Binary Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in England

Absolutely rubbish experience when we were there AND the day after as well. Would not recommend.

This was our first time dining at The Binary, we have always wanted to go as we know of the other Restaurants in the same chain. We went for the Vegan Tapas Meal for 4 people as we had won a competition which was worth £29.95 each, no drink included. We also won a second competition earlier in the year for 7 Cocktails which we claimed at the same time (in advance). The Meal had been pre-booked by The Binary themselves and even on arrival we told them we had 2 competition wins, we were then told "Don't worry, we know, sit back and relax".

Two of us are Vegetarians and Two of us are meat eaters, so it was nice to try Vegan Options, we were given bread and olives first which were nice but it was followed by a soup course with no bread, considering some of the courses were pushed together (2 plates at once) the bread should have been given along with the soup.

They were good with allergies as we said we couldn't eat cucumber so they provided leak and potato soup instead which was hot and very nice.

The rest of the courses were ok, I did really like the Brocolli Tempera, the other courses which were Pea and Asparagus Rice Pudding, Beetroot, Dill and Fennel, Carrots with Orange on were all average, none of us would have them again. The dessert which was Baked Alaska was unedible - we were literally sawing it with knives and it wouldn't slice at all! ( I will attach my video if Google let's me) They obviously hadn't gotten it out of the freezer in advance, which is mindboggling when they had a Vegan Tapas Night knowing that everyone would be eating that certain dessert. It was a shame as it we were looking forward to it, after us waiting for it to defrost we were asked if everything was ok... we asked if it's supposed to be frozen and was told it shouldn't be like this, we were then substituted with Hibiscus Sorbet.

The cocktails were ok, Affrogato cocktail was meant to be Salted Caramel Rum but it was so strong with coffee it was disgusting, menu in person didn't say espresso was included but it is included on the online menu today... I wouldn't have ordered it if I knew Espresso was included. The Toilets were ok and I liked the decoration in the Restaurant, not much of a nice view outside but that's out of The Binarys control.

At the end of the meal, we knew we had to pay for our water as the rest of our meal was free, we went up and paid and left.

However today my Mum who won both competitions was called twice and emailed saying we needed to pay £119!! Well to be honest we all said when we left yesterday we wouldn't even pay £19 for the whole of it as it was a bad experience, didn't fill us and if we had gone and paid we would have been absolutely fuming with what was presented, not worth the money at all, one of our party even went over to Steve's Chip Shop after the meal. Our email today said that a member of the team hadn't charged us £119 when they should have but this is incorrect as everything had been pre-paid/booked by The Binary, we quickly responded with all the details and proof that The Binary had booked both competitions in for us, the phone calls and email were all done close together yet it took them over an hour to call us again. I hope that they gave an apology to the staff member who only asked us to pay for the water as it was a system error. No communication whats so ever.

The staff at the time were nice but we are disgusted that we were asked for money especially when it was booked in advance from members of Binary/Bespoke and we told them while we were there that we had won. This whole experience has really upset my Mum and we wish we hadn't gone at all. They have since called up and apologised but it has ruined my Mum's day thinking she would need to pay this big amount of money - even worse because it wasn't a great...

Went here earlier today (29th Jan 2022 at 2:30) with 3 of my friends. We chose this time as we thought it would be relatively quiet, despite the buzz around the place.

We were happy to see that the restaurant inside is what you would expect from the brand. Very nicely furnished and equipped. The food as a whole was nice as you would hope for the price. I would personally say drinks are for anything other than a bottle £2 more expensive than you would want and food on average £3 more.

We had one individual with a 3 course set menu and 3 other guests who had a starter and main only. And it is more with the service for the food where our issues sit.

We are aware that this is early stages within the restaurants life however for the price we did expect better service. The service was not rude, far from it. Everyone was lovely and some seemed inexperienced so some leeway should be applied.

It was though, seemingly very unorganised. We were greeted by one individual. And shown to our table. This gentleman left us to view menus and then was never seen again. In our head we did ration that maybe as the table was booked for 5 people not the 4 (one was unable to attend) they were waiting for this individual to show up. Yet after some considerable time, it took one of our party to ask a member of staff to take our order.

Once again this member of staff was lovely. We enjoyed our starters although we did feel the butter was sparse on the sourdough.

Our mains then arrived and this is where we faced another issue. My friend had asked the initial lady could he have conventional chips with his order and no tomato in his burger. It was not until the young girl placed his food on the table that he was told they were all out of chips and that he discovered tomato present. We could maybe forgive the tomato to an extent. However, we felt that the chip issue should have been raised before hand. Ok it is simply a different variation, yet in any other establishment I have been informed of any such issues with food and it was gladly sorted. We did accept that these things occur of course they do!! But the lack of notice on top of the tomato just showed a level of service or care we perhaps expected better of.

Finally our food was taken by another completely different member of staff. And we were asked if we wanted dessert. This is a more than fair question yet I had already ordered my dessert as part of my set menu. And the gentleman seemed to not be aware of this. I had to remind him what i had ordered and it arrived not long after.

I ate my dessert which was nice in its own right and once again presented by another staff member. And my plate was taken away. It was then a long time waiting for our bill to arrive. Yes we had booked the table until 5 to be safe. Yet it was clear we had finished and the time now was 4.50.

We attempted to get the attention of members of staff. We were sat on the upstairs floor, and over in a corner, so perhaps we were hard to be seen. But it once again took a member of our party to request the bill by getting a staff members attention to do so after a considerable wait.

If the restaurant had been busier such waits would I believe be more excusable. However, it wasn’t anywhere near full. Our feedback is simply perhaps assign 1 or 2 staff to a table. We thought a designated waiter or waitress for our table would have aided in every area mentioned above. Instead it felt like we met every staff member and left with a tad sour taste. Especially having frequently visited other establishments within the brand.

Overall food is a tad expensive, environment is lovely and it is a great addition to the area no doubt. However, despite our service not being rude as per other reviews. It was slow and a bit unorganised we felt. In time we hope these issues will be ironed out. But we unfortunately can’t give the 5 star review...

Style over substance

We made a reservation and arrived a little early. We walked in and wasn’t sure where to go, as we wanted to make sure we checked in with someone for our table, even if we waited at the bar until it was ready, so we waited by the door. No one came to us, and we kind of just stood there awkwardly as we didn’t know where to go (we’ve never been before). There was someone speaking with a table, seemingly casually, and holding napkins so thought she worked there, but she didn’t seem to acknowledge us there so we wondered whether she was in fact staff. Eventually, one of us went to the bar to ask if anyone could help, and was ignored by the bar staff. The other of us looked around and found the stairs for upstairs, went up, and asked if anyone could help, and was told someone would come soon.

Once I realised the bar staff weren’t helping, I went back to the front door, and looked at the table where the same lady was still stood at the table with customers chatting. The customers looked at me and realised, before the staff member, that I was looking for help, and pointed at me and said to the lady it looked like I was looking for someone. I approached and asked whether she worked there. She said yes, and said she didn’t see me. I pointed out we had been there a good few mins and no one had acknowledged us. It was a little awkward.

She ended up taking us to our table and was perfectly polite, but being ignored on arrival by 2 lots of staff wasn’t a great start.

We were seated and were seen to quickly, granted. We ordered and food came out fairly quickly. I asked for my wine to come with my main. My main came but my drink didn’t. We asked for our drinks, and one was brought out, but my wine wasn’t. In the end, I had to ask 4 separate times for my wine and it was knocked off the bill because 3 members of staff weren’t able to materialise the drink I’d asked for literally at the beginning of service.

I noticed a LOT of tables, and also the bar, were cluttered with dirty dishes and glasses.

Service seemed to pick up around the restaurant half way through our meal as it became busier. But it was a disappointing start and doesn’t really bode well for anyone wanting to go in at what seems to be the shift change period (our table was booked for 6pm, we arrived at 5.45pm).

Overall, food was standard (not bad, but certainly not anything to write home about) and service was really quite poor. The very helpful waiter who saw to our table at the end saved the entire experience, as he was attentive and apologised for the poor experience and took the wine off the bill before we could ask.

Will not be returning and would suggest you don't bother if you are going to dine. The bar did look busy and people seemed to be enjoying themselves, so perhaps that is better. I think staff assume everyone coming is local and has been before, but for a first visit, you really are not welcomed or helped at all.

Overall, the decor seems to have had more attention than the service. Great for instagram pictures, not so much if you’re wanting a really good service and/or a quality dining experience....