Feeling like some Spanish cuisine over the weekend, i went to Azul to check out their dinner with my girlfriend. What a terrible decision that turned out to be!

First we knew something was wrong when we sat down and the table next to us walked out of the restaurant due to a ridiculously long wait for their drinks (after reading the previous review of Azul, i believe it was them).
To be honest we should have have taken more note of our neighbouring table & guests and left too, however we decided to stick it out in the hope that we wouldn't get as bad service as them. Oh how wrong we were!

Our 2 sangrias took 20 minutes to arrive, and then were served with a bang and a thud on the table by the (who i think was) the Chinese assistant restaurant manager. The sangria is pathetic and possesses hardly any alcohol and almost half is ice - bleh.

We ordered 4 tapas to start, but were told after 5 mins that they had all sold out and the only tapas left were 2 different chicken tapas a beef and a salmon. So not being fussy we just accepted these 4 as replacements.
It was a further 30 mins until we got our tapas of which again was just dumped on our table with no word. I cant even remember what it tasted like it was so mediocre and bland.
After finishing our tapas it took 15 mins for somebody to clear them away & then a further 20 mins for our mains of a seafood rice and a beef to appear.

During this time the foreign (i think Spanish) restaurant manager was running around all the tables & apologising for the slow service and was in fact doing his best to stop a mass walkout, since all the customers were complaining. He later explained to us that they were totally backed up with orders, and even their owner had gone into the kitchen to help cook.
To make up for this he offered us free flow sangria and free desserts. It was only due to this man that we continued to stay and wait for our food.

Eventually the mains came and the beef was just OK, but the fries were cold, and the seafood rice was nearly inedible since they massively undercooked the seafood so it tasted like rubber.
We quickly gave up on the mains and waited for them to be cleared and to be given the dessert menu. This took another 15 mins.

Due to the nature of our now incredibly low appetites we only went for one dessert, the Peruvian flan. However, once our order had been taken by the again rude and nasty Chinese assistant restaurant manager, the nice Spanish restaurant manager came flying over to remind us we could order another dessert on the house - kudos to him for the effort! So we ordered a mango tart.

When they came, both were horrible, they tasted like cheese cake but had the density of concrete - neither were finished.

After that we settled the bill and ran and left, but notably walking past the rude Chinese assistant restaurant manager who refused to give us eye contact and a farewell.

Honestly this place is terrible, especially the food and the Chinese assistant restaurant manager. The only redeeming feature is the foreign Spanish restaurant manager who did his utmost in trying to appease everybody and cover over the multitude of problems at this restaurant. "Well done to him but BOOOOOOOOOO to everybody else!!

I have always liked AZUL. I always go with friends for brunch , It was great , but my last time there was a bad bad experience, Everything came after we told the waiters 4 times , we had to repeat again and again what we wanted. The food came late , tasting BAD , the bread was old , the salad tasted like nothing , the chicken was tasteless and The worst thing is the decor in this place! it looks like a bad warehouse! and Dont get me started about the BATHROOMS!! there are better bathrooms in the Shanghai railway station!

People of azul , whats going on?

We heard lots of good things about Azul, so were very eager to try it out (our one time out per week, as we have two kids). The greeting was great, but the service was absolutely terrible. Took forever to get menus and then the waiter eventually took our order and promptly no one ever returned to see how we were doing. After 30 minutes I checked in to see how things were progressing (it appeared everyone was getting slow service, and we are from Europe, so this is not unusual), but the wait staff once again totally ignored every responding with status, let alone our drinks, let alone a small bowl of ANYTHING (olives, chips, etc). After another 20 minutes, kind of perturbed, I politely asked the status of our initial order: two drinks, something to wedge for under the table that was wobbly, and just an update on when our food might arrive. Turns out after a long discussion that our order was never entered - even the drinks (there was one feeble attempt to bring us drinks, but those drinks weren't even ours). I'm fluent in Mandarin, Spanish and English, so it wasn't as if something was lost in translation at any stage of the process. Obviously irritated, we just decided to get up and leave.

What gets me is that at any stage they could have just said "sorry, we are busy tonight" quickly thrown down on our table two free glasses of table red wine and a small bowl of ANYTHING, and we probably would have stayed; the menu looked very good. Instead, they let us walk out the door angry. Kind of a big mistake in the hospitality business (you never know exactly who your clients are), but I guess they have too much business in these hey-days of Shanghai.

I will say the decor is very nice, but if you are going in winter try to get a table that is not in the ground floor first 1/3 of the restaurant. There is a massive draft. This they could easily solve by adding one of those heavy curtains around the main door to the street, but seeing as they don't seem particularly customer-focused, I am not surprised this has not been done.

Who knows, maybe we will go back. The service could be due to turnover or lack of staff so soon after Chinese New Year.

Oh, we walked out and went to Glo across the street - UK steaks. Highly recommended. We got our wine 5 minutes after we sat down. So the night was not lost. Fantastic!

Spent ages poring over which restaurant to visit one night, this one seemed ok.

The sitting on the floor thing upstairs sounded cool. Phoned to reserve and see what that was about; 'er sorry, only downstairs available.' Fair enough, but why advertise it.

Arriving there, the decor is nice, if you forget about the toilets in some freezing (January) alleyway with no locks on the doors.

Ordering food, I have no idea why we went to a tapas bar - I disagree with the concept of tapas (sharing but with plates too small to actually share) and this was no exception, the garlic chicken at 60RMB was a total, chewy, fatty, ripoff. You could feed 4 in my local Muslim cafe with better, tastier food, and not be totally hungry. The Burger was dry and very very chewy. The feta and spinach salad was dressed well but very stingy with a total of 4 pieces of feta. Feta is expensive I know, but it's a restaurant - the one place where you should not expect stinginess with ingredients when you know they get a better deal on bulk purchases!

Managed gladly to escape with the bill (which the waitress forgot about, needing a reminder 20 minutes later) not exceeding 100RMB a head.

Not well spent, definitely not returning.

After a disastrous attempt to attend a birthday brunch at Madison, my friends and I went next door to Azul where the hostess was more than accommodating and was willing to take our large party of 10ppl. After waiting for about 20 minutes we were led upstairs and were immediately offered water, scones and muffins.

We then proceeded to order and the service was just fantastic! The food came out very quickly and the servers were both friendly and attentive. I ordered the salad and pork sandwich which was just amazing, juicy and flavorful but not an over-sized portion.

The entire restaurant was at maximum capacity and I was very impressed that they got everyone's order correct and on time, there was not that awkwardness where one person still doesn't have food while everyone else has already started eating.

I have only been to Azul for their brunch but after the nightmare we had next door I can definitely say that this place is still one of the best restaurants in Shanghai.