The Three Crutches, Strood

On Saturday 10th January, five of us went to the Three Crutches, for lunch.

We placed our orders and waited, as we were talking we did not at first notice the time we had been waiting, we then realised we had been waiting for nearly an hour.

I had a word with the manageress. Our waitress arrived and explained that the print out to the kitchen had run out of paper and the order had not been received by the kitchen. We accepted this answer, although only six tables in the restaurant were occupied at the time. After approximately a further fifteen Minutes four out of the five starters ordered arrived. The waitress apologised and said she had only ordered four and would we like a glass of wine as compensation. We told her one glass of wine between five people would not go far. She said it was only for the person who had not got their starter. We said that we had all had to wait for that person who had not got their starter and a bottle of wine was felt to be more appropriate. Then she went away and when she returned she said we could only have a glass of wine. We said a bottle. The waitress returned with a bottle and said it had been taken out of her allowance.

The main course arrived; I had ordered steak med/rare. My meal arrived and I requested some French mustard. The waitress returned with a bowl of sauces and asked if everything was o.k. said yes although I had not touched my meal as I was waiting for the French mustard. (No French mustard in the bowl.) When I cut into my steak it was well done and dry, not medium rare as requested. I went to the manageress and quietly asked her to come and see my steak. She came to our table and asked, �Did the waitress come and ask you if everything of ok� I said �yes, when she brought the mustard, but I had not started the steak because I was waiting for the mustard�. She replied, that is the end of the story. We then said about the waitress having to pay for the bottle of wine, what you want me to do she asked. We replied we think you should authorise the bottle of wine. She replied my Manager would want to know why, at which we responded �For Goodwill�. We had been kept waiting when the order was lost, one starter was missing She then said �End of story� and walked away.

A short time later a waiter arrived and cleared everything on our table and gave us the bill. We were given no opportunity to order deserts or coffee.

We felt as though we were being thrown out. We had looked forward to meeting our friends and enjoying a meal together. However the whole day was ruined for us. The owner hasnot replyed to our letter

25 Feb 2009 11:48