Engel Bar

Dear Sugandh,My name is Kim, and I am the Operations Director at D3 Collective. Engel Bar, which you visited on 16 July, is one of our venues.I have read your review carefully several times. It is clear that you have taken considerable time to reflect on your experience before deciding to share it publicly, even though the visit took place in July. Thank you for taking the time to provide such a detailed account. While I am saddened to read it, I appreciate you sharing your perspective.First and foremost, I sincerely apologise for the standard of service you experienced. Although it was one of the busiest summer evenings of the year, that should never prevent us from delivering attentive, courteous, and respectful service to every guest.From your review, I understand that what has stayed with you is not simply the delay in service, but the way you felt you were treated throughout the interaction. You described feeling dismissed when you approached the bar, overlooked after being told someone would come to your table, and later feeling that the waiter directed his attention, conversation, and eventual apology only to the white member of your group. I am genuinely sorry that this was your experience and that it has continued to affect you months later.You mentioned that our waiter apologised later in the evening but that you felt the apology was not genuine. Regardless of his intention, I accept that it did not leave you feeling heard or respected, and for that I sincerely apologise.I would also like to address your concern regarding discrimination. While I cannot speak to the personal perception you formed from those interactions, I can assure you that discrimination has no place whatsoever within our company. D3 Collective operates with a strict zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination in any form.Our CEO and Founder was born in Sri Lanka, and I was born in Korea. Across D3 Collective, we employ more than 100 people from a wide range of nationalities, ethnicities, religions, cultures, genders, and backgrounds. Diversity is one of our strengths, and we work hard to create an environment where both our guests and our employees feel respected, welcomed, and valued.For that reason, I do not believe that any member of our team would intentionally treat a guest differently because of their race or background. However, I also recognise that your experience led you to feel exactly that, and I do not wish to dismiss those feelings. Your perception of what happened matters, and it is important to us that guests leave our venues feeling respected.Having reviewed the circumstances, it is evident that the waiter recognised his earlier manner had fallen below the standard we expect and returned to apologise. While that demonstrates some awareness on his part, it clearly did not address the impact the interaction had on you or the rest of your group. We expect our team to communicate professionally and respectfully at all times, especially during busy service, and we will continue reinforcing those expectations through training and management.I am truly sorry that this experience has remained unresolved for you and that it has stayed with you each time you have walked past Engel Bar since your visit. That is certainly not the lasting impression we ever want a guest to have of our venue.If you would be willing to discuss your experience further, I would welcome the opportunity to speak with you directly. Please feel free to contact me at kims@d3collective.co.uk or on 07720 740294. I would be happy to listen to your concerns personally and discuss them in more detail.Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience. Your feedback has been discussed with the venue management team and forms part of our ongoing commitment to improving both our service standards and our guests' experience.Kind regards,KimOperations DirectorD3 Collective