I am sorry to write something so negative; however, I am very disappointed with the service we received at the restaurant and the last time this happened two months ago, I let it slip by.

I am a long-time customer who has brought over thirty people to La Maison, and all the people I have brought are big spenders. We have made orders from this place for over three hundred and fifty GBP during Christmas holiday and I have never left the place without gladly paying over one hundred GBP. The least I would expect is an honest and polite service.

Yesterday, I went with a close friend of mine, which proved to be the last time I ever set foot in that restaurant.

We were first seated at a table. I tried ordering a Sanpellegrino Limonata. I ended up receiving sparkling water, so I kindly clarified that I wanted a Limonata, but received a 7UP. This is fine; we all make mistakes and have tiring days. So I went myself to get the Limonata.

The real problem came after we ordered our steaks. We put the order 15 minutes after arriving when there were fewer tables on our floor that were full. After half an hour, all the restaurant was packed, and all the new customers were served their steaks before us. It took one hour and ten minutes for the food to arrive, which I can understand, due to the restaurant being busy.

What was appalling was that a few minutes after we finished our steaks, we got the bill, and a waiter asked us to pay and leave. She already acknowledged that we were upset with the service but added the hefty service charge and never left me the chance to kindly tell her that I was not going to pay it.

I kindly asked her that we come here to have tiramisu as well and that we would like to have some desserts. She ignored my request saying that it was too late and that we would have to vacate the table for other people. She then brought the card machine to make us pay the one-hundred and five GPB bill.

I was disgusted by this and told my friend how disappointing this felt. My friend had just finished his quarantine after returning from abroad, and this was the first place we wanted to celebrate our reunion at - they flipped the entire good vibe of our night to a bad one.

Anyone reading this would probably not accept this on themselves so why should I when I was a loyal customer who literally introduced most of my friends to this place?

I believe some notes on hospitality should be learned from the Cambridge Chophouse, which is light years ahead when it comes to good service and friendly staff. Please tell the people that represent your place to just be kind, honest and friendly - that's all...