Here is a resort hotel so fantastic that its location in idyllic Mahabaleshwar is a pure bonus. Lush green environs, crisp clean mountain air, spacious luxurious interiors of the hotel, thoughtfully designed rooms, awesome food, great service...i mean, what else can you ask for.
I and my wife drove down to Evershine Keys to just get away from the routine, and if we - to use a cliche - felt totally relaxed at the end of two days, much of the credit for that feeling goes to the hotel. Right from the vanilla welcome drink and the two-minute check-in, the tone was set for a great stay. I know I am being generous with superlatives, but this place deserves them.
The first comforting thing about the executive room was its width. It's one thing to use a wide-angle lens and show the illusion of space online, and it's another to actually design a room where the walls are literally not crawling on you, especially when your objective is to unwind. The generously stacked tea-coffee kit was a pleasant surprise, as was the quality of toiletries in the anti-slip tiled rest-room area. Even the Grohe tap with a single-lever can be a delight on a cold winter morning, saving you the horror of twiddling with two taps to get the temperature of the water right, especially if you are standing beneath the shower. The bed was comfortable, there was extra pillows and all the trappings of luxury that go into the making of a good night's sleep.
The rest taken care of, now for the replenishment. The food at Evershine Keys is to put it in two words, consistent and delicious. A testimony to the goodness of the food is that we ate all six meals during our two-night stay in the hotel itself (of course, inclusive of the two lavish breakfast buffets). The sheer size of the portions makes up for the seemingly high prices and if you eat right - and light, just a soup and a main course should be good enough to share between two of you. Talking about the quality of ingredients and the preparation, where usually one heavy meal leaves you reaching for the antacid tablets, here we didn't even so much as get a bad burrrp! A word here about the service standards. One evening, after we finished the soup, there was some in-house shoot underway at the dining place which was disturbing us and we requested for our pasta to be delivered in the room. The pasta came along fine in five minutes, minus the check. The folks at Keys sure know that a complimentary meal is a great way to ensure customer delight.
Of course, the location of the hotel is just right to make the most of Mahabaleshwar - close enough to the market place to take those long walks in the pedestrian area and round them with a serving of strawberries & cream, and yet far away from the din to give you all the peace and privacy you seek.
