Bengal Paradise — Restaurant in Welwyn Hatfield

Visited Bengal Paradise with my wife last night and can only describe the service as an entire sham from the moment we entered. We are regulars at BP as the food is always very good, but customer service is questionable. Having sat down the waiter came over to take our order. We ordered our drinks which he initially got wrong and we corrected him, no big deal. We ordered our starters with the drinks and advised we would order the mains in a moment as we had not yet decided. The waiter went off and after 15 mins or so the starters arrived but still no drink. I asked the waiter for our drinks and he said give me a minute, the minute because 10 or so minutes and still no drinks even after further requests for our drinks. I choked on the starter and again asked the waiter for our drinks, at which point he could see I was coughing, again he said one minute and walked off to another table. I called a different waitress and she brought our drinks over swiftly. At this stage we have finished our starters and they are yet to take our order for the main course, even after asking the waiter on several occasions if we could place our order! All he kept saying was we’re busy!!! I called over a different waiter who finally took our order. When the order arrived my wife’s order was completely wrong to what she had ordered, worse still my wife is allergic to diary products and the dish they brought was covered in cream. Thankfully she noticed the error once I had placed the rice and curry on her plate. I called over the waiter and explained that they had got it wrong again, they apologised and offered to replace the dish, by this stage my wife declined and just shared my dish as we didn’t want to wait anymore and after one disaster by another. When I complained to the waitress she apologised and offered us complimentary drinks which we accepted and thank d her. Agreed mistakes happen and my wife and I were accepting of this, being regulars and liking their food. The manager/owner came over to inquire and when I explained to him he immediately new which waiter it was and shook his head, which implies he is aware of his poor service. We requested the bill which the manager brought and offered us a small discount which I thanked him. When I checked the bill the drinks hadn’t been credited and the rice which we had discarded half of due to my wife meal being incorrect was still charged. Again mistake happen and we had no issue with this, we’re it really goes wrong was how the manager/owner attitude then completely changes having revised the bill and he comes over with a stern attitude reiterating mistakes happen. I am fully aware mistakes happen, but this was a disaster from the beginning, the way in which he spoke to us, the tutting and huffing and his entire demeanour was totally uncalled for, going from understanding to exceptionality rude. We visit there regular and with large parties of friends, we will never set foot in there again and neither will our friends now , clearly there priority is a few pounds that they had to discount due to their sub standard service as opposed to understanding their customers and ones who visit regularly, very very disappointed to...

So we used to visit here a lot but feeling it was sliding, which could have been us getting too familiar but something was not right so we took a break and went elsewhere for a couple of years.. On returning it was the same layout and appeared samey. So we are seated and offered poppadoms and table water which I assumed was part of the experience but alas not so as at the end was charged £10 for four popadoms and dip and £5 for a bottle of water, shocking! Also when the drinks where delivered, 2 beers and 2 soft my daughter tipped the bottle reaching for her drink and although completely her fault the restaurant didn’t offer to replace even though we had just paid £5 for a fizzy drink. The food arrives with extra onion bargy which I returned as not ordered luckily as I’m sure they would have cost me a cheeky £10 too, but the chicken tikka has seven small bits of chicken and the smallest bowl of rice they could serve and the kids ate all of their korma which says a lot considering they never ate all of any meal we have ever gone out for which says heaps about the small size of the portion. The service was attentive but nothing special and the food was small and quite bland really. So we finish and they bring out the desert menu and my son said wow the pudding costs less than the soft drinks which proved a point because even a kid picked up on the rip off, so we swerve the desert and decide on a McFlurry and brownie instead and ask for the bill and this is where I had to bite my lip on noticing the liberties taken with charges and didn’t want to make a scene in front of my children even though it was a blatant piss take. So I have sat on it for a few days but it is still bugging me so I thought I had to get it off my chest and review the experience to enable others to be aware of the blind billing that takes place. It may be situated in an affluent area and they probably think they can charge extra due to their location but it is certainly not good value or a filling meal. Also the cobra wasn’t even that great and at £7 a pint I would rafter go into London for one....

Food good, service terrible.

Decided to visit Bengal Paradise this evening, as we’d driven past it on many occasions. Plenty of parking and spacious restaurant. We were seated in the atrium section and asked what drinks we wanted. These came reasonably swiftly, after that the service went down hill. We had had our poppadums and waited for 20 mins to be asked for our order and we were about to leave as this was just too long. The manager noticed and we felt we should give it a chance to improve, eventually the food came which was very nice and reasonable portions. Trying to get additional drinks was difficult and the staff, of which there were at least 5 on the floor were not particularly attentive. Eventually we were able to order a second drink. Having finished our meal we asked for our bill, the waiter told us it would be a few a minutes and we waited. 30 mins later we were still waiting and we asked another person, who we believe is the manager. He went off quickly and we thought he was bringing the bill. Another 15 minutes passed and by this point we’d had enough so we went to the front of the restaurant to pay. Nobody was there and if we had been less than scrupulous people we could’ve quite easily walked out. Eventually the bill was given to us with a weak apology by the manager saying ‘sorry I forgot’. We had been over charged for two drinks and some additional costs for pickles had been added. All in all this was a disappointing experience and considering we are local to the area we won’t be visiting again and we will go elsewhere. Not even a particularly busy night to use that...