Casco Lounge — Restaurant in England

Attended last night as an evening with some of my friends.

Upon first stepping inside, the decor is beautiful and very inviting. Comfortable seating both with armchairs and traditional tables.

Ordering needs to be either through a QR code or done at the bar which makes it more of a bar than a restaurant. We definitely got that feel throughout the evening where the staff aren’t as attentive and the food is below average. The food leans towards “packet” food reheated and whilst it tasted ok, it was not flavourful and was barely warm when I began eating it. The best aspect of the meal was the carrot cake and the cheesecake. Both were very good.

To address staff not being as attentive - some of the staff looked like they didn’t work there. If you looked at them they’d look away hence why I ended up speaking to only two of the people who did seem to look me in the eye. I’d suggest to management to possibly raise the standards of general hospitality training to create a more inviting atmosphere but then again, this might not be the focus of the establishment. Possibly wear clothing which signals to customers that they work there? Unless they’re carrying food or behind the bar you’d never know. The gentleman who is possibly the manager (showed us to our table) was trying his very best and did make us feel welcomed as well as being treated professionally - the rest of the staff looked as though they were being forced to be there…

The cocktails my friends had (mojitos) were bitter and filled with ice. They were apparently on a happy hour but they only received one each? Mojitos are generally sweet and tangy allowing you to taste both the alcohol, mint and lime. They were barely finished -which isn’t like them!. It seemed as though the copious amounts of ice were added to keep costs down? I’m unsure but the opinion was that they were awful and undrinkable. I can however recommend the non-alcoholic cocktails.

Overall - unfortunately my friends and I will not...

My dish was meant to have pickled onions in it but arrived with raw onions instead. When i brought this to server's attention (the one with half a head of red hair), she made up a story about how it is how they prepare their pickled onions. I picked one slice up to show her it was dry and hadn't ever been in any vinegar. I even offered to show her a picture from google of what pickled onions look like. She started getting rude to me, even though it is not a crime to not know what pickled onions look like. She must have thought BS'ing me would work and most definitely took me for someone who wouldn't know what i was talking about. I would have been appreciative and taken the opportunity to learn if i were her. I insisted that what i had wasn't the dish on the menu so she storms of the kitchen and brings me a bowl of pickled onions, which she places next to my salad with raw onions. What made it worse was instead of apologising for the kitchen error, for her ignorance, for doubting me, for her arrogance to learn, and not replacing my salad, she dug the hole deeper with some story about the closeness of both items in the kitchen. I didn't ask for the why, nor any excuse and a sensible service would have been to take my wrong salad away as mistakes are human, and bring the right salad. Instead it was one faux-pas after another. The avocado was also unripe but i would have eaten it anyway. Terrible service is just not on. My date was also ruined as I sat and waited for my partner to finish his english breakfast, so i could go eat eslewhere. I am glad i didn't even try his dish, as he got food poisoning for days from it. We will not be returning there again even though it held a special place as it was where we had our 1st date. We can't pay for rubbish service and food poisoning...

Great atmosphere. The decor is wonderful and it has a chill-out feeling in here. They have a great app to order from so you don't have to wait on catching staff for anything and avoid queing at the bar now - assuming the app works on your phone, mine had no issue, but my other half couldn't get it to connect even when using the local WiFi. Some staff more helpful and nicer. Barman was great. Loved the tapas, especially the meatballs and cod taco. Will come back to have the taco again and try the others on the menu. Virgin Mango, coconut and pineapple colada mocktail was lush. Washroom facilities were clean. Baby changing facility on ground floor is a bonus. Warm chocolate brownie with ice cream was delishious. Portion size was just about right after a main meal. They are child friendly, crayons and activity to keep the kids occupied while you try to relax and have a good choice of kid meal options. I like that they are always checking for allergies. No prebooking just turn up which is how every restaurant should work as most restaurants in that area take bookings and end up with half the restaurant empty! And they wonder why some places close down....its not a downturn its a stupid business model of ensuring your restaurants are kept empty! Use Google busy schedule to avoid the rush to ensure you get a table as some Saturdays I noticed are usually busy and at other times...