Observatory — Restaurant in Belfast

Pros: I reserved a table after I received a voucher for afternoon tea as a gift. The concierge, Niall, was lovely and extremely helpful. We were sat at a corner table with a great view and the waitresses were very welcoming when we arrived. The food took a while to arrive, but when it did it was delicious.

Cons: After our sweet treats were served we never saw any waitresses on our side of the restaurant. We wanted a top up of tea, and later, a box to takeaway some leftovers, but there were no waitresses to be seen. We had to eventually get up to go find someone to ask for a box.

When paying, I hadn't read the small print on the voucher I received, and therefore hadn't printed it out. A member of staff called over their superior, a guy called David, to ask about it and instead of directly speaking to us he spoke only to the staff member when he should have addressed us directly as we were standing right in front of him. I found this to be quite rude. It also would have been helpful if the person on the phone had reminded me to bring a print out of the voucher when I was reserving the table.

The biggest problem I had with the observatory is the lack of a baby changing table in any of the bathrooms. I checked the disabled toilet first, and then the ladies bathroom, but there were none. I had to lay my daughter on the bathroom floor and get onto my knees just to change her nappy. That is a disgrace for a hotel that claims to be 5 star! Perhaps the hotel isn't marketed for bringing a baby to the observatory for afternoon tea, but given that a highchair was provided it doesn't make sense that baby changing facilities aren't available. It's definitely not the standard of service I would expect from a...

When we arrived we were placed in a corner table that was not set up for afternoon tea and was dirty. We were left at this table for 20 minutes until I had to approached staff. We were given a complementary glass of Prosecco each and told we'd been placed at the wrong table. We hoped things would improve but they did not! We had booked the afternoon tea with a cocktail but asked for this with dessert as we had the Prosecco to drink. However we expected some tea but noone offered any. Once our sandwiches came out I had to ask a member of staff if we could get some tea. The tea came without any milk and there was no teaspoons or napkins on the table. Again we had to ask for these. Noone came to offer us more tea or any top ups. When our bill came we couldn't believe a automatic service charge was added when we had gotten zero service. We were heading to the Opera House for a show so didn't have time to request it to be taken off! I was given a voucher for my 40th birthday and choose this as a treat for myself and a friend and we were both extremely disappointed with the experience. We had no issues with food it was lovely but afternoon tea is all about the experience as well as the food and it was not what I would expect for the...

My husband had pre booked a table for my birthday day out (with request for a window table). Just before us a couple with no booking were shown to a window table. We were told when it was our turn that there were no more window tables and shown a high table in the middle to sit, which we contested as we had made a booking. The lady then kindly found us a seat over in a different section by the window.

After sitting down we were pretty much asked by the waitress in that section 'what are you doing here' as it was only for afternoon tea. We explained the situation but were instantly made to feel like we were a nuisance. After waiting 15-20mins with no order taken for a drink my husband had to go up to the waitress. She again said that drink orders are not usually in this section and there was no one to take our order, but she'd be over in a minute.

After taking our order, I calmly explained to the waitress that our situation had been handled terribly and that we were made to feel like nuisances, despite a booking error on their side. In fairness she apologised and brought us a glass of fizz while we waited for our drink, but the whole mixup had definitely ruined the buzz of the experience that we had looked...