Tamarai

Experience of Tamarai was awful, totally ruined a lovely night out. Manager was rude and would not listen. He did not apologise for being rude and ordered everyone out of the restaurant. It is not a cheap place to eat and totally unacceptable behaviour. I will be requesting an apology and a refund and would never return or recommend
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CM
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Monday, November 15, 2010

Appauled by the service of the manager - he is not a people's person and needs to be removed for the restaurant otherwise Tamarai will get closed down. We had our meal - but was rushed by the staff we paid over £300 for the 5 of us just on food. Then we asked if we can sit at the bar and get more drinks ... The manager then said can you leave as you havent paid the bill, totally mistaking us for someone else ... we had paid our bill and had our receipts ... he spoke to us so rudely said he will call security for none of our wrong doing... we had spent a further £60 at the bar ... for no reason at all we were drinking our drinks he called security to remove us ... we hadn't even finished drinking .. we were all girls, but the way he handled us was very rude, people like that should not be allowed in hospitality - there is no need for it... we had no apology for it or refund for our drinks and was wrongly accused and badly man handled and removed we all was shock.. all professional working women ... if the owner of reads this he really needs to remove his managers otherwise Tamarai is on its way of being closed down as im sure loads of blogs will be setup of bad experience.... The manager upset 3 lots of different groups that night and that was when we was there ... reading the reviews of the past seems like he does it often
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Jess
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, November 14, 2010

Myself and 4 friends went here last night, and had the worst experience ever. The food was nice, and we liked the atmosphere, but after we finished our meal and had paid our bill the Manager was very rude to us.

I think what happened was that the Manager had confused us with another group who hadn't paid their bill.

After we paid the bill (£215, including £23 service charge), one of our friends went over to enquire if we could have a drink and wait for the club to open, or whether we could come back later. But the Manager wasn't listening to her and said 'You haven't paid your bill - get out now'. Completely shocked, she tried to explain, but he wasn't listening and it got into an argument. When the rest of us realised what was happening we tried to calm the situation, and asked for a refund on the drinks we had just ordered, planning to leave. But the manager would not listen and wouldn't refund our drinks, or apologise (since we had a receipt). In the end we agreed to finish our drinks and then leave.

A short while later, while we were sitting chatting having our drinks, 2 bouncers came over and told us to go - we couldn't believe it!

Don't go to tamarai unless you want to have your evening completely ruined, it was unnecessary heavy handedness. We are completely appalled at the way we were treated, and our friend who was also a regular guest will never return.
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Mrs Lisa Burleigh
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Sunday, November 14, 2010

Pan Asian funky bliss!!

Tamarai is very cool, I love the underground, blacked-out feel to the atmosphere with colourful lights scattered around the wall!

The food is so good, seriously good! If you like your Asian noodles, stir-fries you won't find better in London. I spent a bit of time in Asian a few years ago backpacking and love the food so to be able to visit a place in London that reminds my mouth and belly of my trip is great!

I really recommend trying Tamarai - you'll be giving up your usual Chinese, Asian restaurants in a flash!
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Al1983 - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Mediocre food, rude waiting staff, heavy-handed door security. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone, nor would I ever consider returning. There were 5 of us at our table and 4 wanted to order the chef's taster menu (£52 per person) and the waiter insisted the 5th person had to have it too when she wanted to order something different. Considering the amount we spent with good wine in total when the place was practically empty, this made no sense. It is a basement restaurant and at one point I had to go upstairs and step outside the front door to make an urgent phone call and the bouncer on the door tried to stop me going back in, despite the fact that my coat, handbag and friends were inside, saying that I had to be on their "list.' Apparently it becomes a nightclub after a certain time and diners are made to feel a nuisance. I had to explain to her that I was with a party of diners who had come in earlier and were still eating. She allowed me back in with a sneer. A very expensive, nasty experience all round.
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Carole Jones
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 10, 2010

Very disappointing experience. The maitre d' was rude and the waiting staff were not much friendlier. We asked on numerous occasions for water for the table. None was forthcoming, although we were asked if we wanted another bottle of wine before we were half way through our first. I would never recommend this restaurant to anybody.
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Nicola
1 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Went to Tamarai this weekend. Really impressed - we didn't have to queue for hours and it was busy inside (well-done door staff!). They had stopped serving food when we arrived but the diners that were still seated all looked very happy (Will have to give it a go next time!). The cocktails were made really well by a really friendly barmaid. The music wouldn't be my first choice - r&b and commercial but it brought in a friendly crowd and we had a lot of fun. I would recommend it to groups who are looking to have a laugh in Central London.
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Guy_65 - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, August 09, 2010

Five of us went to Tamarai last night and upon walking in commented on how funky the decor is, but surprised at so few diners.

We were seated at a nice table, the crockery, cutlery and glassware were all very trendy so I wondered what was wrong for not having a full restaurant.

We ordered starters which were delicious.There were caramalised prawns, dim sums and spring rolls. Everyone was very happy with their food and waited for our mains and the table to be cleared, and waited we did for half an hour with a dirty table. Two servings of pork belly were ordered and were very tasty, but unequal portions and quite obviously so. The Thai Green Curry was amazing and the Lamb Shanks were just as delicious. Four sides of rice were ordered and only two arrived, the other two arrived just as we had finished eating. We weren't offered drinks with our mains and no one came to see if we were happy with the food.

The impression we got was that the food was delicious, the wait staff were polite and courteous but the co-ordination of the food service was rubbish. The waitstaff weren't assigned tables so we had to grab who ever walked by for assistance.

Afterwards we were ready to go and asked for the bill. We waited 25mins and end in the end went to pay at the bar. We were given the bill and appalled at the £20 service charge which we quite frankly didn't think was worth it. We left a £5 tip which was for the food alone. We deducted the £15, left the cash on the bar and walked out only to be chased by the floor manager demanding the full £20 tip and that we can't walk out like that. He wasn't the slightest bit interested as to why we didn't wish to pay, and we asked why it took half an hour for mains, 25 mins for the bill yet he could chase after us in 5 seconds for money. The floor manager is seriously killing the dining experience and I wouldn't bother going there again. There are plenty of other restaurants in Covent Garden where at £45 quid a head you can get far better.
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sara79 - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 4
Saturday, August 07, 2010

I went into Tamarai last weekend for a hen-do and would just like to thank all the staff for attending and entertaining us!! It makes such a difference when the service has a smile. There were a couple of mistakes with some side orders but no-one cared becasue we were having such a good time. The food was lovely, the cocktails were tasty & pink - perfect for the hen-do and once again the waiters and barman were brilliant!
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Gem - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, August 05, 2010

my experience for my 40th birthday party with friends was extremely poor and i would therefore not recommend this place to anyone which is a shame as the food is fantastic. Unfortunately it is overshadowed by the poor service levels and even worse the alleged Manager.

upon arriving at the restaurant I asked the middle manager if we could stay over the 2 hour table turnaround if they weren’t busy. The answer was yes and we were moved to another table. However, before allowing me to be seated he cornered me and said “ you do understand that there is a 12.5% service charge don’t you?” which is an odd thing to tell customers before they have sat down to eat!

- Secondly, when all guests were present, our food was rushed out by scores of waiters and waitresses none of whom introduced themselves and not one of whom appeared to be in charge. In professional eateries a single head waiter arrives at the table and introduces himself to the ‘guests’ and then proceeds to manage the evenings dining and customers requests

- Not only was our food rushed out and numerous dishes quickly covered the table with little or no introduction as to what we were eating and no menu so we couldn’t follow it ourselves, no drinks were offered at the onset to set the evening’s dining and tasting menu experience!

- As the only one on the table with special dietary requests food was given to me specially but no name or explanation offered as to what it was and when I asked, the waiter did not know what I was served! I

- Then when we tried to stop the rushing waiters with requests for more drinks they were curt and abrasive and yet we were asking to spend more money?

- Finally after the last course was served the bill arrived without anyone asking if we would like teas and coffees to finish!!! Professional? We were told we could only have teas and coffees once we paid the bill!!!

Naturally we asked for the manager and a rather arrogant, ill mannered, egotistical, unprofessional, ineloquent, person in charge arrived to ‘listen’ but mostly talk over our dissatisfaction with the evenings performance demanding we pay the ‘discretionary’ service charge in addition to the food bill !!!!!!! We suggested he may wish to look up the meaning of the word discretionary but his arrogance knew no bounds even accusing us of not eating at top restaurants!!! What’s remarkable is that you half the restaurant was empty and there was no rush to get into the club for 10pm!!

It is evident Tamarai must rely on passing trade as opposed to long term good customers and the biggest shame of all is that the chef’s creative cooking and culinary skills are overshadowed by an extremely obnoxious so called manager and the poor staff’s lack of restaurant skills and food and wine knowledge.

Tamarai are obviously deluded and misguided and if you don't believe me try it and find out...!
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H Kaur
4 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Monday, July 19, 2010