Villa Shanti - Heritage Hotel for Foodies

The place has a very nice clean feel to it. With nice decor and some rustic and hip touches. It was great to have the restaurant downstairs. Breakfasts were simple and nice with great coffee. Loved the dinner menu. Lots of terrific dishes. Very well prepared. And the wait staff and servers especially warm and personable. Dharani was one of the standout waiters. ***** with the entire staff. The front desk were very kind and helpful. Loved the simple cool rooms. Great air conditioning and nice showers. There was no outside noise from the busy street. Well located and near the rock beach promenade.

This place is beautiful and clean. If that's all you care about, this is great place to stay. Otherwise, it's pretty mediocre even for India and definitely overpriced. It's been well marketed. The restaurant brags about having a chef from a Micheline star restaurant in France. Having been to micheline star restaurants, this isn't even close. In fact, of mid/high end Indian hotels the food is subpar. Perhaps I missed something on the menu but I did eat there like 6 times. The menu is affordable, and the food reflects that. You can definitely eat better elsewhere in Pondicherry. As for service, it needs a lot of work. Staff often seemed clueless. They would lie about things just to appease the customer. For instance, asked for a hotel sewing kit. They kept saying they would bring one instead of just saying, "no we don't have a sewing kit". Often no one picked up at reception. One day, we needed to leave early in the morning. They offered to pack breakfast. I called to confirm that 30 minutes in advance. Came downstairs and no body had prepared anything. Again, don't say you have services or make offers that can't be delivered on. I have other examples but this review is long enough. Also, the jr suites with balconies face a very noisy road, particularly on the weekend. Bring your earplugs. That said we had a couple of very nice female servers who were good a developing customer relationships, and again the place is pretty.

We can't rate Villa Shanti highly enough. We had a wonderful experience there after a disastrous one elsewhere in Puducherry. The Operations Manager at Villa Shanti went above and beyond to accommodate us and literally 'saved' our holiday. All the staff at Villa Shanti were welcoming and attentive. Nothing was too much trouble. The aesthetic suited us perfectly, Indian but with a modern twist. The rooms were spacious and comfortable. Housekeeping was to a high standard. The food was very good and we tried both Indian and Continental menus. Villa Shanti was a lively place in the evenings and attracted a lot of non residents for dinner, so best to book a table in advance. Breakfast was delicious and generous. But it's the people that make the difference and the staff at Villa Shanti make it stand out. Would definitely recommend and look forward to visiting again.

Room 4 was clean and nice ..Hospitality from Mr.Samsheer at front desk was outstanding South Indian breakfast was delicious The location of the hotel is also ideal for site seeing Airobindo ashram was only 600 meters away .pomade beach is at walking distance

Nel cuore della città bianca di pondy graziosissimo hotel in stile indo-francese. Curato e perfetto per cogliere l'essenza duale della città. Personale e servizio eccellente. Cucina ottima. Camere ampie e pulite oltre che caratteristiche. Consigliatissimo!!

Excellent food, great service, superb value for money and terrific ambience. We went as a family of four. We got a great table and ambience is nice and open air. We ordered multiple dishes and each of those were excellent with interesting variations. Portion size are good. Definitely worth a visit.