The Borough — Restaurant in Wellington

Been here several times and have never been much impressed. Came here the first week it opened. It took us quite a while to get sat, a while to get drinks, a while to order, and an even longer while to get our standard pub fare. We figured, at first, it was startup pains and they were getting used to how their workflow operated so it was excused. Happened the next few times as well so we stopped going. We came back excited for their participation in the Burger Wellington competition, excited to have a place in our backyard. We arrived at midday. They seemed busy, but not every table in the dining area was full. It took 5 minutes for one of their staff to notice us standing at the entrance, tell us their dining room was full, then move us to the bar area. Then it took us 15 minutes waiting there without ordering food nor drinks before we left. That's simply too long. For our 15 minute wait we noticed at least 4 groups of people walk in, mill about the threshold, then just leave, and about 3 more tables were eventually sat around us in the bar area. All of us were kind of confused and looking around and for the most part, the staff did their very best to avoid eye contact with anyone. Listen, EVERY person working in the front of house needs to be capable of acknowledging EVERY single party that walks through the door as human beings that are attempting to give them money in exchange for food. A simple head nod, or a finger in the air suggesting that you'll be with them in a moment does not require an advanced degree or a great deal of human empathy. If you're too busy to do so something is very fundamentally wrong. I literally saw a girl walk behind the bar and polish a single glass then walk back to the dining room without lifting their head at the group standing at the door. If you're going to be so nonchalant about seating why not post a sign at the front suggesting parties seat themselves rather than the asinine "dining left 7m, bar right 9m" (I could be incorrect about the distances, forgive me). PS: if you're going with simple white clothing for uniforms I would suggest requiring a thicker cotton count as seeing a man's back hair attempting to burst through their clothing is not very appetising.

TLDR: We really wish it was a...

We visit The Borough a few times a year and it's generally enjoyable. We were dining there on a Friday evening with the kids on this occasion. I had made a late booking (that morning), and we arrived a little early which was no issue to the wait staff. Being a Friday evening, the restaurant (and bar) were very busy, and whilst friendly, the wait staff were somewhat harried. We had about 3 or 4 staff attend us at various points, but did also need to get their attention a few times. We were initially provided with 3 water glasses (one was not clean so we sent it back), leaving us with 2 glasses between 4 people. We had to ask for 2 more glasses. Our son asked for a drink from the children's menu, which we were told was unavailable, so he chose a different option. Our entrees came out quite quickly and were yum, thanks chefs :) but then our mains came out before we'd quite finished our entrees so there wasn't a lot of room on the table. The food though was lovely - thanks again chefs. Our kids meals were great - thanks yet again chefs! Surprisingly, they then each received the drink we had been told was unavailable. Our daughter (5) shoved her finger into it immediately, at which point we and the wait staff both realised the drinks had been sent to the wrong table. Credit to the wait staff for deciding simply to make two new drinks for the other table. We then watched as a patron bumped into a waitress who was carrying some drinks on a tray, spilling the drinks onto the floor with ice skidding everywhere and breaking one of the glasses. These things happen, and the staff were great in their speediness at cleaning it up. We were feeling a bit sorry for the staff at this point and decided to call it a night, opting to take the kids desserts home with us.

All in all, friendly staff, lovely food, no doubts we'll go again. Just perhaps not on a Friday evening at the end of a tough year, with covid still impacting a lot...

My wife and I decided to try The Borough for lunch yesterday. We went to the counter and were given a couple of menus, We chose seating by the window, although that table hadn't been cleared yet. We waited for over half an hour before anyone came to us, but I had to put my hand up to get their attention. The table was cleared, we placed our order and asked for drinks. Ten minutes later, still no sign of our drinks, and no water at the table. Hand up again, drinks please. I finished mine quickly and asked for another. Fifteen minutes later, no drink, still no food. During all this waiting I began to notice how dirty things were. The yellow vinyl bench seats haven't been cleaned for a long time, there's dust on the tops and food splatters in random places. The window sill has dust and old food on it. The floor is sticky. The chairs, which are wooden, make a screeching grinding noise when people move, loud enough to stop conversation. By now we've been here an hour and two soft drinks to show for it and no sign of our meal, no communication at all from our server, so we paid for the two drinks we had, and left. Even then, we had to wait because the girl at the register was correcting a billing mistake for the customer in front of us, so we stood there for 5 minutes or more waiting for that. Just as we were paying our meals turned up, over an hour after we arrived, we were advised of that but by then I was too annoyed to be able to enjoy them. Never going back, nor would I recommend them to anyone. The place is dirty, once you start looking They have no customer skills Staff don't communicate with customers They are not proactive, it was constantly necessary to call their attention They were not the slightest bit apologetic...