Symondsbury Kitchen — Restaurant in England

We specially planned a stop at Symondsbury as we visited last year and loved the experience of having breakfast in this beautiful place. This year we were with my partner's child who is autistic. He was struggling with focusing and we knew we might have to go quickly if he started to lose control of his emotions (yes it happens and no it's not bad manners, it's anxiety in a child's brain). We got in (15 mm late but had called to explain why and not lose our table), a little bit stressed because of the traffic on the road and were told that there was a long wait for breakfast as there was a big group of 20 to cater for. I asked if there was any chance that we could just order bacon brioche rolls and explained why (child with special needs). I was told in a friendly way that no, there was nothing they could do to help we would have to wait, that everyone else had already ordered breakfast and that they would have to be served first before they could take other orders. So we ordered take away coffee and pastry to go. While we were waiting for our "fast" order, the table next to us that has ordered 5 minutes before us (not exaggerating), got their hot breakfast served and more hot food came through the kitchen. It felt that we just weren't the right type of customers and that our stressed child was not welcome. He was very quiet and didn't throw a tantrum by the way, we as exhausted/stressed parents were just hopeful that we would be able to have a nice breakfast like we enjoyed last year. A simple "I will check what we can do for you" or even "let me give give you some water while I will confirm the waiting time so that you can decide what works for you" would have made all the difference. The lady who served us was really courteous but it was really clear that having a child with special needs did not justify any sort of "extra" human empathy. It's all the little things that can make the difference between feeling like fighting the world all the time on our own and feeling part of a world that can make tiny adjustments (checking actual wait time, giving a glass of water, showing empathy) to make us feel a bit less lonely...

Poor customer service, rude staff ( apart from one young lady with long blond hair).

I Only ordered 5 take away drinks that had to be taken out of the fridge and was waiting in the take away are for at least 15/20 mins. I was told when I questioned after 10 mins how long would they be ( this young lady with long blond hair tried to sort it out,uusing her initiative, but was told no) I was told there were orders in front of mine and it would another 5 mins. I looked around nope there was definitely just me waiting in the take away area. There were about 8 tables busy( inside and out) with people at various stages of their meal. My ticket had been added to the line of tickets for the restaurant! If you are offering take away you cannot treat that the same has sitting in diners. I asked for my money back and was told there were alot of tickets in front of me in a very rude manner by a young man with dark hair. I replied that I hadn't been told of a wait and that my young son was in need of a drink and he waved the ticket at me replying we are doing them now, again rudely. I know we are in a pandemic, I know that things are a little different but politeness and communication is all...

Went here with my mum for a spontaneous lunch. Positives ;- Nice size menu with a good amount of options clean, bright with a airy atmosphere tables well spaced so didn’t feel crowded my lunch was super yummy and although to my greedy eyes thinking the portion was small it was actually just right. pudding was equally tasty and well balanced in flavour, the food here was top notch 👌🏻 also at £6.50 better value than other places I had dined that week. happy to split the bill.

Negatives; The prices for the main menu items were on the higher side. (Although to give them there due the drinks were standard price for Dorset and the pudding a little less that other places I had eaten in that week) The staff although polite did seem in a rush, maybe they were short staffed that day, but I did take a bit of effort to catch someone’s eye. Since I was last visited they have extended the amount of covers they can do and if it was any busy than it was that day I would have found it rather noisy (as I’m hard...