I havent reviewed a restaurant before, and really wanted to following my visit to The Elephant Royal. I battled with writing this as we all make mistakes in business and in life in general, but when its a really awful experience one feels compelled!
I have lived in the Docklands for over 10 years and have eaten here many times. The food is generally ok, no complaints but no fireworks either, the decor is a little shabby but homely but its a nice place to go for a quiet lunch on your own or for a business lunch without having to shout to be heard which can be the case in many of the restaurants around the wharf
However, my visit today, for lunch, was simply appalling.
My starter of paper prawns still had the intestinal tract on the prawn and I was given raw chicken (garlic chicken from the business menu), and offered no apology and still had to pay for the meal!
I mentioned this to the waitress and in the first instance she told me thats what the prawns look like…yes they do – before they are cleaned properly. And in the second instance with the chicken, the waitress said that its hard to cook this kind of chicken! What does that mean?
I asked for details of the Head Office or the manager and she gave me a card with the number of The Gants Hill branch. I did call them and spoke to the manager who didnt quite know why I was referred to him, but gave me some advice on dealing with this.
Incredibly disappointing customer service, and as the restaurant was pretty empty; a table of 4 and two tables of 1 (including me), there is simply no excuse for lacking attention to detail.
Both the chicken and the prawn were in my mouth before I realised that there was something wrong with them and I am just hoping that I havent gained an upset stomach from this experience.
Very very disappointing experience and staff who simply did not care.