The Elephant in Bedford - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Lovely atmosphere, food and friendly staff.

One of the worst ‘service experience’ l have ever had. Initially let me say the food was very good. The service abysmal. There was an offer on a free bottle of wine per table - the table of two by us received this offer. Our table of 9 was told ‘it was an offer of one bottle per table’ - we were told by the server ‘ IT WAS BETTER THAN NO FREE WINE’. As a table we spent £300+ maybe more than a table of 2 for their FREE WINE!! The service was slow and surly. And at the end of the evening we had to ASK to pay the bill as the two staff were in deep conversation. Not a good experience- please drop in if you want to be ignored or told how lucky you are to be in there. An experience l will ensure l and the friends l talk to will be assured to avoid AT ALL COSTS.

£4.50 for delivery and no free prawn crackers. Food was good.

We called to ask about gluten free options and nothing was too much trouble!! A very lovely lady went through all the menu items we wanted to order and checked the allergens for each item, changed up the sauce in some items to ensure flavour wasn’t compromised and everything arrived very tasty ☺️ great service!! Thank you!! xxx

even though it was late the food was piping hot and tasted delicious, thank you, late but certainly worth the wait

First time ordering from here, very impressed, i will be coming back for more👌

Used app to ask restaurant for text update due to lateness. No text. Called them and waited for call back. Food arrived and was incredibly dry and cold. No gesture of good will for good service either.

Bland bland bland honestly left a poor taste really disappointing as we are previously enjoyed

Always hot, great flavour, no complaints at all

Didn’t get my free bottle of wine or drink

Messed the order up.Food nothing special

excellent! delivered exactly on time, driver called me (house is difficult to find) and food was tasty. thank you

First time ordered, good portions, hot, and the duck and chicken dishes were excellent.

one of the worst takeways I have ever had.obviosly reheated from yesterday or worse.threw most in bin .will not be ordering from here ever again

I love eating at this restaurant, I eat it almost every week 🤗

Great to have Chinese and Thai options from the same place. Have been ordering from here for 10+ years always really good. A great amount of vegetables in the vegetarian options, not just lots of water chestnuts and onions like some places. Only feedback would be we ordered £40 worth of food, would have loved some free prawn crackers!

Ordered food and it clearly says that you should put any allergies etc in this box. I did and asked for no peppers, they claimed that they didn’t receive it. They were rude and refused to make it right. Never ordering from them again.

We ordered takeaway last night after dining here previously and it was absolutely delicious! Our favourite Chinese/Thai restaurant in Bedford, the chicken wings and Pad Thai are particularly amazing!

Disappointed poor quality of food, my last order was on edible. I basically spent £40 for me to throw away. After reaching out to them. They do not want to take any accountable.

Lovely place to eat. Go here all the time for Chinese takeaway. Lovely food and lovely service. Quick and easy collection and friendly staff

Sadly not at all worth the wait. Glutinous, over sweet and cold.

My order didn’t arrive they took the money and didn’t deliver

The staff is lovely i enjoyed my overall experience and time at the restaurant they were all so welcoming, which was topped off by the food!!

Utterly disappointing experience. Will never eat here again. Didn't end up with any food because they were charging almost £20 more than the advertised prices on Just Eat for a telephone order. Absolute disgrace and I'll be speaking to Trading Standards.

I don’t normally like to write bad reviews but this is really disappointing. First time ordering from this restaurant and I decided to call instead of using just eat. When they gave me the total price of my order it was completely different to just eat, a lot more expensive just for calling. I placed the order, waited just over an hour which was fine because they told me it would be an hours wait. When the food arrived, some of it was hot and some cold. The salt and pepper bean curd was greasy, to the point oil was dripping out and freezing cold, no flavour - had to throw in the bin. The rest of the order was ok, but I expected a lot more considering it was so expensive. I won’t order here again and wouldn’t recommend.

Absolute joke well over hour en half late all food turned up cold. And said no to a refund. With everything being as expensive as it is at the moment a cheeky treat for me and kids ended up with cold food and no money

the meal was cold and meat fatty. the coke drink was warm.

I never expect too much from takeaways these days but we were all really pleasantly surprised. The order came a little earlier than expected. It came hot and was really tasty.

Possibly the worst Chinese I have ever ordered especially for the price. Good quality was just poor. We ordered butterfly prawns that came burnt to the point I had to call the restraint and get them to redelivered . No idea how that was even allowed to be packed in that state. Just overall an awful experience with food,

courier apologised saying they were exceptionally busy,but wasn't a problem for us.

Ordered over £85 worth of food at 8pm this evening. It is now 10.15pm food has still not arrived. Called the resturant several times to be told it will be there in 15 minutes, called again Lady said she would call the driver and call me back, no call back. Tried calling a load more times no answer. Partner has now had to drive to the resturant to find out where our food is. Not acceptable. Will never order from here again! Service is absolutely shocking!!!

Best Place so far. Really tasty food, friendly service

We received incorrect order so had to try to correct this

Restaurant with good options, enough quantity to feel satisfied with a meal, delicious flavor, very good appearance. I feel like there is love in the preparation! Congratulations

best chinese i've ever had in my life! just on time. thanks to the driver for driving 25 minutes for it. was still hot when it got here!

This restaurant changed hands a while ago. All the Chinese staff have been replaced. The new management needs to get a grip. The quality of the food has gone badly downhill, the service is hopeless and unfriendly. There were 3 tables occupied when we visited but our food took ages to arrive, allegedly because they were "busy". When our food did arrive it did so over an extended period. By the time my main was out on the table the rice, which had been sitting there for over 20 minutes, was dry and cold. I politely refused to pay for the rice, which I didn't eat, and the reaction of the staff was such that you would have thought I was being unreasonable. We have been coming here for years and years, but won't be going back.

food wasn't great, most cold and bland, tp dry even with sauce. But the delivery driver was very nice and the food was delivered on time.

Food took two hours to arrive from time of order. The Just Eat app showed it as delivered after 55 mins, restaurant confirmed it was wrong and was on the way. When it arrived 2 hours after ordering there were 3 items - a third of the order - missing. Called the restaurant and they said they'd send it straight out. 30 mins later it hadn't arrived and we had finished eating so I called back and asked for a refund at this point. Gutted as we used to love this place.

Good food but the service and atmosphere was terrible. Been coming here since its opening night and today ( Friday ) at 8pm we thought we’d pop along. We hadn’t booked but we chanced it. We were the only customers, which is surprising as Bedford/Kempston doesn’t have many good Chinese restaurants and we did class this as our favourite. We tried to order a rose wine ( only one on the menu ) but they had none. They only had one rose on the menu. So somebody clearly can’t control their stock levels. So we settled on a white. It took 3 staff members to remove the cork from the bottle. The server seemed puzzled when we said we would like to try the wine, however it was a really nice white rioja. We ordered the food and as always it was lovely. Could not fault it. The biggest problem was the staff. There seemed to be no passion or engagement. None of the regular staff were there from previous visits and the atmosphere was not the same. It really felt it had been taken over and the staff had no training. Such a shame. To us good service is a very important part of the meal, as is the atmosphere. If you like good Chinese I’d recommend as our food as always was good but be prepared for some service issues, hence the low rating. Will give it ago again and hopefully give it a 5 star review it deserves.

Absolutely appalling! Driver arrived early by1 hour and intimidated my wife as she was alone with my children on my way home from work.. absolutely appalling, worst place ever do not use!!!!

Arrived piping hot, very tasty, with lots of crunchy vegetables, 😉

We ordered takeaway but the atmosphere was so still lovely and the staff members were very friendly and they even gave us drinks on the house whilst we waited for our food. The food was delicious and still piping hot when we got home. I highly highly highly recommend the kaeng massaman, pad thai and their coconut rice, as well as they green pepper beef and black bean sauce!

Nice food, but was an hour and a half late. Ordered at 7.45pm and arrived at 10.15pm. With no apology, would have expected at least prawn crackers chucked in for the ridiculous wait, but nothing. Very annoyed!

Over 2 hours late!! Turned order away!! Tried calling restaurant serval times and no answer!! Awful service!! Do not order from this restaurant!!

The order was over one hour late when it got here, it was cold. The phone number just went straight to answerphone. Tried making a complaint through the app and they just kept telling me I had to wait another 20 minutes

Been going here for years due the the excellent food quality and flavour. Recently had a takeaway that was awful. There was no flavour and everything tasted the same. Egg fried rice was brown with no trace of egg and very dry! Left with an oil taste and felt lethargic afterwards. I notice that the usual staff weren't there, has it changed hands? Will have to find another takeaway now!

Takeaway. Very slow, wasn't ready despite people coming in after me having ordered for later pick up. Have to suspect was ready as spring roll cold and chewy, prawn balls cold and overdone. Staff were very frazzled but they were polite

Went in for mother's day. Food was fairly good apart from my lamb was undercooked. The flavours were fairly average if I'm honest. I've been there a few yrs ago and they were better back then. The biggest issue I found though was they just need to chill out a bit. Servers are circling you like hawks the whole time, every two mins you're asked if you want another drink. After a while it just drives you nuts as you can't relax. It's a lovely restaurant with bags of good points just let down by the chaos in there to try and turn the tables round quickly. I would go again and hopefully they'll take in board my comments

Absolutely amazing as usual.The staff was excellent, quick service and nice food. Definitely will come again.

Over 2 hours late for delivery and cold food, the delivery drive was quite rude

Ordered a takeaway which already had a 90mins delivery wait for me and my guests. After 2hrs, I called to be told it's on the way, with no apologies offered. Another 30mins passed with no signs of it turning up or updates. I called again to ask what was going on, to be told 'it's on the way,' I explained my guests are having to leave shortly and I will be left with 6 ppls worth of food and my guests will leave hungry(including kids), what are they going to offer me. 'We can't offer you anything' was what I was told. I asked her to speak to her manager. She comes back to tell me, 'it's on the way and we can't offer you anything, but will call the driver'. The delivery driver then turns up after the taxi for my guests arrive(the taxi, very kindly offered to wait 15mins so they could at least eat something). Food scoffed, with no time for dessert. Not even offered discount/refund/vouchers for our extremely long wait by the restaurant. And, they didn't even throw in any Prawn Crackers, knowing the wait was extremely long. AND, to top it off, I paid £5.00 for this >2.5hrs delivery service. Absolutely shocking way to treat their customers. Recommend you try any other of the Chinese restaurants before this one.

First time ordering from here and although the food wasn’t totally terrible, I won’t be going back given the choice elsewhere. The salt and chilli prawns were luke warm and chewy, perhaps sitting in an airtight container for too long. We also had bbq ribs and special fried rice…. Both were pretty good and the temperature was ok.

Due 20:10-20:30, arrived 21:42 following 2 calls and as we were calling to cancel. Will not be ordering from here again

35 min wait time, however arrived after 1hr 45 mins. Wouldn’t have picked from here if they had noted the correct timings. Strange smell to it. Very disappointed.

I waited over two hours for my food

Pop by to have a quick lunch. The food tasted good, it came out quick as well. Good service. They still provide complimentary prawn crackers despite I just ordered one dish for a quick lunch. Overall, a good experience.

Not very happy as food was missing from my order.

Food was alright nothing special but was late by 45 minutes so yea won’t be going there again.

My food was supposed to be here between 2115 and 2130, however now at 2210, after 2 unanswered phonecalls I have nothing. The message on the justeat page is how was your meal indicating that they somehow believe I have received my order?!

Said it would be delivered at 7:50 or 8:10 but it got delivered at 9:05 and had to phone the restaurant multiple times and they kept putting down the phone and putting me on hold for 15 minutes before the line went really disappointing.

Regrettably the app had suggested a 35-45min eta but it was over an hour once the order was placed to when it actually arrived. The rice had spilt in the bag as the lid had come off, and the meal was barely warm. Very dissatisfied and disappointed

Food was cold, one item was incorrect, delivery was late and when I called, the lady tried telling me that I live an hour away from the restaurant. £5 delivery charge for an 11 minute journey too. I won’t be ordering from here again

Stupidly late. Hot, average quality

£15 seafood pad Thai with seafood sticks. Do i need to say more?

Dumplings were alright, chicken balls felt barely cooked as the meat was wet and stringy

Called to ask where food was and couldn't make any sense of what I was told.

order delivered to wrong place

We have always loved eating here but got delivery for the first time and was so disappointed.. 1.5 hours late delivery and kept being told “ driver is 5 mins away” such ashame the customer service was so bad and lady even laughed when we asked for discount as compensation.. will not be ordering from here again! We’re only down the road! :(

Food was great and tasted very good. Delivery took an extra 25 mins. Forgot to give the Half duck in pancake which I called up about. They apologised and sent it out straightaway - well worth the wait! Very good quality!

Missed off a central dish by the time it arrived everything was cold, ruined what was a nice evening

Disappointed, food was cold on arrival and over all just not good quality chicken was rubbery and chewy. Noodles tasted burnt. Won’t be ordering again unfortunately

food is lovely. sent me wrong dish but very quickly rectified it by sending the correct dish. food lovely and hot. highly recommended

My advice not to order in this place! The order was placed 18:48, and based on info it should be delivered by 20:00! I am writing this comment 20:58!! I have called few times to ask where the order, the reply was:”in 5 min”- no reliable place!

Food was stone cold on arrival and chicken looked undercooked

Over an hour late? Special 40th birthday treat for myself, very disappointed 😔 normally one of my favourite takeaways….also got hung up on when I asked if it was on its way?

Very disappointed. My order was over an hour late and on the 2 occasions I called the restaurant to ask for an update they kept insisting that the driver was 5 mins away. Food arrived Luke warm and soggy. Will not be ordering from here again

Delivery over an hour late & food wasn’t very hot

Nearly 2 hours for delivery and food arrived Luke warm

Over an hour late and hence all food cold

£3 refund on a £40 order for being half an hour late is laughable, no communication about the order being delayed either - clearly no idea how to run a delivery service and keep customers updated.

Initially, the app showed as delivered when it hadn't been. I Rang and was told it would be 15 - 20 minutes still didn't arrive. Took 2hrs, and when it arrived was lukewarm and were given the wrong noodle dish and ended up with a spicy alternative which we were unable to eat. I have been told I will be getting £3 refunded which doesn't even cover the cost of a dish. Customer service was shocking and will not be using it again.

Our meal was cold on arrival. Almost one hour later than the estimated scheduled time. When I called the restaurant, they just responded with we are busy. Disappointed and hungry young children.

Great food. Good portions - one my favourite Thai places for sure. Definitely will come again.

Disappointed with the slow delivery but the food was really nice so we will most probably order again and collect it!

Only 1 curry sauce and ordered 4

Ordered quite a few items and unfortunately one was missing.

Pork balls where black inside and chips were unsalted and stale noodles unseasoned

Nice food but laid for an item that was not received

food was cold and delivery was just over an hour and a half. system wasn't updated to show order status. phoned was told food on its way right now but was well over another 20mins. rice was cold, hard and dry. not a great meal wouldn't recommend sadly.

Food was all cold. Very disappointing. Not your usual standard. 😒

Had the most wonderful vegetarian dinner with lovely attentive staff. The salt and pepper asparagus is a-maz-ing!!! Fun atmosphere. Highly recommend Big thanks

The Thai green curry is amazing and attention to detail with lime leaves, very authentic taste, and the cucumbers beautifully carved. The pad Thai prawns were burnt, so there could be some improvement there

Tasty food; reasonable prices; nice, clean and spacy restaurant; nice, friendly and helpful staff; nice, very clean and very spacy toilets that can accommodate a few users at the same time; NO extra 10% service charge typical of other Chinese restaurants.

The delivery window was 45 to 50 minutes. Food was very expensive, a complete main course was missing, and we had difficulty being understood, we didn’t want to add it to our next order, we wanted it now as it was someone’s main meal. Really poor quality, crispy chicken with sweet chilli sauce very expensive for basically a sliced fillet with a bit of sauce. Not worth the £60.

Lovely service, atmosphere not great but that was due to us eating early and being the only customers. Food was okay, not exceptional but nice enough.

Food was not good bland cold rice was undercooked chicken was fried soo much was chewy noodles were soo greasy no flavour unacceptable

Food was fast, hot and tasty - everything you need from a takeaway

Absolutely delicious takeaway from The Elephant, arrived earlier than expected which was great, everything nice and hot & really tasty, first time ordering a takeaway from here & definitely won’t be the last.

Late delivery, Missing food and food was cold

The food tasted amazing, really nice, unfortunately the meal was ruined by the fact the order was wrong, we had ordered noodles as part of the meal and we got rice, we already ordered rice with the meal,