Chaiiwala — Restaurant in London

UPDATE 2 - 25.05.22

We visited Bethnal Green chaiiwala, order no. 166 at 5.30pm.

Firstly we were served the desi breakfast without the chaii we had to return to the shop to get the chaii. We were made to wait for our chaii for long and when questioned the lady said oh your chaii was given to someone else so she had to make it again. This is not the case because the lady serving us went in the inner kitchen with a phone seemed like for a chat and then started making out tea.

Secondly our whole order was wrong. We ordered x2 desi breakfast 1 with chana and paratha and omelette and the 2nd with masala beans and paratha and omelette. However both were wrong we were given 1 as paratha and 1 as roti and both were chana.

Thirdly our teas that we were served were a mess absolutely ridiculous.

Photos have been attached. The customer service is appalling not to mention the food tasted terrible. Please for the sake of your brands image give these people training and teach them how to talk with manners. The food is not consistent within other branches that's another problem too. Won't be returning or purchasing from chaiiwala again. The food is not worth the money tbh.

Previous review:

Nice interior and food was good apart from my chai Latte. Very disappointed with my chai latte it just tasted like hot milk with cinnamon.

Main issue is customer service. Customer service is nice and friendly however it is very very slow.

When we came in no one was in the que we were waiting and a couple of people who had came after us were served before us. We had waited nearly 15 minutes which is very unfair.

Was happy about the new branch as its local but service time is too long compared to the other branch in green street where we were served promptly and in order as we came. Better of just sticking to the green street branch...

This place was a huge disappointment! We were filled with excitement to finally have a Chaiiwala near us. Where do I start? We made an order via Ubereats, 1 hour later we were told that our food was delivered! Although it was still showing on the app that the driver was to pick it up. We figured it out that something was fishy. Chaiiwala clearly did not want to prepare any food for us, perhaps they were too busy as they would not even pick up the phone. Eventually Ubereats refunded us after 1 hour 45 mins, not forgottting leaving us moody and hungry for the rest of the evening.

The very next day we decided to visit cafe as I made excuses for their shortcomings. The cafe was extremely busy, it was obvious the workers were new and was struggling to cope.

We ordered the Desi Breakfast, Samosa chaat, Masala Chips, Limbu Pani and karak chai with mint.

I honestly don't know where to begin... The first bit of the omlete was horrendous! It tasted like cardboard! The chickpeas was the worst I have ever had. I think I had 2 or 3 actual chickpeas and could not force myself to take any further punishment! The Masala Chips was so confusing as it was bland and did not taste how it was supposed to. You pay 25p extra for 1 and yes 1 extra mint leaf in your tea, which doesn't make a difference to the taste.

Samosa chaat was decent, perhaps we ate it as we were starving and was utterly fed up with the low quality of the food.

I have been to many Chaiiwalas previously and never left this disappointed.

A note to the manager: Work on your food and customer service before you loose customers for good. Because I doubt I will ever return to...

Never thought I'd be disappointed with Chaiiwala but this was the worst experience I had in any branch. I went with my sister (my order containing food whilst hers was only tea) and ended up waiting around 45 mins alongside a few other customers. I could understand why my order took so long even though it was only 2 food items and 2 teas yet somehow I still received my order before my sister, and only got any attention on her order by chasing it up (bare in mind her order was just 2 cups of tea). On the way home I realised they had messed up pretty much everything I ordered. I received 2 small cups instead of the large and only 4 samosas in my cone instead of 5. Couldn't go back as they'd taken my reciept when I asked for an update on my order and also I'm not the most confrontational person so I decided to let it go. Almost felt bad because all the staff seemed lovely but not prepared or trained for the opening of the branch at all, and were very obviously flustered at any sign of things picking up, which again I can only blame on their training as they were very apologetic for the slow service. Not mad just disappointed as I expected great things from what will be my local branch however it seems more worthwhile to stick to travelling all the way to Walthamstow or Green Street branch until they sort things out and get on top of it. Didn't want to write this review but I'll happily retract my words once things get better, and I have no doubt they will. There is still hope! Just steering...