The Poet — Restaurant in Ixelles - Elsene

This is the worst service I’ve ever experienced! Never ever we will come back!!! We reserved the table 1 months ago for the birthday of my wife. We realized that we will come later and I called to the restaurant and informed them that we come 1 hour later. Unfortunately due to the bad weather and very long waiting time of the taxi, we came 30 minutes more later. They’ve given already our table to the other guests. The bartender have spoken with us disrespectful, like with the small children, made a huge concert with this situation that we didn’t call them one more time. Finally, they found a decision and gave us a table. After that we waited 40 minutes every time every each glass of wine, it was ridiculous!!! Some wine in the menu was not there because they just simply didn’t want to open the bottle for a glass of wine. They have machines for the wine like in the 2 stars all inclusive hotel. They didn’t change fork and knife after the starters. The food was generally tasty, however the meat was already cold because they probably forgot to bring it from the kitchen 😂😵‍💫. To be honest I’ve never had such bad experience. My wife had a birthday and on the other table it was also a birthday, they congratulated the other table but not my wife. When she was in the bathroom we asked to do it also and received a feedback that the guy who is responsible for dessert was gone already at 21:50 😂. The kitchen works officially till 22:00. They have never asked us about a dessert or about the birthday congratulation! Nothing. We were truly shocked, very upset and...

The food is good and relatively good value for money, but the service can be improved with respect to the 'Happy Hour' for Platinum and Titanium Elite members and ordering of food from the menu. As the executive lounge is closed, The Renaissance provides a 'Happy Hour' for Platinum and Titanium Elite guests with some drinks for free and snacks. This works OK if one goes to the restaurant just for the Happy Hour, however it gets rather complicated if one also wishes to have dinner at the restaurant during the Happy Hour. There was some confusion with the restaurant staff initially unable/unwilling to provide the Happy Hour drinks if I was to dine at the restaurant. They told me that if I was to dine at the restaurant, I would be charged for the drinks - regardless of my loyalty status and eligibility for the free drinks due to the executive lounge being closed. After discussing the issue with reception, reception agreed with me that this didn't make sense and the receptionist had to accompany me back to the restaurant to explain to the restaurant staff to create one bill for the food, separate from the (Happy Hour) drinks. So finally I was able to have dinner at the restaurant and Happy Hour drinks. But it took my having to go to reception, queue there and explain the issue to the receptionist and her having to do the same with the restaurant. Hopefully next time they will know what to do and I won't waste 20...

Location: the restaurant is located inside a Marriot hotel in the "European" district. In the evening, during the weekend, everything around is deserted and therefore not a "living" neighborhood. But the restaurant itself is not bad: well furnished, with comfortable seats and large tables. Non-intrusive background music. The bathrooms are modern and well kept. Service: good level of service. The waiters are quite attentive to the needs of the diners. One thing that I don't like in a high-end place is eating without a tablecloth. Food: it was a business dinner and the menu chosen was the same for everyone and consisted of a starter, a main and a dessert. The burrata with pumpkin cubes and mozzarella foam was ok. So the meat is of reasonable goodness but not exceptional and served with a side of vegetables. Finally the dessert, a chocolate cake with dark chocolate inside was good. A worthy wine, a French Merlot that satisfied me. Price: I can't judge this aspect because I...