scooter(WRX03 PPP)

A few days ago I was in a chinese restaurant in London and the meal and service was probably the worst I have ever come across. Not only was the food sickening but it took hours from start to finish to get served and then had to wait over 30 minutes to pay!!!. I was thinking of walking out, however my friend told me that this would be theft, so I paid in full along with a complaint (which got me no-where). It seems they don't care anymore in London as there are simply many tourists and they don't have to try for business.

Anyway, today another friend told me that to get around the theft thing, simply leave a pound or two and then leave. He told me that you cannot be done for theft if you do this. Is this right, or is he telling a porky?

Danbo

Right, Its late and I'm not a complete expert on civil law but....

As far as I remember if you are not satisfied with a meal you can bring it to the attention of the management and attempt to agree an offset price that you are happy with. If you cannot come to an agreement then you can refuse to pay if you believe the meal to be substandard as long as you leave your name and address (assuming you have sufficient identification to prove who you are) so that should the restaurant wish to sue for the cost of the meal then they can. This is I think reliant on the fact that you have brought the matter to their attention as soon as possible and they have not rectified the matter to your satisfaction. And obviously to eat the whole meal is not going to go in your favour.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Timo.

Danbo. That sounds about right to me.

If you leave your name and address, it becomes a civil matter and a civil debt.

If the meal was that bad I would have sent it back as soon as I had the chance and told them to give it sorted.

If you are not satisfied with the food and level of service, you do not have to pay (in full anyway).

Never just leave the restaurant without paying at all. That is called 'Making off without payment' funnily enough and is a criminal offence.

T.

KiwiGTI

Spot on, the food in London restaurants (excluding some high end ones) is quite frankly disgusting. And yes, the turnover from tourists is so high they don't care. Most have replaced all their staff with immigrant staff and they have no idea of good service or how to cook (they seem friendly and try hard enough) but just go to TGIFs or an Angus steakhouse to see what I mean.

Most places just reheat food made to a formula and the people cooking are doing a job rather than doing something they love.

staffs Mike

Totally agree with this...We went to london last weekend...funnily enough ate at an Angus Steakhouse...the food wasnt BAD but not worth the money you are paying the immigrant staff (as you say) for...who very rudely asked for a tip

Had an Indian/ something at a place called masala zone to...F'in Terrible

..Pizza hut wasnt bad though haha.

DCI Gene Hunt

Heres a tip; don't go to Baghdad on holiday

bobsabuilder

The Chinese noodle bar (Chong Chong Noodle Bar or something like that) over the road from Kings Cross Station on the Euston Road is IMHO very good

Peered in the window and loads of orientals were eating there so we went in.
Food was cheap, plentiful, very tasty and served quickly.

Have had nice fillet steaks in the Angus steak houses. Went to the one just up the road from The Palladium a few weeks ago after a show and it was excellent for service and quality of food (Huge Fillet steak cooked medium rare to perfection), thats why we left a 20% tip. And NO we wern't asked for a tip, and the waitress had an English accent

Bob

bobn3

Have you seen Donnie Brasco, If you have no joy and your been ignored by the manager, grab him in to the bathroom... and give a stiff talking too ;-)

scooter(WRX03 PPP)

The one I went to was near leicester square I think and had the word "****" in the name. (That's not a joke). I guess I should have known from the name. lol. It was massive (on about 4 levels), so I guessed it would be good... bad mistake.

stilover

You're quite correct. Had to do Law as part of my course at college, and this exact example was brought up. If the meal/service is substandard, you have a right to pay for what you think it's worth and not what they want to charge you.
Leaving without paying is theft.

brihoppy

ive heard the same applies to other services such as taxi rides and haircuts...???

davegtt

How can you be unhappy with a taxi ride unless theyve took you the long route?

DCI Gene Hunt

Farting driver & cab breaks down enroute..... come on Dave use your imagination

davegtt

Get out of the car then or is that being too simple? If the car broke down Id expect the cab drive to call for another to get me the rest of the way

Farting driver? how did you know I drive cabs for a living?

2000TLondon

There are a couple of decent restaurants in China Town but few and far between, and your experience was nothing out of the ordinary. As said, it's a high turnover with no consideration for repeat custom.

In fairness, if you had tried to walk out of there without paying, it would have quickly become "not worth it" and the term civil dispute probably doesn't go far down there! (Although the posters regarding this are right, as I remember!)

KiwiGTI

Mind you it is very odd for the speed of the service to be like that. Generally the Chinese are very fast.

brihoppy

for instance, if you agree a fare and the driver tries to charge you more...or if you dont agree in the first place and he tries to charge you 20 quid for a 5 min drive, etc...

scooter(WRX03 PPP)

Lee Ho ****........... Yes Fooking awful.

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

Had a similar bad experience in a chineese at an awful chav filled town called Whitehaven. Was served drinks 2 x chineese beers and we were soon served our starter. We had orderd a set menu for 2 persons.

They cleared the table after the starter and then started to bring out the next course which should have been crispy duck pancakes. The pancakes arrived but after 45 minutes and 3 complaints to a gormless waiter walking the floor, there was still no sign of the duck. I called him back and said "listen mate, this course involves duck can you look at our table and tell me what is missing!".

After being kept waiting almost an hour I told him we were leaving, I told them I would pay for the drinks but would not be paying for food. He called out the restaurant owner, a chinaman, who yelled across the restaurant waving a large knife "You have starter - you f**king pay for starter". The gormless idiot and a young chineese waitress were by this stage pleading with us to pay for two starters - still refused. Ended up paying for the two beers and leaving after arguing for 5 minutes.

Chineese in Whitehaven, never again.