Disclaimer:
I’m not a professional reviewer. I write unbiased reviews based on personal dining experiences in different restaurants. My dining experience might be different from others. My reviews do not cover the overall review of a restaurant but for particular food items. So my reviews should not be takes as final review of a restaurant or any food items. Reviews rates Taste, Price range, restaurant environment from 0 to 10 where 0 indicates lowest point and 10 indicates the highest point.
Background:
During the early week of Holy Ramadan, I made a sudden Iftar plan with friends and Ex-colleagues. It was so sudden that we made the plan just 3 hours before iftar time and without selecting a venue. My friends were attending Masters exams at Dhaka University. So it was my duty to find a suitable venue for iftar.
I had plan to participate in a unlimited pizza or burger offer iftar. But my friends were not interested in fast food for iftar. They suggested me to select traditional food. I informed my friends to come to Dhanmodi after their exams as there are lots of restaurants in Dhanmondi area. Also Dhanmodi area is close to Dhaka University. I knew it will be difficult to get empty spaces in restaurants just before iftar. I walked around the Dhanmodi to find a suitable restaurant.
I was craving for Kebab and Stakes. I was hoping my friends will agree too. I identified several restaurant with good iftar offers. But as they wanted traditional food, I thought it would be better to treat at Sultan’s Dine. I had the opportunity to have good dining experience earlier. I informed my friends about the selected venue.
Food items:
When I entered Sultan’s dine, restaurant in-charge greeted my and inquired me if I had any reservation. When I informed that I had no reservation but planning to have iftar for 4 person, he booked me a table. In response to my query about the available food, restaurant in-charge informed me that they have buffet iftar for BDT 800. Buffet iftar includes traditional iftar, unlimited Kacci Biriyani, Unlimited Morog Polau, Plain Polau, beef, Roti (Bread), salad and jorda as dessert.
Taste:
My friends made it to the venue just five minutes before the ifter. We all were served the traditional iftar which contained 2 piece of Date, 1 quarter of an apple, and 2 piece of Jelabi as shown in the picture. Also there were 1 glass of Rooh Afza as drink to break the fasting.
After eating the traditional iftar, please started to make queue. We too quickly get into the queue to get our food. As the restaurant in-charge informed, there were Salad, Kacci Biriyani, Morog Polao, Rosted chicken Plain Polao, Beef and Roti. We started with Salad and tased all of the items.
To be honest, it is really difficult to eat unlimited biriyani and polau after day long fasting. But there is amount you can eat. We could not go beyond second serving. At the fast serving, foods tasted really great but at the second serving, taste lost its charm. This might be the foos were from the bottom of the cooking pot.
For desert Sultan’s Dine had only Jorda. Jorda was missing the small sweets. On our request, restaurant staffs bought some sweets in a separate plate. We took couple of pieces with jorda. But it was not enough to bring average taste in Jorda.
My ratings for the items will be
Kacci Biriyani : 7 out of 10.
Morog Polau : 6 out of 10.
Plain Polau : 4 out of 10.
Rosted chicken : 6.5 out of 10.
Beef : 6.5 out of 10.
Jorda : 5 out of 10.
Price range:
When requested for the bill, we were presented with a bill for BDT 3,396. I was expecting a bill for BDT 3,200 plus VAT. But their bill didn’t include VAT. I requested explanation for addition amount of BDT 196. So the branch in-charge came along and informed us that buffet for per person is actualy BDT 849. I reminded that I was informed when I entered the restaurant that buffet cost is BDT 800/person. But the restaurant in-charge replied that it was a mistake. We didn’t argue much and paid the amount in the bill. But buffet biriany or polau does not does not worth for BDT 849. You can’t take much rich food after iftar.
Rating value for money : 4 out of 10.
Environment:
Sultan’s Dine has excellent dining place. It is well decorated with Arabic theme. People who came here are well behaved. However, the sitting arrangement are very limited. In my calculation, not more than 60 people can dine at a time. I have seen that people are waiting for a long time during peak time.
Rating : 7.5 out of 10.
Overall experience:
I had dining experience in Sultan’s Dine before. Earlier, we had foods from A La Carte menu and food tasted great. But the dining experience this time was not that good. Also after having two serving of Biriyani and Polau, we started to feel uncomfortable. It definitely for over eating of rich food. In our experience, buffet rich food is not a good idea. Furthermore, price of the buffet is more than the value. You can’t have unlimited rich food. Although I have seen someone to have five servings in Buffet iftar in Sultan’s Dine. For him, it really worth it. Kudos to him!!!