Harko Oriental — Restaurant in England

I've been a dedicated Google map reviewer for over 8 years now, and i always check by myself, even if the reviews are generally bad (and BOYS, THIS PLACE HAVE SEVERAL BAD ONES!!). My advice is to always give every place a try, things can change. Anyway let talk about the food. The trays were not full when we arrived, I asked the waitress, and she said they would have been filled soon. They were. No problems there. Some of the food was not up to par (the honey roasted pork was quite hard and, I suspect, a bit old. The rest of the food was quite decent, especially for the cheap price. I will attach pics of all our dishes. My favourite was the spicy noodles, very tasty, the vegetables were well cooked and the find were falling off the bone. The chicken drumstick were, in fact, (as many of the other reviews say) a bit pink, but not so much that it'll make me worry. Mr Cook, just GET THE FEEDBACK from your client, and cook your chicken for longer!! I got 3 mildly full plates and cleaned most of them (I was thought to do not waste food, and some times just getting a smaller port as a tester, avoid wastage (especially in buffet restaurants I've seen British filling their plate, like they were not allowed to go back (or is because the lazy to go back and fill it again?) anymore. Then, they leave most of it if they do not like it). So.. small portions, taste a little bit of everything, don't take again what you don't like. Simple. The spicy noodles were very nice, the normal noodles a little bland (but I put on top bit of the sauce from the beef peppercorn, and we're fine after). Chicken drumsticks little pink, as said before, vegetables nice and crispy, rice bland, the desserts were, as many of the other reviews said, bought in some cheap supermarket and chopped into pieces, the ice cream was of the cheapest quality you can imagine (not sure were you could find that). The toilets, as another review mentioned, were a bit ... in a disarray, suggestion screm the taps back in the main basin, is not complicated and will avoid it to wiggle around, put a deodorant or a spray in the toilets, it helps and doesn't cost a fortune. Regarding the rude owner, I saw the old lady cleaning the floor a hoovering around, but I haven't got any rudeness from her maybe because we left the dishes clean and we didn't had any kids with us? The food was not bad, especially for the price. Me and the wife were OK with the place and the food. I may come again next time...

Without writing a full report I will just list all the bad experiences my family and I had when we visited this place for the second time in years (the first time wasn’t great either when it operated under a different name), and never again.......this place does not even deserve “a 1 star”!

Pricing inconsistencies - the member of staff who met us instead of greeting us when we arrived told us our two year old has to pay £5 and the our four year old, £6. We thought that was a bit dodgy so decided to ask another member of staff who came to our table to collect our drink orders. Funny enough she gave a completely different pricing (£4.50 for 2yrs and £7.50 for 4yrs olds). At the till we were charged £7.50 for each child (of course we challenge that). The manager was not happy and stated that we “should not be asking other staff members about pricing”. It seemed like they based their prices according to how punters look like “mugs” (unfortunately for them we are not mugs).

They decided to “want to charge me £5 pounds because I had a bit of food left on my plate and was having a discussion with the family, as you do. Then this staff member who was collecting plates said “if you don't finish the remaining food on your plate you have to pay £5”. I was surprised with the attitude and tone used so said asked him a few questions though I had not finished eating as he assumed (couldn’t be bothered to carry on eating after asking him these questions):

a) so this is a buffet and we are allowed to try everything in moderation, right? So what if we do not like something in particular because it tasted funny or just don’t go down well? The answer I got was I had to eat my food by force or I will not be allowed back there (I mentioned to this person that I was only there because of my mother in law and secondly my life wouldn’t change for not visiting that place again).

b. I questioned him about why they did not bake their own cake or perhaps order it from an appropriate bakery (wholesale) rather than buying it from Iceland, Tesco and other supermarkets? I got no answers for that!

My family and I will never go to this place again! Food was not too good and CustmrSrv was appalling. My Mrs found hair in her food when it was operated under a different name.....so no...

An anonymous Google food review tonight 24/09/2024. Tonight we got a table for two and tried a bit of everything on the Chinese buffet priced at £17.50 per adult, we had a good look around the buffet to see what standard of food it was, and to our joy it met our expectations, our first plate was a mixture of Singapore chow mein, house special fried rice and pork belly dripped in hot honey and wow, I can honestly say that each mouthful was delightful. Full of flavour and got our taste buds going, as we were sitting down to ear we noticed that the server was constantly topping up each buffet item, now the hidden gem in this buffet was something simular that we had in Camden London by the name of Bang Bang chicken which is strips of chicken covered in crispy batter with a seasoning of sugar and spice and all things nice, I must admit we went up two or three times for this, it was next to the duck and pancakes by the name of crispy chicken in chilli garlic, this dish alone will have us coming back for more. We challenged the server by asking her different questions in which she was very knowledgeable about and very helpful. We would like to say how grateful we are to find a hidden gem of a restaurant hidden away in Bedford our first time coming. We finished off the night with a slice of cheese cake each and a large pot of Chinese oriental Tea + 2 x cokes Total cost £45

Now for our review ( non biast)

☆ The food 10/10 ☆ Presentation of food 8/10 ☆ Staff 10/10 ☆ Cleanliness 8/10 ☆ Toilets 10/10

Although the food was amazing and the staff were amazing for a better experience I would recommend better lighting and some oriental music playing.

We give Harko Oriental a 9/10 review. We look forward to coming...