'No shows' killing the hospitality business?

Malc said:
I'm glad you recognise my theological leanings
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£350 for 2 people to have a very long 4 course lunch from 11.45am through till 3.30pm, with several drinks, wine etc.
Well worth it to be honest.
I`m sure all theologies are welcome!
 
ZeroTheHero said:
Hmm. In my cost-conscious mind, there is no meal worth £175 a head.
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Normally I would say me neither !!
However I will also give credit where it is due, and the whole service, ambience and quality was perfect.
From arrival through to leaving it was faultless. The kitchen and waiting staff had the timing between courses to a tee and water glasses were topped up without even asking, it was supreme attentiveness without interruption.
We certainly weren`t "excessive" but you could be, very easily, with some wines at the £500+ a bottle mark and some into 4 figures!
We had a couple of G&T`s on arrival, a nice bottle of white and some superb food and aperitifs, then factor in a service charge of 15% it soon clicks up.
It was an anniversary weekend treat so rather than buy something pointless we made a memory.
Certainly worth it for a very special occasion.
 
Mrs ZtH is even more thrifty than me. If I spent £350 on an anniversary meal, it would be our last!

However - I am not judging and am very glad you enjoyed it and remember if with fondness. :)
 
Essexyellows said:
Normally I would say me neither !!
However I will also give credit where it is due, and the whole service, ambience and quality was perfect.
From arrival through to leaving it was faultless. The kitchen and waiting staff had the timing between courses to a tee and water glasses were topped up without even asking, it was supreme attentiveness without interruption.
We certainly weren`t "excessive" but you could be, very easily, with some wines at the £500+ a bottle mark and some into 4 figures!
We had a couple of G&T`s on arrival, a nice bottle of white and some superb food and aperitifs, then factor in a service charge of 15% it soon clicks up.
It was an anniversary weekend treat so rather than buy something pointless we made a memory.
Certainly worth it for a very special occasion.
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Optional service charges added onto a bill without a word is one of my pet hates in restaurants. If the service has been good I leave it on, but if its been run of the mill, or just plain bad, I ask them to take it off.
I much prefer to just leave a tip dependant on service received.

Edit. And I'd certainly hope they would fill up water glasses without asking, at the least, if charging those prices!
 
ljs said:
Optional service charges added onto a bill without a word is one of my pet hates in restaurants.
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And me.

Another one is 'booking fees' on theatre and gig tickets. What on earth are they? You have to pay them even if you buy direct from the venue, and even if you physically go to the venue and buy them in advance. Just tell me what the price is - I don't want to be told tickets are £25 and then be told that each one is £28 when I actually pay for them!
 
ZeroTheHero said:
And me.

Another one is 'booking fees' on theatre and gig tickets. What on earth are they? You have to pay them even if you buy direct from the venue, and even if you physically go to the venue and buy them in advance. Just tell me what the price is - I don't want to be told tickets are £25 and then be told that each one is £28 when I actually pay for them!
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thirded re optional added service charges

And, absolutely spot on re gig (& theatre tickets) too - very annoying - especially £3 -£5 added per ticket! - if there is a handling/ booking fee, imo , one fee(£3-£5 ) per transaction, not per ticket

though there are still a few box offices where, if you rock up in person, ( and pay cash ). there's no 'handling/booking' fee added, albeit there's less n less like that now
 
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Agree re the optional service charge. It's even worse when it is just added to the total bill but the bill doesn't show it has been added - as happened to me in Bodrum last year.
Fortunately I noticed that each itemised entry being a whole number of Turkish Lira shouldn't produce a total that wasn't a whole number.
Posting photos of the before and after bills on my TripAdvisor review was my solution.

SeeTickets refunded the booking fee for my son's Boardmasters ticket but kept the transaction fee despite my writing to them to suggest their approach sends the wrong message - it is as per their T&Cs and not a lot of money, but I will remember who are the Covid heroes and villains. I wish companies like them would read and act on their TrustPilot reviews - many people seem to be suffering.
 
Essexyellows said:
Normally I would say me neither !!
However I will also give credit where it is due, and the whole service, ambience and quality was perfect.
From arrival through to leaving it was faultless. The kitchen and waiting staff had the timing between courses to a tee and water glasses were topped up without even asking, it was supreme attentiveness without interruption.
We certainly weren`t "excessive" but you could be, very easily, with some wines at the £500+ a bottle mark and some into 4 figures!
We had a couple of G&T`s on arrival, a nice bottle of white and some superb food and aperitifs, then factor in a service charge of 15% it soon clicks up.
It was an anniversary weekend treat so rather than buy something pointless we made a memory.
Certainly worth it for a very special occasion.
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Sounds superb....as long as it was her present to you.
 
Once when I was a skint student my girlfriend and I decided to splash out on (not at all fancy) Mexican at a restaurant. We counted all our pennies and ordered exactly what we could afford. Then the bill came with a service charge added that you had to cross out if you didn’t want to pay (no warning on the menu). We crossed it out, the waitress cried, the manager came over to ask what was wrong and we explained. This was in London in 1989, but it seemed like they were trying to operate like a US restaurant.
It was all a bit embarrassing but we had nothing left in our pockets except fluff.
 
Essexyellows said:
Glad we dined at the H&F when we did, and yes it was worth every penny............... even bumped into Tom on the way out.?
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Only been to the H&F once, for lunch. Can't remember the cost, but unfortunately my abiding memories weren't as positive as I'd hoped.

Quality of food was good, although I'd describe it as top end gastropub rather than gourmet restaurant. The pub's car park was tiny so we had to find street parking which was a distance away.

My major gripe concerned chips. Yes, chips. The H&F was, at the time, noted for a duck dish with chips triple cooked in some fancy fat, so I ordered it to be told by a far too snotty 25 year old waitress that chips were not available as chef had been dissatisfied with the quality of today's potatoes. I asked why a guy at a neighbouring table had just taken delivery of a plate of steak, and chips. She unashamedly informed me that all steak dishes came with chips. I asked whether some of these special steak chips might find their way to my plate with duck on it. My chips duly arrived, although the look on the waitress's face suggested she might have spat on them.

The incident took the edge off the meal, although I am admittedly a difficult customer.
 
I'm not convinced that asking for chips in a restaurant makes you a difficult customer, Pete :)

I've been in a fair few 'gastropubs' where the chips were the only edible thing on the plate!
 
We asked for chips at a hotel restaurant in Normandy. The response of "Frites - jamais" became a family saying.
 
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