Dark Leaf Cafe & Lounge — Restaurant in Hong Kong

We visited this restaurant recently and while the food was acceptable, the service and management practices left us astonished.

Discount Dishonored We booked through OpenRice which advertised a 20% discount. Upon arrival, we confirmed with the staff that the discount would apply. The waiter said he needed to check with the boss but never followed up or gave any warning about “conditions.” At billing, the discount was removed. The boss insisted this was because we “stayed longer than 90 minutes.” Yet,

Nobody mentioned this 90‑minute limit during our meal. That condition was written only in Chinese. The English version said nothing. My friend who primarily reads English felt so embarrassed and guilty of bringing us there. Realistically, who checks both languages for hidden conditions?

Pressured to Leave with Two Different Excuses After we paid, we stayed chatting for about 10 minutes. Staff first told us the restaurant was “closing soon.” But looking around, every other table was still happily eating and chatting. The stated closing time online was 2:00 AM, but it was only about 10 PM. Moments later, the lights above our table were turned on and off repeatedly, flickering at us. Then a female staff member came and abruptly claimed our table was “reserved”, when there was not a single guest waiting outside.

While the food itself was passable, the way management treated paying guests was dismissive, inconsistent, and frankly insulting. Ours was ruined by the poor attitude and unfair practices here.

With so many good restaurants in Mong Kok, there’s no reason to choose one that...

Waited 1 hr for food & drinks, and need additional 1 more hr for shisha. Has to leave because waited for too long.

1 person (I am assuming the owner) does the cooking + cocktail + shisha, serving 15 tables. There are 2 waiters, but are clueless in what they are doing. Towards the end the owner started serving too. Props to the owner for doing everything but more manpower is needed.

Food was decent but too overpriced and small portion. 10 individual nacho chips with pre-made salsa is $98. Chicken cartilage 5 pcs was $100. Prawn pasta with only 3 bites is $200. Ended up paying over 600 for 2 people. We were still hungry when we left.

Has potential but way too understaffed and needs to...

Saw a lot of bad reviews about how slow service was; my friend and I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and try it out ourselves, but the bad reviews were absolutely right. Food and drinks came after an hour, and we were told that shisha would come after another hour. This place is severely understaffed, with one person as the bartender, cook, and shisha master. Seeing how many reviews there are about the slow service and lack of manpower, I hope the owner/ manager truly re-evaluates the...