Chopstix — Restaurant in England

Awful experience this time. This place used to be so good it's a shame. Service unbelievably slow to say it's just spooning some stuff into boxes. Got to the front of the queue to be served no one else in front no one waiting to pay huge line behind me yet the girl serving thought now would be a good time to spend a couple of minutes chatting to a co-worker (one of the cooks). It may be the conversation was work related I couldn't hear so would be unfair to assume otherwise however I've worked in this industry myself and know that a quick "hi, won't be a second" goes a long way better that than just ignoring the customer. Finally we got served no "hello" no "sorry for the wait" just a very blunt "what would you like" enquired about the pumpkin katsu which I was informed wasn't ready and was going to be at least 4 minutes I said that was no problem and we'd wait (we'd waited long enough as it was, what was another 4 minutes) I did however ask if we could have it all at the same time and if she could wait before boxing up the noodles and rice until the pumpkin was ready to which she refused. Even when I asked a second and third time as I didn't want them to go cold I was just told they would be fine as the counter is warm. Even if this is the case would it have hurt to just say no problem and do it anyway (it's not like it would've slowed down the service it was slow enough as it was). When we did receive the food it was only just warm and had gone cold before we were more than halfway through my wife and daughter didn't finish theirs because of this. The state of service didn't improve after us either. Whilst we were eating we saw that there were plenty of staff "working" just none of them seemed to be doing much. There was one person a young blonde girl that seemed to be doing her best she was pleasant and friendly when at the till as we paid and seemed to be the only one trying to help customers. She serving at the till running to the back to get stock for the front at the same time prawn crackers packs of drinks etc. Apart from the unsatisfactory service and tepid food it was also disappointing to see the lack of vegetarian options there used to be a tofu based Thai style curry and before that there was a stir fried vegetable dish if I remember right. Now there's only pumpkin katsu or you can have potatos which are advertised as a side dish as a topping (who wants potatoes and rice for lunch) didn't even have any of the vegetable spring rolls on our visit. It's not going to stop me visiting the company I'll just avoid this particular branch in future the ones in Coventry and Bristol that we've visited before were far superior both in speed of service and customer service.

Just to briefly add to this:- In response to this review I was contacted by the company and asked if I could provide my contact details, so the area manager could speak to me about my experience. I did, they didn't. Gave my details and heard...

Very hit and miss. As someone who used to work in a Chopstix branch, I know how the food is supposed to be served. It is overpriced for what you get, that's just a fact. I only ate here because food was free at work. The food itself tastes ok but nothing special. This visit was particularly disappointing...

Service is very slow. Many options often aren't available so you have to wait around (defeats the point of "fast food"). This is not always the staffs fault as it is a very stressful environment to work in with no reward whatsoever. Underpaid and underappreicated in my experience.

The portions aren't great. The standard for the company is the fill the boxes up 3/4 way with noodles/ rice. In reality, it's often rushed, being filled just under halfway. Not great value for money.

For the toppings (I had a medium box, 2 toppings), you are supposed to receive 5 pieces of chicken or a whole piece cut up if it is katsu chicken. I received 4 pieces of caramel chicken, not 5.

In addition to the above point, the server (as he was cutting my katsu chicken piece), dropped 1/4 of it on the floor. Nothing was said or thought about. It was ignored and just put the remainder in the box. Yes this isn't the biggest deal in the world but considering you already do not get much, you should at least offer to do it again so you get the full amount (thats what I would've done when I worked in Chopstix).

They're greedy. When I worked there, there was a rule not to give out extra wooden/ plastic cutlery due to it costing the company money. Many families often asked for extra cutlery for small children who didn't have a box of their own, which I happily gave as the rule was beyond ridiculous. The cutlery costs pennies. You can't expect people to eat without adequate tools to do so.

In line with this, the amount of katsu sauce they give you is a bit stingy. I understand there are portions to adhere to but sometimes it's so little that it doesn't even cover the chicken and so the dish is dry. This just depends on how serves you. If you ask for a tiny bit extra, don't be surprised that they charge you. It's all about the money.

I wouldn't recommend the drinks or spring rolls. Spring rolls are poor quality and drinks you can find way cheaper elsewhere.

Toppings I would recommend if you go here is the katsu chicken, caramel chicken and teriyaki beef. I'd recommend the noodles as often I find the rice to be quite dry. The veggie rice option (cauliflower rice) is quite stodgy and mushy. It's not the best.

note: the sweet sour chicken is usually more on the sour side and I don't really rate the bbq chicken, doesn't really taste like bbq to me.

All in all, it's alright, not bad food but not the best value for money. For two people with a meal and a drink it's about £20. You're probably better off going to a...

Will never eat here again. I understand it's cheap and that might be the appeal, but in terms of quality, portion sizes and customer service, it was awful. Plus their duck spring rolls were out of date and when I pointed this out I was ignored.

So. I ordered a large, which is 4 portions. I ordered it with a noodle base, which was almost completely void of any moisture. The first selection I ordered caramel chicken and I got 4 pieces of chicken. Probably the size of a thumb tip each. Might as well have been chicken poppers. The second, sweet and sour, I received 4 again. Miniscule portions. The third, their spicy chicken, they had 2 remaining, so they topped it up with 1 caramel. The third was their red curry for which they gave me a single scoop and when I say scoop, I don't mean a ladel full. This thing was about the size of a table spoon. I got one spoon of this sauce and 2 pieces of chicken. I was stood there in disbelief at the audacity of the portion sizes, but I carried on. I also upgrade to get the duck spring rolls and a drink. The spring rolls, 2 of them were edible. Void of almost any kind of seasoning, mostly just creasy, but edible. The third tasted sour and almost fizzy. Like the meat had been sitting out for days. I had to spit it out and rinse my mouth out.

The main meal. Dry, bland, basic. I asked for soya sauce to try and give the noodles some moisture and bare in mind that this restaurant is next door to a Yo Sushi that has pots of soya sauce on every table, free to use... Yet when I asked for soya sauce, they said they had to charge me for it. Like how much did they think I needed??

The food itself nearly made me choke. It was so rancid. I threw up in my mouth twice on the ride home and felt awful for days afterwards.

The male staff couldn't have cared less when I mentioned that I thought the spring rolls had turned and continued serving them to unsuspecting diners and all the while when I was eating I was sat with a "come work for chopstix, it's a great place to work" billboard in front of me and I honestly could not think of a worse hell, than having to work...