Ellenders Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Boston

We were here with a function held in the upstairs area however used the downstairs bar to be served for drinks.

I was firstly told when I ordered two mocktails that I'd have to wait for these to be made. It was made to seem as though ordering mocktails was an inconvenience, however, I agreed that this was fine. 3 other alcoholic drinks were then ordered and made straight away. We made the gent behind the bar aware we are part of the function and would like to take the drinks upstairs to which we were responded to quite abruptly with "drinks can't be taken out the venue". As understanding as I would have been towards this, it was only the night prior I was there and witnessed the same gentleman allow other members of a function (of the same purpose as ours) to leave the restaurant with alcoholic drinks to join their function. My partner then had to remind him of this, knowing he had also served us the night before and knew we were aware of what had gone on, yet my partner had to continuously argue the point when we were clearly being treated differently and being repeatedly told we couldn't take the drinks away.

After getting to the bottom of this and being told we could walk through the back of the venue, we then waited for the mocktails to be made. When told I had to wait, I did not realise that the wait was so everyone else at the bar could have their orders taken and then made before I was allowed my drinks. At 6 months pregnant and very much needing a drink, I very quickly became frustrated at watching everyone else be served before me (a customer who had already waited to be served and paid for service + drinks). The customer service regarding this was awful. The wait was so long that we missed the beginning of our function and other members of the party ordering had finished half their pints.

My partner raised this with a young waitress who said she cannot serve drinks and so just watched to the side as two men served everyone else. Again, I understand these barriers however on a Friday night, with a function also upstairs, you'd hope that all members of staff can chip in, or at least have more staff on to ensure good service.

When arriving back to our function we received a cold welcome by a server upstairs, who told us she was going to get the general manager regarding us taking our drinks upstairs- which had already been agreed on by staff downstairs.

We did not feel welcomed by anyone working during that evening, no initiative was taken by anyone to resolve any problems, nor apologies given for the clearly bias and rude service.

Such a shame to have experienced this, having eaten out at Ellenders many...

We visited on Valentines night and on arrival, our booking couldn’t be found, although we had paid a deposit. This didn’t make us feel very welcome. But…we were seated and ordered steaks, both cooked to our liking and the accompanying food was delicious and well presented. Portions were good and we then enjoyed our desserts, just that the cheese and biscuits had a blob of pickle that seeped into the butter and biscuits, this should have been kept separate. The cheeses were nice and the delicate biscuits delicious. Shame about the pickle, the food would have been 5 stars otherwise. Cheesecake was tasty. A nice lady went out of her way to ensure my Wife’s liqueur coffee was done correctly. The table service was impeccable, such a disappointment that our arrival wasn’t greeted in a very friendly manner. On paying the bill, it looked as if we had ordered an extra coffee, because if the way it was printed on the bill - this related to the liqueur coffee. The Manager admitted it was confusing. Then we realised that our deposit had not been credited, so were kept waiting and did get this refunded. We shouldn’t have had to ask though. If they are going to insist on deposits, these must be credited against the bill on the day. It’s a shame that customer service was good, but also sadly lacking. A game of 2 halves lol. Did spoil what could have been a perfect evening.

Edit

My Wife has just tried to book for a birthday meal. They offer a free meal, so she explained that our cat has been ill and has had to have an op. My Wife too has been quite ill and has lots of health problems. Because it’s 5 days later, apparently she is out of time. They booked it then changed their mind! We won’t be going back and she is upset at how...

Driving in to the area where the restaurant was meant to be, wasn’t clearly signposted so we had no idea where to find it, driving in the gated area being lost we then drove past it and saw it.

Once in and seated we waited a very long time just to get our drink order taken and as it was that long we knew what we wanted to eat, but we were refused placing our order until they came back a second time. It would have saved them time getting it all at once and just explain the food may be delayed.

The cocktail was badly made and tasted awful, ended up getting a safer drink.

The 3 courses deal was misleading as it was a combination of a starter, “main”, and a Pizza (which really was a slice of pizza, not a full pizza), desert wasn’t included! Very misleading and wasn’t really a deal as most 3 courses elsewhere are better value for money and actually fill you up. I ended up ordering a desert for extra and a hot drink just to fill me up a bit more.

When the waitress brought the mains and pasta over separately to go with it I had finished the main by the time the pasta arrived, so I had plain pasta (I was already starving from them not taking our food order when they were at the table the first time!) When she brought over the pizza (Slice) we asked what one was it and she just said “Pizza” and shrugged her shoulders, there were different flavours to choose from so we had to guess we gave the right ones to the right people.

With a terrible organisation. The food did taste good, but unfortunately wasn't amazing to make up for the...