Oriel on the Quay — Restaurant in England

Absolutely awful experience – would never return.

When we arrived, we politely asked if there was any shaded seating available as I had my child and our dog with us. We were told there was only one table left in the sun and they were busy. Fair enough – we understood and took the table. A woman told us she’d be over in a minute to clear it. Fifteen minutes passed and not only was the table still dirty, but we hadn’t been given any menus either. I ended up clearing the table myself while my mum went looking for menus. She couldn’t find any, and it was only thanks to a kind couple at the next table that we managed to get one.

That same couple even warned us, saying we’d be better off ordering inside because the service was so bad – they had ordered scrambled eggs and two drinks and were still waiting after 30 minutes, with not even their drinks served yet.

As I got up to go inside, a staff member finally apologized and offered to take our order. We ordered three full English breakfasts with jam on toast, plus an extra jam on toast for my daughter. Not two minutes later, a completely different woman – who we hadn’t seen before – brought us the receipt and asked us to pay before we even had a single drink on the table. Completely ridiculous.

Shortly after, a table in the shade became free and a staff member began clearing it. I asked if we could move there and she said, “Can I clear it first?” – fair enough. She cleared two plates and then vanished, never to return.

When the food finally arrived, the same staff member who disappeared earlier dropped my plate off. I could immediately see the eggs were runny, and I had specifically asked for them well done. I politely mentioned this and she tutted, rolled her eyes, snatched the plate and walked off. If you hate your job that much, maybe it’s time for a change.

They also forgot the jam and the extra toast for my daughter. The jam took another 10 minutes, and when I asked a waiter about the toast, they said they’d check… and, you guessed it, they never came back.

Between the poor attitude, forgotten items, being made to clean our own table, and having to pay before we were even served – this place is a complete shambles. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone and will definitely never...

This was meant to be a Birthday treat for me from my girlfriend . We arrived at 19.00 and , was met by a waitress just inside the door . downstairs was very busy and cramped . so , we asked if we could go upstairs where we hoped it would be a bit quieter , relaxed and more spacious . only to be told , we're closing upstairs down as the people on the two tables were about to leave . so , it would just be my girlfriend and i . this was at 19.00 when they close at 21.00 . i'm sure others would have arrived and asked to go upstairs too .

We were seated at a table by a window which was very cramped and very noisy . after 20 minutes the same waitress asked us what drinks we would like , i asked what drinks do you serve ? the waitress just pointed to several menu's on the table and walked off . didn't say a word . we noticed a lot of people just seemed to be sat at the tables awaiting their food . not much food seemed to be coming out of the kitchen . also , we noticed a younger waitress pouring wine into the glasses on the table next to us . to say her shorts were very short and tight would be an understatement .her backside was basically inline with the gentleman's face as she leant over to pour the wine . hardly the correct attire for the clientele or the establishment and it's surroundings .

It was now 19.30 and , we'd had enough by this time . so my girlfriend went to the barmaid at the bar and said we'd like to pay for our drinks and leave . the barmaid did try to encourage us not to leave and , now we could go upstairs . we declined the barmaids offer , took our drinks outside , finished them and left .

To sum it up , The waitress who met us at the door either needs retraining or find alternative employment . we were made to feel as if we were an inconvenience .i'd say the waitress is not far off a female version of Basil Fawlty ! the waitress is a very , very poor ambassador for the company . with an appalling , stinking...

I don't like being negative so I will start with the positives! Staff were friendly and my glass of wine, house white, and my pudding, sundae, was very nice. I started with spicey ball things and that's where the disappointment started! Three tiny bullets of spiced up falafel that were so hard it was dangerous for the teeth, on a smear of something quite tasty and three stalks of something green chosen from the special board. Not cheap but tiny and difficult to enjoy. Then I had a budda bowl, this was okay but the £3.50 flabby cold strip of haloumi was not great and how anybody can justify charging more in a budda bowl for that is a puzzle! Again not a cheap dish at £14.50 and although uninspiring it was fresh, more could have been done to add flavour. My ice cream sundae was nice and I enjoyed it. None of our table ordered coffee so I can't say if that was of any good, we didn't discuss our food but given we all didn't order coffee and drinks maybe they felt the same about their food? We normally go to town on the extras so it was a surprise nobody did. This place, in my opinion, has issues with identity, a menu so wide they loose not only focus but quality. The entire meal was just over £170.00 and with service £190.00, no bottle of wine and no large drinkers so it was mainly food and 4 of us. Upstairs was very noisy with very poor sound quality so not a place to head for on a Saturday night to chat over dinner, that's our fault for not checking ahead. Small tables so drinks constantly had to be moved to make space. The tables were laden with water glasses, bottle, menus, salt and pepper before anybody added wine glasses, cutlery and plates! I'm not sure I will return, and to be fair many around us were enjoying the environment, two 50th birthday parties with two rounds of happy birthday singing and cakes, they were really enjoying the meal, so maybe just not for me...