The Duck Westbourne — Restaurant in England

My review on my first visit to the duck westbourne. Food is 4* can improve. We had the tempura prawns which were cooked perfectly,5. I had the BBQ big boy,3. What let my dish down, the dry chicken and not so soft corn on cob. The ribs however were the best I've ever had, juicy, tender goodness that even my partner had to steal from my plate. Price range med-high. Wait time for food shortly after our drinks arrived Cocktails is 3*, please please can you adjust your flavour profiles for your cocktails. Some are good and some are just 😕. For instance the mojito, the mint in there is not just for aesthetics. Should be able to taste. Please bare in mind I know everyone has different preferences but a mojito is a standard cocktail. Wait time for drinks from ordering 15-20 mins. Prices arevage. Service is 2*, now here is were it needs the most improvement. Firstly door person greeted us with a smile and we were greeted again by a waitress with a pleasant manner. Our reserved table was taken up by 2 drinkers who were asked politely to move to the bar. Table was not cleaned down prior to us sitting. We waited for a short time before having our order taken, great so far so good. Drinks then food. After receiving our dishes, not once did anyone come over to ask how they were and if everything is ok. Only when we were finished, someone came over to clear the table and asked if we wanted more drinks. Again no concern on the food. The bill, here is were I have been so disappointed with the service. Waited over 20 mins while staff did other things including chatting to each other before I decided to get up and leave, yes only then did the waitress say have you paid? Well no, I've been waiting for over 20 mins. Oh you should of put your hand up to get my attention.... seriously put my hand up! Wow 😲. Like I'm back in school. If you are going to serve high end food at top tier prices, then the service must be the same. I've had better service at other places where the food was terrible.# We give a duck!

This place is great. Greatish food with music and you can even have a dance if you wanted. Yes it is a bar/ food vendor but if they wish to keep their high end kitchen staff, the service needs improving. Atmosphere was slightly loud with excellent music playing, great choice of food and drink. Would love to come back and not drive to have an all out night in this venue.

Overall score on this occasion 3.5*

Visited here on Sunday the 22nd sadly my review is now 1 star for second and final visit. Service this time around was excellent 5* there, was quieter this time. Again the lager I wanted wasn't available...how hard is it to reprint a menu if something isn't on it. Rack of ribs and dirty dog with dirty fries this time round and again very disappointed. Ribs tasted great but this time round were dry. Fries were good as they were hot this time. Corn on cob was worse than last time dry and rubbery. Dirty dog was indeed dirty, cheap meat, tasteless bread with warmish red onion. Dirty fries....well if the whole thing wasn't microwaved then the chilli definitely was, dry and bland...7 bones dirty fries are way better. Sadly won't be returning here...if you find a dish you like here then...

My email I sent the the manager -

I am writing in regards to mine and my colleagues lunch we had yesterday.

I called up and spoke to a very helpful lady on the phone and asked to book a table for 1pm and to pre-order food too. This was assumed that the food would be ready for 1 as we were on our lunch break.

When we arrived we sat down and were asked what drinks we would like and if we would like the kitchen to start our food…. This was a little annoying as we thought that was already being done seeing as I had pre ordered the food to be ready for one, however we let that go…until our food didn’t arrive until gone 1:30 – 30 minutes was a long time to wait for our food and the restaurant did not seem busy? When our food did eventually arrive we asked why our food wasn’t ready or at least being prepared for one….and she said she would ask (she was very lovely).

Then the woman I spoke to on the phone came over and spoke directly to me saying ‘You didn’t specify you wanted it ready for one though did you honey.’ And I said ‘Why would I have pre ordered food if we didn’t want it to be ready for when we arrive’ and she said ‘Well I don’t know that do I honey’. Her tone was extremely condescending and very rude. Also, calling me 'honey' which was very patronising and she was exactly saying it with a smile on her face - it was being said to belittle me. She continued to explain that in the past people have complained at there food was cold because they arrived late to their table…..but how would I know that – and surely this should have been confirmed over the phone if you have had issues in the past. However – at the time I just said okay and she left.

We could then see that she was talking about us when we were eating obviously about the situation – I felt extremely uncomfortable and unwelcome, and she made me feel like I was in the wrong and stupid for questioning her. Not once did she apologise for the situation as it appears it was a miscommunication. Not once after this did anyone do a check back and ask if we were okay or would like any further drinks - we were ignored. Its disgraceful.

I also work in hospitality so I understand situations like this but I cannot imagine speaking to PAYING customers in the way that she spoke to me. We spent a lot of money with you and I am horrified at the way we were treated. Our company visits your restaurant on a regular basis so we are very disappointed in the way we were treated.

The food was lovely and we could have had a really lovely time if the whole situation was handled properly. All of your staff seemed very polite however this one waitress (i think she has a slight Australian accent) was very degrading and treated us very badly.

At the end of our meal we did speak to a manager and he gave us a discount and apologised but I am still dissatisfied.

I will be posting this one TripAdvisor.

I look forward to hearing...

Incredibly rude staff - rushed us to finish drinks we'd only just bought, having given us no warning the bar was closing - we will not be returning to The Duck! My friends and I arrived at The Duck at about 23:50 on a saturday night. The bar was packed and didn't strike us as a place that might be closing any time soon. After spending 5 minutes at a table looking over the drinks menu, my friend waited at the bar for a further 5 minutes before she was served. She bought a bottle of prosecco for the 3 of us, and no sooner had she filled our first glass back at the table, did they switch the lights on because the bar was closing. We were disappointed but figured it would take a good 15 mins or so for the bar to clear, but shortly after, while there were still people in the bar, a bouncer came and swiped my still half full glass of prosecco away from me and put it on the bar, without saying a thing to me - so rude! My friends continued to drink their drinks but we were soon approached and asked to leave. When we tried to take our only just opened bottle of prosecco out with us so we could finish at at home, a very confrontational bouncer stood in our way and in a beautifully patronising manner told us "we're not an off license" - we made the point that we'd been sold our drinks just moments before the bar closed, with no warning of this, and no last orders being called for the 10 minutes we'd been in the bar before being served. Another member of the bar team got involved and was very rude, telling us we'd had more than long enough to drink up, and even accused us of sneaking in through the back door, as if we were there to cause trouble! We were forced to leave our half full bottle of prosecco behind, and made to feel like we'd been a huge inconvenience - i guess they'd got our money out of us, who cares if we have a good experience while we're in there or not! I'd also add that their website says they're open 9am til LATE 7 days a week - closing at midnight doesn't scream 'late...