Busaba Westfield Stratford — Restaurant in London

OK... been a hot minute since I posted food reviews as keep forgetting to take pictures before I tuck in ( Gen X baby. Phone not glued to hand.. 🤷🏽‍♀️) but took pics food ordered in as seriously wasn't feeling these icy winds. So all non swine eating folks skip over this first bit... They had a 40% off of orders over £25 as consider them a bit pricey for average wagers like me but their quality of produce ain't really stinted although their portions range on small if you coming from a black households -( if you know , you know😁) So ordered twice, 1st time around £60 quids worth knowing it was gon'na come around £40. Again my food loving self forgot to take pics on first order but ordered x2 Khao red pork- always banging , pork was tasty & succulent on a bed of rice, some side greens( pak choi) , boiled egg, sprinkling of chili looks both appealing and nutritious to my joint carnivore/ herbivore eyes. It did not disappoint ( you don't need 2 as 1 is enough even to those of us used to big plates- 2nd one was for the next day- was just being cost effective with my delivery fee & tip😉) I had ordered crispy duck noodle too which was nice enough, you didnt need a magnifying glass fir the duck , wasn't mind blowing enough to order again and mixed Asian greens to go over all three meals , I got x3 decent produce tasty meals for around £13 per meal- not a bad price in my mind🤗 but again greedy guts forgot to take pics but remembered on my 2nd order which again included the trusted Khao pork, this time with Tamarind duck breast & a Chilli prawn rice. Again at the same £60 price point with 40% off so my order again was around £40 for x3 meals. Took pics included below before I tucked in this time. Tamarind Duck slice portions was rather on the small side compared to the menu pic but decent slices of duck. Well cooked, soft not chewy and sauce was decent too. Prawn rice was nicely seasoned & prawns fat although rather pale looking so wondered at first if cooked enough but my glutton self tried 'em and no stomach issues the next day. Only about 5 prawns so not really justifying the original price without the 40 % off in my opinion. Hadd extra veg that zi added to the tamarind Duck as truthfully the rice that comes with wasn't proportionately enough fir someone who likes an equal balance of veg/ cards to meat. They sent me a free drink voucher for use when the weather improves. I would finally add that U do ask then not to drown my rice with the Khao pork sauce and the 5 is for the Khao pork in it's own right as other dishes were more 4- 4.5 , great scores compared to just around thev3 mark for the local Chinese where I live ( yeah I know they're different cuisines but could hardly compare it to pizza or turkish or indians eaten lately. Even the Mowgli chain ( elevated Indian Street food) where I forgot to take pics wasn't nothing to go back for🤔 considering I've seen how harsh the owner judges on Great...

Cold overcooked steaks, dithering and rude staff, and a meal deal to finish the night.

Awful experience from start to finish. We arrived on a Sunday evening and were left completely let down by poor service, badly cooked food, and a total lack of accountability from staff.

We ordered drinks and were told the beers would come in pints, they arrived in bottles. Not the end of the world, but set the tone for the rest of the evening. Then we sat around for 20 minutes before trying to order food, only to be told that several things were no longer available. No heads-up, just left waiting to find out half the menu wasn’t an option.

We ordered steaks and when I asked for medium rare, the waiter told me they “only do medium.” That should have been the red flag. When the food finally came out, in two rounds, 15 minutes apart, both steaks were stone cold and completely overcooked (well done). They were supposed to be medium at worst. When we complained, the waiter offered to heat them up — as if that would fix anything. I asked for them to be taken off the bill and had to ask multiple times before it was actually done. The staff acted like it was somehow our fault we didn’t want to eat cold, overcooked meat.

It took another 20 minutes (again!) to even get someone to bring the bill, and eventually one of us had to go chase it down. A manager finally sorted it, but even then said they’d remove the steaks “because you didn’t like them.” No — they were inedible. There’s a huge difference. I also had to ask for the service charge to be removed, which should not have even been added.

To make matters worse, by the time they finally finished faffing about and we paid (£73.23 for two mid meals and a headache), everywhere else was shut. So we ended up getting a meal deal just to actually eat something. On a Sunday night, that was our only option, thanks to their dithering and lack of basic service.

I’ve worked in hospitality, and I hate complaining, but when a venue delivers cold food, poor communication, and no urgency to fix their mistakes, something needs to be said. This place needs serious work, their staff need training urgently and a reevaluation of whether they should even be serving steak if they can’t cook it properly.

AVOID, unless you enjoy wasting time, money, and ending your night with a soggy sandwich from...

Awful service and underwhelming food. I have eaten at Busaba in the past and really enjoyed the food. However, this visit has really put me off.

Service: The waitress servicing us either had very poor English or poor knowledge of the menu. It was difficult to convey if a dish was vegetarian and items on the menu had to be repeated multiple times before she understood what we wanted to order. She also crouched very close to my face, invading close personal space which was extremely weird. I moved back each time which only made her come closer.

The bar attendant was bringing all drinks over with his hand over the rim of the glass where you'd put your mouth and drink from. The same thing also happened with the chop sticks as the staff touched the tip that would go in your mouth/food. We proceeded with sanitising the areas touched.

We asked for bottle water and the waitress started repeating 'tap water'. So we asked again if they have bottle water and she said yes. The bottle water tasted just like tap water and it looked like the bottle had already been opened. When we mentioned this to the waitress she told us they fill the bottles with tap water. Once we enquired a little more we were told it's through a tap with a filter which they charge £3 for. The filter is clearly gone as you can tell it's tap water.

Food: The ribs were cooked well and had good flavour. That's all that was semi decent

The coconut rice barely had coconut, it may as well have been standard steamed rice. Also I remember it used to be sticky rice. Which it clearly is not now.

The spring rolls smelled and looked awful. Upon tasting you could tell the oil had not been changed for a really long time leaving a disgusting taste in your mouth for hours. This was from one bite.

Edamame was microwaved, low to stardard, skip unless you're really hungry and can't wait for food.

Everything else was standard

After: Complained about service being poor and food is no longer up to scratch

Summary: The standard had dropped significantly. Perhaps it's just this branch but would not really go again. Awful taste still after just...