Scottys @ Otium — Restaurant in England

I'll caveat this with, it was opening night, but I'm not sure that excuses all of the issues we encountered.

The first disappointment was the wood fired pizza advertised outside was not on the menu. There was one person juggling  greeter, barman, cocktail maker, waiter and we were shown to our table by someone we believed to be the chef. At this stage I'll point out I think we were the only table in the restaurant.

We ordered tapas and a mushroom risotto. Each item of tapas arrived separately, so the first item was pretty cold before the fifth item arrived. The risotto wasn't delivered to the table until after I had finished eating. The tapas was delicious, the risotto was soup-like but my Wife said it still tasted nice.

We sat and watched as the restaurant started to fill and we waited for our plates to be cleared. We witnessed people leaving before ordering drinks, the person we believe to be the chef visiting tables before they had eaten, and that one person continued to juggle roles. Maybe Friday night is not the best night for an opening and potentially a soft launch event might have been a good way to go.

A waitress arrived on shift and was immediately inundated with information about the tables. She came to clear our table and asked if everything had been okay. We politely provided honest feedback so they could look at areas for improvement, adding it's a shame she came into this feedback from the first table she approached.

Almost certainly a mistake on our part, we asked for the dessert menu, hoping they could turn things around. After about twenty minutes we gave up and I went to the bar for the bill. It was clear the waitress was rushed off her feet.

I expressed to the barman that the evening had been a bit of a disaster. He wrote off our drinks and service charge. Again I politely expressed I understood and added that they'd get there.

After leaving the restaurant and on reflection, given how empty the restaurant was when we arrived I would have expected better. More staff, faster service, all food brought out together. It really felt like the restaurant was not prepared for the opening, there wasn't even a sign advising it was opening night.

I say all this because it's a real shame. This is a lovely venue with great potential and I think it will be a great restaurant in the future. I hope the above is taken as feedback not criticism and the owners take the opportunity to work on the issues.

We wish the owner and staff all the best as they try to make the restaurant work and hopefully we can revisit for a better experience next time we are in...

Do you know that excitement, when you are going to try a new place with your friends?

We went to Otium last week when was still cold. Turned up about 12 minutes earlier. It was nice to see they are busy, buzzing, but from that moment everything was not great.

We were asked to wait outside, it was cold and unpleasant, not the best start to be honest. After 10 minutes someone come to see us and asked if we want some drinks. In the mean time someone else invited us to our table. Someone else took drinks outside and couldn’t find us.

For food order we had to wait another 15 minutes. And it would not be a problem at all if we would be made aware of nearly 1h wait. But we were not! For another drink order we had to go to bar to ask someone.

When food turned up: steaks were fine as ordered. Not so good with 2 pizzas. I have ordered pizza Milano, when was placed in front of me I have asked is this my Milano, waiter confirmed yes it is. So I have cut out a piece to check, nope that definitely wasn’t my pizza, it was just Margarita. Second pizza was messed up to and arrived 20 minutes later than our food.

My honest review is, place looks lovely, staff are nice and friendly but food is not up there, it is average and for that reason overpriced. My friends rated their experience 6/10. Menu is a bit disappointing too, some of us wanted chicken skewers but while we were waiting for drinks, and food order we changed our mind. Portions looked uneven, burned. Hence we gone for steaks and pizza. £5 triple cooked chips were very disappointing to. Also two tables one by open kitchen and one by ladies toilets look no fun!

Nice gesture, we were not charged for the pizzas, thank you, but that didn’t change the way we felt or our whole experience. I hope this review helps you get things better....

4 of us here for Father's day lunch and we arrived at 12:30pm. Manageress continued to be busy on her phone when we walked in and handed us 4 menus whilst continuing on her phone. She failed to tell us that it was only the Father's days specials on the menu despite handing us their standard menu list which we had selected from, only to then find out that standard menu wasn't available today. The service was pretty appalling and we waited 25 mins before any one came to our table to ask if we were ready to order drinks /food despite only 2 other tables being occupied (6 people). 3 of our meals were OK but the Turkey roast dinner ordered by my wife was disgusting and it was visibly under cooked with red flesh visible - made complaint to the Manageress (who was off her phone by this time) and who apologized and offered to pop it under the grill for a few more minutes - we declined her offer and left the Turkey untouched as we didn't want to risk food poisoning. They then asked if we would like to order desserts / more drinks - Yeh right , but no thanks !!! We requested the bill from which manageress deducted the price for the the Turkey 'Father's Day Special from the bill. Not impressed with anything at this place ..and Nope we wont be back ....as p.s. had we known beforehand that this place received a food hygene rating of '0' in March 2023 we would have never have come here in the...