I have few complaints about the gym, though a few weeks ago I had to point out that at least half of the static cycles with entertainment screens had faults. The manager's excuse on the day was that no-one had reported them, but as I said at the time, it takes five minutes to check. The pool and changing facilities are excellent, as are the steam room, sauna and jacuzzi. However, there seems to be little supervision of who goes into the changing rooms and several times I have come out of the shower block to find 7-10 year-old girls in the men's changing room, clearly having been taken in by their Fathers. This is completely unacceptable. There are family changing facilities available, although the signs for them are small, and easily missed. There needs to be quite clear indication that those with children should not use the men's facilities.
Now to the restaurant – Sweet waltzing Jesus, the restaurant. The service has never been the fastest, as despite it being quite a big place, there are only two tills, and there are rarely enough staff on to operate both, so there are always queues. But there is this peculiar arrangement whereby when someone orders drinks, the person on the till, then has to go to get them, rather than having someone dedicated to that role. It's not a very efficient way of working.
Today, I queued patiently to order two drinks and two lunches. The senior of the two ladies on duty, was busy complaining about something to another member of staff, which necessitated her ignoring the waiting customers, so the younger girl served. Perhaps she was new to the job, but she had the attention-span of a goldfish. I ordered a tuna salad, and poached eggs on toast, with smashed avocados, and two pints of apple-juice. I had to confirm the poached egg order because all memory of it seemed to be erased after ten seconds. I paid and followed her down the bar to get the drinks. She asked if I wanted ice, and I said 'a little', which she began to put into a half-pint glass. I reminded her that I had ordered pints. She apologised and began filling the first pint glass with orange-juice. I stopped her again, and reminded her that I had ordered apple juice. I took the drinks, and the table number before I taxed her further.
Quick as a flash – in thirty minutes, the meal arrived. The eggs were, at best, lukewarm and the yolks had set, so they had obviously been standing around for a while, as had the unsightly smear of avocado on the toast, as it had begun to show the brown discolouration of something that has been hanging around rather too long. The tuna salad I had ordered, had during the wait, spontaneously evolved into chicken (something I don't normally eat). It was delivered by, what a surprise, one of the ladies who were also working the tills, so it was no great mystery why it had taken so long.
I have eaten there several times before, and the food had always been quite good, but frankly, today's meal was poor, with the one redeeming feature that it was, at least. better than the service.
Do yourselves a favour JL and either restrict the restaurant to pre-packaged food, or appoint some managers who have actually been involved in some way in the catering business to put some spring into the step of those who work there, because the people there today, didn't have a clue. The problem is sadly not even confined to Southend, as the food and drink service at Basildon suffers from the same peculiar idea that the people on the tills should also make the drinks. Go to any coffee-shop or fast-food outlet and you will not see this system in operation. It keeps the costs down, but loses business as people get bored with waiting and go for coffee or a snack elsewhere, or just, like me, give up on eating or drinking there.
This is an expensive club, and you really should not be scrimping on staff costs at the expense of people who are paying for premium facilities....
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