Rox - Restaurant Bar Club — Restaurant in London

I came here on a Friday night with my partner just after 7pm. I had not booked and at the time the restaurant did not look that busy. It was very large and open plan with raw brickwork exposed. At the back of the restaurant you could see the kitchen and the chefs cooking on an open grill. There was a small bar area in the far right hand corner.

I asked to look at the menu first before deciding whether or not we would dine here. The first waitress was polite. When we decided we would try the restaurant a second waitress, possibly the hostess as she was in a suit asked if we had booked. When we said no she told us to wait and then spoke to the customers behind us, who had booked and seated them immediately. There were plenty of empty tables in the restaurant at this time, and so felt a little put out at having to be 'side stepped'.

Anyway eventually she came back and then seated us, although seemed a little stressed about it. Their reservation system was a hand written diary, with the size of the restaurant I would have thought they would have had a better reservation system whereby it would be evident which tables were not booked at that time, and then we could have been seated straight away. Not the best welcome.

Other than that the service was okay. My partner and I ordered the Rixos Special which is a sharing platter. It was a substantial size and came with salad and a bowl of rice. It tasted good, the meat was juicy and full of flavour.

When it came to ask for the bill, once again the service was quite slow. When the bill eventually arrived despite me having my credit card in my hand showing I was ready to pay it, the waitress put it on the table and walked off. It was only when another passing waiter noticed me did he ask if I needed anything and I said I was waiting to pay my bill. He then said he would get the credit card machine which he did.

As I was paying the table next to me were trying to get the attention of the waiters although with no result.

It was now about 8.30pm and the restaurant was much busier, although the staff were not very attentive to the additional needs of their customers. They were more focused on taking orders and serving the food and were not very aware of anything else going on in the restaurant.

This is a nice restaurant although better service and more attentive staff would make it...

I would have given this restaurant 4, maybe even 5 stars when I first ordered from here. Tasty shish kebab, plus packaging of salad separate to kebab is very good because it stops the pitta from going soggy. Second time around, I noticed there were no green chilli peppers included in the salad pot which is one of my favourite parts of a kebab. I quickly got over it because the kebab was nice. I have just placed my 3rd order and remembered they forgot chilli peppers so made a note of mentioning it in the notes section where you might include any allergies, saying "Please include green chilli peppers in salad as last time I ordered they were not included Thank you". Upon arrival, no chillies included. So I decided to call the restaurant and mention it. First, they told me there was no message in the special requirements field on my order. Good job I don't actually have any allergies, otherwise food would have gone in bin. I argued this point of what if I had an allergy, you would not have got the message.. she then changed the subject saying the chillies don't come with the salad. I dont know about anyone else but im pretty sure ive always had them with my kebab salad from anywhere in the past, including THEIR reasturant on a previous order! Plus, in every kebab shop that ever existed, the peppers sit with the salad, so why is it suddenly now not part of it?! Total BS! Oh, and woman on phone was rude, scoffing at me for complaining about having no chillies. No respect. Learn how to deal with customer complaints in a better manner and how a kebab should be served. Will not be ordering from here again. Shame, because the kebab meat itself is one of the nicest...

It pains me to leave this review as Rox is a regular of ours and we have always been friendly with management, but I feel management (and other customers) should be made aware:

Our bill, inc. £16 service charge, came to £149.63, however, a waitress (going round taking payments, although not our main server) decided to round it up and take £150.63 on the card machine (dad forgot glasses so paid it). Whilst it's only £1, if they are doing this with a few customers, that's a tidy profit at the end of one day! When raising with the waitress, we received no apology, but a simple "Oh, I will give you £1 from the till.." and then, when leaving the £1 on the table, said "you're welcome" ?!.. Completely unacceptable!

Another member of staff (who actually "served" us on 8 August), although nice enough, lacked customer service skills and basic etiquette - we were interrupted TWICE by them, asking if we had finished with the food, although we were clearly still eating and were actually mid-conversation (which I find incredibly rude).. I must add that the restaurant was not busy so not sure why the big rush?..

Also, the member of staff in question cleared my dad's napkin and some other bits from the table when we had literally just started eating. The napkin was not replaced. Not sure what was going on in her head for her to remove the napkin..

The THIRD time I was interrupted (by the waitress taking payments), I let them take the food away because I was then really fed up (to put it politely)!

Lastly, dessert plates were cleared even though mum was still eating, which, again, I find incredibly rude.

As above, it pains me to say, but I don't think I will go...