Shanghai surprise: Limp service at Element Fresh
Providing a stellar example of a Shanghai transplant underwhelming the Beijing food and beverage scene, Element Fresh in Sanlitun Village seems determined to lower the service bar in our fair city. Given the reputation of this place and its fairly high prices, the poor performance of its staff and management is astounding. I base this statement on five visits, four of them disappointing, and emails and comments from readers complaining about the place.
Take today: I arrived with an acquaintance for a late breakfast meeting. We decided to sit outside and checked, in Mandarin, if there were any sockets on the deck so we could plug in a laptop. Yes, said the waitress, and delivered us unto a table.
The issue: My prong didn’t fit the socket, so I asked for an adapter. We don’t have one, said she. Yes, you do, said I, because I used it two days ago. This led to a staff scrum followed by this announcement: we don’t want you to use that socket as it would require turning on the power on the deck, and thus the lights, and cost too much money. What!?
We moved to a second table. It had a socket, but again it didn’t match my prong. This time, the waitress found an adaptor, but because the socket was in a well, the prongs wouldn’t reach. I told the waitress this fact, but I guess she didn’t believe me because she took the adaptor and tried to jam it into the socket to the point of pounding it with her palm.
Needless to say, that didn’t work. The normally overly keen staff hovered in the distance and seemed unsure what to do, and it appeared we would have to shift to a third table, EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME TWO DAYS AGO IN THIS PLACE.
On that occasion, I talked to one of the managers, as I had about a month earlier, and offered to BUY some smaller adaptors if Element Fresh would reimburse me. They did not take up the offer and it seems did not bother to buy and test some themselves, which I find strange given that times are tough, this is a new place, and you would think the laptop crowd would be one of their niche markets.
Rather than move again, I relayed my disgruntlement to what I assume to be two owners or at least managers (sitting there the entire time), apologized to my friend, and took her and my money elsewhere. We ate sandwiches at Panino Teca and drank coffee at Le Petit Gourmand, two places that are just as good, if not better, and offer lower prices and more efficient service.
Frankly, Element Fresh came to Beijing with a solid reputation. It offers a nice layout, big food portions, and potential as an office away from the office. The staff is friendly enough, but the training focus seems to have been on annoying keenness and glaring ineffectiveness. My experiences, and those of numerous readers and acquaintances, suggest this place is blowing its chance.
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The exact same thing happened to me here. Went with a friend on a sunny afternoon and asked to sit outside. Plugged our laptops in on the deck, only to find that there was no power to the outside outlets. Asked one waiter if he could turn on the lights outside, he said he would check and get back to us. Not only did he not come back to our table, but he walked by us approximately 6 more times trying not to make eye contact. Asked another waitress who said we could move inside if we wanted power. Finally got the manager to turn on the outside lights, but at this point my anger and frustration had ruined lunch and my mood.
Been 3 times, with terrible service all 3. I wanted so much to love Element Fresh, as I used to love going there in Shanghai, but it’s really been disappointing me with their lack of capable waitstaff. Here’s to hoping they shape it up.
Wow. I lived and owned a business in Thailand for a couple of years, and damn if that story didn’t make me laugh and nod my head in memory of many of my experiences all over Asia. That part about her trying to pound in the plug? Fucking hysterical. That was one of those ‘been there, done that’ moments.
Keep up the good work/good luck/take a lot of deep breaths and all that.
I’ve not had any problems with the waitstaff at Element Fresh, though I haven’t tried to plug anything in there either. Just another proof that if you go looking for sleek Shanghai service in Beijing you’re sure to be disappointed.
Food is good, some items excellent. Tastes remain true to its SH origins.
One point, though, of which I hope EF takes note:
You need to thoroughly whisk eggs BEFORE scrambling them!
Ow. Element Fresh gets a good slapping from the Boyce.
Do they do that other Shanghai service favourite: refusing not to speak their terrible English and screwing up your order when you’ve given multiple signals that you’re Chinese is good enough to solve the problem? Paul is the current champion of that one down here in China’s finest city.
@Andrew spot on. The “refusing to believe you and then trying stupid ways to get around an unsolvable problem” approach must be something they train Chinese wait staff at F&B school I’ve seen it so many times.
@ Emma,
What confused and then annoyed me is that the staff sat us there when our specific request was to use a socket. The thing is, this kind of problem didn’t happen once, or twice, but almost every time I have gone there.
Cheers, Boyce
@ Andrew,
I told my acquaintance that there is no way these guys are going to just accept that the adapter does not fit, they are going to try for themselves, but to be fair I predicted as least three people would try to fit it to the socket and it turned out to be only one.
Cheers, Boyce
@ Jingbo,
Frankly, I find the staff annoyingly keen. I think you can find plenty of good service in Beijing but it tends to be more common in Chinese restaurants than “Western” ones.
Cheers, Boyce
@ Phil,
Nope, we talked to the staff in English and Chinese. I think the employees are quite nice, but it feels like they are a bit lost and that to me means a problem in the chain of command and with the training.
Cheers, Boyce
I linked this post to my Facebook page. Here are some of the comments people left there about Element Fresh. I’ve removed people’s names for reasons of privacy:
“They had a super busy Sunday as well, and I think they are not ready for a full restaurant yet, and we ended up spending more than 1 hour waiting for our food.”
“Boyce, nice work on Element Fresh. I haven’t even gotten there yet and now I don’t want to go. How about doing a wrap (no pun intended) of the recent Shanghai entrants to the Beijing market and how they’re faring?”
“waited 75 minutes for a meal at Element Fresh on Sunday… 75 minutes for rediculously bland food…”
“i LOVE the place… every singe time i have been there they have taken too long with our food and keep giving us coupons for free smoothies…bthe food is tops though… just make sure you order a starter so that you dont starve before it arrives.bi guess it really depends what you order… the chicken tandoori wrap is excellent, the steak at … Read Morediner time is fantastic, the pumpkin soup is delightful, the Vietnamese rolls are stupendous, the chocolate dessert is heaven.
“Hey.. I haven’t gotten any smoothie vouchers!! I was there on Sunday.. as well.. they are clearly understaffed.. why is it that they have 3 hostesses (standing at the door in their mismatched sweatshirts)?? when they are clearly short of competent wait staff?”
“sorry ###, but have we really lowered our standards to such an extent that we think THAT is good food? it’s just about the blandest, white-bread food i’ve ever had. i had the tandoori wrap (75 minutes later) and thought, for the money (and my time) I’m at the Taj Pavillion any day over this shambles of a restaurant. Element Fresh might LOOK … Read Morecool (oooh, plants…..ooooh, blonde wood…), but the food and service (um…the main reasons I go to a restaurant) are a resounding zero….
Based on two visits, I don’t like the place either. Food was OK, but nothing special and service was not very attentive. What made me finally decide not come back, though, is the fact that they told me they would have fapiao ready in a week, but when I checked two weeks later, they told me to come back again in two days… It may be difficult to get a fapiao machine, but other places manage to tell you they won’t have it ready for some time and offer to send the fapiao if you leave an address. No such luck at Element Fresh in Sanlitun.
Just to be contrarian, if I were running a restaurant like Element Fresh (gotta be astronomical rent, not many tabletops and soon to be a lot fewer once the weather gets cold and the deck can’t be used), I’d want to make laptoppers uncomfortable.
Many net surfers will sit alone on a table for 4 and order one thing and stay for extended periods of time.
(of course others will order full meals like Beijing Boyce … but you gotta admit, it’s rare to see a table of 4 laptoppers sitting together, surfing the net and ordering full meals … if only because there are so few electrical outlets in most spots … bookworm must be plagued by that, but then again they seem to have a lot more tables and they must have lower rent)
What I’d do is set up a bar-like area (kind of like that big table at bookworm) and ask all solo surfers to sit there, and make it nice and comfy for them with plenty of electric outlets and other accoutremonts so I can get their business while also attempting to fully utilize the dining tables i have by filling them with parties of 2 or more there to eat.
Funny thing is, the service is great at Element Fresh in Shanghai. The place has been Beijing-i-fied, from sometimes undercooked food to lazy service.
@ levan,
I have heard the service at Element Fresh has improved and a lot of people do rave about the food. Planning to return and check it out again.
Cheers, Boyce