Flame — Restaurant in Belfast

I recently had the worst restaurant experience I have ever encountered whist eating at “Flame” on 46 Howard Street, Belfast (I’ve worked in the hotel/restaurant/catering industry for over 30 years).

On 21st March 2022, I entered the restaurant but had to wait 10 mins for a table, despite making a reservation earlier in the day. Once I was taken to a table, I sat there for several minutes waiting for a menu. I had to ask 2 separate waiting staff for a menu. One of the staff was friendly, the other sullen, disinterested and obviously couldn’t be bothered. Then I had to ask twice for someone to take my order (Prawns Pil Pil followed by Chicken Supreme).

Eventually, the starter arrived. When I finished this, it was some time before my plate was cleared. Then I waited for the main course…and waited…and waited. Again, I had to ask more than one staff member to see what was happening. Half an hour later, the main dish - Chicken Supreme came – and it was cold! I don’t mean lukewarm, I mean cold. I told a waiter who apologised and took the plate away. He came back and said the chef was going to cook me a new dish from scratch. I’d now been in the restaurant over an hour and was not prepared to wait another 30 minutes.

So I asked the waiter if he could get the chef to put the dish under the grill for a minute or so to warm it up. It was late now and I was hungry - I really didn’t mind having this done. However, the waiter looked nervous and just stood there, not knowing what to do. I asked again but the waiter just froze. He was obviously nervous about talking to the chef.

I thought I would take the initiative and as I was seated right by the open kitchen, I took my plate to the chef (whose name I understand is Mark McNeill) to ask him nicely if he could put the plate under the grill to heat it up. Mr McNeill saw me approaching and suddenly started to shout very aggressively - in front of the whole restaurant - “GET THIS MAN AWAY FROM MY KITCHEN. I DON’T WANT HIM ANYWHERE NEAR HERE. GET HIM AWAY!”. He continued to shout and rant at me in an aggressive, hostile manner in front of all the guests. Everyone turned around and it was embarrassing and humiliating to be honest. I was stunned.

The manger (Raymond) heard this and came running over, trying to get Mr McNeill to calm down. Even that proved difficult. After a couple of minutes, Raymond approached me and was extremely apologetic, contrite and offered a complimentary drink. I was in shock really (I’d never witnessed this behaviour in a restaurant) and just wanted to leave. So I politely declined his offer and asked for the bill. Raymond kindly waived this but gave me Mr McNeill’s name and said he would inform the owner director (Gareth) and get him to contact me. I left my number.

Two days later, I spoke with the director Gareth who was not very empathetic and said he would have to speak with Raymond (the manager) and Mr McNeill to “check out my story”. He gave the impression he didn’t believe me. I stated that all I wanted was an apology from Mr McNeill. Gareth took down my email details and promised to get in touch. This was 3 weeks ago and despite me phoning/emailing the restaurant 5 times, I have heard nothing from Gareth.

The whole experience was the worst I have ever encountered at a restaurant, made worse by a Director of the business who cannot be bothered to contact or apologise for the cold food, the appallingly slow service or a chef who shouts aggressively at a customer.

I will certainly never set foot in “Flame” again and I strongly suggest anyone thinking of doing so to look...

I had booked the below for Valentine's day. Every year me and my partner take turns on organising Valentine's, this year it was my turn.

A Co worker of mine, has ranted and raved about flame for the past week so I decided to go ahead and book it, forgetting about previous experiences I may have had.

We booked for 9.15pm, and unfortunately were 2 minutes late, when we came in, we were told to wait 10 minutes!! 25 minutes later we were seated in the back corner may I add excluded from everyone else.

The starter was lovely, I had the mussels, the cocktails as well set a good standard. This quickly went downhill when the main came out. I had the chicken which was cold and tasted processed, I've made better and tasted better from Iceland!! The garlic potatoes were rock solid and uneatable.

All we wanted was to finish our drinks and leave, which is why we didn't even stay for dessert!!!

Whilst we were trying to attempt to eat the main this waitress came over and decided to stare at me, I asked how she was to which she replied and walked away.. Weird, until I seen her standing in the corner crying and talking to a painting. That's OK, I like weird but it got worse!!!

I had bed sat waiting and looking about me for about 20 minutes until I caught someone's eye to get the bill and leave, I caught the waitresses attention, who I might add looked like a stroppy teenager who was still crying at the stage with a trembling lip. Anyway, I asked if I could get the bill and a card machine, she came back with a card machine waiting for me to give her the amount? I said, 'I don't have the amount' she snapped back and said 'did you ask for the bill' to which I replied yes! She rolled her eyes and walked away to get the bill.

When the waitress came back, she slammed the bill on the table and just starred at me, I just brushed it off, as her face was wet with tears so I felt sorry for her. She put my card in the machine then passed me the machine to type my pin in by saying 'HERE'. After, she had give me the receipt and my card, she stormed off,  no thank you or anything.

Let me say this is the worst experience I have had in a very long time and I will never step foot in your restaurant again! I work for BNP PARIBAS and get a discount, I felt so uncomfortable I didn't even tell the rude waitress I had this discount.

You should be ashamed of yourselves as you ruined our whole Valentine night!!!!

£129.70 down the drain because of your awful food and the poor service.

On my bill it says the servers name was...

Attended a couple of months ago for a 50th Birthday party.. Unfortunately, I had to send my meal back. have to say that the staff were excellent. I always get a little embarrassed by having to do this so it takes quite a lot for me to complain! They did remove my meal from the bill. Unfortunately the Birthday Girl who had ordered the same as I had could not eat her Sunday roast beef either. Everyone else loved theirs. The feedback from the chef via the lovely hard working waitress was spot on. Apparently he had a large sirloin to work with that was completely fatty the whole way though and said that there was not much point in offering another as it would be from the same cut. That leads me to thinking....was the Chef even involved in the chosing of the cut of beef?. I was presented with a carton to bring the rest of my and the Birthday Girl's tough beef back home. I did bring it back home thinking that my little pooches would enjoy it. But nope.... I immediately envisaged my pooches choking on the fat etc so it was thrown into the bin. The 2 stars are for the amazing staff that worked so hard on our table. Now I have to say that Flame did suffer from a fire in the restaurant approximately 6-7 days before we visited. However, my relative being a highly experienced health and safety expert had expressed concerns regarding the flu from the cooking station and the possibility of fat over time running back down to the cooking station that may possibly have started the initial fire. NB. This is only hearsay and NOT a true representation of any facts with regards to the fire within these premises. I also have to say that any of us can have a good or had experience with food in any restaurant... depending on many factors. I would just like to see Flame up their game again and not drop the standards.... that way you guys...