Review: Paprika Curry House, Northgate, Canterbury
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizziecIt isn't often I put reviews of places on the internet. Really I should do it more - when they impress me rather than piss me off, but anyway, here's one, and it's a place to avoid. Here's why.
Went here for lunch today for their "Fusions" or Lunch special - 1 starter, 1 main dish and a bread or rice for £6, which sounded on paper like a good deal. It was even advertised in their window, the only small print being that it only applied between 12pm and 2:30pm, which wasn't a problem as we arrived very shortly after 12. We went because my friend had been the previous week, had the deal and thought it was quite nice and pretty good value.
We were seated reasonably quickly (no one else was there, so the service should have been this good or better), and given the menu. My friend and I had a couple of drinks each and picked out a starter each, a main each and a naan bread each, thus qualifying for the deal. The food was ok. Not brilliant, not nearly as good as my favourite curry house (and the one I usually visit). I was rather annoyed that my Korma came with almonds sprinkled over the top, despite it not saying in the menu that the dish contained nuts, as I have an intolerance to them that makes me sick if I eat them. I have to admit I took a guess in ordering the Korma - I can eat it most places and their menu was very unclear as to which dishes had nuts and which didn't.
We finished up and asked for the bill which came quickly. We were frankly shocked at the amount - in the region of £40. My companion was treating me, so he went to query the bill with one of the waiting staff, in another room next to (behind) the dining area. Such was the volume with which the conversation ended up occurring at that I heard every word that was said, and I was actually frightened by the speed with which the waiting staff member escalated from reasonable to aggressive (he became aggressive almost as soon as my friend queried the bill with him).
My friend mentioned that he expected the offer to have been applied, as it had been the previous week when he had been with someone else. No one had mentioned the offer but as they'd ordered the items mentioned in it, it had been automatically applied. The member of staff said that we had had main portions, not offer portions so he wouldn't apply it retrospectively. My friend said as it was lunchtime the offer should have been mentioned when we came in and set down, especially if a separate menu applied. The staff member continued to shout and say it wasn't his job to tell us about offers, just to write down the food we ordered. Then he started to shout about how long he'd lived in the UK and made out that we were trying to take advantage of him. My friend ended up just paying the bill so we could go.
As we left we could still hear the member of staff shouting about us to another member of staff.
To be quite frank I found the situation frightening. I would stress to other people reading this not to go. There are nicer, cheaper and friendlier curry houses in Canterbury (I particularly recommend the Ancient Raj [reviewed on trusted places here] ).
To sum up:
* Despite the restaurant being empty apart from my companion and I the service was not amazing.
* The menu was unclear what ingredients that people may not be able to eat was in their food.
* The food was not amazing (and for the prices they charged it should have been).
* The bill was astronomical, the offer not applied, and when the bill was queried the member of staff questioned got very aggressive very quickly and was still shouting about us to another member of staff when we left.
* The same member of staff said it was not his job to mention offers and the onus was on us to mention it in order to get it (despite this not being the case the previous week when friend went for the lunch offer - noone mentioned it and it was just applied to the bill as a matter of course)
Cross posted to Trusted Places and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
canterbunnies.
Went here for lunch today for their "Fusions" or Lunch special - 1 starter, 1 main dish and a bread or rice for £6, which sounded on paper like a good deal. It was even advertised in their window, the only small print being that it only applied between 12pm and 2:30pm, which wasn't a problem as we arrived very shortly after 12. We went because my friend had been the previous week, had the deal and thought it was quite nice and pretty good value.
We were seated reasonably quickly (no one else was there, so the service should have been this good or better), and given the menu. My friend and I had a couple of drinks each and picked out a starter each, a main each and a naan bread each, thus qualifying for the deal. The food was ok. Not brilliant, not nearly as good as my favourite curry house (and the one I usually visit). I was rather annoyed that my Korma came with almonds sprinkled over the top, despite it not saying in the menu that the dish contained nuts, as I have an intolerance to them that makes me sick if I eat them. I have to admit I took a guess in ordering the Korma - I can eat it most places and their menu was very unclear as to which dishes had nuts and which didn't.
We finished up and asked for the bill which came quickly. We were frankly shocked at the amount - in the region of £40. My companion was treating me, so he went to query the bill with one of the waiting staff, in another room next to (behind) the dining area. Such was the volume with which the conversation ended up occurring at that I heard every word that was said, and I was actually frightened by the speed with which the waiting staff member escalated from reasonable to aggressive (he became aggressive almost as soon as my friend queried the bill with him).
My friend mentioned that he expected the offer to have been applied, as it had been the previous week when he had been with someone else. No one had mentioned the offer but as they'd ordered the items mentioned in it, it had been automatically applied. The member of staff said that we had had main portions, not offer portions so he wouldn't apply it retrospectively. My friend said as it was lunchtime the offer should have been mentioned when we came in and set down, especially if a separate menu applied. The staff member continued to shout and say it wasn't his job to tell us about offers, just to write down the food we ordered. Then he started to shout about how long he'd lived in the UK and made out that we were trying to take advantage of him. My friend ended up just paying the bill so we could go.
As we left we could still hear the member of staff shouting about us to another member of staff.
To be quite frank I found the situation frightening. I would stress to other people reading this not to go. There are nicer, cheaper and friendlier curry houses in Canterbury (I particularly recommend the Ancient Raj [reviewed on trusted places here] ).
To sum up:
* Despite the restaurant being empty apart from my companion and I the service was not amazing.
* The menu was unclear what ingredients that people may not be able to eat was in their food.
* The food was not amazing (and for the prices they charged it should have been).
* The bill was astronomical, the offer not applied, and when the bill was queried the member of staff questioned got very aggressive very quickly and was still shouting about us to another member of staff when we left.
* The same member of staff said it was not his job to mention offers and the onus was on us to mention it in order to get it (despite this not being the case the previous week when friend went for the lunch offer - noone mentioned it and it was just applied to the bill as a matter of course)
Cross posted to Trusted Places and
canterbunnies.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Tue, Jun. 24th, 2008 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tue, Jun. 24th, 2008 07:10 pm (UTC)The only time i went to the paprika i found them to be rude and non interested.
xxx