Sonoma - Gatwick North — Restaurant in Crawley

Okay. One thing to say really. Our server, Russell, was and is EXCEPTIONAL. We’ve travelled all over the world, visiting the USA and Australia dozens of times. Needless to say, we’ve eaten in many airport restaurants, and had the full range of experiences. When all is said and done, the ONLY thing that truly makes a difference is the people. Staff make or break a place, even if the food is sublime and the location outstanding, if the staff are under par then that’s all that is remembered. Russell has that unusual combination of gifting that makes him quite exceptional in what he does. He is friendly, personable and professional, without at any point tipping over into being intrusive. We were impressed with Russell’s care and unassuming humour with us, but more importantly, we found ourselves observing him at work across the restaurant while we were there. Russell had the same gentle manner with all his guests/customers, and we witnessed how each of them responded to him. It was hospitality at its very best. Russell is a credit to the Sonoma group, and we hope he is as valued as he should be. Give the guy a raise! Give him his own restaurant to manage, or at the least, ask him to get involved in training your other wait staff. He’s a huge...

I can’t comment on the food as we did not get served to be able to try it . Maybe we caught the staff on a bad day , but the first staff who saw us gave us barely any attention and didn’t let us know where we wanted to sit was the online only order zone. With international cards and a Canadian SIM card on my phone it meant that I could not place my order online . I asked someone kindly if we could order via someone and she said abruptly and rudely we were in the wrong place for that . We then got instructed to go sit anywhere we like- a waiter did nicely tell us he had no cleaned the table we sat at so to sit somewhere else , but it was not that bad so we stayed . We waited and watched as they looked over at us and served other people who had just come in- then proceeded to chat to eachother and look at us not coming over .

We went to the lovely American diner instead where the service was so fast and when I explained I could not order online someone came over right away and we got our breakfast fast .

It’s the worst service I had had anywhere in my entire life! Never received this poor service anywhere before . So shocked .

Seems like having the online service has made them forget how to...

Trying to get the attention of the staff is extremely difficult even while they walk past your table. The pancakes had no ‘maple flavoured syrup’ on them which meant they were far too dry. Trying to get a glass of tap water to swallow down the pancakes was a chore. In fairness Gatwick generally has nose dived as an airport so customer service across the board is poor. So I’ve had to come back and edit this. I paid in good faith using the QR code on the table. Then I get chased out of the restaurant to pay my bill. I show them on both my wallet and banking app I have paid. To be told if it is pending it hasn’t gone through. I show them every other pending transaction from the previous 24 hours to no avail. Then this rude member of staff says if you order from your server pay your server. They insist I pay again and I show them both transactions pending. Doesn’t matter. Now the onus is on me if both payments go through to contact them. Thankfully it was for a small amount but if you had a family of four that would be a rather expensive start to your holiday. Avoid this place and pay your server if you don’t want to...