Sora — Restaurant in England

went to sora today with two friends for a joint birthday celebration - although the food was good all i can say is I am EXTREMELY disappointed with the service and treatment received.

where to start? well from booking it my friends and myself looked into the menus and was keen to have the set lunch menu on our visit with hopes of the scenic views of the minster and some cocktails to celebrate our 25th birthdays. when we arrived (all be it a bank holiday saturday) we were met with queues of walk in race day goers wanting tables for drinks and food, they were all sat to their tables promptly outside on the terrace. when we got to the front we were asked to sit in the waiting area for 10 minutes for our ‘table to be ready’. once we were escorted to the table, it was a large booth (definitely not what we expected for a party of three with an empty seating area opposite us) with no side plates, chopsticks or napkins, we carried the menus with us.

when seated we looked at the menu to discover the set lunch menu deal was not applicable on saturdays ( it states this no where on the website) which was extremely disappointing. when raising this with the member of staff “seeing to us” she was so dismissive about the error that i felt like i wasn’t being listened to in regards the mis-communication between the website AND the restaurant menu. we were told simply ‘you cannot order off this menu as the till won’t allow me to put it through so you have to order off the normal one’ - if it wasnt so busy that day from bank holiday, i would have suggested we walked out then an there, but thought ‘we’ve booked this, what else could go wrong? let’s just order off the normal menu’.

oh how wrong i was.

when asked if there were any allergies, it was made known a member of the group was allergic to gluten, the options were read to us about what that individual could have then we ordered our drinks and looked over the menu. the drinks took around 15 minutes to arrive (no worries with the busy bar on bank holiday) our orders were taken when drinks arrived and i honestly think this was probably the smoothest thing about the whole visit, the gluten free order was taken first, then everyone else’s. HOWEVER when our orders arrived, two individuals had ordered the same thing with each dish having a gluten alternative ordered, the server did not explain which one was gluten free. nor did they seem to have an understanding of the severity of how this could affect the individual if this was wrong (not to mention we also received dirty chopsticks)

to be honest we felt neglected, dumped in a corner and shrugged off as customers. i’m not usually one to complain at all, however i felt so strongly about how we were treated and how appalling i truly felt the visit went that i NEEDED to...

Nestled atop the Malmaison in York, Sora boasts panoramic views and promises an elevated cocktail experience—quite literally. With the sun gracing us with its presence on Saturday, we decided there was no better way to spend the afternoon than sipping cocktails on the roof terrace. Alas, what was meant to be a leisurely indulgence turned into a comical ballet of misinformation and mismanagement.

Our adventure began with an optimistic greeting by Staff Member A, who regretfully informed us that no seats were available outside on the coveted roof terrace. Disappointed but undeterred, we accepted a table indoors with a one-hour time constraint. As we settled in, we noticed several vacant tables outside. Curious and slightly bemused, we approached Staff Member B, who, with a nod and a smile, told us we could indeed sit outside, but only in the covered area.

With new-found hope, we moved to the covered section. Not long after, we spied even more vacant tables in the uncovered area. Another query, this time to Staff Member C, resulted in us being told we could sit there too, but without the luxury of table service. Determined to enjoy the sun, we moved yet again.

Ready for another round, I ventured inside to order, only to be redirected back to my table by Staff Member D, who insisted that table service was, in fact, available outside. Trying to stifle my laughter (and frustration), I explained that we had been told otherwise. The lack of any waiting staff outside confirmed this. This back-and-forth could have been the premise for a sitcom episode aptly titled "Utter Shambles."

Despite the chaos, the cocktails were delightful, and the view was spectacular. However, the service—or lack thereof—turned what should have been a relaxing afternoon into an exasperating exercise in patience and communication. Sora has the potential to be a top-tier destination, but the staff need to be on the same page to avoid turning a pleasant experience into a farce.

In summary, visit Sora for the scenery and the cocktails, but bring a healthy dose of humour and a readiness for the unexpected. You might...

Pre-booked afternoon tea for 3 of us on a Sunday afternoon.

It was quite awkward squeezing past another customer to get to our table; the layout in front of the bar is not good. Our table was set for 3 so clearly someone knew we had pre booked, not our server unfortunately.

After 10 minutes she took our cocktail order and they arrived soon after then we waited and waited and waited. After 35 minutes we managed to attract her attention and then she said she'd place our order with the kitchen! Took 50 minutes from our pre-booked time for any food to arrive.

The food was on the whole good but not the scones - little bricks!

Our server said she would bring our hot drinks when we started on the sweet section. Of course this did not happen. Another 50 minutes after we were served and 10 minutes after absolutely everything was eaten, as we were unhappily putting our coats on to leave, the tea arrived. We didn't have time to drink it.

Declined to pay the 15% service charge as we had no service. The table next to us did the same thing after waiting an hour for 4 cocktails.

Lots of staff hanging around, having emotional moments and hugging one another and nobody doing any work!

Was overcharged too. The useless server had rung the cocktails in separately not as part of the afternoon tea.

What should have been a lovely treat for me and my girls turned out to be rather frustrating and unsatisfactory....