Hirkani Garden Resort

One of my favourite restaurants in the region. We had visited this place on my previous trip as well (2008) and it was only a small restaurant that time which they have expanded into a resort. The restaurant is simple and offers tasty food at reasonable prices. We had gone for the lunch and the food quality is good. I liked chicken lollipops, butter chicken and especially Dal khichadi.

1. Location - though on the highway the area is large and actual rooms are away from the noise. I was skeptical that it would be far away from main attractions. But if you have your own vehicle it is not too far. Takes around 10 mins to reach Venna Lake. 2. View - back side of the resort has a beautiful forest view. You can also hear the sound of a water fall. It is very close to Lingmala Falls 3. Rooms - We stayed in executive rooms on second floor. Both rooms had a seat out with nice forest view. Rooms at far end have better view. Bathrooms are clean. Rooms are good and clean but they look far better in the photographs on TripAdvisor. 4. Grounds and garden - They have a beautiful play area with lawns, a strawberry patch, vegetable patch and beautiful flower plants everywhere. 5. Restaurant and food - They have a veg-non veg restaurant. We only had our breakfast there. It was good. Nothing special but good. Breakfast was included in the package. They had dosa, bread omlet, poha, etc. we could choose any one item from this list and the tea/coffee. I feel it is less. 6. Service - We ordered tea/coffee in the evening. they served it in the garden on request. It was good. 7. Booking - We booked this property well in advance by directly contacting the hotel. We got a good deal. I had booked 2 executive rooms and specially requested for adjacent rooms on second floor. And they had confirmed the booking and rooms on 2nd floor. But on the check in date when I contacted them through email as they were not picking phone, they responded me informing they don't have any rooms. This was quite surprising. When I contacted them again they said it was a mistake in their system and rooms are available. One of the allocated rooms was too small and an extra bed couldn't fit in it. They were then offering us other room on different floor, which was not acceptable to us. I found it fishy. I think they allocated the better rooms to someone else on higher price. one of the rooms was bigger and quite good. We didn't want to spoil our mood by fighting with them so we accepted the small room. Apart from this one point there was no issue. Our stay was quite comfortable and enjoyable. Overall it's a good option for budget stay in Mahabaleshwar.

stay - it is on Mahabaleshwar - Panchgani main road and rooms are little away from main road hence no pollution and sound issues. most of rooms has garden view and valley view. food - they have restaurant on main road facing and open for public. room service is available. Food is very tasty. prices are at little higher side. but you can get quality food. But the breakfast is limited with 2 breakfasts per person and for below 5 years old kids you need to order breakfast separately. Also there are limited options available for breakfast and good part is it varies everyday. staff is good and co-operative and can help you with all details. they have strawberry garden and vegetables garden and is maintaining well. Small kids play area is available and is in good condition. So kids can spend some time there. Rooms are having good view and toilets also clean and neat. Hot water is available 24hrs. But what I observed that building is little old and when you walk You can feel the stinking smell. Also they say it's a resort. but no facilities or activities they run. Except chess board. all the toileteries, camp fire and everything is chargeable. also during last week of year the price is 2 to 3 times than rest of the year. overall good stay, tasty food, excellent location, good staff, ample parking. improvements needed are room prices are at higher side, food price little higher, no amenities or activities, building is not maintained well. If they can provide little more facilities, amnities, providing required toileteries, this resort can become excellent place to stay. People come here for once or twice in life time and with little more facilities they will carry their memories for long.

Visited Hirkani Garden resort, basic room with minimum amenities. Don't expect alot from here. Not sure about sanitization standard in room. Reception staff seen following safety measures which was good. Overall average stay experience.

The hotel is good, staff is welcoming but the restaurant is substandard. We stayed for 2 nights and the breakfast served on the first day was not fresh the dosa sabji was stale so we decided to skip breakfast on the last day but we still went there as the receptionist insisted we have it while checking out. The options given were idly, paav bhaji and uttapam. You don't have to be sherlock Holmes when someone serves you a dish like paav bhaji in breakfast, obviously it was a leftover. We requested a dosa instead of uttapam but they refused to serve it. We left the place without eating. If the hotel doesn't want to serve their customers breakfast then they shouldn't do it. Serving substandard food is humiliating . It's a shame that the restaurant alone can degrade the overall experience. I would have definitely revisited this place if it hadn't been the restaurant. There are far better options than this and you can definitely avoid this place.