The Orange Tree, Totteridge

This place has alot of potential and from the outside you would expect the food and service to be of very good quality. Unfortunately it just isn't.

Last night I had dinner there with some friends. Our waitress was friendly, despite having very limited knowledge of the menu. However, the server that was assisting her was consistently rude, saying more than once 'oh yes we don't have that item available, normally we do'. Oddly after he said they didn't do fresh mint teas, he then served us desert with quite a lot of fresh mint as a garnish. Should I simply have ordered hot water? He also made a mistake in calculating our bill. He didn't bother to explain what that mistake was and ended up charging us for something else. When we said he needed to explain to us the change before taking our money he ignored us. When we asked if he'd heard us, he said 'yes' and shrugged, he wasn't really too worried.

Aside from the poor service, the menu didn't clearly reflect what you were actually getting, ie my lemon chicken was covered with garlic mayonnaise, not mentioned in the menu.

Additionally there wasn't a healthy alternative to frites other than mash that has lashings of butter and cream. I did ask for the cabbage, leeks and peas. There were no leeks or peas, just cabbage swimming in butter. Also one of my friends ordered the Lemon Posset which was runny and lumpy.

Overall very disappointing. Personally, I would rather spend my money at some of the other gastro pubs in the area. There are a number of really good ones.

23 Feb 2012 15:51

The Orange Tree, Friern Barnet

This place has alot of potential and from the outside you would expect the food and service to be of a very good quality. Unfortunately it just isn't.

Last night I had a dinner there with some friends. Our waitress was friendly, despite having a very limited experience of the menu. However, the server that was assisting her was consistently rude, and said more than once 'oh yes we don't have that item available, normally we do'. Oddly after he said they didn't do fresh mint teas then served us desert with quite a lot of fresh mint as a garnish. Should I have ordered hot water? He also made a mistake in calculating our bill. He didn't bother to explain what that mistake was and ended up charging us for something else. When we said he needed to explain to us the change before taking our money he ignored us. When we asked if he'd heard us, he said 'yes' and shrugged, he wasn't really too worried.

Aside from the poor service, the menu didn't clearly reflect what you were actually getting, ie my lemon chicken was covered with garlic mayonnaise, not mentioned in the menu. Additionally there isn't an alternative to frites other than mash that has lashings of butter and cream. I did ask for the cabbage, leeks and peas. There were no leeks or peas, just cabbage swimming in butter.

Overall very disappointing. Personally, I would rather spend my money at some of the other gastro pubs in the area. There are a number of really good ones.

23 Feb 2012 15:38