Purple Olive - Ellesmere Port — Restaurant in England

Me and my partners family went for a birthday meal. Let me first say, the restaurant itself is well presented and clean. On arrival we were directed to a table, and drinks orders were taken. There was one menu on the table. A paper pamphlet, which we were sharing between us. When the waiter brought out drinks, no offer of another menu was made, and he came back a few minutes later to take our food order. I though this was a bit unusual, but didn't think much of it. He could clearly see us all struggling to order, having to pass this little menu around the table, but no other menu was offered.

We then had to wait about 45 minutes for out mains to come. When they did eventually come, the food itself was okay. Nothing to write home about but the curry was fine. The mushroom rice was rather greasy and the chips were not hot, but nothing to warrant a complaint. We didn't fancy another wait if we returned anything. We were hungry enough as it was, having waited so long.

At then end of the meal we asked for the bill. The prices on the bill didn't add up. They seemed to have charged us more than the food was advertised for on the menu? Dishes listed at £7 were charged at £9.50 etc. I went to the bar to query this, and was told that the menu we had been looking at was the takeaway menu, and the prices were different. I pointed out that we hadn't been given a restaurant menu, and that we had ordered based on the prices in the menu we had. The EXTREMELY rude chap on the bar, just looked blankly at me and said "What do you expect me to do?". I explained that the decent thing to do would be to honour the prices the food had been advertised at. He then proceeded to tell me that if I had any common sense, I would have realised the menu I has ordered off was a takeaway menu, and that it was my fault, and I shouldn't blame him. I explained that no one told us otherwise and the waiter had clearly seen us ordering off the takeaway menu. He said I should have known it was a takeaway menu, as it said so on the front of it (it didn't - it didn't say anywhere that it was a takeaway menu or takeaway prices). He proceeded to argue with me and laugh at the fact we "mustn't have an common sense". My partner came and joined me trying to make our point, and he laughed at her.

The manager joined the rude barman and explained that they had been running low one restaurant menus and that the takeaway menus had been put on the table instead, and that the waiter explained this to us (He didnt). Whatever we said to him, he just kept saying "The waiter told you it was a takeaway menu". At no point did the waiter say this to us. This was explained very simply to the manager, and as far as I could tell, the manager just decided that we were lying, and offered no assistance whatsoever.

Now I'm not one to claim "the customer is always right". Having worked in retail and hospitality in the past, I know that they are not always right. But in this situation, I feel that having made a mistake, the restaurant should have honoured the prices. I dont see how anyone working in retail can fail to understand that if something is advertised at a certain price, that price has to be honoured. The restaurant made a stupid decision to plonk their 'takeaway menus on the tables, and not offer another menu, or explain that the prices listed were incorrect for dining in.

After more insults (from the rude staff member) and a complete lack of understanding or rational conversation from either him or the manager, a 10% discount was offered.

I'm not writing this review because they didn't honour the original prices. I'm writing this review because the attitude of the staff member on the bar, and the way we were spoken to and laughed at, completely ruined what was otherwise, a decent enough (but not amazing) meal.

Safe to say, I won't be returning or reccomending. I've never experienced worse customer service...

I recently visited this restaurant and was left completely disappointed by the experience. When booking a table online, there was no mention of a set menu and no indication that it would be the only option available (if there was, we wouldn’t have booked!) Upon arrival, however, the waiter mentioned the set menu but not that it would be forced and be the only option. It was overpriced and extremely poor value for money – we were charged £100 for two people, which was outrageous considering what we had.

When I queried the bill, I was shocked to learn that £35 of the total was due to the forced set menu. The manager then went on to try and justify the forced set menu by saying it was necessary to cover the cost of his entertainment. This makes absolutely no sense – entertainment is something a business chooses to provide as part of its service or to attract customers, not something customers should be forced to pay for without prior agreement. To make matters worse, the entertainment itself was laughable – awkward, poorly executed, and we noticed other diners visibly relieved when they stopped for a break.

I made it clear to the manager that I was more than happy to pay for what we had ordered (as we would any other time), but not for his ‘forced set menu’ tactics and entertainment, that we never agreed to. His response was dismissive and unapologetic. We weren’t the only ones unhappy either – we overheard other tables raising similar concerns about the inflated bills.

I’ll be contacting Trading Standards about this, as it’s completely unacceptable and feels like a deliberate attempt to take advantage of customers. I fully expect the restaurant to come back with a weak ‘smart’ explanation or excuse like they have with previous reviews, but the key point here is simple: you cannot force customers to pay for something they didn’t agree to. It was a complete scam.

We hoped it would be a better experience, but will never return. Thankfully, there is a much better place just...

I am writing to bring to your attention a recent experience I had with your delivery service that left me quite disappointed.

Yesterday ago, I placed an order for Indian food for my family, who were visiting from Ireland. Unfortunately, upon delivery, I discovered that a number of items were missing from my order. To make matters worse, the vegetarian dish I received was inaccurately prepared, containing only cheese instead of the expected vegetables.

When I reached out to your team, I was assured that the missing items would be sent with the delivery driver. Regrettably, we waited for hours, and the food never arrived. As a result, I had to provide my guests with microwave rice the next day, which was far from the experience I wanted to offer them.

I attempted to contact the restaurant that evening, but my calls went unanswered. When I spoke to a representative later, they suggested that my wife had requested not to have the rice delivered, which was not the case. I then followed the advice to visit the restaurant for a refund, only to find it closed, and my subsequent calls again went unanswered.

This incident is particularly disheartening as it marks the second time in four weeks that my order has been incorrect. I must express that the level of customer service I received throughout this experience was quite poor, and I encountered instances of being...