The Boat House — Restaurant in England

This place was quite confusing. First time coming here, and we had booked a table over the phone for 5 people for the afternoon tea, and when we showed up and told the staff member at the door this, she looked at us confused and asked “what time were you supposed to be here?” When we were there perfectly on time, they never asked for the name we booked it under etc and just showed us straight to a table. We then spent 25 minutes waiting for a staff member to come and see to us, we understood that it was busy in there so we waited patiently. It was strange though, because staff would see to the other customers who had walked in pretty much instantly, take their drinks very shortly after seating them etc. Eventually a staff member walked past us and placed a stack of main menus on our table without a word and walked quickly away even though we wouldn’t need main menus as we had booked for the afternoon tea, and we had to wait another ten minutes or so for a staff member to come back over to us to ask what we wanted, so we explained that we were booked in for afternoon tea so wouldn’t be ordering off the main menu and she asked if we were ready for it yet, and the food came quickly after. The staff lady told us that the afternoon tea food towers were supposed to be shared between 2 people as there was two of everything, and also share a teapot between two people, but we had five people there and they only brought out two food towers, so not enough food for the fifth person and when we asked for the fifth persons portion of food, the staff member said we had only booked for four people which is why they only brought us 2 food towers which confused us as we definitely booked for five. We ordered another portion of afternoon tea for our fifth person and the staff member apologised and brought over the fifth portion of afternoon tea, it was absolutely delicious food, but we then realised we only had one teaspoon to share between the five of us so we asked for some more, and when the staff lady came back over with the cutlery she quite bluntly said “just so you know, you did only book for 4 people because you only paid a £40 deposit”. Which wasn’t true, because when we had booked over the telephone we were never once asked to pay a deposit and we were all very confused by this point especially after that comment. We didn’t want to ruin the outing so decided not to argue back with the staff member about it and just tried to enjoy the nice food, but we all felt very awkward by this point. The restaurant itself was very nice, the food was great, the view of the lake is lovely and the toilet facilities were very clean, but the service was a little off and they just seemed very disorganised. I’m not sure if they had gotten our booking mixed up with somebody else’s or lost our booking or something, but it just seemed like they had no idea we were showing up and had no idea what to do with us so it made for quite an awkward meal, we felt like a huge burden in there after all this so we left quite quickly after we had finished the food and paid the bill, all feeling confused. It was such a shame, because it seemed to be a lovely place but just needs more organisation, the whole thing just ended up being...

What a rude experience! My Gran, Mum, and I went to the Boat House today, Monday 12th Feb, for lunch around 2pm - we’ve been a few times before but a couple members of staff today really made our experience a poor one, we left feeling rather deflated and irritated. It started when my mum handed in a pair of expensive looking Ray-Ban sunglasses we found outside to the blonde lady who worked there who didn’t say thank you, just merely took it off her and said something along the lines of “oh okay”, and payed no real attention to her, rude straight out the gate. Then, later on, when our food arrived to the table it was handed to us by a younger, brunette girl who literally didn’t smile once the entire time we were there, she didn’t say please or thank you once, practically threw our food at us saying “can you take it” - again no please or smile, made us feel very uncomfortable, like we were doing something wrong. I ordered a “warm chocolate brownie” for dessert which was, again, essentially thrown at me without a smile by the brunette girl - it was neither warm nor a brownie, more of a chocolate torte. I should have sent it back I know, but it was a very busy service and with the attitude of that girl, I didn’t want any more of a negative experience - it tasted good anyway! Then finally when it came to paying, my mum walked up to the brunette girl to ask to pay, she ROLLED HER EYES at her and handed her the card machine which my mum payed with and sat down with the receipt - again no please or thank you. When we looked at the receipt we then realised that she actually charged us for our food AND the last people’s meals who were sat on our table before us - a decent whack more money! My mum went to sort it out with our main server who was an angel the whole time we were there - thank god for her! Didn’t catch her name but she was an older lady with ginger-ish short hair, she was really lovely, other servers need to take lessons from her clearly 🙄 When she took my mum to the other room to sort the refund out, the brunette girl was there and stared at my mum the entire time giving daggers, obviously making her feel very uncomfortable. The blonde lady came over to help sort it out but ignored my mum totally, almost acting annoyed at her like it was her fault, and didn’t say sorry. Between the two of these incredibly rude members of staff, it made our experience a very negative one - I never write poor reviews unless I feel totally inclined to, but this lunch really left me feeling angry and disgusted with how my family were treated. They both need a crash course in...

I will never visit here again .... (been many times in the past but not since the new management). I have rated this place 1 star overall despite the individual stars. Firstly, the lady who served me, Liz, appeared lovely. She was pleasant, keeping calm whilst busy, smiled and happy to help my 'poor' situation. I ordered a one shot latte and a tea cake (I don't like strong coffee and I wanted a steamy hot tea cake with plenty of butter melting over it). It took awhile for the latte to arrive (it was a busy time) and it was delivered by a miserable man with no by your leave or smile who did not take my food order. My latte was way too strong, I questioned it with Liz who had passed on a one shot request to the coffee makers but they failed to do it correctly. Liz happily replaced it and it was a delicious one shot latte. She asked if 'the man' had taken my food order and I said no. She dealt with it. When it came, it was only just warm with two measly pieces of butter (I'd have liked double what they sent out) and a pot of jam! I didn't want jam, that was for the scones and cream as per the menu. I know I could have asked Liz for more butter but I felt guilty for causing a fuss over a small, 1 person order. Coming to pay was a further debacle and ironic too. I was charged for an extra shot of coffee!!! So, not only overcharged (I always check the menu prices) but for an item I did not want or request and in fact the very opposite. Unbelievable. The person who dealt with me then was the unpleasant, 'didn't really want to be there' man with his unsmiling face, insincere apology and altogether disinterested appearing self. I think he may have been the manager or even the owner but severely lacking in customer service skills. As I left, I heard the next lady being served complaining of the incorrect food having been delivered and this was after I saw the table next to me only receiving 1 scone when they ordered 2. My suggesting learning points for this new management is ...

1. employ sufficient staff to cover busy periods
2. understand the importance of good customer service
3. smile as though this is the first person you have served all day
4. listen to the order, communicate it correctly and serve as per the menu Whilst probably not giving a damn about losing the old lady with a dog and a tiny order, remember reputation can cost businesses and bad reviews and word of mouth will do that to you. Sad, this used to be a lovely...