Fourteen Drops — Restaurant in England

Bad business practices and customer service - beware! I’ve never had to leave a bad review before but after dealing with this business I felt compelled to. We bought two £25 vouchers for a wine tasting experience to be used in the Newcastle store yet two days later they announce on Instagram they’re closing down! Really poor form to not point that out at the time of sale. Nevertheless we were told to look out for “loads of exciting events and tastings” in 2019 in Newcastle. I’ve yet to see any so about 2 months ago I rang up to see about a refund. I tried three times to speak to the person responsible for this but each time promised a call back that never happened. Eventually I got a response on Instagram DM and was told to email voucher details which I duly did and asked for confirmation of receipt. Again, no reply. I had to ring again (twice) and was told the refund had been processed and would take 5 days - why they couldn’t just do a faster payment bank transfer I’m not sure. Anyway, 5 days passed and guess what... no sign of my refund. But they’d said to contact if I hadn’t got it within 5 days so again I reach out to see what’s going on. I then get a really passive aggressive response defending their exceptionally poor service because they are a small business and they need to do this outside of working hours and there is nothing more they can do. Well, there is a lot more that could have been done in this instance. They offered to send proof the refund had been processed but lo and behold when asked for it, it has still not been sent 48hrs later. Sure their Yarm store is wonderful and they are pleasant to chat to but beware any form of voucher transaction or attempt to legitimately obtain a refund. They will...

Normally love this place and enjoy the food , drinks and atmosphere. Was just underwhelmed last night when we came for our Christmas gathering with my sister in law and her hubby. Pros : The guy in charge was good and really knew his wine, The waitress was nice and polite, even though she was apparently a temp. So That was good. Cons. I felt the food was nowhere up to the standard it normally was, platter came with only 2 instead of three accompaniments and no crackers. Asked for crackers, which came straight away. But the selection of meat was all similar as was the cheese. Just not as wow as normal yet still £36. The thing that really spolit the night was the table of 10 celebrating a staff members bday. Don't get me wrong I appreciate they were paying customers too. However the noise was completely unacceptable, screaming at each other, completely taking over the small restaurant. Just very uncomfortable and loud, not inkeeping with the normal atmosphere of the place. If they weren't staff maybe they would have been asked to keep it down ?? But the guy in charge maybe felt he couldn't. I don't go to this type of bar to have to shout over people to hold a conversation with my family. Its put me off coming again as I don't think their standards are there. We tipped as the staff were OK and friendly. But I did feel I was in the middle of a private function and I wasn't very welcome. £120 for 4. A platter and 2 bottles of wine.... not a cheap...

4 of us visited this place. It was a Bank Holiday Weekend.

If I was the owner I'd review the attitude of the staff who work there. Definitely will not return. A shame because the place offers something slightly different on the High St wrt to wine and cheese. Reasons:

*Ordered a £35 bottle of chardonnay with 4 glasses which came without a bottle cooler.

we asked for a cheeseboard and the young waiter pointed out they stop serving cheese at 9PM. My wife said it was 8:55. His response was that the kitchen had already been cleaned for the evening. There were 2 other young woman working there who were behind the counter playing on their mobile phones and not looking particularly busy or happy. We jokingly pointed out that we'd clean a few plates and cutlery after eating a bit of cheese.

Place was quite busy but the staff repeatedly turned people away before their last orders for a Sunday (9:30PM)

we asked a staff member why they were turning customers away and they said it was because they closed early on Sundays and they needed time to clear tables so they could finish on time. As mentioned, they were turning away customers away before 9:30PM.

I suspect the owners were not around. The attitude and work ethic of the staff was poor as was their customer management. They all looked as if they were doing us a favour working...