Papiyon Brasserie

I had a lovely experience here. The staff were charming, the food good (50% off on toptable so amazing value), but the best part was the atmosphere and the live duo singing.
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Teens
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, January 05, 2007

I went to Papiyon Brasserie last night for a Birthday party and I would NOT recommend this restaurant to anyone I know. The food was terrible and the service not much better. When we complained about most of the food being overcooked they just said "do you want to order another one". The Birthday girl ended up in tears as most of us were so dissapointed with our food. Will most DEFINITELY not being going back EVER AGAIN!!!
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Lina
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Saturday, December 09, 2006

Extremely disappointing. Having read the reviews on this site I booked it for a friend's birthday party expecting to give him a great night out - boy was I wrong. This is NOT the place to go it you want a guaranteed good meal. By the time I left I felt embarrassed for having taken my friends there.

Starters arrived at such different times that the first 2 people had finished theirs by the time the last 2 received them. We were a group of 6, not the largest group to cater for - even I can manage that at home!

There was then well over an hour's wait (possibly nearer two) for mains which was particularly annoying as other tables who had arrived much later than us all seemed to be getting served. Some even had their starters AND mains whilst we were waiting! The first and second complaints got us nowhere and eventually I had to get up and go and speak to the manager when it looked like the birthday boy might faint with hunger. The manager came out with possibly the longest list of excuses I've ever heard: the chef was new, it was a new menu, they'd booked too many people in at the same time, cooking for a party of 6 is quite difficult (!) etc etc etc. When I pointed out they'd managed the table of 5 next to us quite well the manager then admitted the waiter had misplaced our order slip. She said they didn't want to 'keep bothering' us with apologies, so I pointed out that bothering us with at least one would have been a good idea.

The manager (the only staff member who seemed to have a clue) did, however, redeem the place by sending over a free bottle of wine, but it was not to last...

When mains eventually arrived one side dish was missing and the spinach had not been washed and was like eating a gravel driveway. On calling a waiter over and pointing out that the spinach had not been washed he said "it was bought washed". He repeated this several times as if we were supposed to accept it as not their fault and get on with eating it. We practically had to spell it out to him to take it away and bring us a replacement. Unfortuantely, the replacement was swimming in oil and was barely edible as a result.

The meat was lovely. Puddings were fine too. Don't say I don't give credit where it's due! But they were not good enough to have made all the problems worth it. And then it got worse...

The bill was the final nail in the Papiyon coffin. We discovered that the invisible side salad had been charged for so we removed it and recalculated the bill. Then we decided that they perhaps didn't deserve the whole 12.5% 'discretionary' service charge they'd added on so we reduced it to 10%. We thought this was more than fair bearing in mind we seemed to have spent most of the evening complainaing. The waiter took it away for it to be reprinted but added on the 12.5% again. So we spelt it out: the service had not been great so we did not feel they had earned the full 12.5% and that we would pay 10% only. The waiter's response tells you all you need to know about this place: "but we gave you a free bottle of wine and the band played happy birthday to your friend". And thus the gesture of redemption was no more.... and to charge to play a song??!! Yet again off I trotted to see the manager to get her to adjust the 'discretionary charge' which her waiter seemed to believe was mandatory. After then pointing out to the waiter that a 'free' bottle of wine was not free if they wanted money for it, to charge for a song to be played was beyond ridiculous, and that it is REALLY bad form to argue over the 'discretionary' service charge when the service has been abysmal, he responded with "well I work for someone else, it's his money". And that sums it all up quite well: give us your money, stuff the quality of food and service.

Oh, and they 'double tip', that delightful practice of leaving a space on the credit card slip for you to add your tip AFTER they've added it on to the bill. We, however, found the 'tip' space quite useful, and wrote "wash spinach" and "serve food quicker" etc etc.

My friends' comments at the end of the meal were "well at least the company was good". If that's the best that can be said about this place then best stay in with your mates and a takeaway.
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J-bunny
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, January 31, 2006