Hare & Tortoise Ealing — Restaurant in London

PLEASE DON’T COME HERE! They will force you to pay the discretionary service charge despite a really bad service!

We went here for lunch last week and the staff who was serving us was just plain rude, impolite, and impatient. Whilst we were ordering, one of us asked if we need to order the noodles separately or is it already included in their noodle dishes (because we saw a ‘plain noodles’ option in the menu). The waitress answered back (almost shouting) ‘there’s already noodles in there’ We then tried to ask if there’s a lot of sauce in the noodles so we can order plain noodles and mix it up with the noodle dish as we were quite hungry and she shouted back again saying ‘no, there’s already noodles in there’.

By this time, we already know that she is quite rude so we tried to be as polite as we can as new customers. Saying ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ to every opportunity we could (eg when they served our food, when we ordered another drink).

During the meal, we then asked for a spare straw because the paper straw was already soggy. We grabbed her attention so she came to our table and when we asked for a straw, she just looked at us and left; she didn’t even acknowledge our request. She then came back and placed the straw on our table without saying a word! Just very unprofessional and impolite.

Having said this, 2 other staff interacted with us and were both nice. One female staff who brought our order and asked if we wanted anything else in a nice and polite way and one male staff who came to our table and asked how our food was.

We paid the bill separately and when the last person was about to pay, she then left the table and grabbed a calculator (again, without even saying a word like ‘excuse me’ or ‘I’ll be back’). Whilst she was away for a bit, we all agreed as a group that she is very unprofessional and we are definitely not paying the discretionary service charge. She then came back and told us that the last payment was not enough (for the full bill with service charge included) so I told her that we don’t want to pay for the service charge and even asked if it’s discretionary or compulsory. She then answered back with ‘why?’. I told her that she wasn’t ‘polite when serving us and we’re not happy with the service’. When she asked for examples, I told her about her shouting and being rude when we were ordering the extra noodles. She then said that she brought the plain noodles at the end anyway so we should pay the service charge! She then asked her manager to come and speak to us. We explained the same thing to the manager and asked him as well if it’s compulsory or discretionary. He said that it is discretionary but if we don’t pay it, it reflects to the service of the whole team. We tried to explain to him that we are happy to pay it if we actually received a decent service but it was very rude and we don’t want to pay a service charge for that rudeness. The manager was adamant that we pay it despite it being ‘discretionary’. We were all fuming at this time already as we are being forced to pay a very unprofessional service. Just so we can leave this place, we just decided to pay half of the service charge which the manager agreed to.

I just want to let the management and prospective customers know about this issue/incident. It is very frustrating to be forced to pay for a ‘discretionary’ service charge despite not receiving a good service. I am more than happy to be contacted and give more information/description of staff who served us if this will help you improve your...

A regular haunt… pay no attention that it’s a chain

I’m usually the last person to indulge so frequently at a chain restaurant, yet I can’t help but believe the only reason there are now a few branches of Hare and Tortoise in London is because it’s so darn good. I tend to go to the Ealing one more often due to proximity, and not once have I had a less than satisfying experience. Whether it’s sushi with the girls, on a date or with family. And to top it off, the bill at the end of a massive meal (we can’t decide and go for almost everything on the menu) is always a pleasant surprise.

-The Food- I’ve always been a lover of sushi and all types of Japanese food, and my sushi standards are higher than most. H & T always manage to dish out fresh and tasty sushi, far from the uninspired, dry morsels that you find all over London at extortionate prices. Personal favourites (if in doubt order all of the below) include: Sushi - the Tori Katsu Maki (if I had a choice to eat one type of sushi for the rest of my life, this would be it), in fact all of the makis are great. And the fish feels fresh and delicate if you are more of a sashimi lover. Sides – calamari rings, an octopus special that they had on (always go for the specials… they’re divine) Mains – we never visit without purchasing a bowl of roast duck and rice for the table. The katsu curries are great and even the thai inspired dishes (pad thai and other curries) are pretty damn good considering the place specialises in Japanese food.

The most important part of all this - bearing in mind I have a delicate stomach, which often ruins my post-restaurant experiences - is that no matter how much I binge on the rice and wheat and spicy dishes, which would normally play havoc on my digestion, I have never left here feeling bloated or heavy discomfort. My gut is as harmonious as it is when eating home-made food. You simply can’t ask for more than that.

-The Ambience- The seating and décor is not fussy, giving it a clean but warm feel. The atmosphere is always buzzing, but not so loud that you can’t have a conversation. The staff are attentive and polite, and it is never difficult to get their attention. Food is served quickly but we’ve never feel rushed even on the days we take up a table of 6 on a very busy evening, chatting away with a few bottles of wine. We’ve even visited a few times with new mothers, who deemed the place adequately child/baby-friendly.

Do youself a favour and...

This is the worst restaurant experience I've ever had. I went around 1pm and waited for almost a hour and I did not mind. I finally got a table for 3 and sat down and waited for 15 minutes before someone took my order. I did not mind. Then I also had to wait a long time for the food and I did not mind. The food tasted decent. Then I noticed two items i had ordered had not come. I waited. I could see they were busy and didn't want to be irritating. After nearly a hour waiting the manager came to us asking if were waiting for a order and I told him I was waiting for my ramen noodles. I got my noodles finally after a long time. My guests had already finished. Because of the long wait I lost my appetite and forcefully ate the noodles set. By 3:15pm I asked for the cheque and told the waiter that we never got the spicy chicken and she took it off. However, she was busy talking to her friends. Again I had to wait. Finally I got a new cheque and was ready to pay and also told her I would not be paying for the service charge due to the hour waiting time to get my food. I had forgotten to message beforehand so I take fault in this. By this time I was feeling really stressed and anxious. She gave excuses to why I should pay the service charge but I said I would not be paying because there was no real service but a hour long wait as my guests sat there awkwardly. Then she made me pay the full amount after I said I would not be paying. Honestly unbelievable. I asked for a refund and she went to her machine to put refund on her card machine and asked me to scan my card. I was too stressed by this point and left. It was a horrible experience and not even the food will make me come again. If you want "catfish" Asian food. Go ahead. The service is horrible during busy periods and the employees have no...