PAUL — Restaurant in New Delhi

Thank you for ruining my 6 year old's birthday evening.

I hate confrontation and will avoid conflict at all costs- I'm the last person to leave a bad review and will ALWAYS let things go, and have never publically shamed anyone but this needs to be shared.

I urge Paul to re-train their senior staff, review their etiquette towards their patrons and teach them how to clearly communicate + humbly admit their mistakes so they are able to treat their patrons respectfully, so others are hopefully not mistreated like we were, with special evenings ruined + blood pressures spiked.

As a dining party of 7, with a 6 year old celebrating a birthday, we ordered multiple pastas, a pizza + assorted drinks. We ordered pastas for adults from the Pasta section separately, and given that the Kids Menu was on a different page of the menu altogether, we turned pages and clearly pointed at a Penne Alfredo Kids Size for my kid from the vibrantly highlighted Kids Menu which blatantly stood out from the rest of the menu in green.

Food was average and lacked seasoning. Cut to end of meal, we reviewed the bill- they had billed us for a full sized Penne Alfredo (which is not even a standard menu item and is ONLY available in a very clearly labelled and extremely green Kids Menu on a separate page that we pointed at while ordering) + a full size Fettucine Alfredo (which we had ordered).

We politely asked them to change that to the Kids Menu item that we ordered so we could pay. Instead of simply admitting there was some misunderstanding and amend the bill, the manager proceeded to first gaslight us that we did not order the Kids version and that we had obviously ordered the normal portion. When I asked him outright how and why on earth would I order a normal sized pasta from a Kids Menu, when in fact the dish in question does not even exist anywhere else in their menu, the manager proceeded to mansplain & poorly cover up their wrong assumption by saying that we don't have a Penne Alfredo in our menu but if someone wants one we make it for them from the Kids Menu and that I SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED I WANTED A KIDS PORTION WHILE CLEARLY POINTING AT AN ITEM IN THE KIDS SECTION OF THE MENU, ORDERING FOR & SITTING WITH A 6 YEAR OLD.

The difference in question between the kids and regular pasta was a mere Rs. 200 and had they simply admitted the misunderstanding was on their part, I would have happily paid the full amount despite the fact that they DON'T have a Penne Alfredo anywhere else on their menu apart from the clearly highlighted Kids Section. As a matter of principle and a result of their rude attitude towards us, I refused to pay for the regular sized portion, but paid for the Kids Size, which was ordered.

The manager was supremely condescending with an extremely weird tone tinged with superiority, trying to portray that the fault was ours and since they had served us the full sized portion and we had consumed it without any objections (not sure where this came from as no one in their right mind is going to enquire about portion sizes coming from the kitchen) we MUST pay the full amount because we didn't mention we wanted a kids portion, when in fact ordering from the kids menu. He then said I was being rude and if I didn't want to pay for this, he doesn't have a problem paying for this dish.

He later stood smirking on the side, when I later raised this issue with the senior manager who again proceeded to gaslight us & point out that since I had previously mentioned I was enjoying my evening so he didn't get what was the big deal and assumed I didn't want to pay the difference between the portions or that I couldn't pay Rs. 200.

I then cut short the conversation and left with a bitter taste in my mouth as it is a school night and I needed to get home and put my 6 year old to bed.

We've been frequent patrons of the establishment since opening night but won't be returning, despite a half-hearted non apology as we were leaving, because I mentioned I would leave a review as bad as my experience.

If you're considering dining...

The good thing about PAUL is the consistency in quality across its outlets. The options and the taste are what keeps bringing me back. Unfortunately their service standards vary greatly. Customer service in Vasant kunj leaves a lot to be desired. I went yesterday for lunch, a Sunday. The servers were not trained to handle this rush. They're confused, and rushing up everything. In this rush they forget polished consumer interactions which someone visiting Paul expects. Items are out of stock, there is a way of putting it across. The waiter had this air around him of... it's not there, so what, take it or leave it. He simply said, out of stock hai and started looking around and at other tables to see if someone is calling out. I started looking at the menu for a replacement and he just stood there... making faces!! Give me options as a replacement for Gods sake. His attitude made me feel completely unwelcome. I ultimately said to him, you seem to be in a hurry and not suggesting anything, i will let you know once I've made my selection. He happily left. This is typically what happens when the priority is just sales and to mint money rather than extend great customer service.

PAUL, it's your choice... you'll can continue serving your customers with high handed behaviour through your untrained egotistic staff but don't be surprised if soon your staff has all the time in the world to tend to an empty restaurant. Your food selection and quality will only be able to draw customers that much. I will visit your other outlets but as far as the VK one is considered, I'm done for! Would strongly urge customers to spend their hard earned money on better service elsewhere if visiting vasantkunj...

It's a buzzing place but fine- dining it's not. It's a tough proposition catering to the Indian palate, admittedly: "Our own" food is "served all together" and, over time, chillies dominate, the ubiquitous, "spicy" food! So, the preference is for like cuisines, Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Chinese i.e. "Pan-Asian," generally. So, we have difficulty in understanding the predominant European concept of plated food, served, course-wise, individually. We seem to like "shares!" Our group of 10 Senior Citizens was no different. However, some of us chose to go the "plated" way. This is where some of the deficiencies were. There wasn't enough choice in either small bites or plated food. "Italian," of course meant boring pizzas or some pastas. Basically, Paul's tried to be a Department Store with offerings for everyone, breakfast, lunch, tea ("Salon de Thé), patisserie, boulangerie et al. In doing this it lost its way, rather. This was reflected in the clientèle: Families with kids, old, young all out to have a snacking, café, good time. Nothing wrong with that but wasn't for me since my expectations were different. There were set drinks from the bar but you couldn't stray. For example I wanted a Daiquiri but that wasn't on offer. Service was so-so. There were numbers of times that waiters and waitresses came around with other diners' food or came around asking whose food he/she was carrying. A fun place, over-all but not elegant fine-dining. I got that wrong, not...