Malabar Competition - Win Two 'All You Can Eat' Meals

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Andreas Rex

Banned for smiling
I've never had a bad experience at Malabar either. The food's always been fantastic and I've not got a bad word to say about the place. The gripes on here are purely about the misrepresentation of the offer - nothing else!

Lovely place, lovely food, great service and worth the money.
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Well said.

Any gripe about their approach doesn't really translate to a gripe about their kitchen.
 

Jade-clothing

Well-Known Forumite
Mrs M said:
I have just got in from a fabulous evening in Malabar.

When we arrived we (my husband, 13 year old son and I) arrived at Malabar we got a very friendly greeting. We were shown to our table and it was explained to us what the evening was about and that we could choose anything from the menu's. More people started to arrive and after about 10 minutes our starters arrived. Our orders were Chingree Bhaji, Nargis Koftah and Chicken Tikka, all were delicious and the chicken tikka was so tender, not too dry as it sometimes tends to be at other indian restaurants. For the Mains our orders were Chicken Jalfrezi, Chicken Biriani and Nawabi Churma Passanda. All very nice although the Jalfrezi was hotter than I usually eat but was still tasty even having eaten the hottest chilli I have ever eaten in my life( and I've eaten some very hot chillies). At this point the manager, Abu, was passing and sent one of his waiters to get me some Raita for me and immediately this took the hotness away and was much nicer than I imagined (not had it before). The Manager stopped for a chat. (He seemed to do this with all of the customers). He was telling us how they had raised money for Katherine house and that this happens every year. They do do a loyalty card of £10, £5 of which gets shared with 3 charities, Katherine house, air ambulance and Cancer research. Whenever you visit you get 10% off your meal and after a year you are invited back for a party and free 3 course meal. There was entertainment, a belly dancer. Fun to watch and customers were invited to join in. My husband ordered more food, chicken korma, which was lovely and came promptly. We could have eaten anything we wanted. Our dining experience was most enjoyable, there prices are very reasonable and I would recommend Malabar to anybody.
Call me cynical but I wouldnt have expected anything else from your visit - after all, after this thread Malibar would know full well that you would come on and tell us how your evening went so it was the perfect opportunity for them to go all out to try and impress. Doesnt change the fact that they lied about the deal for the first two evenings. This isnt something to be taken lightly - it's not just a bunch of disgruntled people having a whinge. lying about something to get more custom is illegal and something I'm sure trading standards would have been interested in.
 

cookie_monster

Well-Known Forumite
Jade-clothing said:
This isnt something to be taken lightly - it's not just a bunch of disgruntled people having a whinge. lying about something to get more custom is illegal and something I'm sure trading standards would have been interested in.
a company in sheffield advertised an offer on the groupon discount page last week......when they had managed to sell over 1500 vouchers for £5 advertising 75% off their boxes of a dozen cakes, it suddenly emerged that there was a break down in communication between the company and groupon and that the vouchers werent valid for what they were advertised for.

sheffield forum is up in arms and already trading standards has been informed.

this compnay is taking a slating online as their explanation on their blog was up for less that 24 hours so many people havent seen it and they just feel diddled.

i was one of those people, but i asked for a refund before i saw the comments about trading standards- i wish id held my ground....although the refund has yet to clear into my account :(


x
 

Mrs M

Well-Known Forumite
Jade-clothing said:
Call me cynical but I wouldnt have expected anything else from your visit - after all, after this thread Malibar would know full well that you would come on and tell us how your evening went so it was the perfect opportunity for them to go all out to try and impress. Doesnt change the fact that they lied about the deal for the first two evenings. This isnt something to be taken lightly - it's not just a bunch of disgruntled people having a whinge. lying about something to get more custom is illegal and something I'm sure trading standards would have been interested in.
Very cynical, I got no special treatment, nothing different to any of the other customers. In fact the manager is not the person dealing with the forum and was unaware of any body being 'disgruntled' and said that everybody knew it was all you can eat, if they didn't ask for more, what could he do. They're not mind readers. Looking back at the posts I cannot see where Malabar have lied. Just a few disgruntled people who are missing their pitchforks and torches. You are just going off what others have said and twisted it to an argument about something you have not experienced yourself.
The only disappointing thing I can see is that Stafford Forum didn't get any advertising from it.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Maybe last night was different? You actually got to choose your starter for example, rather than just being given the mixed one like Trumpet. Malabar didn't confirm or deny about the all you can eat thing, despite visiting here at least twice after we asked about it.
 

Mrs M

Well-Known Forumite
tek-monkey said:
Maybe last night was different? You actually got to choose your starter for example, rather than just being given the mixed one like Trumpet. Malabar didn't confirm or deny about the all you can eat thing, despite visiting here at least twice after we asked about it.
The Malabar manager was not the person dealing with Stafford Forum somebody else was doing his marketing.
 

zebidee

Well-Known Forumite
I think the most important thing to remember here is what Admin said, which addresses the general feeling of those in the forum who felt let down and isn't attacking anything but the way the situation was handled.

Admin said:
Lying most certainly does go against the spirit of The Forum. Also, why is the original post in the first person, but this post is in the third person? Can we assume this latest post is by your marketing guy doing some damage limitation?

I have had complaints sent to me by Private Message about how this has been organised/delivered, and I personally feel let down. It was an excellent opportunity to raise money for a good cause, as well as raise the profile of Malabar and Stafford Forum in one fell swoop. Instead, it has left a sour taste in many people's mouths.

Such a shame. I apologise to the Forumites who feel they have been let down, and I promise to endeavour to be more conscientious about marketing hyperbole in future. :(
 

cookie_monster

Well-Known Forumite
Mrs M said:
The Malabar manager was not the person dealing with Stafford Forum somebody else was doing his marketing.
then he certainly needs to have a word with whoever is responsible.

im glad you had a good evening and what sounds like a lovely meal...i read the description before i had my brekkie and i was blimming starving by the time id finished reading! lol


x
 

Admin

You there; behave!
Staff member
Mrs M said:
In fact the manager is not the person dealing with the forum
Mrs M, at no point have I blamed Malabar. If you go back and read my posts, I have made it clear that I blame the chap they got to do their "marketing", who lied to me with regards to how The Forum would be promoted with regards to this competition.

Mrs M said:
Looking back at the posts I cannot see where Malabar have lied.
The original post clearly says that people can pay £12.95 for an All You Can Eat ticket. People attended the event and paid their money, then were presented with a restricted, set menu. Are you saying these people are lying?

Mrs M said:
You are just going off what others have said and twisted it to an argument about something you have not experienced yourself.
The only disappointing thing I can see is that Stafford Forum didn't get any advertising from it.
Mrs M, I take personal offence to that, seeing as the "others" you refer to must include me (whether you intended it to or not), as I was the one who originally questioned the integrity of the marketing chap I met with. I have not twisted any words. I was the only one there when I spoke with this marketing fellow, so you cannot know what was said. I can assure you that he implied to me that The Forum would be promoted in the local press in tandem with this event. As I said before, why else would I have even got involved?
 

Admin

You there; behave!
Staff member
tek-monkey said:
cookie_monster said:
Mrs M said:
The Malabar manager was not the person dealing with Stafford Forum somebody else was doing his marketing.
then he certainly needs to have a word with whoever is responsible.
Agreed!
I have. He maintains that he never offered to promote Stafford Forum, and is convinced he has done nothing wrong. I don't understand why he even bothered to contact me and arrange to meet and discuss it. Why would one do so unless they wanted The Forum's involvement? That is why I feel like I have been used to legitimise spam.

As others have said, it is a shame as Malabar is a nice place, and they are not to blame. If one of their genuine representatives would like to contact me, by all means please do so. :)

The chap you got to do your marketing is not up to much, I'm afraid, so if you want to contact me just click the email or Private Message links under my avatar.

Thanks.
 

Pie & Ale

Well-Known Forumite
Admin said:
tek-monkey said:
cookie_monster said:
then he certainly needs to have a word with whoever is responsible.
Agreed!
I have. He maintains that he never offered to promote Stafford Forum, and is convinced he has done nothing wrong. I don't understand why he even bothered to contact me and arrange to meet and discuss it. Why would one do so unless they wanted The Forum's involvement? That is why I feel like I have been used to legitimise spam.

As others have said, it is a shame as Malabar is a nice place, and they are not to blame. If one of their genuine representatives would like to contact me, by all means please do so. :)

The chap you got to do your marketing is not up to much, I'm afraid, so if you want to contact me just click the email or Private Message links under my avatar.

Thanks.
Well said!
 

Admin

You there; behave!
Staff member
I have closed this thread, as it is in danger of turning into a slanging match, which won't reflect well on anyone.

I think we can all agree that Malabar are not really at fault here; they have fallen victim to a bloke who normally spends his days working in politics, thought he would have a stab at marketing, and failed miserably. Alas, having spoken with him, he honestly thinks he has done no wrong and doesn't think he is at fault. He has run poor Malabar's name into the ground on The Forum, when in reality they are quite a nice establishment that many Forumites have commented on positively in the past.

Let's just put this thread down to a lesson learned (for The Forum, not for him, unfortunately).

Thanks for all the support, especially from the people who have PMed me. :)
 
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