Restaurant experiences

This was 5 years ago EKGO. I still wouldn't touch it with a barge pole after my experience but I'm glad to hear you get better service now. I hope its changed hands.

Eden in Warrington by the town hall has excellent service and is very inexpensive.

I've just eaten at the Lowry Hotel and the service was SUPERB. But then again, it's a five star hotel. I'm not expecting to get my food thrown at me

Not unless you start throwing it first.

I've just remembered Piccolino in Liverpool where they spilt red wine on Mrs p's handbag and the fire alarm kept going off.

I think it's all down to the managers, we used to supply all the Piccolinos and Living Rooms, ESTs and Blackhouse Grill, the ones that ordered promptly and efficiently usually served up good meals, but some, like liverpool, were just rubbish from top to bottom.

In London recently we've eaten at the V&A, very good, but my top tip is the Crypt under St Martin in the Fields next to the Chandos, everything from a sandwich to a full meal...not restaurant service but better food than a lot of ostensibly better places.

Cheap and cheerfull, stockpot off the other side of Trafalgar Square, school dinners type if you're on  budget.

Not exactly a restaurant experience but I used to work opposite the back entrance of an Indian.  The meat delivery came in the morning, they weren't open so the delivery bods lobbed the box (which split) over the locked gate and it stayed there all day.  Decided not to eat there again!

Prestatyn Kebab...frozen chicken breasts, left in the yard outside the manky outside toilet to defrost...

Worst: Pizza Hut in Croydon.  I went there with my best friend for lunch at the end of term when we were twelve, and neither of us knew that you could only have drinks that you ordered there.  We got kicked out for sharing a bottle of Pepsi - not for being cheeky, they just told us to leave there and then.  First and last time either of us have been kicked out of anywhere.

Best: unfortunately I can't remember the names of the two pubs that stand out to me (and it's six years since I last ate in a restaurant) - one was in Reading and the other somewhere between Reading and Croydon!

Worst is easy, an Indian in Stevenage. Have eaten there quite a bit and the food is top notch, ordered a takeaway and they overcharged us a ridiculous amount, mains were £5 each more than advertised and they charged £8 for the dips accompanying the poppadoms! Rang to complain and they insisted it was right. Next day I went in to complain,insisted it was right, took a swing at me, threw me up against a wall and one of the staff chased me out with a meat skewer - god knows what the customers thought because it was packed...

Cafe Rouge in Hertford.  Food seemed ok, but the ensuing food poisoning from the undercooked chicken (that I hadn't noticed till it was too late) rather ruined the weekend.

These days it is hard to get really bad food - most of the time the deficiencies are down to the food being bland or overcooked.  However, we were in Inverness for the Loch Ness marathon and managed to find a restaurant where the food was pretty terrible.  The starter was supposed to be moules mariniere - no trace of wine of garlic in the sauce, just cream.  The main was a special of some type of bream, served on crab and pea risotto, with tomato and basil jus.   The bream was cooked OK, but the risotto was awful; seemed to have been made with leftover long grain rice, had bits of crab shell and not properly cooked frozen peas.  The tomato 'jus', which I had expected to be a drizzle, nearly drowned the risotto and was clearly just those chopped tinned tomatoes that have basil with them heated up a bit. My husband's reaction was 'oh, you've got two dishes on one plate'.  We didn't chance dessert.

All the other restaurants we tried in Inverness were great, so how this one survives goodness knows.

rosemary - what was it called? (or have you wiped it from memory)?

It was the River House restaurant.  Everyone involved in running the place seemed very pleasant, but the food

jings. i'll be sure to give it a body swerve

I just LOVE Vasai Indian restaurant in Malvern, Worcestershire. UK. I went with my 18 yeare old son & my 36 year old brother a couple of times. I'm a vegetarian but my son & brother are not & Vasai have an excellent selection of both. 

The lovely Indian waiters etc are amazing & are top class. Chef's are brilliant. Prices are reasonable too.

I'd reccommend them any time, oh absolutely.

Worst I went to was a cafe in Coventy. The place was clean & tidy & staff were nice enough etc, had what I thought was a very nice cheese & onion hot sarnie, it tasted ok but then I got taken vicioiusly ill with food poisoning for a week. 

Some years later I mentioned it to a workmate & he said the same. He had a hot beef sarnie & the same thing happened to him ... I never went back & my mate didn't either!

I went to a restaurant in Portugal (late 80's) where a friend ordered 'Shrimps' he got a bowl of them that he de-shelled and ate. I thought that looks great. Went to another restaurant and I ordered 'Shrimps' as a starter, and was asked, "How many?". "I don't know" I said, "A bowl full? How many do people normally have?" she replied, "Two or three", so surprised, I said "Three please!" 'cos I was hungry after a hard days training. The owner came out and asked who had ordered shrimps and he put one on my plate...it was huge, and then he asked who else had ordered shrimps! He looked horrified when I said, "just me", and I heard him arguing with the waitress as I munched my way through all three... and then munched my way through a fish dish intended for two persons! Ahhhh those were the days, 5' 11" 9 stone and could eat like a pig! However the shrimps were £5 each at a time when you could eat a 3 course meal with wine for under a tenner.... Kind of the best and worst meal I have ever had!

SideBurn wrote (see)

I went to a restaurant in Portugal (late 80's) where a friend ordered 'Shrimps' he got a bowl of them that he de-shelled and ate. I thought that looks great. Went to another restaurant and I ordered 'Shrimps' as a starter, and was asked, "How many?". "I don't know" I said, "A bowl full? How many do people normally have?" she replied, "Two or three", so surprised, I said "Three please!" 'cos I was hungry after a hard days training. The owner came out and asked who had ordered shrimps and he put one on my plate...it was huge, and then he asked who else had ordered shrimps! He looked horrified when I said, "just me", and I heard him arguing with the waitress as I munched my way through all three... and then munched my way through a fish dish intended for two persons! Ahhhh those were the days, 5' 11" 9 stone and could eat like a pig! However the shrimps were £5 each at a time when you could eat a 3 course meal with wine for under a tenner.... Kind of the best and worst meal I have ever had!

This is a very confusing story!

Were these shrimps giant shrimps or something?  I've never had a shrimp or prawn so large that 3 would do me as a starter.  Very confused here....

Worst meal i've ever had was "Somewhere Restaurant" Polperro.  Dire, dire food.  Shocking attitude when we complained about the terrible quality and then chased down the street by the owner when we refused to pay to full price for the meal.  Throw in the most uncomfortable seats known to man, oodles of patronisation and outright lies from the staff and eventually the police being called and it's one that will live long in the memory.

Best food - Number One in Edinburgh or Ramsons in Ramsbottom.  Best experience, Northcoat Manor.