We went out for a Bank Holiday lunch down by the harbourside. Riverstation has been a favourite for a long time, partly for it's location overlooking the water with it's lovely big windows and also for the usually reliable food. We don't seem to be having much luck eating out lately though. It was quite busy when we arrived, but no more than on a usual weekend. I ordered eggs Florentine and Tris ordered savoury tart. We happened to be right next to the kitchen, which is partially on view, so as time ticked by and I was feeling more and more hungry, I was watching the orders as they came out with an eye open for ours. I spotted what looked like our order appear and was waiting expectantly for a waitress to bring it over. There seemed to be some confusion about orders though and she kept taking other dishes, leaving ours sitting there.
If I don't eat regularly, I tend to get quite wobbly and irritable, so the longer things went on, the more annoyed I was getting. Then one of the chefs picked up the eggs from the top of the eggs florentine, dumped them somewhere out of sight, then a couple of minutes later, dumped another couple back on top (I really hope not the same ones just dunked back in boiling water to reheat them!) and drizzled more hollandaise sauce over the top. I was a bit taken aback, but by this point, I just needed something to eat asap. The plates sat there for another 10 minutes, before I finally managed to grab a waitress and she brought our order over -that had been sitting on the counter for around 20 mins by this point!
I did complain about the wait and what I'd seen, but was so hungry, I tucked into the eggs anyway. My hands were shaking so much by now, I could hardly even hold my knife and fork and the food went down so quickly, it hardly touched the sides! The eggs were pretty solid, the spinach was cold and the bread pretty soggy - all round, not up to the usual standard.
Unlike on Friday night at Cote though, the manager did come over to apologise. He immediately said that they'd take my meal off the bill and offered coffees. He was apologetic without being over-the-top and just generally dealt with the whole situation really well. He took the problem seriously, but was friendly and smiley so we didn't go away feeling negative. I'm happy to take it as a one-off and won't be put off going back.
At least we managed to get some fantastic coffee cake from Papadeli on the way back to go with an afternoon cup of tea!
Dinner was a simple, and to be honest not wildly tasty, chicken and pea risotto made from some of the leftover cold chicken. So all round not a great culinary day, only just saved by the cake!
If I don't eat regularly, I tend to get quite wobbly and irritable, so the longer things went on, the more annoyed I was getting. Then one of the chefs picked up the eggs from the top of the eggs florentine, dumped them somewhere out of sight, then a couple of minutes later, dumped another couple back on top (I really hope not the same ones just dunked back in boiling water to reheat them!) and drizzled more hollandaise sauce over the top. I was a bit taken aback, but by this point, I just needed something to eat asap. The plates sat there for another 10 minutes, before I finally managed to grab a waitress and she brought our order over -that had been sitting on the counter for around 20 mins by this point!
I did complain about the wait and what I'd seen, but was so hungry, I tucked into the eggs anyway. My hands were shaking so much by now, I could hardly even hold my knife and fork and the food went down so quickly, it hardly touched the sides! The eggs were pretty solid, the spinach was cold and the bread pretty soggy - all round, not up to the usual standard.
Unlike on Friday night at Cote though, the manager did come over to apologise. He immediately said that they'd take my meal off the bill and offered coffees. He was apologetic without being over-the-top and just generally dealt with the whole situation really well. He took the problem seriously, but was friendly and smiley so we didn't go away feeling negative. I'm happy to take it as a one-off and won't be put off going back.
At least we managed to get some fantastic coffee cake from Papadeli on the way back to go with an afternoon cup of tea!
Dinner was a simple, and to be honest not wildly tasty, chicken and pea risotto made from some of the leftover cold chicken. So all round not a great culinary day, only just saved by the cake!
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