Zhongnanhai

I enjoy trying Beijing's vast plethora of dining and drinking establishments, and once wrote a restaurant review column for Beijing Today magazine. I'm no culinary expert, and seeing as they were paying me peanuts, I decided to bail on the endeavor not long after it began (the magazine wouldn't even pay for the meal!). Also, as much as I love going out to bars around town, I could never compete with one Jim Boyce.

But in the spirit of shared information, I feel I may as well post the following email. I have dined at the Pavilion in Beijing twice without any problems. That being said, this email is written by a major media personality in Beijing, in my judgment, is a credible witness. You can certainly make up your own minds.

I just thought I would fill you in on my last experience at The Pavilion. It's a bit long, but well worth the read.

Let me first say that I have regularly frequented this bar since it opened.

OK. So, I arrived with some friends on Saturday evening at 6.50pm, just in time to grab a couple of happy hour drinks and sit back and enjoy the evening. After collecting our drinks at 6.55pm, we headed outside to find a table. Consuming two courses and many drinks, as well as inviting quite a few friends to join us (who also consumed food and many drinks) we decided to leave The Pavillion at 1.30am and headed to the cashier to pay the bill.

Checking the bill I noticed that we hadn't been credited our original happy hour drinks. I questioned the bill nicely and was shouted back at with "It says 7.04pm". That was because it took 5 minutes to originally find a table (after greeting some friends), sit down and then give the staff a table number so they could put our 6.50pm purchased drinks on the computer. Anyway, I politely told the lady (the owner Russel's wife, Christine) the situation. She yelled at me saying sarcastically, "Why don't I make the whole bill happy hour prices?" I said that there was no need to take that attitude. ....

The next minute the owner, Russel, came over and started yelling at us. First he called us losers, repeating "This bar is not for losers". Then he said, "If you just came for the happy hour drinks then you are not welcome here" (ignoring the fact that we had been spending money at his bar for over SIX hours). He said "Have you heard of the Bus Bar? It's just across the street. Why don't you go there?"

My friend came back from the bathroom and he shouted at her, "You should know better". Let me point it out that this friend has known Russel for many years and has attended various
functions with him. When she spoke back to him, in disbelief, he said, "Oh, so now you remember my name" (??!!!!) He then approached my other friend who is in the restaurant business. He stood about 5cm away from her face and said "Yes, I know you. Your restaurant is illegal." When she said "What?" in complete astonishment he yelled "Oh, feeling brave
now are we?" He then got all of his staff to come over, pointed at us and said "See these losers, never let them in here again".

I have never in my entire life been spoken to in such a degrading, disrespectful and horrendous way. I can't count the amount of money I have spent in Russel's bar and the number of friends and visitors I have taken there. To treat your loyal customers in such a way is absolutely beyond my comprehension. So, don't give this poor excuse for a human being your hard earned money.

The Pavillion might have a nice garden, but it has a rude, obnoxious, disgusting owner that deserves nothing good in this lifetime. No wonder The Pavillion is going under.