Sketch Parlour

I echo all of the negative comments below. It was very quiet, about 11.30am and only two or three other tables were in the parlour at this time, with what seemed like 4 waiting staff and manager/maitre'd. Our drinks orders were taken after about 10 minutes, and the waitress didnt even know whether the £8 cafetiere of coffee served one or two people (as opposed to a £4 cafe latte). Eventually she came back and said it only served one person, so I ordered just a latte as £8 coffee for one seemed excessive even for Sketch. After about five minutes faffing with quaint china and jugs etc a guy brought over a cafetiere and a jug of warm milk....which I had to send back and say I had ordered the latte. Got my latte about 15 minutes later, all the while my companian had recieved her tea and was halfway through the pot. EVENTUALLY the drinks were sorted and we ordered food from the brunch menu, only to be told that they had stopped taking breakfast orders 2 minutes ago....this despite the delay being entirely their fault for not multitasking (e.g. taking drink AND food order at the same time) not knowing anything about even the simplest of items on their menu (coffee) etc and getting a simple order for a cafe latte wrong. Food and surroundings are fine, nice to say I've been there, but the entire experience was soured by the terrible service which is definitely not worthy of a michelin star. I hasten to add that nobody was rude, they were just very poor at their jobs, in what looked like a very quiet service.
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mrtumnus - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 6
Friday, December 18, 2009

I took my wife to Sketch last weekend for her birthday, and I must say I've never experienced such rudeness at any restaurant I've dined at in my life.

We knew that we'd be in for a long wait as we didn't book, which we were fine with, but we asked how long the wait would be when we first arrived, and were told we'd be waiting an hour. An hour came and went, and when we asked the same girl how much longer it would be, we were told it would be another hour. When we told her that's what she said an hour ago, she just shrugged her shoulders and said, sarcastically, ' Ok then, the waiting time is forever'. Everyone else in the queue was treated in the same way, with the staff just flouncing around, looking down their noses at us and not updating us as to what was going on.

When we finally got a table, the actual service was quite good; it was timely, polite, and our tea was replaced when we pointed out that the first pot was very weak.

Afternoon tea was pleasant enough, the atmosphere was good and the interior is really funky, but based on the attitude of the maitre d' and the waiting time, once is definitely enough.
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6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, December 01, 2009