Namo

Namo has long been a favourite restaurant of ours, but our latest visit was a real disappointment. The food was up to its usual standard, but the way the bill is presented is nothing short of underhand. Instead of the 12.5% service charge being shown as an added (optional) extra, it is automatically included in the subtotal. The true cost of the food and drink is shown in much smaller print below, so anyone not paying attention could easily add extra service on top of the service already added. As the service wasn't that good, we decided to pay more than the cost of the food, but less than the service charge on the bill. Interestingly the people on the table next to us did exactly the same, because they also thought the bill was misleading.

When we were asked by the manager "if everything was all right", we pointed out that the bill was misleading, at which point the manager's reaction became hostile. She did not like being told that the customer should be able to decide how good the service is and tip accordingly, rather than the restaurant imposing it on the customer. She kept repeating that "it was standard practice in all restaurants".

We won't be going back.
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6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Saturday, October 16, 2010

had an amazing meal at namo. its my favourite place to eat!

great atmosphere and the look of the space is extremely beautiful and different to all those other vietnamese restaurants.

had amazing starters consisting of ribs and the special steam rolls both amazing and leaving us wanting more.

the mains did not disappoint we had the special slow cooked pork, steam chicken with lime leaves again both were fantastic.

we had a great evening great food great drinks and will be back!
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, September 19, 2010

Shocking. It's that simple.

My meal consisted of 2 slices of aubergine, a hard piece of pepper and one slice of new potato with a teaspoon of Satay sauce. This wouldn't even pass as a child's starter. My wife's soup contained just 2 prawns and half a fish cake. Service slow. They didn't even bother asking us for desserts or further drinks, instead presented us with the bill. We refused to pay service which was already added. Avoid
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murray - View all reviews by this user
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Thursday, July 15, 2010

10 of us went to this restaurant been there before but what a disappointment this time was. It was supposed to be a special occasion and the whole evening went downhill rapidly once seated.

The drinks took a long time to arrive we had starters arriving ad hoc some had food some not some still waiting for drinks.

Main courses started to arrive while a few still waiting for starters.

Again trying to order a round of drinks which had not arrived yet again service slow staff friendly food not up to the standard expected.

Dessert was ordered but never arrived

spent a lot of money to go away with a bad taste and heading straight to local to get the long awaited drink
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karen
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, March 20, 2010

Strange reading the reviews, they are so different. I have to say that I go there a lot for take away and to sit in the restaurant and it is, for me, a very good, consistent place with great service.

It is is always busy so they must be doing something right??!?!?!
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john
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, March 20, 2009

I had heard many good things about Namo from locals so decided to try it out for Valentine's Day. The previous year we'd had a horrific experience somewhere where they'd clearly overbooked and the service was painfully slow, so I was hoping it would be better here.

Fortunately it was. The set menu included a glass of pomegranate and prosecco, which was brought over to us immediately. It was a pleasant aperatif though nothing to get too excited about.

We had the soft shell crab and ribs to start. The crab was crisp and tasty, served with a lovely root vegetable salad dressed with a sweet and sour dressing. The ribs were a generous portion (from "The Ginger Pig" apparently), very tender and the meat falling off the bone.

For main course we had the chargrilled pork and beef in tamarind sauce. These were tasty though perhaps not as impressive as the starters. The sauce the pork came with was a bit too salty for my liking (and resultantly spent the rest of the night gasping with thirst!).

For dessert we had lovely mango spring rolls with a gorgeous butterscotch and coconut sauce and a creme brulee. The brulee was done pretty well as these things can so often go wrong!

Overall, the service was reasonable (given that it was a busy night) and most importantly, the food was tasty, if a little salty at times.

They could definitely do with getting more stock of local Vietnamese beers though, as they only had Tiger on the night.
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Em
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Friday, February 20, 2009