Halászbástya Étterem — Restaurant in Budapest

Rating is based on our visit during July 2019: (magyarul is leirtam, bar csak kepkent tudtam csatolni a karakterlimit miatt) (someone reported my review, so it got witheld, but now I reposted)

English: I would like to share my experience in detail about the Halaszbastya Etterem.

We arrived. Originally, we wanted to sit inside because of the insanely hot weather, but they said we would need to wait a lot for that, so we ended up being seated outside. At this point everything was fine. However, after we needed to wait a massive amount of time until a waiter came to us. All right, it could happen.

I have to pinpoint that as my girlfriend doesn’t speak Hungarian, so I decided to speak in English the entire time. However, the waiter did not understand what I was saying at all. I could not properly explain what we want to order, my girlfriend had to point fingers to each food like ‘this, this, this and this.’ I thought, all right, this can happen – after all, we are not in England, even though this is one of the most touristic areas in the whole city. What is however not okay is that the waiter was quite rude, he was impatiently repeating that he doesn’t understand me, not even providing a chance to explain again what I was meaning. Anyway, we solved it, and even at this point, it wasn't a huge problem.

A bit later, the same waiter next to our table yawned very loudly, to the point that it felt a bit inappropriate for the setting. :D Again, a bit later some of the waiters were next to our table using the word ‘bazdmeg’ to each other (a strong Hungarian curse word) several times, which was a bit unprofessional for such a high-end restaurant. Not my main concern though. Once we tried to ask another waiter who is the football team eating at the other corner of the restaurant and he listed four teams and told us ‘sok’ (meaning ‘a lot’ in Hungarian), so clearly did not get our basic-English question.

Finally, the food arrived after forever, and not so long after we finished the main course my girlfriend started to feel extremely bad. (Stomachache mainly.) I want to clarify that she was healthy before – for instance, just two hours earlier, she was happily walking around the National Gallery with no issues. Yet, I still cannot accuse this place in regards it was food poisoning as how could I prove it. However, I was quite suspicious. Nevertheless, she felt like she needed to rush to the toilets. We asked where it is. The obvious path was blockaded by them earlier, and they started to explain how to get there. But my girlfriend didn’t really understand it and she was quite much in hurry and in panic, feeling very sick so she asked me to go with her.

Here comes the most frustrating part: EVEN THOUGH WE MENTIONED SHE URGENTLY NEEDED TO VOMIT, THEY SAID THEY WILL NOT LET NEITHER OF US GOING TO THE TOILET, STATING WE NEED TO PAY BEFORE (as if we were going to run off without paying). They were rudely insisting. I very quickly paid, and we literally ran down to the toilet. My girlfriend (of course) vomited (again, I cannot be sure of the cause, but the timing made me suspicious).

After this she sat down for a bit, and I went up to get my jacket and then the dessert which was previously ordered and paid was there, so I quickly ate that too.

Afterwards, when I was walking out, I went through at least 6 staff members, none of them said goodbye. I said a ‘bye’ to one of them, did not even answer back. Sadly, as expected, not one person asked whether my girlfriend was okay or showed any concern.

Overall, it was a deeply disappointing and unpleasant experience. The view is beautiful, as the restaurant is located in one of Budapest’s most historic locations, but I would not recommend it based on our treatment...

I sat down at the Halászbástya Étterem around 3 PM by myself because it got great online reviews and had unparalleled views of the Danube River. I understand that this is between lunch and dinner and that some things can be affected by shift/menu changes. However, what I experienced cannot be blamed by the time of the day. It can, however be blamed on neglect and lies. I was promptly seated and given a menu. The waiter asked me if I would be dining or drinking. I said both. He took my drink order (a beer) and then promptly returned with it. He then took my food order. As I knew that English was the waiter's second language, I pointed at what I wanted to eat on the menu while telling him out loud. He understood and walked off. I went back to enjoying my beer and views of the Danube River. After 30 minutes I ordered another beer and received it. After 15 more minutes after that, I noticed that a couple that had arrived around the same time as me had received their food. I motioned for my waiter and I asked him where my food was. "You did not order any food," he said. I told him that I did and pulled out the menu and repeated for a second time what I ordered. He wrote it down and walked away. He quickly returned and lied "There, uh, was a problem with the computer.” "Then explain to me how they received their food even though they ordered after me?" I asked. He of course didn't have a response, so he walked off. I was fuming at this point since it was now an hour after I had arrived. He went and got his manager and the manager apologized to me and offered me a free espresso or water. I said "No, I but I'll take a free beer. Another one of these, please." as I pointed to the beer I was finishing. He promised me that the kitchen was making my food and he walked off. I looked around and noticed that I was now the ONLY customer in the restaurant and that they were LOCKING the front door to close up before dinnertime. The lying waiter came out with my third beer. As I sipped it, I set a timer on my iPhone and said to myself "If they cannot get me my damn Hungarian goulash in the next ten minutes, then I am walking out on them." Ten minutes went by and I of course still did not have my food. I finished the last sip of my beer, slammed it down, stood up, put on my jacket, and said "That's it. I'm leaving." My rhetorical exclamation fell on deaf ears because there were no employees to be seen anywhere. And just like that, I walked out without paying and receiving my food after one hour and fifteen minutes - absolutely pathetic and...

To Resturant Management,

To my understanding, this is supposed to be an exclusive restaurant. But the service feels CHEAP!

We came in a pack of 25 people on Thursday, 6 April 2023. I just asked for a glass of water before I leave. The waiter rudely said "no more water for you, if you want water, you pay.." Just for a glass of tap water....I said if you so have to count for everything, everyone got a closing espresso in the end, I didn't get it, just replace it with a glass of tap water (Keep It Simple). The waiter again without empathy said: "No, u were not on table, so no espresso for you." So I was not allowed to go to the washroom / take quick picture? If you charge so expensively, shouldn't your waiter be trained in regards to HOSPITALITY and SERVICE EXCELLENCE?

I am sorry but if I could go eat at your restaurant, I could afford water, but the way your employee replied...just no empathy, disrespectful to the customers who pay for their salaries, mind them this fact.

Oh and about service excellence, there were candles on our tables and we asked for a waiter to lit up the candles....the waiter said yes, but never came back to lit the candles....when one of us asked again, u can guess the answer...no, cannot. If you have candles but you forgot to lit up the candles beforehand, perhaps there is no adherence to Standard Operating Procedure? If it's just for decoration, why bother putting the candles in the middle of fine dining table at night firsthand?

I hope my feedback can be constructive and productive for your restaurant, because you have a beautiful restaurant, a pity it's accompanied with poor service from...