1634564841
https://www.google.com/maps/reviews/data=!4m8!14m7!1m6!2m5!1sChdDSUhNMG9nS0VJQ0FnSUNHaUlDYXV3RRAB!2m1!1s0x0:0x37c46395ee332312!3m1!1s2@1:CIHM0ogKEICAgICGiICauwE%7CCgsI6fW1iwYQiJKcdg%7C?hl=en-US
Shaun Hawkes (Wandering Chef)
google
https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:ChIJl1lKTa3MHkcREiMz7pVjxDc
2
A strange experience! The restaurant is really quite pretty and seems clean and well maintained, at least on the surface. The service is prompt and courteous, at least on the surface. The food is interesting and modern, at least on the surface. But scratch under the surface and problems start to appear. Visiting the bathroom, we start to see a lack of care that is beyond disgraceful. Clearly, when designing the pretty restaurant, a decision was made to use concrete screed floors. No problem there and something that I have done in my restaurants on occasion to. They are hard-wearing and can be extremely attractive. The one golden rule is, you never use this technique in the bathrooms without adding a few very heavy coats of lacquer which, once wet, becomes something of a slip hazard so, you don't do it! The reason for the heavy lacquer? To ensure that any "spillage" from careless users of the facilities does not simply soak into the concrete, then up behind the tiling on the walls and throughout the rest of the structure, which then leads to a smell that is utterly unbearable. Sadly, not only was this detail missed when building the restaurant, it seems that the owners have not visited the toilets recently or, if they have, they don't care enough to do anything about it. Now, the staff... Having lived and worked as a chef in Italy for many years, being told that the reason that my latte macchiato was cold is intentional because the macchiato part makes this necessary due to the temperature of the milk used to make it is, well, utter nonsense! I don't know which member of staff managed to swirl that myth around the place, but the reason that a macchiato is different to a normal latte is simply the order in which the ingredients are added to the drink. Macchiato literally translates to "marked", referring to the spots of coffee you see in the top of the milk foam as the coffee is added after the STEAMED milk. Why anybody would talk down to a customer while trying to justify a cold latte is completely beyond me. This, however, pales into insignificance when you spend any time at all observing the open kitchen. Open kitchens can be a great way to demonstrate the efforts being made to keep everything clean, tidy and sanitary, however, watching a cook constantly shovelling food into their mouth, with the same hand that they then use to touch the food that they are cooking and serving, again questions why the owners are ignoring this sort of behaviour. Cooks don't eat on the line. Ever. Period. This is a basic health and safety issue and one that simply cannot be allowed to happen. The food. Well, somebody clearly watched a few too many TV shows and decided that nothing classic and everything with a twist was the way to go. A salty topping on a chocolate brownie? Why? Just why?! A great brownie is a perfect dessert. Why mess with it? Simply for the sake of being "cool and hip"? To be honest, I could go on. There are so many positives being completely undone by what seems to be a venture that the owners have either simply given up on or are too busy spending the profits and ignoring the realities of their business. Either way, without a serious intervention, these problems are only going to get worse and I fear for the long-term future of this place. It is genuinely a shame as it could have been so much better.