Loving Hut Archway — Restaurant in London

So-called 'Loving Hut'. Appalling Service, just terrible!! With cold food. Staff had no time to serve politely, My Partner and I visited the so-called Loving Hut in Holloway on Valentines 2013. The 'Love Hut' was not loving at all, was extremely understaffed, staff running from kitchen to tables for over 2 -3 hours, thought they were going to knock tables flying! Creating very ungraceful, hectic environment, with no harmony at all. We waited 45mins perhaps more, to be served, had no menus given? Even though we booked, our table, the day before, then they only brought half the dish, we had to wait another 30mins for the rice, so food was cold. They thought nothing of this, when we enquired they asked would we like the food 're-heated'? We said yes, we had one Fork, when we asked for another they said they only have one fork left in the Restaurant?? All Staff gave a very bad Restaurant Service, had no time to answer questions or even give menus. One couple came, waited, and were told to go away and come back later, when they arrived later they waited patiently, were just about to be seated by member of staff, and then the Manager came rushing over, and said No! go and sit down, and proceeded to clean the table? My partner and I both had a main dish, and 1 side order, with health drink each - food was average to poor. We then received a BILL FOR £76, which we thought was rather strange - given we did not even have a desert!! We were going to pay this bill, but, Upon both our calculations of what we both had actually eaten, and then checking the Menus which we had to ask for, the BILL WAS ONLY IN FACT a total of £29 for the two of us!! Thought this was rather insulting, given the fact that a waitress come cook seemed to have (2 Jobs), thanked me and my partner for being extremely patient and understanding earlier that evening! Only to be given AN Extremely Over Inflated BILL!! They then took another 20-30mins to come over to our table, and asked 'are you ready to pay'? I politely explained, they must have given us the wrong bill, when she studied the bill, she said yes this is crazy, and brought back a bill for £26?? When the bill was quiet clearly £29! This was just getting worse. I thought about it, and explained to the waitress that it was such an appalling service and cold food that my partner and I would only pay £20 of the bill. They were very much in agreement to this and accepted this! I believe many people have had a good experience and enjoyed dinning, and lunching at this particular so-called 'Loving Hut', but unfortunately on this particular evening which my partner and I and many others hoped to enjoy a good meal in nice surroundings it just did not happen, or come up to scratch. The Manager did say, so many people seemed to turn up at once, but I feel this surely would have come with experience given it was Valentines Night, and so be able to cope, knowing how much staff and planning would be needed? Probably best to ring ahead to see staffing situation and weather its a busy night........... if you wish to attend this particular...

11th July 2018 update visit. Service was lovely and food is great so increasing by another star on review.

I am only giving 3 stars relating to service and not the food.

Food is tasty.

I visted this establishment on 3 occassions 2 have been takeaway and the third today is buffet. I asked for buffet and was told to pay upfront I was then handed my plate. I asked for the rules as some have a wastage policy. I was informed to only take what I can manage. I asked for a drink and got orange juice I was also charged upfront.

After me two seperate couples, 2 ladies with a child and a single lady. The first walked in, got a warm welcome and asked if they were having buffet. They were shown to their seats and plates brought over, they were given tap water and served a jug. The next couple walk in they recieve a warm greeting they were also shown to their table to sit, asked what they would like to drink and plates brought to them. The single lady again recieved the same service. The two women were also greeted well even getting table service on drink options.

It's at this stage I flagged down the staff member and ask do you normally pay before or after buffet as I was asked to pay before but the rest of the customers are paying after. I was advised you can pay before or after. I didnt want to create a big scene about it so just continued to eat.

I was the only buffet customer out of 6 that was asked to pay first for buffet and drink, literally instructed to. All customers apart from me were non african ethinicities at the time.

Im not feeling comfortable here and its sad as I really have been enjoying the food. Eating establishments should be delicious and...

Have only been once (back when it used to be called Peking Palace) but really enjoyed it. The new name - "Loving Hut" - is frankly a bit weird, and it doesn't sound particularly like a Chinese restaurant, but don't be put off - the food here was excellent. I believe the menu has stayed largely the same since the rename,

I've had a vegetarian version of crispy duck in several places now, and this one was easily the best - they had really thought about the texture. Very tasty indeed.

For our main course I chose the house special tom yam, the sizzling vegetarian "beef" in pepper sauce, and a tofu dish. The tom yam was the best of the three (and is marked on the menu as a house speciality) - a very rich and spicy, but also very fragrant and fresh tasting sauce. The lemongrass was particularly evident. The sizzling beef was very good too, a sort of richness often lacking from vegetarian dishes, again quite a piquant sauce but not overpoweringly so. I really liked the texture of the mock beef too.

Overall very tasty food, and it also gave the impression of being quite healthy - none of the dishes were particularly oily, and there were lots of fresh vegetables along with the mock meats, but none of that at the cost of flavour - it was exactly the sort of rich, flavour intense food I like, but they'd manage to achieve this without any MSG, or excessive use of oil.

Service was very good (the staff are lovely - very polite and attentive), and the price was almost embarrassingly low - a mere £32, and I left feeling absolutely stuffed. It's just a shame it's not a bit more central, or I think I'd be...