Lona Grill House & Juice Bar — Restaurant in Bristol

I have come to Lona quite a lot over the years so choosing this restraunt for my grown daughter's birthday meal was a something we were all looking forward to. We were sat at a large table, which had been prebooked with a £50 deposit. I brought a cake in for my daughter, which was a SURPRISE! The table was set nicely and we had plenty of space. When it was time to order, the Staff took our orders and made sure everything was okay. The drinks came out quickly and freshly made.

After we ordered food the server came over with the card machine and told us we needed to pay before the food - we didn't mind, but felt this was a bit strange and when we have eaten before we just pay at the end. The server went to my daughter - who was obvious it was the birthday girl as she was wearing a badge, sash and a crown which said happy birthday, she also had a large helium balloon in front of her - first and asked for payment and then said to her, what about the payment for the cake, in which me and her boyfriend both looked at each other and we shook our head st the server, hinting that it was a surprise, she then asked again in which my daughter said, has anyone ordered a cake?? We then had to say that we had brought a cake, which was a surprise and the server didn't even apologise for ruining that moment - not only for us but for my daughter, who was also a bit gutted that the cake surprise had been ruined. The cake then was added to another person's bill on the table when I asked to pay for the cake, so we then had to sort it out between ourselves.

When the food came out. I was missing my naan bread, which i had to ask the server for. Then half way through our meal, we noticed chicken was missing off our meal, we had 2 different servers come over to check and double check our plate - as if we would lie about not having some chicken??! - before finally being brought our missing food.

The cake was brought over to us without us knowing, so we weren't ready with our cameras or to even make sure the birthday girl was ready, so it wasn't as special a moment as it could have been.

We even mentioned at the end about how Dissapointed we were about the ruined surprise and the missing food snd the server was not interested at all.

Overall me and the whole table was Dissapointed, we had spent nearly £300 for the whole table and felt it wasn't worth the money. I was very Dissapointed and I don't think I will be back any time soon and I know for certain that the other members of our party felt the same.

Such a shame! As i used to...

REVIEW OF SERVICE

I have been going to Lona's for almost 7 years and each time both the food and service has been fantastic. However going this evening with my boyfriend was a poor experience. Although the food is still delicious, there appears to be a new way of service, whereby you are expected to pay immediately after ordering. I have not had to do this before and I was surprised, as this is a nice place I expect to sit down to relax and enjoy my meal. This is not a cheap takeaway where you are expected to pay upfront. There is a 10% service charge here and I spoke with the waitress to enquire as to this 10% service charge on further orders of food, drinks, and desserts. I was told each order requires a payment including the 10% service charge and if I was not happy I could speak with the manager. I explained that I was simply asking and did not want to cause any trouble, but I was planning to order another smoothie part-way through my meal and would not expect to have to pay the 10% service charge again. The waitress said they do not charge 10% additionally for takeaway orders. My smoothie was served not in a glass like it usually is but instead in a plastic takeaway cup. I presumed from the way it was explained to me that the smoothie I had ordered was somehow a takeaway. When I ordered my second smoothie, the waitress said she would not charge me the 10% service charge as a courtesy from our earlier conversation.

The waitress I spoke with agreed this is a silly thing they are doing and said maybe the manager would change this ridiculous rule in the future but I do not believe anything will be done unless people voice their concerns over this.

In addition to this evening, there was a table sat close to me who stormed off to speak with the manager after I believe they were charged a second payment, including the 10% service charge.

I am more than happy to leave a tip for the service I receive but I do not like being obliged to do so with the included service charge, as I'm sure the majority of people would agree, and I certainly do not appreciate being expected to pay a required service charge each time I place additional orders...

I’m giving this place one start because I don’t have the option to give them 0 to be fair, yesterday night we went to have some food. First we spent like 10 min by the door waiting for someone to be seated. When we finally had a table, we spent another 20 min waiting for someone to take our order, but no one came to us, we had to called them. After we called them to make our order they get annoyed because they was having a funny chat by the bar. Not professional at all. After that we had mains and 15 min after we had the starters, absolutely ridiculous. I ordered a fillet steak medium rare and it was completely rare and cold inside, couldn’t eat my food, the chicken was very dry. When we finished we spent another 20 min waiting for someone to clear our table and order some desserts, but no one came, just a waitress to ask us if she can take our sauces from the table, but she never ask if everything was okey, or if we wanted desserts, nothing, honestly awful service, worst service that I never had. We just left the table to pay on the counter, because at the end no one came, and when we arrived to the counter the gentleman which is the manager or someone on charge I guess didn’t ask if everything was okey he just told me how much was everything, so I asked him - could I please see my check? He gave me my check a bit annoyed. I told him to took my service charge off and he told me is not optional, I told him services was awful and everything that I’m saying here basically, he start to argue with me, telling me that they’ve got a lot of cultures and they don’t wanted to be annoyed by anybody, which is a very ridiculous excuse, anyway he was quite rude at the end and started to tell me that he been doing this job for a long time and he doesn’t need any advice, I just told him that I was giving him some feedback as a costumer. Honestly awful situation I don’t recommend this place, I used to go all the time I’m not back...