The Verandah: faith in grub2u restored…to a point!
Last night, after the weekends excess boozing, I was in no mood to cook. The truth be known: I’m never in a mood to cook :-) So I logged onto grub2u.com and ordered 2 popadoms (50p each), Chicken Bhuna (£5.25), 2 x Pilau Rice (£1.90 each), Pakoras (£1.95 per portion), Sag Aloo (£2.35) and a plain nan (£1.55) from the Verandah restaurant in Dalry, Edinburgh. This was to share btw. Unlike my previous experience with Lancers Brasserie in Stockbridge, Edinburgh using grub2u the food arrived in good time (just over half an hour) and was piping hot. If The Verandah can manage this then I am not sure why Lancers Brasserie could not.
Everything was delivered with the order, bar 1 pilau rice. I had elected to pay by cash and the very chirpy delivery person had only 1 rice down on the order sheet and so that’s all he’d brought. This worked out quite well as there was so much food!
However, I think the grub2u process breaks down here somewhat. If the order is faxed through or phoned through to the restaurant by an operator this could be where errors are introduced. I’m going to send grub2u an e-mail and ask them how the ordering process works.
My tips are 1) Record what you have ordered and at what price (the website lacks any order history facility and the e-mail it sends does not always contain a list of what you have ordered..yes I think they need to sort this out too) 2) Always elect to pay by cash 3) Check the order throughly on delivery before handing over the dosh
People have asked what’s the point in Internet ordering for takeaway and why not just pick up the phone. Well ones I can think of are:-
- You can view a full menu online for different restaurants without needing leaflets at hand, like a virtual city of restaurants
- The data should be up-to-date
- You don’t need to call up, maybe get an engaged tone, or even worse fail to be understood
- You can schedule delivery in advance
- It’s a very relaxed process where you can take your time with an order
I’m a big fan of progress like this and I hope the grub2u website and the processes behind it evolve to the point of excellent service and reliability. Sort it out!
Oh and the curry… it was very tasty, lots of chicken, nice and fresh; just what I needed to pick me up with the thought of Monday morning at work beginning to cloud my brain!
I still can’t see the point of ordering over the internet! I’m not a technophobe - it’s just I quite like having the spread of leaflets in front of me and then the ability to chat to the person with whom I’m placing the order - usually then any problems with your order can be sorted more easily.