Vizag is my hometown and I'm proud of my coastal city because of its amazing beach line and the serene vibe it provides any day. Even though I'm a resident of Visakhapatnam, sometimes I feel like exploring my city like a tourist by visiting places at one particular time to encounter different experiences at various places. I have this habit of taking my sister out for dinners whenever I visit my hometown or to celebrate our special occasions. Unlike me who roams around the country, my sister hardly steps out of our city because she likes to be a Vizagite eternally.
For special moments and special experiences, we need to step into special places, indeed sophisticated spaces where you can savour good food and embrace the place at the same time. Coastal cities are all about beaches and sea views. Vizag is one of the cities where one can experience exotic sea views and there are many hotels situated on the whole beach path of the city. And out of them, we have stepped into these three popular 5-star chain hotels of India in our city to have some casual evening dinners. Novotel, The Park and The Hotel Gateway are three renowned 5-star hotels of Visakhapatnam where people love to hang out for cosy dinners.
The Shack:
This is one of the restaurants at the premises of "The Park" Visakhapatnam. As the name suggests, this place gives you an authentic beach view vibe and we indeed had dinner over here right opposite the widely spread sea. We went here for a dinner to celebrate my comeback to Modelling, and I wanted to spend a good time with my sister. Late evenings are the best times to reach for dinner so that one can explore the space for some time before dinner.
The Shack opens at 7.30 in the evening to welcome guests for dinner. Instead of choosing the closed-door dinner, we thought of spending time outside under the dark sky with the sounds of waves and the touch of a cool beach breeze. Fashion is one of our main dinner etiquettes and hence we dress up well to give a classy touch to our hangouts. It was a great night indeed with exotic food, singers singing soothing songs, dimly lit lights everywhere, the sophisticated aura around, chilled beers, and cosy warmth in the air were some unforgettable memories. We went this summer, and it made us feel rejuvenated by the temperature
We ordered beers, Chicken Brochette, fries and mocktails for the dinner. The service was a bit delayed, but it was all worth it because the dinner was delicious. If you want to spend some typical beach dinner time, this particular restaurant at the very edge of the hotel is a perfect place to try. You can always have a good time having food right opposite the beach view in the open air. The staff are welcoming and well behaving too.
The Square:
Novotel Varun is the biggest hotel space in Visakhapatnam, especially on the prime beach location where everything is pretty feasible, flexible and accessible. No matter how many times I visit this place, I always feel refreshed on every visit. This 5-star hotel has around 5 restaurants inside out of which 'The Square' is the best place to have a casual dinner with a blend of sea view over the pool view. Novotel has the best happening view of Visakhapatnam's Ramakrishna beach and standing at the pool and witnessing the whole landscape makes you feel serene and calm to the core.
Even though the restaurant is inside the hotel premises covered with exotic glass, it still gives you access to witness the exteriors unlike other restaurants with closed interiors. My sister and I like to try various food items at this place including macarons. This year I celebrated my birthday at this hotel, and we had our dinner at this restaurant because of its open space with lovely lighting, high ceilings, fancy chairs, pool view, smoking zone access, sea view with no beach humid, and most importantly lovely pizzas. My favourite ritual is having a pizza verdure with beers and smokes. Simple.
Yes, this restaurant never failed in delivering exotic pizzas with yummy and tummy-filling toppings. So instead of having typical Indian cuisine, we love to try Italian and continental cuisine whenever we go out for dinners here. The Square, like how the name suggests, is a narrowly spread corridor restaurant where visitors and hotel guests can simply walk in, order and get their food served within no time at widely spread tables with first-class service. On top of everything, one can capture amazing clicks here. So, if you want to celebrate your moments over a classy and cosy dinner time, then this restaurant at the Novotel Vizag is the best.
GAD - Gateway All Day
Well, the name itself suggests it is part of the Hotel Gateway resort of Visakhapatnam. This is basically a continental restaurant inside the resort premises with authentic royal interiors and a 5-star experience. My sister and I went for her birthday dinner this August. It was a lovely evening with two of our other friends. This place is right opposite the North entrance of the Novotel Visakhapatnam. It is spacious and vast with typical resort moods everywhere. The plants, the fountains, and the incandescent lights throughout the path are extra flavours to this place.
One has to pass the corridors of the hotel rooms on the ground floor and reach the second level of the lower ground floor to reach GAD. We don't feel the outside world at all while going through the steps and interiors of the resort but when you get inside the restaurant you can have lounge access to the sea view as this hotel is right opposite the Ramakrishna beach of Vizag. This hotel is famous for its buffets and many families regularly visit this place to celebrate their times.
But we aren't so much into food and hence we didn't opt for the heavy buffet they serve for 1700/- per person. Instead, we have ordered Lamb Bolognese pasta, Chicken barbecue pizza, Paneer Pizza verdure, beers and mocktails. They were pretty much enough for us and by the end of the dinner, our tummies got filled.
Exploring the interiors was fun because they were all vintage and antique with wooden staircases and polished marble floors low ceilings and bright lit interiors. The best part is the inner premises completely contradict the exteriors because everything is cosy, warm, and dim, and gives a typical resort vibe. I still remember spending some time over conversations with our friends at the fountain after our dinner at this resort space.
If you want to have a beach-view resort feel but also feel disconnected from the outside world completely to spend quality time with your people over delicious food and cosy conversations, then this restaurant at this resort is the best option.
These three restaurants almost maintain the same kind of pricing because of their 5-star status in hotel chains. But they are all worth spending money to have some sophisticated time with your loved ones.
