Dishes are: ceviche and scallop appetizer/ lamb and prawn curry entrees

by thenisaidbitch

30 Comments

  1. thenisaidbitch on

    Worst service I’ve ever had at a Michelin restaurant. Food was good, not great- felt overpriced for what it was. Appetizers were better than the entrees, entrees were fairly bland.

    My big issue here was service. They sent an email the evening before the reservation stating the dress code was “smart casual, no shorts”. I had packed my son and I smart casual but they included a nice pair of khaki shorts instead of pants since it’s pretty hot in London at the moment. We didn’t have time to get him a new pair of pants so we hoped his (collared) polo shirt and khaki shorts (clean, neat, no wrinkles, no big pockets, etc) would be ok. I checked online and this seemed fine.

    We get there and they won’t allow us in the dining room. Fine, that’s fair, I wish I had known this pants caveat prior to leaving the US so I could have packed pants, but I get it. This is where the problems start though- they sat us in the lounge with tiny low tables. I didn’t love it, but again, I was ok with it. UNTIL I notice a lady wearing CARGO SHORTS get seated in the dining room. Then I started getting annoyed as they were perfectly happy to seat her. I asked about it politely and never got an answer except that they had a smart casual dress code (again, which we met! I looked up smart casual summer outfits and that’s what we had on!). Let me reiterate, I was polite, I was simply asking why the dress code was unevenly applied.

    After that it was awful service, it was clear they were rushing us out. It felt personal, like they were embarrassed to have us in their restaurant. After ordering our appetizers arrived in 5 minutes, 5 minutes after eating those our entrees arrived. I was never asked if I wanted a second drink (which is a first for me!) and it was clear they wanted us gone ASAP. We were there for about 50 minutes- that’s it! For a £250 meal I expect a leisurely relaxing and comfortable experience. I’ve never felt so judged and unwelcome at any of the many, many, many Michelin restaurants I’ve been to over the years. Do not recommend- service is awful and the food is nothing special.

    Editing to add- I pretty much never badmouth fine dining restaurants on here. If I have a bad experience I don’t bother posting it, but this one was so egregious and felt so personal I think they earned it.

  2. Went to Benares around 6 months ago. The food was excellent and I don’t remember the service at all so assume it was good.

  3. I do a better job plating my Set Meal C on my Friday takeaway from Baltic Express than that 4th pic.

  4. Benares has gone waaay down hill since Atul left. He and is business partner parted ways in interesting circumstances. If you want ‘Indian’ then Kanishka (Atuls new place) and BiBi are both better if you want somewhere different to Gymkhana.

  5. Forever-Eating2707 on

    Would you consider emailing them to tell them the experience you had? Sometimes the chef has no idea what is happening front of house and even if nothing comes from it with regards your personal experience, hopefully the staff can be spoken to about being rude/dismissive/making the rules up as they go along! I don’t like complaining but I also don’t like people being rude or being charged £££ for a rubbish experience so I will email after the event if I don’t feel comfortable complaining at the time. I haven’t been to Benares – we actually have a local restaurant near me in Petts Wood which is owned by Atul, which is great. I hope you go to better places whilst in London – like everyone recommends here, Gymkhana would be a great comparison!

  6. Forever-Eating2707 on

    Would you consider emailing them to tell them the experience you had? Sometimes the chef has no idea what is happening front of house and even if nothing comes from it with regards your personal experience, hopefully the staff can be spoken to about being rude/dismissive/making the rules up as they go along! I don’t like complaining but I also don’t like people being rude or being charged £££ for a rubbish experience so I will email after the event if I don’t feel comfortable complaining at the time. I haven’t been to Benares – we actually have a local restaurant near me in Petts Wood which is owned by Atul, which is great. I hope you go to better places whilst in London – like everyone recommends here, Gymkhana would be a great comparison!

  7. Seems odd. I remember going there 8 or so years ago and my friend was wearing a sweatshirt.

    It was actually my first “fine dining” restaurant and honestly I didn’t think it was worth 3x times the price of Dishoom (London’s most popular Indian restaurant), so I’ve never really recommended it to others.

  8. Cost?

    This doesn’t scream “luxury meal.”

    *edit* just saw your post, 250 quid rofl. WOW.

  9. I’m sorry you had that experience! We had great service when we last went last year. I do agree Kanishka is better overall, but our food and service were both fine and Michelin standard.

  10. whitewateractual on

    Dang, I went here once before the pandemic and I thought it was memorable, great service, and delicious–I would have rated it pretty highly across all marks Sad to see it has gone downhill.

  11. Aside from your obvious complaints about service, these servings look absolutely dull – star or not this is bleak.

    To be frank, a 14 year old is a Child, but you could, and would, expect a 14 yo to wear trousers to a fine dining restaurant – he’s not a todler, sorry, especially when they flash a dress code upfront. But still, given the cargo shorts entry and all, I’m sorry for your experience. That puts it another perspective. Maybe they could spot her massive Wallet in those cargo shorts 😉

  12. My dad invited me and my brothers to the restaurant maybe 5 or 6 years ago as a graduation gift, at the time it was amazing. Sad to hear that the quality has gone downhill

  13. It’s unfortunate that Michelin doesn’t consider service in their ratings, from what I’ve heard. Too many restaurants, a service based business, coasting by with their rating while doing a shit job.

  14. This is wild. Benares tasting menu might have been the best meal of my life (and I’ve been to plenty of Michelin restaurants), although service was just good.

  15. Food looks crap. Also, don’t wear shorts if the dess code forbids them.

    Shorts on men vs women are not the same thing.

    Weird story, they sound like dicks and I’d never go there, yet I still think you were 100% in the wrong.

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