Hixon Green — Restaurant in England

Sadly I was dissappointed after my experience here. I was REALLY looking forwards to a Punjabi meal....but there was nothing Punjabi about what we ate, it was regular basic Indian restaurant taste. (I'm an Indian and DO know my flavours!!!)

The floor around our table was scattered with food crumbs that had not been noticed and cleaned. The waitress had no idea about Gluten free choices, but she did go and speak to the chef, and that was very puzzling as the obvious items eg Paneer mirchi and pilao rice I was told are not gluten free!! I would have believed that the paneer might have had some flour.... but pilao rice????? It would be interesting to know what they put in the pilao rice! A young guy who took our drink order (who later told me he was in charge that evening!) forgot about it and we had to ask the waitress for it again. Our main meal was delivered incomplete, they did not bring out our friends meal when they brought out ours, again after a long wait we had to remind the waitress. The same friend then found a long dark/black hair in the food (kebab) - it definitely wasn't any of our hair as we have very short hair, and my other friend who has long hair is blond! The restaurant wasn't busy at all, but the staff were busy chatting to eachother and not paying attention to their job. We were sat next to a fake brick wall which had a cold breeze blowing through the gaps and joints in it. Not enjoyable!!

But on the plus side when the bill arrived, I did mention the hair and the delay of food and the Guy in charge (remember I mentioned him earlier?) was embarrassed and very apologetic and did give us a small discount.

Sadly, I don't think I will be visiting this place again. What should have been a nice relaxing evening turned out to be...

In business you have to make it easy for people to part with their money.

If you own an establishment where there are designated eating only and drinking only areas, you need to make customers aware of that. However, that policy is ridiculous in any case; what if you have a drink then decide you want to eat? Do you have to then move and find an 'eating' table or do you leave to find a place with less regulations? None of this makes it easy for a customer to part with their money.

You need to make it easy for those with dietary issues to part with their money too. This place has one menu with several vegan options, which was handed to me in error. The correct menu for the time of day had no vegan options on it. Although the veggie breakfast could be made vegan.... couldn't it?

If you are going to veganise a breakfast by taking dairy items off it, it's good practice to offer other items as replacements. Otherwise it's not a very good breakfast. Never should you leave it up to the customer to ask for these, or suggest extra items. Just taking dairy off without offering anything in its place makes £13.50 for toast, mushrooms, a tomato, some potato and some avocado ridiculously expensive.

To summarise; make it a pleasant experience, free from rules and regulations, offer good value and make sure there are things on every menu for all to eat. And you'll have the recipe...

I booked a table online a couple of days ago for Sunday brunch. I added a special note asking for a table that will have enough room to accommodate for a buggy. I also followed this up with a call to reconfirm that they can fit a pram in. My friend had a baby a month ago and this was her first time back in a restaurant and the first time to see her since she became a mum . Arrived at the restaurant, I don’t think there was even a table reserved , never mind one for a buggy. The host looked puzzled when she saw the pram and pointed at the smallest table you can imagine. I raised the issue of space , and I received a blank stare in return . No apology or alternative was offered , we decided to sit outside and after 10 mins sitting in the freezing cold nobody even looked in our direction. The place wasn’t heaving ,I worked in hospitality for years , and one thing is for sure, this is not how you treat your customers . We didn’t have a choice but to leave and instead of having a nice and relaxed reunion we had to walk around in the middle of Sunday brunch time to find somewhere to eat. An important Sunday truly ruined by Hixon Green ! If you don’t know how to treat people , don’t work in hospitality . Truly appalling service...