The customer visited the restaurant for the first time and called it a ‘terrible experience’ – but the restaurant said they were ‘misleading’
Henry Wong is located on the Harborne High Street(Image: Birmingham Mail)
A Birmingham restaurant hit back with a lengthy reply after a customer claimed they had only received ten chips among a cataloue of other complaints.
The customer left the review on Google about a visit to Henry Wong, a Chinese restaurant located on the Harborne High Street.
They accused the customer of being ‘misleading’ about the chips, and said CCTV showed many of the accusations of poor service and food were incorrect.
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The restaurant, which has a 4.4 score out of five stars on Google Reviews, with many positive reviews.
A customer identified as Bruno said: “Superb restaurant, wasabi prawns was great and honey king prawns amazing. Staff super professional and helpful, highly recommend.”
A different reviewer called Veronica added: “Fantastic meal as always and love the addition of the background music, which is a lovely touch.”
And one guest posted: “Friendly staff amazing food, definitely recommend.”
However, a recent reviewer visited Henry Wong for the first time and claimed it would be their last.
Posting a lengthy review, the diner found issues with service and the quality of ‘bland’ food.
Accusing the restaurant of only serving ten chips, the guest left unhappy and called it a ‘terrible experience’.
The customer said: “First visit here and definitely the last. Didn’t get a warm welcome when we arrived.
“We sat down to order out food with high expectations after reading some of the good reviews, although was a bit dubious after also reading the bad ones.
“Well where do I start. The chicken fried rice was bland, the chicken had no colour or taste, looked like it had been boiled, not fried, and the rice was stodgy.
“The fried chicken dumplings tasted like sage and onion stuffing with no chicken to be seen.
“The chilli chicken was literally a dried chicken burger with peppers and onions, the chilli chips weren’t too bad, but for over £6, there was literally ten chips on a plate.
“So I ordered a chicken chow mein, and by the time they came to clear the table, I still had no meal.
“The waitress tried to blame me and said I never ordered this. However I was the first to order.
“We asked for curry sauce and they said this is something that is made especially for orders and cost £5 and it tasted like a fruit sauce, definitely not curry sauce.
“They seem to concentrate on style on the plating rather than quality and taste of the food.
“The waitress had the audacity to say I did not order any food so what am I going to do? Sit and watch three other people eat, which luckily they didn’t due to the poor quality and taste.
“I asked to speak to the manager, didn’t even get an apology and was having a dispute with the waitress in front of us to which we had to point out how unprofessional this was.
“The cheek of it was all they took off the bill was the £5.70 service charge after it was their mistake and their tasteless food.
“All in all a terrible experience. It’s a shame Wok Chi was fully booked to dine in as we had to order a take out from Wok Chi to go home with.
“Rude staff, rude manager, terrible food.”
The owner of Henry Wong replied on Google and clarified a number of accusations made by the diner.
This included the ‘warm welcome’ remark, insisting that a chair was pulled out for the diner and coats were instantly collected by staff.
Regarding the ‘ten chips on a plate’ comment, the owner said it was ‘impossible’ for that to be true and accused the guest of ‘misleading information’
The owner of Henry Wong replied: “Thank you for your review and we apologise for the unhappy dining experience you had with us.
“Regarding the warm welcome, the staff approached you and welcomed you immediately when you came into the restaurant and led you to your table.
“Through CCTV records, the manager pulled the chair out for you but you went to sit on the opposite side.
“Our server then brought you the menu and collected the coat for you to hang up.
“The server then approached your table and assisted to put the napkins on your laps followed by taking your drinks order.
“When the drinks were served, our server took your food order and through CCTV, we can confirm that the server repeated your order and you agreed the order was correct.
“We’ve been repeatedly checking on CCTV and we are not sure which moment you did not feel warm welcomed.
“When all the dishes were served on your table, our server checked back to your table and received the feedback that you did not like the chicken fried rice and curry sauce and you requested to bring back the food.
“The server then followed up with checking that if you would like a replacement or order anything else but was told that not needed.
“The server followed up immediately to inform you that the chicken fried rice and curry sauce has been taken off the bill.
“Through CCTV during the entire conversation of server checking back on your table, no one mentioned that there was a missing dish.
“The CCTV shows the same server went back to the table again and check the second time if everything is ok and one lady replied along with nodding their head.
“When you finished the meal, the server approached the table to offer to clear the table and only you mentioned that one dish is missing (which doesn’t match with the CCTV when placing the order) and you are unhappy with all the food you ordered.
“You requested to see the manager and the manager brought the server to the table, and through CCTV, they both apologised to you that you didn’t enjoy your food.
“You mentioned to the manager that the server did not check back to your table, but through CCTV, we can see that she did twice. First time she solved the chicken fried rice and curry sauce, the second time one lady replied by nodding her head.
“We could have done more if you mentioned to us that you did not like your food during the check back but unfortunately we were not informed.
“We also received your feedback that the server should check with every guest on the table one by one to make sure that all the guests are checked individually instead of checking the entire table.
“We will pass this feedback to the management team to discuss further.
“We can also confirm that the ten chips on a plate comment is completely misleading information, as other reviewer’s photos show this is impossible.
“We can clearly see from CCTV when the chips was served on your table.
“We did not take only £5.70 away from the bill. We also took off the chicken fried rice and curry sauce from the bill which we have informed you.
“We also explained to you that as the food is almost finished. Through CCTV, 1.5 piece of dumplings left on a black plate, one piece of crispy chicken left on a grey plate, two small bites of chicken dumplings left on white plates, there is nothing left on the plate other than some bell peppers for decorations.
“Also nothing is mentioned to the server during the two checks on the table, and hence there is nothing more we can do.
“We apologise for the unhappy dining experience, we have passed on your feedback to the chefs regarding the food and will raise the issues of checking individually with every single guest on the table one by one on our next management meeting.”