Tootsies (Richmond)

This place fails in every department. The service was poor with our waiter not speaking sufficient english. The food was even poorer, with tough hamburger meat, stale buns, soggy cold chips and a Thai curry that was straight from a low budget supermarket jar. However this would seem the norm as we spotted what looked like Tootsie management carrying a tasting exercise from the kitchen. We hastly made our exit but even this was delayed whilst we waited for management to provide staff with change for the tills. Whilst I appreciate Tootsies isn't up market you do expect fresh, warm food with flavour....or am I expecting too much these days? Come to think of it the place was almost empty on a summers day in Richmond-upon-Thames, clearly I'm not the unfortunate diner to experience this poor show! My advice...avoid at all cost!!
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eva
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

the food quality was below standard. we had a summer burger and penne pasta. the pasta tasted like school canteen food and the presentation was poor. the chips with the burger tasted like being microwaved and very overpriced. DO NOT recommend this place.
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Paris
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

My wife and I also went on a Sunday (like the reviewer below) although this time we did not actually stay long enough to eat. As we entered the restaurant there were no staff present at the reservations stand, however, after a few seconds a waiter appeared and asked us if we needed help and we asked if there was a table on the terrace to which he replied ‘yes’ and then told us to come up and sit down. After a minute or so, a manager then came up to us and said, quite rudely “Did you just walk straight up here and sit down?” – We told him that one of his staff told us to come up here. The manager then told us we had to go back downstairs and wait for a table even though we could see that there were quite a few tables available. He said the reason for this was to not have too many people ordering food at the same time. So why were we brought to the table in the first place!? Mismanagement and poorly trained staff it seems. We decided to leave the restaurant as the way we were treated was atrocious. This was one of the most unpleasant experiences I have ever had on entering a restaurant. We ended up at Miso which has far better food. I’ve been to Tootsies several times and the food is pretty average fare but after this we won’t be going back.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Monday, May 12, 2008

we - my wife, daughter of 6 yrs and myself - went to tootsies yesterday. a perfect sunday afternoon and we fancied some lunch. on ordering the food, the waiter recommended that we don't order both starters and main course as it would take too long. we were in no hurry so we did. what a mistake. calamari that tasted like it was recently defrosted and absolutely caked with heavy batter (presumably the same as the onion rings were dipped in, as the calamari tasted of onion more than squid). then for the main course - burger for my daughter, steak for my wife and beef and ale pie for me. the burger was so overcooked it was rubbery and hard; the steak was the same; and my pie was soft and mushy.

the service was fine. but we would never eat there again. for a cheap and cheerful meal there are plenty of other places to go... nandos, pizza express, giraffe.
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david
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, May 06, 2008

I went with my wife, young kids and parents. We were looking for a child-friendly place for a Saturday lunch.

The good things first: it was open and had plenty of room. It's child-friendly in that it has kids meals, high-chairs and an ice-cream parlour where the kids can dress up their ices with scoops of sweets and sauces.

The bad: the food isn't cheap for what is essentially basic tex-mex fayre. I.e. expensive burgers. They make a big deal about their burgers but they don't live up to the hype. Some were very undercooked, others quite dry. It was passable but not for the price.

The service was average. The people who dealt with us were not "naturals" with children (unlike the ever-smiling folk at Giraffe for instance).

I don't think I'd bother going back. Other family meals in Richmond have taken me to Giraffe and Nandos, both of which were superior in their own way.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Thursday, May 01, 2008

I popped in here yesterday for a quick lunch, it was awful - the food and service.

I would really really recommend you to stay away, we ordered burgers which were raw and the chips were very greasy.

The actual dining area is huge but there were about 6 tables taken and what seemed like 15 members of staff just relaxing and chatting. Three of whom sat next to us to 'catch up' and didn't care we were there as paying customers to eat.

I would never go back it was also quite over priced for what we had.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Monday, March 10, 2008

I had steak and ale pie which I had to leave, pastry was soggy, not sure if it was cooked and the gravy was salty and tasted as if it was made from some sort of instant mix, my daughter had a burger which wasn't cooked properly and had to send it back, service very slow, had to wait a long time betweem courses, toilets absolutely filthy. As I was a guest with a family group I didn't think that it would be polite to make a fuss at the time, I read some terrible reviews before coming and the only suprise was that it actually turned out worse.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 10, 2008

This restaurant is awful. I really recommend you not to waste your time, money and patients here.
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j - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, January 04, 2008

Used to be a good restaurant when it was on the Kew Road. Now its like eating in a Zepplin hanger. Noisy and like a kindergarden - particularly on weekends.

Hell on earth - but the burgers are good!
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CeeBee
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Thursday, October 18, 2007

I visited this restaurant for dinner last night with a friend as she had a 'buy one get one free' voucher for our main meal. What better time to try it?

Was a fantastic visit. service fantastic and the food was very tasty. Waitress was lovely and was very helpfull in helping us choose what to have!

Great views over river, we sat on the outside balcony which has plenty of tables and also heaters for the evening.

Will definately visit again.
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Sally
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, August 01, 2007