Been Chinese Restaurant 品美軒 — Restaurant in Warwick

I have never felt the need to respond to a review response but on this occasion it is necessary to contextualize the owner's response to my partner's honest review for readers.

The manager 's response to my partner's review implies that we intentionally did not "honor our bill". I would like to make all potential guests of the Phoenix Chinese Restaurant aware that if you are not happy with your food at this restaurant, and this is not subsequently resolved by a) the offer of a different dish, or b) removal of that dish from the bill, then you will be refused service at future visits.

At a previous visit to the restaurant I thoroughly enjoyed the chicken satay starter, with that in mind, at our next visit I ordered the chicken satay main dish. It was a very busy Friday evening, and it was clear that the staff were under some pressure.

The dish arrived, and I tried it. It tasted sweet, and as if cinnamon was in it, it also had chunks of pineapple in the sauce which I thought was a little unusual for a satay sauce. I did not like the dish. I was expecting a larger portion of the chicken satay starter I had enjoyed so much at my previous visit. I did try to get the attention of staff in order to send it back but this proved very difficult. As my partner continued with his meal, I decided to give up trying to get any of the staff's attention and proceed eating some of my partner's food.

Once we were finished, a waitress cleared our table. I thought I would have an opportunity to tell the waitress about the dish, however, she swiftly stacked our plates up and took them away without a ,"How was your meal?", "Would you like any more drinks?", "Would you like to see the dessert menu?" also known as very basic table service...

So the bill came, and the manager was very eager to take the payment (the most efficient part of the whole evening). I said to the manager that we would not be paying for the chicken satay dish as it was not very nice. The manager said, "It is not our kitchen's fault if you don't like the food". No apology and offer of a resolution, nothing. We also explained that we tried to get someone's attention to have the dish sent back to the kitchen. Remarkably, the manager tried to blame our unwillingness to pay for the dish on another visit whereby the kitchen served my partner beef in black bean sauce instead of chicken in black bean sauce (my partner is Hindu, and does not eat beef for religious reasons), so almost as if it was revenge?! Quite ridiculous.

In she end, the manager was exceptionally rude, and left us with the bill and a pen and said, "You write what you want to pay!"... We were dumbfounded... We were clear to say that the rest of our food was fine and we were more than happy to pay for the food we ate, but not for something that was not enjoyable or not of reasonable quality for a chicken satay dish. It is not a customer's fault when a restaurant's service is under pressure. Lastly, the manager's suggestion of calling the police is absurd. The manager needs to inform herself about the Consumer Rights Act 2015 before responding to reviews about "not honoring a bill" as the reason for this was honest and genuine.

It is such a shame as this would have been so easily resolved at the time, and indeed what other restaurants are so eager to do. The really disappointing part is that we were willing to give the restaurant another chance after not visiting for over a year on Thursday evening (8/11/18) but were unfortunately refused service for not paying for food that was unsuitable. Anyway, I am sure the owner will be very quick to respond to this review, but I am just making future customers aware of the situation. I've honestly never experienced anything like it and will never recommend this restaurant to...

We came here at about 9pm on a Saturday night and were surprised to find the place with only a few tables full. Taking a seat we ordered drinks, there was a Sauvignon Blanc for £19.95 and it turned out to be a nice little tipple although we ended up exhausting the supply and entirely switched to the Chenin Blanc at £16.95, which was perfectly good as well.

The waitress was quick to point out that although most people opt for the All You Can Eat menu they also have an A La Carte option, with alternative Chinese dishes which the English may be less familiar with. Unfortunately, we were on a slight budget so stuck to the main road of the reasonably priced all you can eat menu, although we did order some grilled dumplings with our starters as an extra. They were excellent, seemingly homemade and wonderful dipped in the sharp vinegar and ginger served to accompany them.

From the all you can eat options we enjoyed salt and pepper ribs & salt and pepper squid - the ribs were slightly tough and a bit dry but tasty enough and my only criticism of the night. The squid was light and crisp and soft, we wolfed it down. Starters done, we followed it with crispy duck and yuk shung (pork in lettuce wraps) and we finished the meal with chicken fried rice, mixed seafood with ginger and spring onion and, as my partner hadn't eaten Chinese before, they did a small dish of Pak choi tossed in Oyster sauce for her to try. It was all excellent.

By the end of the night we were the only ones there, and whilst chatting with the waitress, Jess, we understood she was actually running the place with her brother, Jack. They are the new owners and are currently trying to rebuild the reputation of the restaurant after some poor reviews for the previous management. They were absolutely lovely, and throughout the meal took the time to help educate my partner who was unsure of some of the dishes. We will definitely be returning but next time we plan to go off-piste and try the alternative Chinese menu which Jack and Jess assured us, over a complimentary Sake, will be a more authenticate, traditional culinary experience. I look forward to holding them to...

Have to say, I was very disappointed with the lunch meal I had at Been. First off, we ordered some sharing starters - the spare ribs were probably the worst I have ever eaten! They were fried to within an inch of their life and had some radioactive sickly sweet red sauce dribbled on top. If you are looking for a Pork lettuce wrap then do not order the Pork lettuce wrap from been. Save your self a couple of quid and order the vegetarian wrap as that is pretty much what we got. The taste wasn't too bad but when you order Pork you expect to see a bit of Pork in the meal. What we got was some absolute minuscule pieces of Pork fat mixed in with chopped onions etc. For mains I ordered a King Prawn Chow Mein, which wasn't too bad but was definitely more greasy than usual. However, the person I was dining with ordered Chicken Schezwan of which I tasted a bit and can honestly say it was terrible. The sauce looked and tasted cheap, kind of what you'd expect from a Tesco basics stir-fry packet, but worse! We were the only people in the restaurant on a Friday afternoon and now I see why the place was empty. So if like your food super sweet, un-naturally coloured, deep fried then come check it out!...