Indifferent (Garfunkels)

Member Name: caro

Product:	Garfunkels
Date:	15/08/00 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable price, good range

Disadvantages: Highly variable, can be horrible

On the face of it, Garfunkels restaurants look tempting. The food is reasonably priced, there's a good range (I'm vegetarian) and the restaurants themselves look pleasant. The food is standardised, but the choice is superior to Pizza Hut and similar.

However, I've eaten at various Garfunkels in central London, and wouldn't really recommend them. Sometimes the food and service is good, but you can't rely on this between restaurants, or even in the same restaurant on two separate occasions. When they're bad, they're really poor.

The toasted cheese sandwiches have had hardly any cheese in, the twice I've ordered them - they will put more in if you send them back, but that takes the edge off your enjoyment to say the least. The cheese itself is processed and pretty tasteless. (Update: I tried for "third time lucky" in a third branch, and had exactly the same problem, so can only assume it's company policy to put cheese in only half the sandwich!). The kiev burgers have too gooey a cetnre for burgers in a bun. While the Spanish omelette is generally good, on one occasion this turned up with ham in it - and the waitress refused to understand why that was a problem in a vegetarian dish. I've also had overcooked chips and past-its-best salad.

Update: I've now had my worst Garfunkels experience yet, and will not be going back. I waited ten minutes to be seated; when a waiter finally came up and I asked him why there had been such a delay, he snapped: "We're very busy, if you've got a problem with that, the manager's over there." I did speak to the manager, both about the delay and the rudeness; this started badly when I checked he was manager and he said, "Yes, unfortunately". He then listened to my complaint, said, "Oh, do you want a table now then?" and looked surprised when I said no!

Altogether, I wouldn't rcommend Garf
unkels. When their food is up to standard, they offer a good range of reasonably-priced food. However, too often it isn't up to standard, and the service is equally variable.

Summary: