-
Welcome to Stafford Forum. Please or sign-up and start posting!
The Island Stafford Restaurant, Tel 01785 215355 for Bookings & Takeaways
- Thread starter The Island - Stafford
- Start date
The Island - Stafford
Well-Known Forumite
Thank you, i'll book that in for you, We do a party Menu for xmas parties which i can email to you, let me know. Can you also inbox me your name and contact number please.
Many Thanks
PeterD
ST16 Represent.
Went there last night and I have to say off the back of everyones experiences I knew that we were guaranteed a great night with great food. That said it was singularly the worst dining experience I have had in Stafford, the worst service I have had in any restaurant. Appalling. The difference when faced with bad service is how you deal with it. They dealt with it with giving us a standard discount they offered on their menu. Dreadful.
We see our friends so rarely so this night had been arranged for some time, I had read the reviews here, and friends also had said very good things about the place. I booked a table and arriving there I am glad I did, it was relatively full. On arrival we were kept waiting 15 minutes to be seated. OK.they must have been waiting to be turning tables, weird at at a time so early. and no one had actually left yet. It was a bigger surprise to be seated in the furthest deepest corner on a very small table. They werent waiting to turn tables as 3 or 4 around us were empty, so for their own reasons we werent seated.
We ordered, when questioning what one of the specialities actually was, a prawn dish, the waiter didnt know, OK, so we asked if he could find out. We ordered and waited. We waited, and waited and waited. After an hour. An hour, we asked a waiter if our starters were coming. Miraculously 2 minutes after asking, they arrived.
The starters plates were cold, and part of the starters were hot and part were cold, OK. I had Tikka fish and it was tiny, it was a half inch by two inch slither of spiced fish. It didnt bode well. We finished quite quickly as our starters were very small.
We sat and waited some more, and some more, we noted that tables around us that came in after us were finishing their food, paying their bill and getting to a pub to carry on their night. We also noted that a table down, full of women had a couple of attentive waiters. We had attentive waiters. "have you ordered", Yes. 2 minutes later, "have you ordered?" yes. It was also noted that the dips from a table were recycled.
1 hour and 45 minutes to get our main course. Again after prompting, again, cold plates, small portions and unfortunately average food. We finished and we were asked how was our meal. We told one waiter that the service had been shocking, dreadful. Went away. 10 minutes later, another waiter asked us how our meal was and we repeated this but said all we want is the bill. He went away. A third waiter asked us how our meal was, we said the service was dreadful and asked for the bill which he brought us. He gave us ten percent off and a discount for 5.00 if we returned between Sunday and Thursday. Now as we had an NHS employee with us that discount would have been applied anyway and the 5.00 discount is offered on their menu. So shocking service, wasted your night, Thanks.
So we go to pay and obviously we kept waiting to pay, obviously.
So we will never return, the worst service I have ever had in Stafford, not a good dining experience at all. Pointless booking a table and take more than a couple of cans with the hope of getting a bite to eat and then heading to the pub.
We see our friends so rarely so this night had been arranged for some time, I had read the reviews here, and friends also had said very good things about the place. I booked a table and arriving there I am glad I did, it was relatively full. On arrival we were kept waiting 15 minutes to be seated. OK.they must have been waiting to be turning tables, weird at at a time so early. and no one had actually left yet. It was a bigger surprise to be seated in the furthest deepest corner on a very small table. They werent waiting to turn tables as 3 or 4 around us were empty, so for their own reasons we werent seated.
We ordered, when questioning what one of the specialities actually was, a prawn dish, the waiter didnt know, OK, so we asked if he could find out. We ordered and waited. We waited, and waited and waited. After an hour. An hour, we asked a waiter if our starters were coming. Miraculously 2 minutes after asking, they arrived.
The starters plates were cold, and part of the starters were hot and part were cold, OK. I had Tikka fish and it was tiny, it was a half inch by two inch slither of spiced fish. It didnt bode well. We finished quite quickly as our starters were very small.
We sat and waited some more, and some more, we noted that tables around us that came in after us were finishing their food, paying their bill and getting to a pub to carry on their night. We also noted that a table down, full of women had a couple of attentive waiters. We had attentive waiters. "have you ordered", Yes. 2 minutes later, "have you ordered?" yes. It was also noted that the dips from a table were recycled.
1 hour and 45 minutes to get our main course. Again after prompting, again, cold plates, small portions and unfortunately average food. We finished and we were asked how was our meal. We told one waiter that the service had been shocking, dreadful. Went away. 10 minutes later, another waiter asked us how our meal was and we repeated this but said all we want is the bill. He went away. A third waiter asked us how our meal was, we said the service was dreadful and asked for the bill which he brought us. He gave us ten percent off and a discount for 5.00 if we returned between Sunday and Thursday. Now as we had an NHS employee with us that discount would have been applied anyway and the 5.00 discount is offered on their menu. So shocking service, wasted your night, Thanks.
So we go to pay and obviously we kept waiting to pay, obviously.
So we will never return, the worst service I have ever had in Stafford, not a good dining experience at all. Pointless booking a table and take more than a couple of cans with the hope of getting a bite to eat and then heading to the pub.
My Name is URL
Well-Known Forumite
Same for me as kyoto49 ^^^^ Was thinking of popping in next weekend but might give it a swerve based on PeterD's comments 
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
If you can afford it give raas leela a try.
db
#chaplife
Same for me as kyoto49 ^^^^ Was thinking of popping in next weekend but might give it a swerve based on PeterD's comments
to be fair, by peterd's own admission his is the one bad report.. i'm not excusing it - like he said, every restaurant mucks up occasionally, and it's how a service responds in times like this that gives them an opportunity to shine - and it sounds like they got it wrong this time..
i am narvana's biggest fan (as my many posts is their thread will testify), but i have eaten at the island twice so far (one takeaway, one in restaurant) and both times it has been really really nice, with excellent customer service to boot.. as per my earlier post, on one occasion they even delivered our food, despite me jumping the gun and not realising they hadn't started a delivery service at that time!
as shoes says:
(that being said, @kyoto49 - your post above implies that you have yet to try narvana at all.. you need to fix that first
)
The Island - Stafford
Well-Known Forumite
The Island - Stafford
Well-Known Forumite
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
We really did enjoy it!Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Please recommend
If i had one criticism, it is the portion sizes are a little on the mean side. That said, the prices are very good - perhaps you could do a 'fat bastard' option for an extra couple of quid?
Excellent food and service though, no complaints on that front whatsoever.
The Island - Stafford
Well-Known Forumite
Same for me as kyoto49 ^^^^ Was thinking of popping in next weekend but might give it a swerve based on PeterD's comments
Hi,
Please do pop in next week, when you do come in please ask for Mr Miah or Jak,It is hard to please everyone that does walk through the doors at our place, i can promise we will try our best to make it an enjoyable night, We have just received 5* as one of the cleanest & best places in Stafford.
so please do give us a go and let us know what you think.
Many Thanks
The Island - Stafford
Well-Known Forumite
Hi Kyoto,
As you have not visited yet, please give us a go and let us know what you think, Please let management know that you are a member of the stafford forum, we will try our best to make your night one to remember.
Thank you
The Island - Stafford
Well-Known Forumite
to be fair, by peterd's own admission his is the one bad report.. i'm not excusing it - like he said, every restaurant mucks up occasionally, and it's how a service responds in times like this that gives them an opportunity to shine - and it sounds like they got it wrong this time..
i am narvana's biggest fan (as my many posts is their thread will testify), but i have eaten at the island twice so far (one takeaway, one in restaurant) and both times it has been really really nice, with excellent customer service to boot.. as per my earlier post, on one occasion they even delivered our food, despite me jumping the gun and not realising they hadn't started a delivery service at that time!
Thank you for making it clear that restaurants do 'muck up occasionally', we not all perfect, BUT i will make sure my staff know about Peter's experience and improve there ways, to be fair the staff did work very hard this weekend and upsetting to know we couldn't please everyone.
Just to let you knw we recieved a 5* by the health agency
The Island - Stafford
Well-Known Forumite
@shoes, That is not a problem, next time you are in just ask for extra large portion Curry, you can ask for myself Shaz,Mr Miah or Jak so we can ensure everything goes ok.
Thanks again for your wonderful review
PeterD
ST16 Represent.
Sorry, but I dont want to repeat it, it was a terrible night and I really dont want you to put it right, it should have been right on the night. When we complained at the time we continued to get bad service. We werent rude, were werent troublesome, just plain bad service. There are a number of other restaurants in Stafford and they will get my custom. I am a lone voice, and I appreciate it may have been a bad night, the question you need to ask your staff is why we were singled out for consistent bad service and what happened with the food, why were the portions tiny, why were elements on the same plate stone cold whilst others were mouth burning hot. You need to speak to them.
Me, I will go elsewhere.
The Island - Stafford
Well-Known Forumite
Peter,
I have investigated and i am sorry to say, but you have over exaggerated abit toooo much, I haved checked CCTV, and you waited for your table for 11mins, you then was served your popadoms straight away after your order was taken, the staff that took your order is a part-time staff which is still learning special dishes, he came back to you straight away with a description of what a Tawa King Prawn was. Regarding starters, if you didn't know they are suppose to be small but not as small as your saying 'half inch by two inch slither of spiced fish', i think you exagerated again there, we would be emabarassed to serve a starter that small.
You say you waited 1hour & 45mins for your main course, no-one in there right mind would wait for a curry that long, you waited 47mins for your main course to be precise! that whole night we did not have 1 complaint, i have offered for you to come back again but no thanks i have read your other reviews about other places and i can see you love to give negative feedback.Goodluck to all the other restaurants that do get your custom!
Feed The Goat
Well-Known Forumite
If your offer to try to remedy the situation is rebuked........there is not much more you can do.
My party of 4 had good, friendly service when we visited on a Saturday night and will be back.
My party of 4 had good, friendly service when we visited on a Saturday night and will be back.
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
We should be happy that places that cater to every end of the market sell us Indian food, its bloody hard* to find decent English stuff!
* For those that don't drive anyway
EDIT: One of my favourite parts of visiting Wales recently has been the meals on the way back at the penhelig arms. We aren't even staying there, we just get an earlier train home and break the journey there for tea. Yes, tea. Not dinner, we're normal!
* For those that don't drive anyway
EDIT: One of my favourite parts of visiting Wales recently has been the meals on the way back at the penhelig arms. We aren't even staying there, we just get an earlier train home and break the journey there for tea. Yes, tea. Not dinner, we're normal!
Last edited: