The Heights

The Heights had the potential to offer a nice setting for a business dinner, overlooking London. Unfortunately the actuality was one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had.

Service... what service? After arriving on time we were made to wait 15 minutes for our table despite the fact that there were only 2 other tables occupied in the entire restaurant area. Drinks orders were only taken for half the party whilst we waited and then when the drinks did arrive, the table was finally ready at the same time. For those of the party who did receive drinks, they were made poorly and were certainly not recognisable as the drinks they were meant to be. In good faith we were seated and ordered our food, hoping this was a small glitch in what was generally good service. Oh how wrong we were.

No bread was offered to our table, despite other tables being offered. Our orders were taken and despite the menu stating food was freshly prepared, we were not prepared for the long wait that ensued. Some of this wait was filled by waiting to see if our request for the wine list would be fulfilled. After 15 minutes we were bored with waiting and fetched the menu from the bar ourselves. 5 minutes later, the waitress finally brought the wine list.

The starters were poor. Some dishes were so poorly thought out and executed they were inedible. We especially had high hopes for the Tea Smoked Duck Salad. What was brought out was iceberg lettuce smothered in salad creme with tiny morsels of shredded duck embedded within the folds of creme. The asparagus was cold and nearly raw and was going wrinkly with how long it had been since it was actually cooked.

After another long wait and chasing the staff for some sort of service, the evening had turned into a farce. With only 3 other tables of diners (small groups of 2-4 people), we were amazed and how long everything took and how hard it was to find a member of staff to place a drinks order with.

When the main courses were brought, one of the dishes was incorrect. Instead of rectifying the situation, the waitress started arguing with us saying that was what she had written down so we were wrong!

The main courses were sub standard, even to poor a greasy spoon when comparing the steak and chips option. The fillet steak was so tough, even when cooked medium, that we suspect it was beef roasting joint cut to fillet size.

The prices on the menu could have been cut by two-thirds and we still would have struggled to justify paying full price for what was served.

During dinner, a wine glass was knocked over accidentally and smashed on the table. No staff came to offer assistance and the broken glass remained on the table after plates from the main course were cleared and the dessert menus brought. No fresh napkins were brought as we had used ours to clear up spillage from the broken glass. The pile of napkins and broken glass remained on the table even as we left. we asked if there was a manager we could speak to. We were told yes but, you guessed it, he never materialised.

Half our party decided it was too much of a risk to order any more food. The other half, still hungry after not being able to consume the main course, decided to order. Another drinks menu was requested at this time and after 10 minutes waiting, we once again had to fetch our own menus from the bar area.

Two of our party had to search the restaurant and bar in order to find someone who could take our drinks order as if we waited any longer for table service, we may have grown old.

The final insult to the evening was the service charge being added to the bill. What cheek.

We could only justify the absolutely appalling lack of service and poor food by guessing all the staff had been made redundant and this was the last night of service... unfortunately for all unsuspecting diners out there, it was not.

The aging of the decor and shabbiness around the edges can be forgiven if the food and service is up to scratch. Unfortunately it just accentuated how poor this restaurant really is.

St George's Hotel, get your act together and invest in decently trained staff, decent chefs and then you can charge the premium for the views from the restaurant.
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MedEventsTeam
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, May 28, 2011