Fifth Element - Italian - Bar and Kitchen Cleveland — Restaurant in London

Let's get this out of the way: the food was decent. The lamb was soft and juicy while the potatoes had crispy skin and an interesting flavor. So why am I giving this place one star? Because the owner of this place is extremely rude and doesn't seem to care about the customers at all as long as he gets his money.

First, he started off by berating his waiters for not giving me a menu. Throughout the whole meal he continued to treat his employees like crap and yell at them the whole time. The waiters did a great job despite being verbally abused and were obviously trying to do their best.

When it was time to pay, he gave me the credit card machine and I inserted my credit card, added a tip, and removed the card once the screen said to do so. Something went wrong with the transaction apparently but I received an alert on my phone that my card was charged. The owner told me that the charge was void and that I had to give him my credit card again. When I told him that it looked like my bank already charged me he flat out told me "I don't care what your phone says" and insisted that he charge my card again. Naturally I was concerned about being charged twice and told him so but he just told me to tell the credit card company to fix it. So basically it's my problem and something extra I have to deal with now. He then started saying it was my fault for removing the card too soon, even though the screen clearly said "Remove Card." There are many ways a decent, normal human being would handle this situation. The owner of the Four Lanterns chose to take the low road, insult me, and be completely uncaring about whether or not my card was actually being charged multiple times. It didn't help that he also needed my table and wanted to get me out of there as quickly as possible.

The final insult is that I need an itemized receipt for all of my expenses while I'm here in London. All he gave me was a piece of paper with some scribblings on it that doesn't come close to resembling a receipt. When I asked for a clearer itemized receipt he refused to do so. So I'm probably not getting reimbursed for this horrible experience and might end up being charged three times. Yes the machine apparently failed twice while visa still notified me about the charges and he still thinks it's my fault despite the fact that I've been using my credit card here without any problems until I got to his restaurant.

Summary: the food was okay but definitely not worth the emotional toll of having to deal with an abusive, pompous, and rude owner who only cares about his bottom line and not...

The waitress was very hostile from the very beginning when we presented her with our kgb voucher. She only allowed us to choose from set menus written with chalk on a tiny blackboard which of course had a very limited choice and when I asked about the choice of food I was entitled to that I found on the internet that I could choose from with our voucher, then she denied any knowledge of this and acted oblivious to this fact, and also spoke poor english and had a poor understanding of english which was not helpful. I asked for a decent menu and she said that they did not have such a thing (!). Then I asked about what was gluten free as I am allergic to gluten and did not want to get food poisoning. Once again the waitress did not understand me and to be honest did not quite care as because we had the kgb voucher she paid minimal attention to us as compared to other customers. After a short while we watched a few new customers being seated and each handed proper menus, after seeing that I requested the menus from her and she grudgingly handed them to us. Throughout the entire stay at the restaurant I felt mistreated, uncomfortable and unwelcome. If it wasn't for the fact that we already paid for the voucher I would have imminently left the restaurant as her cold, unfriendly and rushed service made the whole experience unpleasant and I couldn't enjoy the meal with my sister as we both felt so uncomfortable.

Overall, an uncomfortable experience where we could not relax thoughout the whole meal. However, the food was quite good and the deal was a reasonable one. It was a shame the service and treatment had to bring the great experience the little restaurant could have potentially offered. Will not...

10/10 experience! Recommend to everyone!

Portion sizes are massive, and I have to say I’ve never tasted food so good on a night out. Everything is homemade and all ingredients are imported from Greece. Such a good experience and amazing food.

Service was also wonderful. All staff were so friendly and I truly did feel like I was just having a big meal with family. They make you feel very welcome and cater to all needs. And I really am thankful for the wonderful evening today. We were even given free dessert at the end - which was so tasty I had to order some for takeaway, and this was also given on the house which was lovely. So thank you truly for such a delightful experience.

I truly do recommend to anyone looking for tasty food and excellent and friendly service. They make you feel like you’re at home and a part of their family

Edit- I came back on 2024 and it was still delicious! Still massive portions and the taste was delicious delicious!! And the service is amazing- everyone is so so friendly and it feels like I am at home! Thank you so so much. Alex is lovely and I can feel the love put into the food and the service at all times. One of my...