July 10, 2009
By Khalid
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Monteiths Bar in Edinburgh
If you are ever thinking of visiting Monteiths Bar for a drink or meal, please read this first!!!
Christy and I like to go out for a meal once every week if we can, and sometimes we’ll get together with friends and do something special.
Last week, Thursday July 2nd, Rob invited me out with his girlfriend Amy, and we went along with Stephen and Catherine too. Stephen also brought his cousin, who was over from South Africa. Christy’s birthday was the day before so it was nice to get out with friends and have a few drinks.
Rob had booked Monteiths Bar on the Royal Mile, so I did a quick Google check and unfortunately read some not-so-good reviews. Rob had been there before and assured me it was a nice place, so we ignored the reviews and went ahead.
Upon arrival, the waitress – who turned out to be the manageress – forgot Stephen’s drink, then turned up with three cocktails instead of two. Easy mistake, so we let it slip, despite waiting a further 10 minutes for his drink.
When it came to ordering food, the menu had only a handful of dishes on it, and a few were not available, making our choices very limited indeed. However, we let that slip too, and I ordered a pastry covered meat dish…which the waitress advised would take 35 minutes to cook as I wanted it well done! 35 minutes to cook a mains is a joke, especially in a professional kitchen!
I can’t remember what Rob ordered, and that’s because his meal was never cooked. You see, the waitress forgot to order Rob’s food, thus we all ate whilst he watched. He was told about 3 times his meal would be “5 minutes” and after about half an hour, he cancelled his order. Seemingly the food was “being dished up” by that point.
Whilst he was waiting, Rob ordered a cocktail, which the waitress – remember also the manageress – didn’t know how to make. She asked one of her staff “do you know how to make this drink”. Who allows someone to manage a cocktail bar not knowing how to make the cocktails on the menu? Rob’s drink didn’t turn up until he reminded the waitress about it.
Upon fishing our food, Rob asked to speak to the manager, which we found out was the waitress who had been serving us. She apologised without much sympathy and didn’t really do much to retain us as future customers. She removed Rob’s cocktails from the bill and discounted 10% from it, however it felt like she couldn’t wait to have us leave because of the embarrassment.
I left my business card as the bar had no contact information for the owners. I requested one of them contact me and I was assured this would happen. 7 days later I am still waiting on that call.
One mistake you can live with, two is simply careless and three or more is a joke, especially in a place that charges £25 for a main meal and £7 per cocktail. As a result of their gross negligence, general attitude, crap service and failing to call me, Rob setup Monteiths Bar Sucks to ensure others know what to expect.
We’re not out on a mission to sabotage the business, but after the service we received we wanted to let the World know how rubbish Monteiths Bar in Edinburgh was.
If the owners ever read this, I hope it has served as some useful information on how your business is being run.
Khalid.
