Terrible Food, Awful Experience, Dishonest Business Practices.

I was drawn into this restaurant because of the separate page on their menu for Vegetarians, and as a vegetarian it is often difficult eating out in Greece other than the usual Greek Salad and Stuffed Tomatoes. It was a pleasant surprise in Corfu to see items on a menu such as a Soya Burger. Unfortunately the food and the experience was very disappointing.

I actually visited on 2 consecutive evenings, and would have perhaps even gone back a 3rd day (despite the terrible food) for a Soya Latte coffee in the morning but the manager /owner was very rude to me and i left after terrible food and feeling completely ripped off.

On the first evening i had a starter of home made Houmous, which was actually quite nice which is why i gave them a second chance on the following evening. My main on the first evening was just awful. I was excited to try the Vegan Moussaka and i felt reassured by the waiter they are very vegetarian friendly in terms of preparing. It was bland, boring and tasteless, and poorly presented. The one strange dominating taste was the overcooked Soya mince. I could taste none of the individual vegetables that made up the dish. Bland and tasteless. The chips were overcooked and did not have have any potatoes left in them, only a layer of hardened oil.

The waiter who brought the bill, a German guy, said after he took my order "I will make everything nice for you" It seemed like a nice touch but after hearing him deliver the same line to every customer it became more robotic.

I decided to give the place another go because I thought that there aren't many ways you can get a Soya burger wrong, well Aladinos did in fact get it wrong! Worldwide, from Alaska to Ankara to Amsterdam, it is generally known and acceptable how a burger style meal should be presented, but not at Aladinos. 3 or 4 mushy chunks of Soya were poorly presented on a plate next to some soggy fries, a bit of salad and dollop of Houmous. The 'Soya Burger' was bland and tasteless. The salad and humus did nothing to liven it up.

Waiting for the bill was an absolute horror show. I asked three times and the third time i asked the German guy and he said yes ok i get if for you but instead he went outside to try and drag other customers in.

As an experienced traveler, and on this trip it was actually my 4th week in Greece so i know that it's always best to pay in the local currency. On being presented with their card terminal i even said "in euros yeah?" as i always do when using my card.

I have an app associated with this card and I get an instant notification when i use it. To my bitter disappointment the manager had taken the money in Pounds (GBP). I showed her this straight away on the statement on my app but she went on to say that they have 2 card terminals and this is the way its always been with that terminal.

On the receipt it clearly states "I ACCEPT I HAVE BEEN GIVEN A CHOICE OF CURRENCIES FOR PAYMENT & THAT MY CHOICE IS FINAL. I ACCEPT THE FINAL EXCHANGE RATE INCLUDING MARKUP, THE FINAL AMMOUNT & THAT THE SELECTED TRANSACTION CURR. IS GBP. TODAY'S DCC SERVICE AND RATES ARE PROVIDED BY EURONET. CARDHOLDER COULD HAVE PAID IN MERCHANTS PRICING CURRENCY (EIR).

This proves that Grand Aladino is dishonest towards their customers as i was not given the choice and the management tried to lie their way out of it.

Holidaymakers are often given the choice between paying in pounds or euros when using a debit or credit card in Europe, either for withdrawing cash or in shops and restaurants.

If you get it wrong it could add as much as £30 on a €200 transaction. When you choose to pay in euros your bank or credit card company work out the currency conversion for you. If you opt to pay in the pound then this calculation, known as the dynamic currency exchange, is left up to the foreign bank, shop or restaurants bank. It means you could end up paying a much worse rate. This adds easily gained profit.

Admittedly with the cost of my meal, I've possibly paid only 2 more euros than i should do, but this is a matter of principle and with the pound very weak because of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, every penny and indeed every cent counts. In the UK, the saying goes look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves, but Aladinos took this right away from me with their dishonest business practices.

Whilst i remained polite throughout the whole ordeal, as i walked out the manager shouted at me very rudely, "Don't worry i respond to every comment if you post any reviews"

I thought well hey, she's clearly had a few bad ones! In anticipation of her response, i invite her to view my Trip Advisor Profile once this is published on there to look at my reviews, which are in fact mostly positive.