All reader reviews by Anonymous

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.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0