We ate here last night as a group of 7 celebrating my friend's birthday. Having pre-booked, we…read morearrived at 7:30 and were shown to our table. The restaurant was busy enough for a Saturday night, but there was also plenty of staff around and only a dozen or so tables so certainly nothing unmanageable. Our drinks order was taken a good 20 minutes after we sat down, and it was another twenty minutes before they arrived. Our food order was finally taken at about 8:15, and apart from a few poppodoms, it was gone 9pm before we saw our mains. When I asked a waiter how long our food was going to be, what I got in response was a dirty look and '5 minutes' spat in my face without any explanation or apology for the delay. When the food did finally arrive, over an hour and a half after we sat down, the portions were definitely on the small size. I challenged the same waiter over this, and to his credit he did throw in an extra portion of rice free of charge, but did so begrudgingly. All of this, however, could have been overlooked if it weren't for what happened next. When clearing the table next to us, we noticed the manager drop a half-full balti dish on the floor right near to where my friend was sitting - instead of apologising or checking for any damage, he hastily cleaned up the mess and simply hurried off. A couple of minutes later my friend picked up her (not cheap) brand-new handbag - which had been draped over the back of her chair near where the curry was dropped - and sat it on her lap for a moment. It was then that she noticed that her bag was covered with greasy curry all down the side, which had now been transferred to her white shirt. We mentioned this to the waiter, who handed us some wet-wipes and left us to it - all without an apology. Unfortunately, as a good ten minute or so had passed since the manager dropped the curry, the grease had set into the bag and left a very noticeable stain which the wet-wipes were not going to solve. When it came time to settle the bill, we mentioned the damage to the bag and that they should probably make a decent contribution towards the cost of trying to get it cleaned. One of the waiters came back with an offer of £10 off a £100 bill, still no apology whatsoever, and words to the tune of 'it's a gesture of goodwill, most other places wouldn't offer you anything. ' We didn't see this as anywhere near a suitable offer, but at the same time we didn't want to cause a scene. So we countered with £20 off the final bill, which we considered to be more than fair. Rather than this ending the whole ordeal, this prompted every member of staff in the restaurant - apart from the manager - to line up near our table and shout in our direction... 'Accidents happen... ' 'But your bag was on the floor so we're not responsible... ' 'I don't care about your bag!' 'But I gave you free rice!' They laughed at us, they mocked at us, they even threatened to call the police on us. The whole time the manager was walking around the restaurant, attending to every table except ours - he was specifically avoiding us. Throughout this we still had not received anything in the way of an apology! In the end we handed £80 to one of the waiters and left. We booked our table at The Bengal based on great past experiences. We were a respectful group who weren't drinking heavily and were prepared to spend a good amount of money with that curry house. Our food was an hour and a half late, and the manager managed to spill a curry all over my friend's handbag. When we argued that the restaurant should comp part of the meal, instead of an apology we were greeted with abuse and rudeness and the threat of the police, all the while with the manager refusing to get involved. Absolutely shocking customer service, I would not recommend this place to anybody.
