So very disappointing
As someone who runs 2 dinner clubs and a lunch club, my experience of fine dining in London and surroundings area is well established. I had such high hope for Kahani. Our dinner club were unanimous in our collective review, as follows based on our visit in December 2022.
Our table was originally booked for 7 people, we contacted the restaurant to advise only 6 would be turning up (as a professional courtesy) and on the night we had 1 drop out due to a personal issue. Sometimes life happens interrupting dinner plans.
On the night of our booking, en route to the restaurant, one of our party had a very bad fall in Sloane Street (those pesky cobbles at the side of road are quite dangerous when wet). My friend could barely walk. At this point the extent of her injuries were unknown, so we made our way to the restaurant (with the hotel helping to transport her via a luggage trolley – quite the farcical sight and one we will not forget in a hurry).
On entering the restaurant we asked for a bag of ice and given we had 1 spare chair at the table my friend was able to elevate her foot to reduce the pain and swelling. At that point we also advised the restaurant we were down to 5 persons. We were then told to move or pay £60 for the use of the chair being used to elevate my friend’s leg. They made an injured woman move at a point where her injury could have exacerbated, rather than just allow us compassionate use of the chair. When we raised this, we were told by the manager if we didn’t like it, we could just pay the additional £60.
We moved to as not to cause a scene. We ordered. Food came. The general consensus, in our opinion, was the majority of the food was mediocre apart from my fish curry which was amazing. We caught up, had a glass of champers and paid the bill. As we were leaving the manager came to our table and told us, in front of the entire restaurant, we had not paid enough. Quite confusing as we had paid the bill in full. Apparently, there was a min charge of £60 per head and when I confirmed I had made the booking I was told “you should have known that”. We asked whey we were not reminded when the waiter came to take our order, or indeed when the waiter came with the bill. The response from the manager was “it is not his job to remind you, you should have known”. After debating the point for c.10mins we tried a point of compromise and asked for a copy of the menu. We suggested we could pay for a bottle of champers or order more food and take it home, which would cover the bill up to £60 per person. We were refused. We stood our ground and told the manager we were not paying for something we had not had, so asked him what the other options were. He finally told us to “forget it”. The irony is had the service not been so ridiculously slow we would have probably made up the £15 per head in drinks.
It was appallingly disgraceful service and the poorest attitude I have ever had in a restaurant. Revenue over service. Pettiness over class. We will never ever ever step foot into this restaurant again. Having dined at Connaught, Claridge’s, Ritz, Dorchester, Wolsey, The Ivy and many many more London restaurants the Kahani was the most awful dining experience we, as a dinner club, and I as someone who hosts various dinners has ever had in London. Luckily, the restaurant’s actions in forcing us to move my friend whilst she was trying to stabilise her injury, did not have a detrimental impact. She has recovered, as have the rest of us from this disastrous dining experience. First impressions are lasting impressions.