The Meeting Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in London

We have twins with special needs (both 5 years old) and wanted to come in for a nice lunch. Our kids are very quiet and peaceful and to most people, their disabilities are not obvious. We take them to restaurants all the time and (until now) never have any problems.

However, with this establishment... when we asked for high chairs for our boys, the staff behaved in a very... (how can I describe this?)...ostentatiously 'confused' way. This necessitated that we explain to them that our kids have disabilities and that high chairs would make it less likely that they might get up off their seat to wander around (usually, they'd wander about saying 'hi' to everyone!)

This was met with... a calibrated display of uneasiness that is tricky to describe or understand.

Anyway, once we had put our boys in high chairs and ordered our food, the staff continued behaving in a way that made it clear to us that our presence was an unwelcome oddity. Thankfully, our kids didn't pick up on this and just ate their food happily, causing no disruption of any kind.

The staff also felt the need to keep informing us about the price of everything (something they have never done in all the years we have come there without our children - they obviously didn't recognise us).

"Oh, just to let you know, there'll be a service charge". Yes, we have eaten out in a restaurant before!.

"Oh, if you want mushrooms, that comes at an extra cost of £1.50" - yes, we can read!

It is tricky to describe the feeling of being unwelcome - constant strained facial expressions. A strange distance when serving our food. Rudely firm responses to enquiries like 'is this a fish dish'. Weird, furtive looks. Asking others whether they were enjoying their meal but not us.

Worst of all, very uncomfortable, lingering looks at our children - as if thinking "they don't LOOK disabled... I better keep any eye on them to figure out if we're being duped!"

Oh my days! What a truly horrible experience! Never, never,...

The meeting Bar is a Thai restaurant within easy walking distance from the Enfield Cineworld. My husband and I took our son here for his 21st birthday. It offers a la cart menu on one side of the restaurant and hotpot on the other side.

We wanted to try the hotpot since we had never tried it before. It was a lovely experience with fresh healthy food which you cook in the hotpot yourself.

The pot is placed on a hotplate and is divided into two. One side is Tom yum soup which is a bit spicy and the other side is chicken broth. You drop the raw meat and veg in a bit at a time, then scoop it out using the utensils provided. The meat is very thinly sliced, so it doesn't take very long to cook. The range of ingredients include beef, chicken, pork, tofu noodles and a basket of fresh crispy vegetables such as pak choi, oyster mushrooms, carrot, Napa cabbage, another exotic mushroom (reminds me of woodear mushroom, but not sure) and crispy white cabbage. A small bowl of special dipping sauce is provided per person which is bit spicy with a slight tang.

It was an eat as much as you like hotpot, with the option to add more expensive ingredients for an additional charge. We chose to include an additional squid dish. All in all a very healthy and tasty meal out. One of the best things about eating in this way is that the food remains hot throughout the meantime, so if you eat slowly like me, you can talk and eat and it is still hot by the end of the meal 😉

The decor was very pleasant.. Towards the later part of the evening karaoke was available which made for a great atmosphere.

My husband and I finished with delicious banana fritters and my son had pandan pancakes. This is a pancake made with the addition of a powder from a green exotic leaf called pandan. This was filled with a coconut based filling. It was so good my son didn't want to share it, but he let me have a taste in the end 😂😂

I certainly recommend this restaurant and would like to come...

In general, would like to drop 4 stars but it is shame it goes 2 due to the poor service

I felt the real Thai taste here. While exploring a new neighborhood, I found this authentic Thai restaurant. The ambience, décor really attract to me.

The place has a nice atmosphere. It is divided into two sections: one for hotpot and one for à la carte. Since we wanted hotpot, we were seated in that area. We were the only guests there, so it was quiet while we enjoyed dinner.

The food taste is 7 out of 10. The hotpot is good value because it comes with unlimited refill within the time limit. We couldn’t eat that much, but we liked it. We also ordered three à la carte dishes, which made us full before starting Hot pot as A la cart dishes were served first and I really enjoyed them. The portions were worth the price.

Unfortunately, the service did not meet my expectations. There was no warm welcome at the entrance. The waiter never smiled. He only checked on us from behind the counter, asking “are you ok” from far away, instead of coming to the table.

As hotpot lovers, we know what we like and don’t like. The raw platter came with vegetables, noodles, meat, and tofu. We didn’t eat the noodles, so they stayed on the plate until he cleared it. Then, the waiter told us, “Next time tell me if you don’t eat udon noodle.” The way he said it surprised and embarrassed us. We had already paid for the full set, so it should not matter. If he had explained earlier, we could have asked to remove the noodles.

Since we were the only guests in the hotpot section, I don’t mind if staff left us alone. But at least, they could have checked on us politely.

Overall, I may come back again because I love Asian food. But I will not expect much from the service. Maybe next time I will meet a different waiter who is friendlier.

Thanks to the chefs who...