h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi there,

I wanted to contact you regarding the Aladin curry restaurant that is listed within BBC's worlds best curry houses.

I think this recommendation needs to be excluded from your list. It is not a nice restaurant. Some of the members of staff are so aggressive and threatening that once I managed to leave the restaurant it felt unsafe to walk past it again for fear of being verbally abused by a couple of particular staff members. The food is absolutely awful in there. I quietly explained to one of the waiters that I wasn't happy with my meal and was suddenly greeted by another member of staff shouting at me across the restaurant in front of all his customers. He then threw the bill at me. By this point I was not prepared to pay for my meal (that I hadn't managed to eat) and really wanted to get out of there. He continued to shout abuse at me as I gathered my stuff together to leave but instead he barricaded me in the restaurant. When he eventually let me leave he followed me down the road walking closely behind me shouting abusively. I was highly distressed by this.

I have just taken a look at Trip advisor reviews for Aladins and I see a number of customers have had a similar experience here.

If you scan down to the comments section at the bottom of the BBC worlds best curry houses list you will see a member tell you how this curry house is not under the same management or ownership as the Aladins that once received all the praise. They are managing to keep possession of this praise even though it was won by previous owners.

I would be concerned that the list is directing potential customers to a very threatening environment that is also presenting awful food.

It really should be removed from the list. If you are unsure of my comments please go and sample the restaurant for yourself over a lunch time deal (I went about 3pm on a Saturday).

Please let me know your thoughts.

Kind regards

That sounds like an absolutely horrible experience

But I'm not sure why you left a message on h2g2 about a list that sounds as if it's maintained by the BBC You see, the BBC has not owned h2g2 for a couple of years now, and, even when h2g2 *was* affiliated with the BBC, we were sort of the ignored child in the corner.

Settle in, look around, have fun, but I'm afraid we can't help with the content of any BBC pages.

Amy, see A123823

Good morning Anon, at least it's early morning here

I am so glad to see your comment on 'Aladin' Do you know that as a Researcher you can not only contribute your own Entries to the Guide, but also request that older Entries be revised?

However the Entry you mention A123823 is about the 'Best' curry restaurants it would be much better to replace it with a competitor and give them the free advertisement.

Do you know about one in the London area that deserves mention?

Could you write up a short paragraph or two about it similar to the existing section?

If you submit it here, either Amy or I will be happy to help do this, the Entry will be updated and you should have credit as one of the authors


F S

Hi there,

Thank you for the support and your responses. I was more thinking that it would be a good idea to amend the list and remove Aladins from it as the BBC list only seems to be viewable through these pages and no where else on the internet. It was indeed a terrible experience and one I would never want to be faced with again. I should have clicked sooner after the staff aggressively replied to four guys on the table next to us when they said that they had been enticed into the restaurant after agreeing to a meal deal, which unfortunately the staff did not stick too. It was embarrassing to hear and really put the guys in an awkward position.

At this moment I am not aware of a curry house that I could put on the list but it's a very good idea and one which I'd love to do. I will keep this is mind as it would be a joy to give a deserving restaurant the free advertising and praise. I will post back at a later date when I have found the right restaurant.

In the mean time it may be best not to direct anyone towards Aladin's.

Thank you everyone.

Hi Anon,

I agree with the others that it would be a good thing to replace it with another London curry house. I'm sure the editorial team will make a decision on whether or not to remove that part of it relating to Aladins, but it is a very old entry and many of the restaurants featured could be under different management today.

As it's been 10 years or so since it was written, we should ideally replace the entry with an entirely new set of reviews - perhaps something the editorial team can collate via a Front Page "Create" challenge in the future...

Hi Icy North,

Thank you for replying to me.

I am including reviews from others who have experienced similar treatment at Aladin's so the editorial team can see. I really do think that list needs to be removed from your site or at least Aladin's removed from it.

These are from Trip Advisor.


I went there in a group recently for the first time and I was very disappointed with the food quality. My meal was served cold and I saw there were sharp bits of what looked like plastic in my friends meal. I ended up with food poisoning after eating a prawn dish which wasn't heated through. The food certainly isn't cooked fresh.
When I refused to pay my full share of the bill due to poor quality and satisfaction, the staff behaved very unprofessionally and were rude. The staff had seen me get my bank card out to pay and had even come over with the card machine, yet they said they would call the police unless I paid in full and they would not accept any discount. I explained that I am an ex police officer and said I would be more than happy to wait, but then when I said I would wait outside and they tried to block my way. This was unnecessary as there were so many staff outside, that even if they thought I was going to run away, it would have been impossible. I told them that would count as false imprisonment and they let me pass. When I went outside one of the staff assaulted me by pushing me and another hit my hand while I was trying to film on my camera phone (as I was trying to film their behaviour) one of the staff got an offensive weapon out of their car and about 13 of the staff surrounded me and my small group and threatened to assault us further and wanted to have a fight around the corner over this with the males I was with. In fact it was the manager who said to his staff to 'take us around the corner'. They verbally assaulted me and my group, insinuating that we were destitute, and then told us to [--], threatening that we wouldn't get out of Brick Lane.
Price wise they charged £10 for starter,main,rice,naan and soft drink (off the menu) which doesn't sound bad but I get a better quality curry from a Tesco meal deal! And chances are you won't get assaulted!!

Km870 (1 review)
London, United Kingdom
Helpful


“Night to remember”
17 Jun 2012
Having been suckered in by some of the better reviews me and my friends pitched up to eat some half decent curry. The service was friendly but slow.

We finally recieved our food after about a 30 min wait.

There had been some bickering between one of the tables and the waiters as these customers felt one of their dishes was undercooked. What followed was appalling.

I had only finished my starter when what started as a complaint ended in some kind of brawl. Waiters came out of every orifice and surrounded the group of 'trouble makers' at the door - at which point one of the waiters thought it appropriate to run to the kitchen and grab a knife.

I and most of my friends walked out appalled - a couple of girlfriends stayed inside as they were scared to leave and were presented with a £100 bill. Aladin 'kindly' said they would accept £50.

They are a disgrace and if you are thinking of going there - remember if you make a complaint about the food you may get stabbed - so best not to!

Plums67 (3 reviews)
Helpful


Was a lovely meal, promised 11.95 ea, no restrictions on entree and main. Table of 4 and a bill for 80 comes. We say no no no this was the deal they go back and say ok 20% discount for you then. We say no it was set at 11.95 ea, leave 50 and walk out. They follow us yelling, embarrassing out the front in brick lane, grabbing us and even threatening to punch my boyfriend, it was terrible. Absolutely shocked, I've been to brick lane 5-6 times before and never encountered any problems until Aladin. I called the police. We walked away before the police came but it was only because there were people around they even let us go.

Very scary. Very terrible. Never had this on brick lane ever before.

Elise12345 (7 reviews)
Brisbane, Australia
Helpful

Sorry one thing that you should be aware of is that Aladin's are clearly advertising on the front of their restaurant that they are part of this BBC list in association with h2g2.

And in 3 separate places on their website!

Entry A123823

Thread F47997?thread=8309183&show=20&skip=0#pi10


Web Site http://www.aladinbricklane.co.uk/

It looks to me like this establishment is using our Entry as an endorsement, and from the thread I think we might want to remove this restaurant from the Entry, and perhaps ask our name be removed from their website?



F S

Thank you all.

I've removed the section regarding this restaurant. I don't see h2g2 named on the website, but I will refer to NPL for any further advice.

I'm unsure why but the entry can still be seen through Google with Aladin's still on it. Here's the link in case it helps.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ptop/A123823

Best

Hi Anon

Thanks for that link. Looks like the BBC kept a copy of h2g2 as at July 2011 in its archive... Fascinating...

NPL may have more advice indeed, but it could be that it is a matter for the BBC to look into...