Gabardine Bar — Restaurant in Basingstoke and Deane

No major issues with the food, however, the running of this establishment is completely diabolical!

No itemised bills, prices plucked out of thin air and the management here is a circus act.

We went in as a group of 6 for a hen do, ordered 8 cocktails, 3 mocktails and a soft drink, totalling roughly £100. We also ordered 5 pizzas and a nachos, totalling just under £60 for food. So you’d EXPECT to be paying about £160 overall.

When it came time to pay we asked the gentleman behind the bar for the drink bill as one as one member of our group had wanted to cover the drinks for everyone and then to individually pay for the food. We were not handed any bill and instead he held out a card machine for what he said was just the drinks which was paid. He then tried to £60 in a lump sum for the meals. I reiterated we wished to pay separately and he came over to charge £10 to each card. When we requested that 2 of the cards be charged £15 instead of £10 so that we could cover the cost of the bride we were told not to worry about the £10 for the bride and just pay £10 each, totalling £50 for the food instead of £60.

Once we’d got outside, and got some signal we noticed the drinks had been charged at £155 meaning an overall bill of £205. We went back in and queried this with the very lovely young lady who took her time to look over our tab and confirm the bill was incorrect and try to understand how things had gone wrong. She was very professional and honest with us that part of the issue was the mocktails had accidentally been put through as cocktails, but this only accounted for about £10 of the error. However THIS is where the major issue then started, the ONLY person with authority to issue refunds, the owner, had gone home for the day leaving the bar with no one on site in a position of authority (and on a Saturday night no less!) This is when the man who had billed us tried to argue with his young colleague that everything was correct, however, she stood her ground and confirmed to him it wasn’t correct. Once the young lady had managed to get her manager on the phone, she too argued there was no error. Eventually, after several phone calls, the person who had been over charged was put onto owner directly. The owner then chose to speak ill of the young lady who had been helping us and accused us of lying about the bill as she could not see the £60 payment on her computer. It was then re explained to her that this was actually only £50 in the end and paid as 5 lots of £10. Eventually, the owner agreed to bank transfer the overpayment back and man who had billed us gave us a bottle of wine, however, it took an hour of arguing and warnings that we were on the verge of calling the police to report them for theft.

Management at this establishment need some serious help in how to run a business, the implications on having no personnel in authority onsite and customer service.

We were sure to advise the young lady that she should find another job as this place doesn’t...

Average at best food & overpriced for what you get.

We had, as the menu calls it a traditional Greek meze with Greek bread & we had a bottle of alcohol free sparkling wine & were charged £45! When we queried the bill we were told it’s because it’s a high end place! Really?! The meze had basic pita bread & Tesco looking breadsticks, olives with pimento that look like the cheap ones in a jar from Tesco (had better in the Waitrose wine bar) We were given no plates or serviettes & that cost £16 which means the alcohol free wine was £29 (which wasn’t chilled & was off the shelf) even though the bar staff said it was £25 when we queried it. I’m happy to pay for quality food & even paying for alcohol free drinks as I appreciate they’re not soft drinks, but that’s ridiculous! And if you’re going to market the place as high end & charge London prices, the quality has to be spot on! Very disappointing because I really like the place & it has so much potential but I won’t be going back, I’ve made allowances in the past for the average food to give them the benefit of the doubt but this has tipped it over the edge for me. And to use the excuse that it’s a high end place is a little insulting, I’ve been to a number of so called high end places & unfortunately this wasn’t one of them.

Maybe I’m not the right market being a non drinker, I don’t have the alcohol to...

My wife and I popped in for lunch a couple of weeks back and were pleasantly surprised. The food and service were great. We grabbed a sofa right at the back of the venue, near the living plant wall (needed to, since it was pretty chilly that day). We placed an order, which was quickly fulfilled and warmed up with our hot drinks! We thought that the food and drinks were reasonably priced, but maybe the tapas portions could have been a little larger. Everything was nice and clean - the place looks properly looked after and maintained. The seating area is light and airy during the day, but with a couple of cosy spots if you want to blend into the background for a bit. There are a variety of seating options, including a raised island area you can sit, eat and drink at. A number of two and four seat options are dotted around (although a couple of these are a bit too exposed)...or you can pick from the high stools, or sink into the comfy sofa at the rear of the establishment. Overall, Gabardine has a nice ambiance (haven't tried a night vistit yet but that's next) and I would recommend...