Rao Deli — Restaurant in London

This restaurant needs to improve their customer service and attitude towards their customers. I have been a regular customer until one time the restaurant sent me an incomplete order through Deiveroo and I informed Deliveroo who gave me a partial credit. After that, a member of staff from Rao Deli called my mobile and was being very defensive and tried to put the blame on me. I explained to them that I didn’t know where in the chain the error might have happened but when I received the order 1 item was missing. After that phone call, they have been rejecting all my orders through Deliveroo citing unavailable ingredients. At first I thought they might be busy or ran out of ingredients, but today I did a test: after my order was rejected, I asked my friend to order the exact same thing on her account and surprise surprise... that order was accepted. Needless to say this is disappointing and most unprofessional for a restaurant to react in this way. They were petty, did not own up to their mistake and have absolutely no respect for the customers.

*to reapond to the comment from the owner:

Thank you for accepting the fact that you have been deliberately rejecting my orders on Deliveroo and that it wasn’t due to your restaurant not having the ingredients - at least you can own up to the fact.

Yes i have made 3 notifications to Deliveroo (and yes please re-read my review - i said i was a regular customer on Deliveroo, not in your restaurant). Please note that the decision to grant refunds is entirely up to Deliveroo - for me as a customer, when the order was not up to the mark, I reserved the rights to report it.

#1 the first time the order (beef noodle soup) arriving in a package that was leaking and there was hardly anything left in it to eat

#2 the second time the order was wrong - i ordered noodle soup and you delivered to me dry noodle salad

#3 the last time i ordered noodle with pork and spring rolls and the entire portion of spring rolls was missing - that was half of the order, not 1 small item as you said

Despite this, over the 2 weeks period before you started to reject my orders, I had 7 other orders with you with no complaints so contrary to what you said - i do not always complain - i only do so when the order was not edible/wrong/incomplete ;)

I do not know where in the value chain, the shoddiness happened that resulted in 3 mistakes above - it could be due to riders or your restaurant, so my best course of action is to report to Deliveroo so that they could investigate and ensure a seamless service for all customers going forward. What Deliveroo concluded in terms of whose fault it is - Restaurant or rider - i do not know and that is not relevant for me.

This is normal in customer service to deal with mistakes/complaints and good customer service focuses on delivering a seamless service to customers, not to save the £3-6 compensation as a result of an incorrect/incomplete order. You show an utter lack of professionalism to not even able to...

My friend took me here on a whim, as we walked in the Borough area, and I'm so glad he did. As we walked in, we were greeted with friendly smiles and fragrant smells coming from the kitchen.

I ordered the Beef Combo Pho, which was absolutely delicious - I've eaten a quite few Pho's in my life, and this was by far the best. The star of the show was the broth.. just so rich, and full of flavour. I could drink a bowlful of that every day the for rest of my life! It really is no exaggeration that it almost made me tear up from joy. It was so flavoursome infact, that it made me suspicious of all the previous Pho's I've ever eaten... Surely they must've been watered down! They were bland in comparison to this.. like seeing colour for the first time after a life of grey.

The beef was also perfectly cooked, lovely and tender.

Additionally, we had the Vietnamese drip coffee, which has condensed milk sitting at the bottom, that you mix in. Now I've never been a fan of any form of sweetener in coffee, and this was no exception, but the coffee itself was clearly good quality. So if you have a sweet tooth, go for it!

For dessert, we were kindly informed that we could get one free if we had spent over £30 (I think) so far on the bill, so we asked for the Che Ba Mau. To be totally honest, I wasn't entirely convinced by this - the combination of Coconut milk, ice, red beans, and green hard jelly, was a tiny bit mismatched and strange to me. However, I realize that it is a Vietnamese classic, and it's quirky composition wasn't up to this particular Deli, they simply tried to do it justice as best they could! Don't get me wrong, it was very refreshing, being cold and creamy from the cocount milk. I would happily eat it on a hot, tropical day to cool off.

Finally, I would like to mention the table service. Admittedly, it was very empty when we visited (surprisingly, given the exemplary quality of the Pho!!), but even still, the waiter (who I think was also the owner?) was very attentive and kind, and he even went the extra mile to explain various cultural origins etc. of the food we were eating, and asked for our honest opinions of the food.

Overall, a very enjoyable experience - I'm sure all the other food is lovely, but if I were to return in the future, I think I'd do so for that spectacular Pho broth! Thanks Rao deli. Apologies for the rather long review, I simply felt I'd better do this place justice.

On a random sidenote, in the bathroom, there was a washing machine next to the toilet, which made me laugh...

This restaurant is a solid 4. Despite it being half empty, every guest was asked if they have a booking and to wait while a table is being prepared for them, but at least they don't turn people away.

Hospitality there is pretty matter of fact. Don't expect charming chats with anyone, just straight to the point service. When I asked for some flexibility with one of the dishes I was told that fair and square it is not happening. Not going to go into details, but when food is prepared in front of guests, I'd advise the use of gloves at all times... The interior is ok, again, nothing that made me melt.

Pho is one of my favourite dishes. The broth usually needs to be kicking! This soup did not kick sadly at all. No sauces at the table either to spice it up a little bit. The garnish or fresh vegetables to be put on the soup were scarce especially for the price. I ended up putting the garnish from the summer rolls into the soup to make it at least a little bit more filling.

If this was a slightly cheaper place I'd definitely give it five stars for Id have lower expectations, but otherwise I can't justify making it better than 4 stars and I am being super generous here. It does the job when you are hungry, but certainly does not...