Ekachai — Restaurant in London

A very bizarre disappointing experience:

Reserved table not ready at the booked time Waitress seemed to always be angry Told us at 9:11pm that the kitchen was closing Kept coming to our table to tell us they close at 10pm

I booked a table at 8:30pm and was told on the phone that they close at 10pm so last orders are at 9:30pm. This was fine, however the rules changed once I arrived at the restaurant.

Firstly, I was told that the table I booked was not ready yet at the booked time (8:30pm).

Secondly, once I did get seated at the table, this is where I was thrown head first into a military bootcamp dining experience.

One waitress kept coming to our table being really pushy for us to make our orders. It was like writing a thesis but your personal advisor at university is telling you every 10 minutes to submit it already. Weird.

One of our friends was running slightly late due to work commitments, and we were told at 9:11pm that it was time to make the last order since the kitchen was closing. This was very different to the time of 9:30pm I was told on the phone when making my reservation. We called my friend to make his order and this seemed to really annoy the waitress, they were acting as if the kitchen was a mobile phone on 1% battery. Strange.

We then made the order for our friend and asked although the kitchen closes, would we still be able to order drinks and we got told no, the bar also closes. Drinks is where most food & drink establishments make profit, I am not sure why they can't serve any drinks past 9:11pm when the restaurant closes at 10pm. Business model needs revision ASAP.

After we had made our orders, different waitresses kept coming to our table to remind us that the restaurant closes at 10pm and that at 10pm we have to "get out". Perhaps that's when the boogeyman arrives to collect our souls...

We were waiting for our food, not much we can do on our part to speed that process up, so I found it odd that they kept reminding us that they close at 10pm. Maybe they thought their restaurant was Selfridges, it is only a few miles away.

For a restaurant so hellbent on the time they close and the time to make last orders, it's odd that they weren't punctual when it came to my reservation.

I am very disappointed with my experience in Ekachai, King's Cross and certainly will not be returning. They need to develop customer service skills as soon...

As a Chinese/Asian customer, it's a total let-down to still experience restaurants that serve customers differently depending on your ethnicity and background in 2022, especially to those of the same ethnicity.

Firstly, the restaurants had a mixture of short stools and chairs with back support at different tables. My family wanted to switch seats with back support as the only 4-person table got only stools during that time. The waitress immediately told us that we can't do that without explaining why. We told her that some of us prefer to have back support and still the waitress insisted "no can't do, it is what it is". From a fire safety perspective, for sure adding a seat along the movement rows is against the code BUT there should be no problem in just simply switching seats.

Secondly (before we even decided on what to order), we told the waiters that we wanted to switch to a particular table as the group who just left was sitting at a four-person table with back support. As we were seated at the new spot, the same waitress came over and said "I told you earlier already you can sit here" since the group that left was just a party of two and there were a few extra spots beside it. BUT we didn't want to be seated between different groups with no gap in between. The waitress argues "Well there should be no problem to sit between different groups right next to each other" ... we simply just want to make ourselves comfortable and have a pleasant dinner when the restaurant is not even packed ...

The food was so-so overall but the customer service throughout the night was just unpleasant.

It's unfortunate that prior to my visit I didn't read previous comments in regard to the racial discrimination issue in the restaurant.

Just be prepared when you stumble upon the only waitress there...

Rude,arrogant Manager with grace & charm of an airline salad

We arrived at Ekachai Restaurant 62-68 York way on time for our 17:30 booking. Upon arrival we met a brusque and unprofessional lady manager of oriental descent who has forgotten how to smile and welcome her customers. Instead of asking how we were her curt reply to our hello was, "you will need leave the table by 19:00". It was shocking the least as we were paying customers and not come down for free restaurant opening dinner. This extremely rude, conceited lady Manager proceeded to sit us on a table with stools. At this point my friend who has had an open heart surgery 6 weeks ago requested if he could have a chair with a back support. His request was met with a sharp dismissive NO, Lady manager further added we cannot move any chairs from other table and if we moved to the table with chairs we would have to leave by 18:30. What is most astonishing is the inconsiderate and arrogant behavior of the manager who needs to be more sympathetic to her customers’ requirements... It was appalling behaviour. We ignored her attitude and proceeded to order as we had come to cheer up our friend, when the food arrived the Pad Thai, chicken randeng was not the best I have eaten but we did not complain as we did not want to speak to the unmannerly manager. After completing the meal we asked for the bill, made the payment but again there was no smile, thanks or see you again. Of course that would be a miracle considering how we were treated when we arrived. To sum it up Ekachai (York Way) needs a new restaurant Manager who has customer service at their heart, maybe you can employ the current one as a Pot Wash so she is away from customers as she clearly does not like interacting with them.

Will not waste my time and money at this sorry...