Anyway, here are the desserts we tried.
What I loved: Caramel walnut tart, chilly chocolate tart, and the cappuccino mousse (my fave)
Didn't quite cut it: Tiramisu
Overall, I thought this was a fabulous reasonably priced eating joint, it's got a number of pizza options to choose from, and if you love pizzas this is definitely a place you should try.
Highly recommend!
