Chequer Lane by Jamie Oliver — Restaurant in Dublin

We had booked a table for five adults and four children. We arrived a little early and were asked to wait at the bar. So, I went to order drinks. There were three staff members behind the bar - arguing among themselves. There were glasses lined up on the shelf on the front of the bar which were being knocked over by people passing by. I was ignored by the staff behind the bar. I eventually asked them to stop arguing among themselves and serve the customers. They told me they didn't 'do drinks'. I asked them to get somebody who does serve drinks. Eventually a man approached from the area of the door - wearing an outdoor coat - asking if we had a problem. When asked, he said that he was the Manager. I asked him to manage his staff and allow me to order drinks. He walked away. Another woman approached me and seated us. She even organised somebody to take our drinks order !! Without doubt - the worst service I have ever received in a 'good' restaurant. It left a very bad impression on my whole party. Why have staff behind the bar who don't 'do drinks' ?? They were too busy bickering among themselves to pay attention to customers. How unprofessional !! Bah Humbug indeed !!! On a positive note - my monkfish was one of the best dishes I have ever had in.a restaurant. What a pity the bar staff don't behave in a more courteous and professional manner. They definitely lower the tone of the establishment.

**. Thank you for your reply to my review. I wish to clarify some points. While we arrived slightly early, we did not expect to be accommodated at our table immediately. We were happy to wait at the bar area. My comments concern the unprofessional attitude of the bar staff ..... what were they doing behind the bar if - as they said - they 'don't do drinks' ?? Why were they arguing loudly within earshot of clients ?? Why was the manager wearing an outdoor coat, standing at the door - and seemingly unwilling to help us order a drink ?? Why were glasses piled up on the ledge while the staff stood bickering behind the bar ?? It created a very bad impression of your restaurant.

Conversely, the girl who stepped in and took care of us was extremely pleasant, helpful and professional. She and the quality of the food met - and even exceeded - our...

shocked. horrified. disappointed. all of these are words synonymous with how I would describe the dining experience in which me and my father had at this restaurant. myself and my father have been travelling the UK and Europe for what had been a month trip so far, and it was our last night in Dublin on our Ireland leg of the trip, so we figured "wouldn’t it be nice to celebrate and go to a Jamie Oliver restaurant!". we’ve seen the bloke on telly (who hasn’t), and figured there’d be no way known that he’d put his stamp on a place and serve mediocre food. the menu prices seemed steep on the website but we thought "why not! should be a real nice way to depart Ireland!" sadly we were wrong. we both ordered the scallops, and what came out utterly baffled us. good quality seafood that’s been absolutely breadcrumbed to death, with no taste. no flavour. it’s really sad when that sort of stuff is done to good quality produce, especially seafood. we thought it would be treated delicately, with a bit of finesse. maybe some lemon juice, lime. it’s seafood, treat it with care. it doesn’t need much to make it go far. i’m far from a chef and even i know that. same issue again with the calamari/squid entree. that much breadcrumbs simply isn’t necessary. as for the atmosphere in the restaurant itself? we were sat at the very back, right where the different coloured circular mirrors hanging on the walls are, where some bloke with a semi circle curtain around him was throwing the dirty cutlery into a plastic bucket filled with soapy water. the tables in front of him wouldn’t have been able to see what was going on, but we were sat behind him and we sure could. i understand the necessity of cleaning the food utensils, but should I as a paying customer have to see that process? isn’t that kind of what a kitchen is for? that’s at least been the case for every other restaurant on earth that i’ve been to. bizarre to say the very least. why is the restaurant so dark? why is the ceiling panelling missing and why can i see the ventilation system exposed? it’s just...

Really terrible dining experience from start to finish. The food was not good at all. They’re serving pub quality dishes and dressing them up to look higher-quality. They were out of several ingredients so we couldn’t even order what we really wanted. The menu options are grim, a burger or a steak or a ravioli dish. Typical boring Irish pub type of menu. We made a booking ahead of time but were still made to sit in the bar area and weren’t allowed in the dining room because they said they were “fully booked for a private party” the private party was about 15 people who only took up 1/3 of the dining room and they allowed other customers to sit in the other half of the dining room. We were sitting there with people brushing up against us to get to the bar constantly having to pause our conversation because we couldn’t hear each other over the people at the bar who were waiting for their table. One by one we saw them seating people in the dining room while we sat in the bar uncomfortable and had asked 3 times to sit in the dining room only to be told no. Aside from the bar being loud and noisy I have back problems and was very uncomfortable in the chair at the table in the bar area. I really needed something more comfortable. They also offered to take coats from everyone coming in but didn’t take ours. My friend kept saying “do we smell or something?” As a joke because we were being severely mistreated and ignored. We were dressed nicely, asked politely and they just didn’t seem to care. Waste of our time and money, we left in a bad mood and ended up getting food somewhere else because...