The Prospect of Whitby, Wapping

I visited The Prospect Of Whitby with my family on Friday night for dinner. I don't normally spend time writing reviews such as this one but I feel compelled to share my experience with the world.

The food we initially received was extremely disappointing; three out of our five meals were stone cold. I hate complaining and making a fuss but I was out for a rare evening with my parents, my sister and my girlfriend, and I wanted everyone to be happy. We sent our meals back only for them to return five minutes later having been microwaved. The chips by this point were soggy and our burgers really dry. The tiny piece of lettuce had shriveled up and the ketchup on our plates was now warm.

What do we do? Do we eat the nine quid burger, smile politely, say thank you and go on our way, or do we take our complaint further? In hindsight I know which choice I wish we'd taken. What we did in fact do is ask to speak to the kitchen. Ten minutes later the barman (who had served us our drinks earlier) came upstairs to our table. My father asked him not charge us for all five meals as three of them were not acceptable. His reply was that he couldn't do that and we'd need to speak to the manager � Okay not a problem.

We waited 40 minutes for a response. Eventually we got the managers attention and when my father asked him why it had taken 40 minutes for him to respond to our complaint. The manager's reply was �I have 2 sick children upstairs and they are more important than any customer in this pub�. My father's response was �I am sorry, I'm not familiar with your family situation but you have 5 really unsatisfied customers�. The manager became more irate at this point and repeated his previous statement. He then accused us of being rude and told us he didn't want to speak to us and if we had a complaint we should write to the brewery. He then walked away and continued to ignore our protests.

So we left the pub hungry, 50 pounds out of pocket, and in absolute disbelief at the way we had been treated - our evening was ruined. It would have been so much better for us had we not complained and just eaten our food. I can safely say I will never visit the Prospect Of Whitby ever again, and I would encourage everyone else to do the same. A man as ill mannered and difficult as the gentleman in charge in my opinion should not be managing a pub. Customer service clearly does not exist in this mans vocabulary. And lets not forget the disgusting food we were served which began the whole episode.

My advice would be to visit Captain Kidd down the road or if you're in the area and you want really great food with exceptional service pop into Il Bordello on Wapping lane where you are guaranteed service with a beaming smile.

13 Oct 2008 22:37