It is alleged that a promised multiplex at Sahara mall never came up. “I opened the restaurant banking on the multiplex,” says P.S. Malhotra of Crave. Sagar Ratna’s Kuldeep Gupta complains:

• “Sahara made false promises... Now they don’t even take our calls.”
• The Sahara management doesn’t accept blame. “Restaurants are closing down because they can’t pay the rent,” says a top honcho of the mall.

• Says Baljeet Singh, VP, MGF: “Restaurants are shutting down because the quality of food isn’t up to the mark.”
• Francis Kuok, director of Fayian (Sahara) disagrees: “If our food is bad, how come our CP outlet has been doing so well for 15 years?”

Says Sayeed Sherwani of Rodeo (MGF): “Rents are charged on super area, not carpet area.” Which means restaurants pay rents not only for the area they occupy, but also for corridor space and the atrium. “Besides, maintenance charges increase every six months,” adds Sherwani who also owns CP’s popular Rodeo. Restaurateurs say that rents are steep (roughly Rs 17/sq ft for a 2nd floor space; more for ground floor, front-facing spaces).

Also, fewer people are now travelling to Gurgaon for pleasure. “With malls coming up in the city, footfalls have decreased,” says Joydeep Ghose, operations manager of the now-defunct Magnet (MGF). “We couldn’t survive only on call centre parties.” Also, traffic is so bad on Mehrauli-Gurgaon road — especially the mall mile — that few Delhiites prefer to travel there for dinner. “And Gurgaon’s population isn’t enough. Hundreds of houses are still lying vacant,” says Sarid.