Old Wild West: Few hits, many misses

A bunch of eateries have sprung up in the past few years, vying for the attention of office-goers in Lower Parel’s Kamala Mills and surrounding areas. Texan-style diner Old Wild West made a quiet entry in the area in December. The spacious, dimly lit diner has a dance floor, wait staff in red-black chequered uniforms, cowboy hats and a rodeo bull for entertainment at remote-controlled speed. The Tex-Mex theme is manifested fully in the exteriors, but the menu is quite confused, with Italian, Korean and even Indian tandoori items thrown in along with your fajitas, quesidillas, tacos and nachos.

We started off with Texan Style Beef Nachos (Rs 425), which was well-presented, but had pieces of chewy and uncooked beef. While the beans were richly spiced, the beef was a major put off. The buttery Italian Bruschetta (Rs 245) served on a crunchy toast and creamy pesto was quite a saviour after the disastrous first dish. The drinks menu is pretty impressive. The tequila-based Mexican Lindo (Rs 430) was stiff, while the Electrified Iced Tea (Rs 330) went down nice and easy thanks to the blue curacao and lemon soda top-up. The Spicy Garlic Prawns (Rs 350) was so pungent, it kills the will to try anything else. We saw ourselves reaching out to the Strawberry Crush to put out the fire it set to our taste buds! The staff is overly warm, almost pushy and they managed to mix up our orders twice. But they did manage to get us our Island Spiced Tea (Rs 360), which had beautifully intense flavours of spiced rum, lemon and a faint aftertaste of Coca Cola. It was refreshing as it was intoxicating even though you could barely taste the alcohol.

The Texan Mexican Chicken Skewers (Rs 335) were presented well and its mildly spicy flavours stood out. The tartar sauce served with it was strictly okay.

The Triple Shot Margherita (Rs 435) with its fruity flavour was a good choice to complement the spicy food.

For the mains, we ordered the London Daily (Rs 425), a fancy name for the classic fish-and-chips. The oil-laden fish with no seasoning or taste whatsoever was a big disappointment. The crispy wedges did give us reason to keep munching.

The Spice Chilled Grilled (Rs 410) helped us get over the London Daily. Juicy, well-grilled chicken served with a tangy spicy sauce, served with veggies and tasty potato mash was quite delightful.

For dessert, we got the Mexican Tresleche cake (Rs 285) instead of the Italian Tiramisu we ordered. The crumbly, dry cake was flavourful with chopped pineapple, whipped cream, topped off with compote. The Classic American Cheesecake (Rs 325) was dense, light, easy on the palate.

We had too many misses rather than hits with our food at Old Wild West. However, the drinks were surprisingly well made. If we do return, it’ll have to be for the bar. Old Wild West Kamala Mills, Lower Parel Rating: two star Cost for two: Rs 2,200