The Ship Tavern, Holborn

I had read the good reviews here about this pub so decided to meet a friend there yesterday after work. We arrived at 5.30 and waited to get a seat. We ordered some food at 6.30 and had another couple of drinks. At 7.30 our food hadn't arrived so I went to the bar to find out about the delay. The barmaid told me that she was sorry but there had been a party of 20 upstairs which she hadn't been told about by the kitchen or the manager. I assumed this meant the food was further delayed - but no, it wasn't going to arrive at all. I got a refund for what I paid for the food and the bar maid offered us a free drink for our trouble. I explained that we had just ordered a drink which we now had to finish before leaving to find somewhere else to eat, so could she refund what we had just paid. She said she couldn't so I asked to speak to the manager. He told me the barmaid shouldn't have offered us free drinks and there was nothing he could do to compensate us for the delay, lack of food and inconvenience caused.
If we had known there was no food available we would not have stayed two hours to drink there. There was no indication that staff were going to let us know that food we had paid for wasn't going to arrive if we hadn't asked ourselves. A decent apology would have been nice.
I accept that mistakes happen when staff are busy - the pub was full - but it seems that staff at The Ship Tavern are not interested in caring for the customers they are lucky enough to have.
If you want to be sure of good service - and an evening without an argument with the bar staff - find somewhere else. I won't be going back.

10 Feb 2009 12:28