"What a disaster! I was really looking forward to celebrating my birthday here having booked the 2 hour Afternoon Tea menu. On arrival, it was not at all busy and a nice atmosphere with upbeat music playing in the background. We were promptly shown to our table and our waitress advised she'd be right back with some table water and to take our drinks order. That's when the problems began...over a 15 minute wait for water. The waitress apologised and took our drinks order 2 bubblegum daiquiris, 1 prosecco and 1 guinness. On booking, we specified our order and dietary requirements over the phone, which the waitress confirmed with us; one standard meat afternoon tea for my husband (no dietary requirements), one afternoon tea without cheese for my friend and one standard MEAT afternoon tea with JUST THE BEEF BURGER EXCHANGED FOR A VEGAN BURGER (due to a beef intolerance) for me. Our waitress repeated back what we'd asked for. We waited and waited and waited...50 MINUTES for drinks!!!! Absolutely ludicrous! When the drinks finally arrived, the bubblegum daiquiris were full of ice and no flavour, my friend and I couldn't taste the bubblegum, let alone the alcohol! My prosecco was flat and my husband's guiness hadn't settled properly. Our food was delivered 5 minutes later, but I was left even more disappointed and quite upset given how long we'd waited....I was presented with an ALL VEGAN portion. Plus the food portions and presentation were inconsistent. My friend and I were handed our food on camping plates. No presentation, just thrown on. Not as pictured on the the website, which also showed incorrect pricing (pricing has now been updated). However, my husband received a massive portion displayed nicely on a board. The waiting staff had changed shift by this point and a waiter called Barney had brought our food to the table. He noticed the distress in our faces, the disappointment in my voice when the all vegan meal turned up and he acknowledged that the service we had received was not up to standard. He explained that our table had received the worst service. He also explained that we had received and were charged for an extra portion in error (hence my husband's massive portion) despite their system showing we had cancelled a place in advance and had confirmed our order with the waitress at the start. The service we had received was abysmal! Barney was extremely professional, apologetic and enthusiastic about making up for the bad experience we had received. Barney offered to correct my meal and it would be ready in 10/15 minutes, which I accepted, although I felt deflated. From then on the service was prompt and as promised, my corrected meal arrived within the time frame given. The vegan burger was very tasty and I particularly enjoyed the jalapeño poppers. The cheesy chips were disgusting; soggy and just about cooked, swimming in a sickly cheese sauce rather than coated with melted grated cheese. However, the desserts were delicious, good portion sizes and well presented. Barney maintained his professionalism and enthusiasm throughout and offered us drinks on the house, a birthday sparkler and considerably reduced our bill. Thank you Barney for saving my birthday! From what started as terrible service and experience went to very good, hence the middle of the range average rating. If we received the service we later received from Barney all the way through, it would have been top marks!"
