Brewhouse & Kitchen - Cheltenham — Restaurant in Cheltenham

Came in on a Friday night for a table we pre booked at 7.30pm. We waited at the front for quite some time but no one came (my friend is heavily pregnant so this was not easy for her) so we made our way to the bar. Eventually spoke to a barman and explained we had a table booked and he looked shocked that we were at the bar for this. He went to get someone to take us to the table and told us to wait at the front. Our waiter came to greet us and we were seated. All the staff we encountered were very friendly and we got our food and drinks promptly, however we had to wait quite some time before anyone came to offer us the bill. It was not busy at this point and not a staff member to be seen to call over. Eventually our waiter came back out and started talking to another member of staff (initially it was not obvious she was staff as not dressed like the others) I was about to get up and go over to ask them for the bill when the lady he was with realised we were done and asked him to come over to us. I will say the waiter was very good at the start, friendly and got our orders promptly, but the beginning and the end of the experience did spoil it for us. The food was outstanding and the staff lovely but I feel that everything was so disorganised. If you are allowing tables to be reserved then you should have someone at the front to greet them when they arrive. The amount of time we sat there with empty glasses waiting for the bill was also unacceptable. How you don't have more people just walk out and not pay I don't know because there was noone to be seen and would be very easy to do. I understand in a busy setting but although the bar was busy, most of the tables had cleared at this point so there should have been wait staff available. I would have given 5 stars had it not been for these points, I feel its a shame as the food was great (compliments to the chef for a perfectly cooked ribeye!) but may consider choosing other restaurants over this one next time due to the lack of organisation.

*Edit to respond to the reply

Sorry but this isn't an acceptable response. There are multiple reviews I have noticed since where others agree this isn't the norm for reserving tables at a restaurant and see that someone even went elsewhere when given the same treatment. When you reserve a table at a restaurant you should be greeted and checked off to ensure you know that that person is who booked the table - I literally could have just waltzed in off the street and said I had booked when I didn't as not once was my name taken - You cannot expect people who have reserved a table to stand at a busy bar (sometimes 2 or 3 deep) to let them know you have a table (which according to the website is held for 15 mins after your time so good luck at the bar) and as I have already stated the barman who I eventually did get to speak to looked shocked I was saying this to him so this obviously isn't the way you always do things. My friend has been previously and WAS greeted at the front. Perhaps remove the reservation process if you can't be bothered to follow the way a reservation should work? We were not the only ones stood at the front waiting because this is just the way reservations work??! Put a sign at the front stating please ask at the bar for your reservation if you insist this is the way it should work? Or maybe one that just says we don't care pick a table and order at the bar. The response has cemented the fact I won't be returning. Are you a bar or a restaurant?? You need to pick a way of dealing with reservations and stick with it if you are going to allow reservations, the whole idea is ridiculous. Even a bottom of the barrel beefeater takes you to your table and checks off your reservation. Much better service and organisation in many other restaurants across town and thats who will get my money from now on. A shame the service cannot support the...

Went to the bar last Sunday about 4-5 & had a really shocking and bizarre interaction. Went to the bar to get a drink, I asked the woman at the bar who was clearly senior staff if they took cash which she said yes. I was having a mulled wine for £5. I was using silver coins mainly 20ps, 10ps and some 5ps. I counted them all into stacks of £1 out of courtesy. Then the woman gave the coins I counted very nicely & me a very disapproving look and said “It’s not ideal”. To which I said “What’s not ideal?” She said “The way you are paying, I’m going to have to count all of this and that’s going to hold up the bar and service” To which I said “I’ve never had anyone say that to me when trying to pay for a drink at a bar”. & “it’s all a part of the job” (which it absolutely is) To which she said “You know we don’t have to serve you and can refuse you” At this point what have a I done wrong as a paying customer? I just want to pay for my drink and try and enjoy myself with my friends. So I told her she could keep all the extra coins adding up to roughly 50p as a tip. She then counted all of the coins I had already counted which was great but then asked the poor girl working with her to count it all again.. for a 3rd time now just to “check”?? I have worked and still work in the customer service industry and there are a lot of things that aren’t ‘ideal’ but having a customer pay for his drink in silver coins isn’t one of them. I thought it was a really poor way to treat a customer, A really bad example for a senior member of staff to set to younger staff in how to deal with a paying customer, and bad for the other customer to have to see. I’m supposed to leave the bar feeling good and wanting to come back to spend more of my money not leave being made to feel like I’m a burden for paying for my drink. I tipped the bar girl who had to recount what the manager already had an extra tip and said I didn’t feel it was appropriate what happened. Hopefully that cheered up the bar staff and no one else had another experience like that. I get that life has stresses and it’s a busy time of year but all of that is none of my fault and I don’t appreciate having it taken out on me when I’m trying to spend my money and enjoy a drink. It’s not ‘ideal’ for me to spend my money in your business. I’d love to come back cause I thought the place was cool but I’m not exactly in a rush to go back after what’s happened. If amends want to be made I’ll happily come in and have a chat about it but if not I’ll just leave this here and most likely...

If only it was possible to give zero stars.

As a small party of 3, we booked in advance for dinner on a Saturday evening. After confirming our booking, we received an email to confirm the same.

Shortly afterwards, we received another email to say our enquiry had been cancelled “due to popular demand and limited availability”. As the email referred to enquiry rather than booking, I thought maybe there was a mistake with the system so called the restaurant directly to make sure our table was still booked. After speaking with the restaurant, they confirmed our booking was showing in their system at the time we had chosen.

On arrival at the restaurant, we were informed that our table had been cancelled and we should have received an email to confirm this. I explained to the lady at the front of house that we did receive an email cancelling an enquiry, but had confirmed by telephone with the restaurant that the booking was still secured. The only explanation given was that we shouldn’t have been told this.

As one of our party is gluten-free, we were unable to find another restaurant in the area to cater to our needs until much later in the evening. It completely ruined our evening taking out an elderly relative to dinner when she was feeling fit enough to be able to go to a restaurant to be turned away for reasons that shouldn’t have occurred - I can’t imagine it’s very difficult to check whether a table has been booked or not.

I would be interested to know the policy or process of selecting which tables are cancelled “due to popular demand and limited availability”. I can only imagine smaller tables are the first they cut, rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the bigger profit margins, without even the courtesy to find out whether this was someone’s birthday or anniversary or any manner of celebration they were cancelling at the simple cowardly click of a button.

Needless to say, this was one of the poorest customer service experiences I’ve witnessed. My final word can only be some advice for staff to be properly trained in reading a booking correctly or perhaps being a bit more human about the cancellation process. A back to basics course...