The Irish House — Restaurant in New Delhi

To whom it may concern,

This was on Friday 6th September, between 10-11am, perhaps?

As someone who works in hospitality - primarily as a waiter, but also as a bartender and barista - I get that there are several difficult things about the job. When I go into a restaurant, I don’t mind if someone is visibly stressed or not on their A-Game, because things get busy, things happen, life happens. I totally get it.

I also understand language barriers. It’s one of those things that sometimes can’t be helped, when people from differing languages and countries come up to you and ask you questions in ways you don’t understand. In my case, I asked the bartender for a Kiwi Margarita and was told he couldn’t do it. I asked, “Is it because you don’t have the ingredients, or can you just not serve it at this time?” (Keep in mind it’s 10am, give or take, and I am in a country where I don’t understand the rules). At first, I got no answer. Maybe he didn’t understand. Fair enough.

What happens afterwards is what has me frustrated.

Rolling your eyes at me, looking at me like dirt and being rude - for what you don’t understand - is unnecessary. So is trying to condescendingly write “Not available” on a piece of paper, as if I am not the person who actually speaks English as a primary language, on a daily basis. Maybe next time, ask your manager for help? I assume the manager was the same person who told you to serve me - y’know, after you deliberately avoided me and the bar in general for 5 minutes straight, counting bar stock, as if customers don’t matter; as if they aren’t the ones who pay your wages and keep your bosses’ businesses afloat.

It’s a shame, too, because everything and everyone else was nice. The restaurant has a nice setup, with the rotating clockwork gears and the slogans. The waiters were professional. The chef’s spiked paprika fries were the best fries I’ve ever had. (I would’ve tipped on the fries alone) Even the Asian (?) waitress / runner, who clearly had language issues, had the courtesy to grab someone else to help her and myself out.

But despite making a nice Irish Trash Can cocktail, the bartender’s attitude just ruined the vibe.

Give the place a go, as there’s a long going for it - but for foreigners and travellers stopping over, just beware of what I had to experience. Maybe a misunderstanding, but still...

Travelers beware - this place charged me twice for the same thing and the waiter knew what he was doing.

How it happened: the waiter comes over after having already punched in the amount and asked me to tap. I felt concerned I couldn't see the amount before tapping my card but did anyway as I'd ask for the receipt. Then he punches a few buttons, and then the price again which made me think that tapping first then punching in the amount was odd. Then he asks me to tap again, and hesitantly and confused, I did. I only received one receipt, and check my online banking and see it had been charged twice.

I get it sometimes tap doesn't work on the first try, but if it didn't it wouldn't have shown up on my bank statement, and the waiter doing it knew exactly what he was doing, did not hesitate to input the amount a second time to double charge me and did not look confused like "oh, did the first tap not work? Let's try again" no, he knew what he was doing and was quick about it too.

After I confront him about it, all of a sudden he pretends not to understand English even though he had been fine earlier, and in the end stopped replying to my questions and expected the guys at the bar to answer them after directing me there to raise my concern.

One of the guys checks the machine and sees it had been charged twice but walks away to "get someone" without even telling me if I had been double charged or not. After 10-15 mins he comes down with someone else and offers me two suggestions: to take my bank information so they could refund me in a day or so (hell no, don't do this as they probably won't in the end) or offer me cash (they were hesitant to have to say this option after I didn't accept the first one). I took the cash and they wanted to take my information "in case someone wants to reach out to me for reference".

Shady place, and dry chicken. Also, this place is expensive af even for the airport. Will not be...

I had one of the worst hospitality experiences at Irish House, IGI Airport. As someone who has been a restaurant manager in the hospitality industry for almost 10 years, I understand the challenges of service — but what I experienced here was completely unacceptable.

The moment I sat down, the bar counter was cluttered with dirty dishes, and despite sitting there for nearly 20 minutes, no real service was provided. Even by the time I left, the bar area was still messy, which speaks volumes about the lack of standards.

I ordered a pint of beer clearly listed on the menu for ₹573, yet my final bill came to ₹1,091. When I questioned this, the bartender (Vishal) claimed I had ordered a can — which I never did. I had very clearly pointed at the pint on the menu. Instead of resolving the issue, the manager (Ghanshyam) was dismissive and failed to handle the complaint professionally.

To make things worse, when it was time to pay, it took nearly 10–15 minutes just to settle the bill, even though I had a flight to catch. The combination of overcharging, poor cleanliness, lack of service, and unprofessional management makes this one of the most disappointing experiences I’ve had at an airport outlet.

I will never be returning here, and I would not recommend this place to anyone. For a brand like Irish House, this kind of service and customer treatment is simply unacceptable — especially in an international airport setting where guests expect efficiency, honesty, and basic...