Mii & U Oriental — Restaurant in Milton Keynes

I visited the Supermarket and Restaurant with my Wife and Daughter at 12:15 on a Saturday afternoon.

I found the supermarket to be well stocked with a good selection of fresh, dry and frozen South Asian ingredients.

I was especially pleased to see a good selection of fresh Thai vegetables such as Pea Aubergine, Baby Aubergine, Long Bean and fresh green peppercorns on the vine, which given the shipping time were bright and vibrant in colour and didn’t come across as sitting on the shelf for too long .

The price of goods in the supermarket is very reasonable and I will be shopping here again.

The Café / Restaurant is reminiscent to Thai Shop house dining, seating is at long communal style bench tables, basic but clean, the condiments could do with topping up, there is music playing at a tasteful volume, the kitchen is visible from where we are sitting, which looks clean and reasonably well equipped.

The staff are very friendly attentive and well presented, a young girl arrives to take our order in good time.

Our order consisted of :

2 Large Pork and Vegetable Bau. Disappointing, I expected to see a fluffy, white, slightly sweet steamed bun ready to tear open to reveal meaty goodness inside. Instead I am greeted by a large off white plate of densely packed minced pork and chopped vegetables wrapped in a thin, sticky and a slightly chewy membrane. The speed in which these came out leads me to believe that they were microwaved, probably from frozen.

1 Plate of sesame prawn toast, this was ordered by my daughter and was edible but with not much flavour.

1 Thai Green Curry. Given the ingredients at their disposal this should have been an easy one, the curry was bland, not well balanced, lacking Kaffir Lime leaves, holy basil, and non of the usual vegetables. Green Curry should be spicy, this was mild. The rice was cooked perfectly.

1 Plate of Beef and Seafood Fried Hofun, the best of the dishes, good amount of seafood given the price, obviously frozen but as expected, the fish cake was bland and heavy, the entire dish needed a little more seasoning.

1 Plate of Beef Thai Glass Noodle Salad. Again not really to my liking, when you think Thai Salad you are looking for well balanced salty sour sweet and hot, this was non of the above, a little citrus but lacking in everything else.

We ordered Jasmine Iced Tea which was refreshing and acceptable.

Overall we spent just over £30 which is cheap considering the portions. They will box up left overs to take away.

I will give the restaurant another go and skip the Thai dishes and Bau the next time I visit the Supermarket.

My background: Chef for 10+ years with experience up to 4 AA Rosettes / 1-2 Michelin Star cooking, I have travelled around...

HIDDEN SURCHARGES Yes, the food here is excellent.Yes, the service is excellent and I would gladly pay a service charge or leave a tip to express my satisfaction. However, what I deeply resent is being charged 50p for a plastic takeaway box when I have already paid for my food but I find myself too full to finish it.So rather than waste it, I would like to take it home but this restaurant charges you for that privilege. It is the only restaurant that I have ever come across that does so. When I asked the manageress to explain to me why they charge eating in customers for takeaway boxes she said it was because they provide table service, washing up and provide serving staff etc. So they charge for the takeaway boxes to cover those overheads. BUT they DON'T charge their TAKEAWAY CISTOMERD customers for the privilege of using these takeaway boxes.They only charge the customers who EAT IN. So I find myself subsidising them too. Furthermore, they only charge the eating in customers who want to take their food home rather than have it wasted and thrown away. So the charge is not uniform It is biased against people who can't finish their meal, which bearing in mind how large and generous the portions are, must happen often. Nor are you are pre-warned about this surcharge when ordering your food. I actually made a comment to the waiter that if I couldn't manage it all I would take it home. He chose not to tell me that this would incur a surcharge. So by only choosing to charge those who can't manage to eat all their food they are discriminating against people unfairly. And that is termed as sharp practice. When I suggested to the manageress that if she wished to sufficiently cover her overheads, she should increase her prices or include a service charge.She said that she didn't want to do that, but instead she has chosen to penalise those who want to take their leftover food home. I'm am not prepared to tolerate sharp and unfair, doscriminating practice. So I left my food behind. I shall also be sure that if I visit this restaurant again, to bring my own takeaway boxes. I suggest anyone else visiting...

I visited this restaurant today evening with my wife after hearing about it on Instagram, and unfortunately, it was a very disappointing experience.

We arrived around 6:40 pm and were told to wait 45 minutes for a table, even though we noticed several empty tables. By 7:25 pm, we were offered a large 6-seater table to share with 4 strangers, which was uncomfortable after waiting that long. Only when we asked again were we finally given a free 2-person table. Once seated, we waited 5 minutes for service, then had to call someone over, and waited another 10 minutes before anyone came to take our order. We paid upfront for drinks, pork belly ramen, duck roast rice, and crispy chili beef.

Drinks took 25 minutes to arrive however we did not get our food even after 45 minutes. When I asked about the delay, one staff member (a young man, around 23–25 years old) was extremely unprofessional, showing no empathy and refusing to even check with the kitchen. He simply told me to wait and suggested I go to the reception if I had a problem. His attitude was dismissive and frustrating.

What was more frustrating was food took nearly 1 hour, while many people who arrived after us were served much sooner.

When I asked about the delay, I started getting the food one by one in the next 10 minutes.

Eventually, another staff member (a lady) came over, politely explained the delay, and later apologized as we were leaving. She was respectful, but unfortunately, one bad staff member can ruin the entire experience.

The food itself was below average. I usually enjoy katsu curry, but this time I tried something different, which was a mistake. After waiting almost 2 hours, it was certainly not worth it.

I won’t be visiting again or recommending this place. While many people may have had good experiences here, mine was the opposite. Restaurants should understand that good customer service matters as much as the food. Please do not hire staff who are unfit for the job. Some skills can be trained, but basic empathy and respect...