The Balcony Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in England

If I could have written 0 stars I would have!

Absolutely shocking service today by the entire staff at the balcony bar. I feel a training session on customer service is much needed. Despite walking upstairs and checking with one member of staff if they were able to accommodate 9 adults and two small children we dragged our double pushchair upstairs during a downpour seated our children and realised they were missing two chairs and that the eating space was not big enough . We asked if we could have an extra table and the other two chairs to which a member of staff just dumped two chairs with us and left. We needed another table as we were eating and I don’t know how were were expected to eat on our knees ?!?!

After the third time of asking and with 5 members of staff standing behind the bar on their phones watching us struggle we tried to pull table up to us as there was a lot of space and the Restaurant was empty. We got a filthy look from the entire congregation of staff stood behind the bar doing nothing and the “supervisor”. He shook his head at us ,tutted and shouted loudly did you tell them they could do that. I went over to him and explained that I had come in early to ask if they had space prior to us trying to be seated and that if they couldn’t accommodate us they should have told us this before us dragging the entire family upstairs in this awful weather. We didn’t get any explication other than we cannot move the table, to which I replied you should learn to count chairs then before attempting to seat us.

I have never felt so upset and embarrassed and coming from a customer service background myself a simple explanation And apology would’ve sufficed if a mistake had been I can now see why it was so quite. I would never come back and will NOT be recommending to any of my friends who regularly visit at Ives.

I sincerely hope your upper management sees this review and resolves your incompetent staffing issue for the sake of your business.

A huge thanks to the bird and bear who were 5 star on customer service and managed to Accommodate us as such...

Old review from 2019 below. Rating reduced from 5 stars to 2.

Unfortunately The Balcony has gone downhill, compared to previous visits. Since Covid, it has been table service only, which isn't an issue, as long as the staff are competent and trained for table service.

During my last visit, which will be the last for the foreseeable future, we were greeted as usual, told to sit anywhere and someone would take our order.

We arrived before lunch, so it was quite quiet. The staff were more interested in talking among each other at the bar, or clearing the odd table, than taking our drinks order.

Eventually, we managed to place an order for drinks. They took several minutes to bring the drinks, but this is normal compared to previous visits.

Shortly, after receiving our drinks, we placed a food order (fish tacos and a brownie). The food was good as usual, however, a drink was ordered just after the food arrived, but the order wasn't passed to the bar staff.

After a laborious task of gaining the staff's attention, another member of staff checked and said it would be brought out in a couple of minutes.

So far, we'd struggled to order drinks initially, been served by different staff members and then a confirmed order wasn't even passed along.

When the bill came, they had the audacity to add a service charge, which added over £5 to the bill.

Tipping in this country is not mandatory, although staff fully deserve tipping when they do their job well.

Adding a mandatory charge to a bill, when you've been served by multiple people, inattentively, is not on.

Sadly, I will not be returning, after coming for over 10 years.

2019: Great food and drinks with amazing views of the harbour. Great...

REVIEW Aug 2024. Visited this evening food arrived within 5 mins which was perfect. All of the below still apply. Toilets were horrid, very pub like with some people shouting at the Olympics which is being show. Probably wouldn't return here if I'm honest but needed a quick dinner as others had an hour wait for food.

REVIEW JULY 2023 **Visited tonight for dinner with my son 5 and husband. It was one of the few places that didn't have over an hour wait. There is a large steep set of steps to get inside, but the views are stunning. We were told it would be around a 20-minute wait, but we were seated before we even ordered a drink at the bar! Result. Most seats are by the window with a few in the middle. Also, most of the seats are high stools, which isn't the best with children or anyone with a bad back lol. The kids' menu is tiny with only 3 things to choose from. Chicken, burger, or fish. The chicken is breaded, so my son enjoyed it. A fruit shot will set you back £2.50! Omg, and a large coke £5! Menu is very small indeed but means they can get the food out quickly They had us in and out within an hour with a 10% service charge added to the bill. The food was nice enough but it was very rushed, and loud inside. Everything seemed frantic, and the food was average. Dirty Fries are dead easy to make. I'm not sure we would return, tbh as there is so much better on offer close by. Getting some colouring sheets and crayons and a...