Tiger Tiger (London)

Tiger Tiger is a restaurant, bar and club chain with locations around the country. I have never used the clubbing facilities or the bar but have visited the restaurant part in London's Haymarket twice now with vastly different experiences.

Booking theatre tickets a few years ago, a friend and I came across an offer for a pre-theatre meal in Tiger Tiger which we decided to take up and really enjoyed - the menu had a good choice, service ...
...the show, and arrived at Tiger Tiger at about 6.15pm. There were quite a few tables taken but they managed to seat us by the window. The restaurant is simply designed along contemporary lines and has a pleasant, laid-back atmosphere. Even though it was early evening, we were not disturbed by noise from the bar part, as the restaurant bit is entirely separate. I was pleased to see that they still did a two course pre-theatre offer, as it isn't mentioned ... more

Tiger Tiger is a restaurant, bar and club chain with locations around the country. I have never used the clubbing facilities or the bar but have visited the restaurant part in London's Haymarket twice now with vastly different experiences.

Booking theatre tickets a few years ago, a friend and I came across an offer for a pre-theatre meal in Tiger Tiger which we decided to take up and really enjoyed - the menu had a good choice, service was prompt and the two course offer was good value. In a similar situation recently I suggested this restaurant to my partner as a place to eat as before we went to see a show.

We took a chance and didn't book as we had plenty of time before the show, and arrived at Tiger Tiger at about 6.15pm. There were quite a few tables taken but they managed to seat us by the window. The restaurant is simply designed along contemporary lines and has a pleasant, laid-back atmosphere. Even though it was early evening, we were not disturbed by noise from the bar part, as the restaurant bit is entirely separate. I was pleased to see that they still did a two course pre-theatre offer, as it isn't mentioned on their website which I had checked earlier. If you eat between 5 and 7.30pm (I believe only on weekdays, rather than Friday and weekends) you can have two courses for £9.95. There are some steak or tiger prawn dishes where there is a supplement of £2 extra though. There is also a bar menu at promotional prices at these times.

Once seated our waiter came to take our drink orders and I decided to take advantage of their happy hour cocktails. They have an extensive cocktail list and not all are available at 50% off, but there was still a reasonable selection and I was happy with the choices. Our waiter told us that this offer is also extended on some spirits and mixers and bottles of wines as well as cocktails by the glass or jug.

I elected to have a starter and a main, whilst my other half decided on a main and a dessert. There were four starters on the pre-theatre menu, one of which was soup and another was breaded goats cheese with onion chutney. I'm a sucker for breaded cheese and read no further down the list! For my main, as a vegetarian I chose one of the two veggie options, which were vegetarian fajitas. As I don't like peppers (they are Evil) I asked for it to come without, as well as without guacamole. My other half chose the Aberdeen Angus burger with Cajun fries (which are actually regular skinny fries rather than seasoned fries which I would have expected) and the New York Cheesecake. I would guess there are about 10 or so main course choices on the pre-theatre menu including a range of Eastern and Western inspired meat and fish dishes, and four desserts.

My starter was delicious, it wasn't very big but it was very tasty. As I eat breaded cheese at every opportunity, I have become a bit of an expert and this was a delicious little starter, attractively served with a salad garnish and olive oil drizzled across. Then the main courses arrived and the problems began…

My fajitas came over sizzling and steaming with some tortilla wraps, sour cream and spicy salsa - delicious! But it was chock full of peppers. The waitress (not the person who had taken the order) had disappeared before I had looked at my food properly, and I managed to rescue precisely two green beans and some mushy onions. I attracted the waitress's attention again (no mean feat), explained that this was not what I ordered and she took it away again without a word. In fact she didn't say what she was going to do next so I just sat there and picked at my other half's (luke warm) fries whilst I waited…

And waited….Then my waiter came over and was very apologetic saying that he wasn't aware that they couldn't do the fajitas without peppers and he was very sorry as he was new. I didn't blame him at all - the kitchen had left off the guacamole so presumably they had read the order, they should have checked with him first instead of preparing and sending out a dish that was incorrect. I asked if I could then have the vegetarian noodle dish without peppers, and he said that should be fine and offered me a complimentary glass of champagne as a way of apology. I was quite happy to accept this. Unfortunately my partner had finished his meal at this point (the burger itself was deemed to be very nice and certainly nothing was left behind!), but we still had time before the theatre to wait. After about five minutes the waiter came back and said that they could not do the noodles without peppers either as it was all pre-mixed. I asked what vegetarian alternatives he could offer without peppers. He came up with a chicken curry! In the end he could only offer salad which I thought was not acceptable (they did a couple of side salads on the menu - they didn't seem to be inspiring enough for mains). The poor guy was absolutely stumped at what to say to me, so I asked to see the manager, as I suspected they may have more influence in getting the kitchen to produce something off-menu.

A short while later our waiter came back to say that the manager would be with me shortly and that he was not supposed to have given me the champagne. I wasn't inclined to get him into trouble so told him I understood, as at least he had tried, and I feel the kitchen were at fault for not explaining things to him sooner. However the manager seemed to be in no hurry to come and see us and our waiter was keeping a low profile - he did know we had to go to the theatre and were running out of time. All this while my partner sat with his empty plate and glass in front of him with no effort to clear it away or ask if he wanted another drink. For the first time ever I contemplated walking out of a restaurant without paying, even though we had received (and eaten) some of our meal. Before I have only walked out when food/drinks did not arrive. After 15 minutes our waiter came and apologised and said that the manager was very busy! I reminded him that we were busy too and asked him to tell his manager that we would be leaving in five minutes. The manager arrived as we were putting our coats on.

She was very apologetic and said she had only just been told that there was a problem. We had been waiting 20 minutes. She said she would speak to the kitchen in order for alternative dishes to be made available, and to the waiting staff to see why it took so long for someone to come to get her. I have to say I am rather surprised that she had only just been informed and wonder if our waiter had initially spoken to a different manager, as I can't believe he deliberately left us sitting there for 20 minutes. After ascertaining that we had not been charged for any part of our meal, she wished us a pleasant evening at the theatre and apologised again. Whilst she was very professional, it was all a bit too little too late, there was not the time to put the problem right, and whilst we had not been charged for what we had, it did seem to defeat the object of going for a meal! Due to time constraints I never did discover if it was possible for the kitchen to pull together a quick alternative in these situations as it seems all the veggie dishes at least, are pre-prepared. I consoled myself with an ice cream at the theatre during the interval.

The website does list the regular restaurant menus plus the drinks menus if you want a greater idea of what they offer and fancy taking your chances! I feel I cannot recommend this restaurant anymore, which is sad as the menu is interesting and the pre-theatre offer represents such good value. However, I accept that I was probably just unlucky.

29 The Haymarket, London
SW1Y 4SP
T: 020 7930 1885
F: 020 7930 3060

info@tigertiger-london.co.uk

http://www.tigertiger-london.co.uk/ 

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