Blue Elephant

We went there for Sunday buffet brunch at the new location.

From the minute we walked in the door we had a bad feeling. Somebody held the door open and said go through. We then waited at the desk and were ignored and finally were asked if we had booked a table. We had. We were then shown to the furthest table from the food in the restaurant. And wedged between whinging children and a crying baby (the baby got louder BTW). We were handed drinks menus and it then took another 10 minutes before anyone came to take our order - a young waiter who was charming. I explained that we were not happy with the table (I had already said that to the meeter and greeter who said there were no other tables available.) He came back and said that we could have a table in the centre of the restaurant which was a lot better. The previous table felt as if we were being shoved into a broom cupboard out of the way.

The decor: nothing exciting and in fact dull. No longer the wonderous pools of koi carp. Frankly nothing wonderous about the decor.

The food: the buffet is down some stairs and the area is far too small and crushed. Also the selection has been vastly reduced. There were only two items from the mains that were not vegetarian - duck red curry and stir fried squid. It seems to be catering to mostly vegetarian - is that due to vegetables being cheaper to serve. Frankly the food was mediocre at best.

The service: given that it is a buffet the staff do not have to do much but nobody replaced cutlery - we had to ask five times. We had to ask to have our water glasses filled and we had to ask to have our wine glasses filled.

The bill: for what we had it was a rip off. No way did we get value for money for the £30 a head buffet. I refused to pay the service charge as I said that we had not had service.

As we left nobody bothered to say goodbye. Frankly they deserve to fail. Even the staff who used to be so charming at the old venue were not. The only time our waitress smiled is when we asked for the bill. Oh and the new uniforms look like some tribal get up and as for the meeter and greeter - we think it was a woman but not sure as she was dressed in an ill fitting black trouser suit and surly.

DO NOT BOTHER TO EAT HERE - IT IS NOT AN ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE - AND IT IS A RIP OFF.
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GoldfishWoman - View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The food was mediocre and the manager was very rude. We ordered the King Prawns and although they were tasty they were very overcooked. We called over the waiter and after the meal told him that the food wasn't great. The manager didn't even bother to come over and ask why or even apologise. We then called over the manager and he had the gall to say to us that "this particular dish requires extra cooking." We were starving so we ate most of it but there were only 4 pieces and we had left one. It is a shame because the prawns were beautiful but were like rubber.

The green curry tasted like a ready meal from a super market. Generally we never complain at a restaurant but at almost £20 a dish you think that you are getting quality. How wrong were we! Not even very good service.

It is quite surprising that the place is always so busy.
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Masood Pagnier
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Friday, November 11, 2011

Really bad. Have been to places before where there is a feeling of "that'll do for them, they won't know the difference" born from a complacent assumption that hungry londoners have low culinary standards and are easily pleased and I'm disappointed to say that exists at Blue Elephant. Difference is, I've never had to pay so much for the privilege.

I've been to a few Thai restaurants before and have to say i've never really had an unsatisfactory experience at any of them until now. As you go in, you're met with nice decor with a nice novel coy carp pond , but i'm afraid it lulls you into a false sense of security. The food is well presented, but masks a significant lack of care in the preparing of the food. The fishcakes are like rubber and were not freshly made (they are £7 a pop). Siu mai dumplings were okay and £7. Fried rice (£6.00) was tasty and lamb was nice but not worth £16.50 for the portion size. When the lobster came to the table, my partner instantly remarked how burnt it was at the top. I called the waiter and asked him a little facetiously if that's how it's supposed to be, and was a little perplexed when he said yes. He then offered to take it back and then a different waitress returned and put the SAME plate of lobster on the table with the burnt seasoning scraped off the top. Lobster is such a beautiful meat that it's actually really hard to get wrong, but this one was tough as old army boots! It had clearly been left under the grill for far too long, but yet they still decided to serve it, which is NOT the attitude of a quality conscientious kitchen and the audacity of returning the same plate says it all. By the way, the lobster cost £30.

The waiter was pleasant, but the attitude of the restaurant to customers is all wrong. The cost is high end (£100 for 2 inc drinks and lobster, but we were probably a dish short) so the food needs to be served at an appropriate standard.

I really wanted the critics and reviewers to be proved wrong, but please be aware, they're not.
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Lucky11
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Monday, October 31, 2011

Me and my partner went for the Sunday brunch. Had a lovely time! I had been before when i was a child and always wanted to go back.

The service was great. Everyone was friendly but also didnt seem like they were trying too hard as they do in some places.

The food was great a huge variety of things to try.

Cannot wait to return.
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Ashleigh Yu - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I should have read TimeOuts review before going there yesterday and I would possibly have avoided the great disappointment it was! Decor nice but a bit dated - doesn't look like it's changed since the 80s... Staff friendly and helpful and nice spicy wholemeal prawn crackers for nibbles but here stops the praise I am afraid and it all went downhill from there... We had booked via lastminute.com for a special deal, however, when we got there there was some confusion and we were given the ordinary menu but when we questioned them about the special deal they pulled out another menu - a lot less exciting really - to give us so we were struggling with choice as nothing on the menu really jumped out at us and so was taking a long time to decide and one of the waiters joked 'before the kitchen closes please', which I didn't really find amusing... At this point I would normally have left as the mood was spoiled and already left with a bit of a sour taste in our mouths, however, was my friend's 30th and so we thought we better stay put and make the best out of it... Wrong decision!

We proceeded to order from the standard menu as had our hearts set on seafood and nothing much available on the special set menu, unless you're a vegetarian that is, as seemed quite a few options available - a few meat options too but as I don't eat meat and we already had decided on fish not much for us... Ordered a non-alcoholic 'cocktail' as I was driving but just seemed like a non-freshly squeezed juice in a fancy packaging for which I was charge £7... Squid, Scallops, etc nice but tasted a bit tired and quite blandly spiced and nothing special... Worst was a shredded coconut starter, which my friend described as tasting of bran flakes... AND to top it off we had to ask two waiters and wait 10 minutes to get our extortionate bill!

Ultimately if you don't mind paying over-inflated prices for average food in a dated fancy setting with nice waiters then this is the place for you. I guess you are paying for ambience and the service but for us what really mattered was the food and this was a big let down. Perhaps you should have gone there in its heyday - I bought the cook book about 15 years ago - but as for me I wish we really hadn't bothered making the extra effort of going there and should just have gone to one of the many cheap nice Vietnamese places on Kingsland Rd instead - certainly won't be returning and felt it spoiled my friend's 30th so all in all very disappointing experience that I would not recommend to anyone...
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Karina
4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Monday, July 11, 2011

Its a tough review to call. So let me start with environment and hospitality. I will mark both 10 out of 10. The staff (we had 3 different people serving 2 of us) were all fantastic, kind and had a smile in their face at all times. Environment - fantastic. A theme of "rain-forest" backdrop...tropical plants all over the place, small ponds, flowers...were excellent. If in general, that is what you are after in going to restaurant, I will highly recommend this place...however..........

Some staff are not fully trained - my wife missed a list of fresh juice (though it was available), as the person served her whilst waiting for me to arrive didn't know that real fresh juice exists other than the carton ones. Also, for a restaurant in middle of city for a long presence, I was surprised none of them knew where parking exists for customers who drove there.

Here comes the food part. I cannot give anything more than 3 for the dish that we ordered. I come from an asian background and maybe my expectations having tasted food like Thai from my country (I am not from Thailand) might be high but to be honest, this is below than par. We thought to be adventurous by ordering few items that we have never had before, and except for the bamboo fish, everything else was average. I could have cooked a better Thai from the jar. Maybe this restaurant cooked to cater to the western taste, which defeats the purpose of people going in there...because people may want to taste the real Thai food...I mean even Gordon Ramsay was shocked there was more to Thai Food than Pad Thai during his journey in Thailand. We had 2 vegetarian dishes, 1 lamb and 1 fish with a the Chef Special fried rice. I am no show-off but I can cook this fried rice anytime and would have had salt in it with a kick of spice to cater customer's requirement. The lamb was equally awful. For £20, i would have expected to see at least 6 pieces of lamb chunks in it. And the aubergine costs £11??!! For 2 persons our total bill including service charge was £101. We wouldnt have mind the price, if we thought the food had some speciality in it. If you are up for a good thai food, this is not a place to go....but if you want a great ambience, spend quality time with your family/friends/work colleagues and served by polite waiters and waitresses and not worry about how your food tastes and how much you would pay, then I would recommend this place...Good Luck!
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Hari
6 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 2
Friday, June 10, 2011

love, love, love this place :-) dont know how they get all the plants in there without the smell - i think its fabulous!! the food is amaizing and the service is good too! i have been twice and highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a food adventure with amazing decor :-)
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Lauren - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, February 07, 2011

I love this restaurant, and have visited it countless times. Food has always tasted fresh and the service has always been outstanding. Never had a complaint. By far my favourite thai restaurant.
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Soniya Hodge
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Visited here with group of friends mid-week, the restaurant wsa busy but due to the abundance of plants still felt like a more intimate restaurant. Served small soup and prawns as amuse bouche which was a nice touch. Starters and mains good, I had scallops which were excellent. People having curry commented it was tasty but on the hot side. Plenty of food. A good meal, overpriced but you are paying for the atmosphere.
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KN
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Thursday, November 18, 2010

I absolutely love this restaurant. Service was amazing and so was the food. Prices are decent too.
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Lorelei
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, October 26, 2010