In the sparely populated landscape of Mumbai’s Mexican cuisine, Quattro locates itself somewhere between flagrantly Indianised New Yorker’s and the more authentic Sancho’s. Like the former, this too is a purely vegetarian restaurant (even the desserts are eggless) with a vast menu that leaps from pizza to pico de gallo, garlic bread to guacamole, and many of the dishes can be ordered Jain-friendly.

South of the Border, West of the Bun

But Quattro also makes a genuine attempt at placing the more interesting half of its cuisine somewhere in the vicinity of Mexico, sending out runny but still passable guacamole, habaner0 and corn salsas and creamy refried beans, all of which are heaped onto nubby tortilla chips; paired with rice and veggies in burritos; and smothered under blankets of spicy sauce.

Constrained by the vegetarian restriction, a lot of dishes here tend to taste similar (some are available with chipotle paneer stuffing, but ordering a cottage cheese burrito is just asking for trouble), so we suggest you break the monotony with jalepeno poppers and stuffed chillies –  or dip into the Italian side of the menu.

Saving that for another time, we occupied ourselves instead with a large, nicely sloppy dish of nachos, hearty burritos and a pretty trio of chalupas - deep fried tacos filled with beans, sour cream and shavings of cheese, these are guaranteed to oil your fun.

Good From Far, Far From Good?

From an exhaustive, two page dessert menu we bravely chose “Chocolate Dunkers”, bars of candy wrapped in philo pastry and deep fried, served with vanilla gelato and a drizzle of caramel. Unfortunately, this dish is silly without being sinful, a little bit like meeting your favorite pin-up girl in person: not as delish as you expected, and ultimately boring. Next time, we’ll go with our server’s suggestion of the Quattro special, a tasting platter of four different mousses, including hazelnut, chocolate, passion fruit and blueberry. Dream of four-nication!

So the Chicken Didn’t Cross the Street?

Although Quattro is located on the wrong side of the bridge that carves up Lower Parel’s main trunk road, it is as upscale (and expensive) as The Tasting Room, Indigo Deli or any of the fine dining restaurants across the street. The décor is unimaginative but pleasing, complete with dark wood tables, lipstick red leather booths and pretty chandeliers filled with fairy lights. They also have a dining room upstairs for private parties.

Carnivores and purists, this isn’t the restaurant for you. But it’s a decent option if you enjoy a little chatpata in your salsa and extra spicy refried beans – we certainly did.

Getting there: Quattro, 7 Janta India Estate, Senapati Bapat Marg, opposite Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel, call 67496444, Rs 1,400 for a meal for two without alcohol, beer and wine license pending.

bpb reviews anonymously and pays for its own meals.