Roka Restaurant

[karaokemark]

quote:Originally posted by johnlin

We ate at Roka for the 1st time tonight and were disappointed to say the least.  The venue is good and the staff are friendly and efficient, however the food is poor.  We were given bread and salad to start but the 'butter' was definitely margarine with a bit of garlic!  Calamari not cooked at a high enough temperature so was soggy and greasy and had no salad or lemon with it, tartare sauce good though.  I had a turkish shrimp casserole which was undercooked and not hot (I've had the same thing in other places and it was tasty, hot with lovely melted cheese) cold rice and veg to accompany.  My husbands steak was rare when he asked for medium/ well. Bearing in mind the cost was on the dear side we would not go here again. Why do people put up with poor quality food and still go back again and again, wise up folks it's your hard earned cash you're spending!

We use the Roka very often and I would never put up with poor quality food. like ronzeus says we have seen and heard it all before.
Mark

[Scunner]

Well spotted Ron.

My big book of records show Johnlin first joined in 2006 as johnr. He wasn't slagging Roka off back then of course, he was slagging off George's chinese (first post then actually). It's hard to say much more, as half of his 10 posts in 2006/07 were deleted for various reasons. What did they say when you told them about the margarine/soggy calamari/undercooked shrimp casserole/cold rice/underdone steak? You do sound very unlucky I must say

Welcome back John

[julesbob0303]

The Roka is our "local" restaurant and we have eaten there many times since it first opened.  

We've never had a bad meal.  Slow service once or twice (on very busy summer evenings), and one night, my daughter was given the wrong meal.  She didn't mind and got stuck in!  Within seconds, it was grabbed from her, with many apologies!  Her ordered meal arrived a short while later, and we were all given deserts, coffees and amoretto as "compensation" (not that we even complained!)  

A fab restaurant - no complaints at all.  

[johnlin]

I get the feeling negative comments are not well received so will just make sure our very numerous contacts, friends and relatives know how poor the food was.  People from UK are often used to putting up with bad food as many of the pubs/restaurants get away with serving ready made microwaved dishes and they go down well.  Shame really as there are excellent places here and in England if you know where to look for them.
British cuisine is not well recognised generally for variety, quality or tradition and has descended into a mish mash of ready meals takeaways and frozen stuff so people don't have much experience of weel prepared food

[Scunner]

I have never been to Roka but I am prepared to accept the MANY positive reviews and comments from people who are regular on this forum and have been for years. I can imagine any one of your complaints being true (well actually, I can't for a minute think they gave you margerine rather than butter) - but it is totally unlikely that EVERY part of BOTH your meals was shoddy. Your contributions here have only been negative comments about restaurants, so you don't come across as the most balanced of reviewers! Dozens of individuals praising this restaurant or one new member turning up out of the blue and claiming that every last thing was below acceptable standard, hang on it's a hard one to weight up...ah yes...

In short, it isn't that negative comments are not well received here, it's the fact that I simply don't believe you.

[Scunner]

And as longer term members have said in this very topic, we've seen it all before [yawn]

[pookie]

quote:Originally posted by johnlin

British cuisine is not well recognised generally for variety, quality or tradition and has descended into a mish mash of ready meals takeaways and frozen stuff so people don't have much experience of weel prepared food

   how damn rude !

[Scunner]

Obviously they can't afford to eat in the right British restaurants

Mind you, I've never had "weel prepared" food, that could well be a mish mash if the weel is going round too fast.

[Jenny1]

Johnlin, to say people from the UK don't know the difference between good/bad food is very insulting.
If you want to post ignorant comments and insults, and expect people to accept them, you're on the wrong forum
Just my opinion.

[Scunner]

No it isn't just your opinion Jenny.