A review for the zombie-themed Italian restaurant and cocktail bar Dr Zombie – located upon the inner-ring of Connaught Place in central New Delhi.
On the inner-ring of Connaught place up two steep flights of stairs with neon green walls, you’ll find yourself in one snazzy drinking den. Dr. Zombie, Italian restaurant and cocktail bar is decked out with green cow decorated seats, plug sockets by the walls and pillars, a television which always seems to be playing a Resident Evil movie as well as pumping 80s western pop hits. This is a great place to go if you’re looking for some decent western food and cheap[ish] drinks in the area.
The Service:
I’ll begin with the bad – or perhaps more fairly – the less than exceptional. The service at Dr Zombie could definitely be better. The waiters didn’t seem overly attentive and sometimes even the bartenders all but disappear. This has been my experience for the two times I dined here anyway. On one occasion I even ran out of time to enjoy my second happy hour kingfisher because I’d been waiting over an hour for my funghi pizza to enjoy with it. This overly long wait turned out to be because they’d simply forgotten to make my food. At another point, when I wanted to have a glass of their red wine, I couldn’t because they were all out, and since they only had one type of red by glass, I couldn’t enjoy any red wine at all. (I wasn’t going to pay for an entire bottle). This of course, is absolutely not the fault of the waiting staff, however I would say that not having any red wine to serve by the glass is an issue that would fall under the overall service of the establishment. On a side-note I have to admit that wine really isn’t a popular drink in India so perhaps I should stave off on this one. As a big wine drinker however, it was quite frustrating.
So, if you have low patience or sub-par patience when it comes to eating out Dr Zombie may not be for you.
The Food & Drink:
While I didn’t get to try any red wine at Dr Zombie, I certainly did get a sip of their white. (A good many sips). The house white is an Indian variety from Nashik called Sula. It’s nice, neither particularly sweet or citrussy nor bitter or crisp. It is not likely to be a favourite of anybody’s, nor disliked.
Dr Zombie also has a really decent happy hour during the day that will get you two bottles of kingfisher for less than 300 rupees (£3). This is a very good deal for India in general but especially for Connaught Place. Most of the bars and restaurants of which will have extremely pricy alcohol compared to elsewhere in the city and the country.
This Pasta arribiatta dish could have been bigger I suppose, for over 500 rupees, but it was damn tasty. I was a tad disappointed it wasn’t spicier, but it certainly had a significant hint of spice and went fairly well with the house white wine.
This fungi pizza was also nice, but for me the crust was just too big; it’s encroaching too much on the main body of the pizza, I didn’t order a crust! But it was tasty, though it claimed it would be made with a variety of mushrooms I certainly didn’t notice more than one type on there. If you’re looking for good Pizza, the pizza I had at Lord of the Drinks was better. You can read about that one HERE.
So, if you want a cheap day drink in Connaught Palace but you also need a nice place to chill, to escape the shoe menders on the street or the rain of the monsoon, Dr Zombie is a really good place to go. One exception however, if you’re very fussy about good service, if you’re extremely impatient or perhaps feeling short tempered in the moment… be prepared because service at Dr Zombie is not exceptional. Certainly not matching their tasty pastas and pizzas. What it lacks for in its service however, it definitely makes up for in character!
Go to Dr Zombie for inexpensive beer, Madonna & Tina Turner (amid other classic western tunes), tasty Italian food and a dose of Resident Evil…
