Ishtar Restaurant

I am really disappointed with the service my group and I received from Ishtar Marylebone.

In summary, in August we booked the private dining area for a hen party scheduled for Sat 5th October. We spoke to a worker called Monika several times, and even went to the venue to view it with Monika. During our discussion with Monika she mentioned as we were only using the venue for 4 hours, and agreed to leave before their busy period at 7pm, we would not have a minimum spend.
Monika told us there was another booking of 40 people at 7pm, and we had to be out of the venue by then.

We proceeded to arrange the hen party for 19 people and agreed the above terms.

As agreed, the week of the hen, we sent our pre-order to Ishtar, only to be told by the manager Eljin that we had to have a minimum spend and could not order from the menu we agreed with Monika (bear in mind we had already gathered the pre-order from the group of 19 people). We explained to Eljin that this is not what Monika told us. He said as Monika was off until 4th October, a day before the hen, we had to wait until then to clear this up.

We spoke to Monika on the 4th, a day before the hen and she completely denied our arrangements. The manager Eljin was being very rude over the phone, talking over me, telling me I changed the terms, and just generally having an attitude, he was not helpful and clearly did not want to come to some sort of arrangement to allow us to use the venue.

I asked Eljin to think about the sitaution logically, why would we book a group of 19 people, and change the terms a day before the hen, it wouldn't make any sense for us to deliberately jeopardise our booking, we had nothing to gain by doing this, but had everything to loose. Eljin  continued to be rude and talk over me. Eljin told me the restaurant is busy, I should find somewhere else to go, and I'm changing the terms of what was agreed. He said Monika has worked for Ishtar for 7 years and would not have agreed these terms. He refused to think about the situation logically or even consider that Monika did in fact agree these terms, as we had nothing to gain by lying about this a day before the hen.
Whenever I tried to explain the chronology of events, he would talk over me, at one point I had to ask him to allow me to finish talking, which he didn't do.

Monika's response to the sitaution was to tell us she will refund our deposit and "see if you find anywhere else to accommodate you".

I believe Monika and Eljin deliberately did this to try to force us into spending more than what we agreed. They left it until the week of, and the day before the hen to bring this up. In addition Monika's comment was very spiteful knowing we had booked the private dining area well in advance for the hen, and would be unlikely to find another venue to accommodate a group of 19 people at such short notice.

I am unclear as to why Monika could not be honest about our agreement, and I wonder if she is afraid of Eljin and felt she had to lie after agreeing these terms with us. This would not surprise me given the way Eljin spoke to me. If he speaks to his staff in this manner, it would explain why Monika felt she could not be honest with him.

Ishtar absolutely reuined our friend's hen, she was gutted when she found it was cancelled.

The above was very disappointing, I am flabbergasted that my group and I were treated this way the day before the hen. Ishtar ruined our friend's hen party. Their behaviour was absolutely disgusting.

We expected better communication and support, especially considering Ishtar's reputation. We were left feeling frustrated and undervalued as customers. It's disappointing to see such a lack of care.

We will not be returning to Ishtar anytime soon, and I wouldn't recommend anyone books the private dining at Ishar for special occassions as they will probably let you down a day before your event too!