The Navigation, Ponders End

We were told it would be a 2 minute wait for a table which was fine, but then it was more than 15 minutes later that they actually seated us. About 30 seconds after we'd been given menu's our waitress wanted our orders, so we had to send her away. We said we were ordering starters now but waiting for our final member to arrive before ordering mains, at which point she sat down in the booth next to a member of our party who happened to be pregnant. After taking our orders she then proceeded to lean over my friend asking her loads of questions about her pregnancy, and generally invading her personal space. After she left we went to the salad bar to find that it was half empty and there were no bread rolls left. After our starter had arrived, and the final member of our party, we chose our mains and ordered the waitress failed to clear the table, so that when the mains arrived they had to put them on another table whilst ours was cleared. My friend needed some mayo and as it's customary for your waitress to return within a couple of minutes and ask if everything is ok we waited to catch her attention. For 15 minutes she stood at another table with her back to us just chatting with a friend. When she eventually remembered to check on us, she said the mayo was on the salad table and we should have gone to get it ourselves. She then sighed and said 'fine, nevermind, I'll get it' and then returned with a salad bowl practically over-flowing with mayo. Basically the food was lovely, but the service was awful. It would be nice for people to actually pay attention to what they're meant to be doing rather than stand around chatting.

24 Jan 2011 15:24