Carnegies Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Canterbury

As a world traveller, the customer service here was very baffling and definitely one of the worst experiences ever. We entered the restaurant and asked for a table and they told us there was only one table available next to the entrance where the door was wide open and it was freezing. The chairs were more like stools and it was extremely uncomfortable for my old mother and brother who were with me. They had to wear a down jacket the entire time. When I asked for another table as there were so many in the restaurant they told us they were “full” however there were maybe another 10 people and no one else came later on so no tables were “reserved” for a big group or anything. They could have easily offered us a better table with comfortable chairs. As other people have commented before me the staff are definitely racist towards foreigners as they treated their local customers noticeably better. To make matters worse they told us that for us the waiting time would be 1 HOUR?! As the town was very small and no other restaurant was open at that time we had no other choice but to wait. Locals came in after us and they got the table they wanted and they got their food very fast. It was absolutely appalling! There was one other couple in the restaurant that were foreigners and they also got the same treatment. Never in all my travels have I ever encountered such racist and discrimination against tourists (and btw we are white Europeans so I cannot imagine how they are with others). It is simply unacceptable to discriminate against tourists who bring in good revenue. The food was good but nothing spectacular and definitely not worth the wait of 1 hour + and not worth the money. If there is no other option its decent but expect if you are foreign to not get treated equally and expect a long wait for food. The worst part was being lied to about the table and them telling us “oh sorry it was so busy” when it was...

I never post reviews but this terrible experience was worth sharing. Read all the good reviews and was hoping for a good experience but sorely disappointed. If I could give below 1 star I would.

After a long wait which we understand as we had no reservations, we then promptly ordered and after 20-30 minutes our pizza and salmon salad was served but no sign of our pork ribs. We waited patiently for the ribs, during which I noticed 4 other table receive the ribs. We followed up with the wait staff multiple times about this but was told “it was coming” or “we’d check”. After over 1 hr the lady (appeared to be floor manager in charge of seating and also serving) game over and told us the ribs were now definitely being cooked and that because it was so late that it would be taken off the bill.

One and a half hours later the ribs finally arrived. After finishing and being the last one to leave the restaurant given the extremely late service, the remaining waitress was also keen to finish up understandably and so we felt pressured to finish up. But what the worst thing was when we went to pay the bill they had charged us still for the ribs. The floor manager lady went on to say sorry we can’t take it off, we need to make a profit. Well then why say that you would in the first place. Don’t forgot the order then.

She went on to say we’ll take off the lemonade instead as if it was such a big thing, and also had the nerve to say said she had taken off our wine instead. We had not ordered any wine at all. It was a thoroughly disrespectful and extremely poorly experience for us, and we would have gladly gone to the Red Stag if they had been open. Avoid with a wide berth if you value being...

Our experience at Carnegies was extremely disappointing. Unfortunately for us, the disastrous service outweighed the quality of the food by far. We will not be back and would definitely not recommend this establishement.

In total we reiterated our order 4 times, and it was still incorrect at the time of payment. Wait time for our meals exceeded 1 hour 20 minutes and despite the continuous string of mistakes that took place during this time, staff still had the gall to charge us full price for our meal.

At first we waited an hour (during which the incorrect drinks and food were brought to our table) before staff approached us to say our order had not been processed at all, and asked us to repeat it. We were served a bowl of stale bread and pretzels to eat for our trouble.

After this my partner's meal arrived. The wrong food (fries instead of lamb rack) was brought over for me by 2 separate staff members. 10 minutes later the manager approached YET AGAIN to ask what I had ordered.

The lamb that was served had clearly been rushed to 'make up' for the wait and had been cut without being rested, resulting in cutlets that were tough. There was also an enormous difference between the two racks of lamb served.

Hopefully there is better hospitality elsewhere...