The Priest Hole Restaurant — Restaurant in England

I was really looking forward to eating here and I was so disappointed at the awful experience we had. We had booked a table for late lunch. We arrived at 3.30 and were sat in a separate area of the restaurant away from the other diners in a section with just one other couple on a table. Which at the time seemed fine. We had a look at the menu, ordered and received our drinks. We then waited and watched the other couple have their starters and mains and plenty of dishes being carried through to the busy section of the restaurant. After an hour we asked about our food and received an apology and were told there was only one chef in the kitchen. Shortly after we received an extra round of drinks as an apology. We did comment we felt we had been forgotten about but we were told this wasn’t the case. Eventually after an hour and ten minutes our starters arrived. We had the crab chowder which was very fresh and tasty the bread which it came with was very dry and crumbly though, my partner had the pork starter which he said was ok. When we finished our starters we waited twenty minutes until someone came and took our plates and then our mains arrived almost immediately. At this point we’d been here almost two hours. My steak sandwich which I had ordered on granary bread arrived on white broken bread which was hard I imagine from being sat under a heat lamp for some time. My partner ordered the flat iron steak medium rare which wasn’t a flat iron when it came it was more like a 4oz rump, it was very small and more medium well it wasn’t pink at all again possibly from having sat under the heat lamp. Neither main was particularly pleasant but we really just wanted to finish and carry on with our day at this point. No cutlery came with the mains either and no one came back to check on us so we took some cutlery off another table. Eventually we heard one waitress ask if someone else could check on table three which was us which made us feel awful like they were purposefully ignoring us for having been there so long. We did point out we hadn’t received what we’d ordered but said we didn’t want to send anything back and wait any longer. Once our plates were cleared from mains again no one came back. I had to go up to the desk and ask for our bill which was brought over but not followed by anyone coming to take payment so we went up to pay on our way out. Our bill came to £59.55 My partner paid on card and then noticed on his phone he had paid £98.15! He questioned this with the waitress who apologised and said she’d inputted the wrong amount!?! A refund was issued which took 24 hours to come back. All in all we had a terrible experience and absolutely will not be returning! Also as we were leaving the waitress was serving a table who had come in next to us where we heard her apologise and tell them she can’t understand...

Really terrible experience, we booked this as a treat for our holiday weekend to receive what is probably the worst dining experience we have ever had and I am someone who tries to support businesses and give the benefit of the doubt when things don’t go smoothly so I hardly ever complain…. However we where left for aprox an hour and 15 mins waiting for our starters (nobody even asked if we needed any more drinks) when every other table around us had received their starters and mains, it was only when we managed to get the attention of a waitress we pointed out that we basically had been abandoned that we finally got our food, being fair the starters where quite tasty and good so at this point decided to give the benefit of the doubt and put the long wait behind us….. problem being it just got worse from here, it took them 20 mins to come and Collect our starter plates so at this point I complained again to be told there was an issue in the kitchen, looking around the restaurant nobody else was suffering this problem which then just re enforced the original thought that we had simply been forgotten about, when the mains finally came the bread was wrong on the steak sandwich but we had waited so long we where afraid to return it,I had the 6oz flat iron steak which was terrible, ordered it medium rare but by the time it come it was more like well done and about the size of a hamburger which makes me think it spent some time under the heat lamps,I was never even given cutlery, after trying my best to get the attention of a waitress I finally gave in as I was worried about it going cold and just took the cutlery off another table from the other side of the room, the steak was tough and over cooked and to be honest I’ve had better for half the price in a Wetherspoons, we where never even asked if we wanted a desert so at this point we just gave up and decided to leave as we felt very unwelcome,so we finally asked for the bill, after it came we where just abandoned again! after another 20 mins feeling very annoyed I finally caved and had to physically go up to the counter and ask to pay so we could leave the place and put this terrible experience behind us, the final kick in the guts came when I was over charged by around £35 even though the waitress had the bill right in front of her, I appreciate it’s easy to make mistakes but this was just the icing on the cake of what was probably the worst dining experience we have ever had and we eat out alot and never ever complain, if your in Ambleside do yourselves a favour and choose somewhere else, there are so many lovely venues with great service around the town but this place just simply isn’t one of them….. as we where leaving we also witnessed the waitress being very rude to another customer, somebody needs to step in and give some customer...

The biggest problem was the atmosphere. On arrival, there’s a notice on the door telling you to wait until a member of staff shows you to a table. Fair enough. We waited, but instead of being greeted properly, we were met by what appeared to be the person in charge – a very loud woman with coloured hair – who bellowed across the room, “you can come in sweetheart, just pick a table for two and sit down.” Not exactly the welcome you’d expect.

As we sat down, she carried on in the same loud, abrasive manner, snapping at a delivery driver with, “well, I can’t help you, you should have been on time.” Not the sort of background noise you want to hear while trying to relax.

We were then left with no menus and no idea what to do next. To be honest, we were reluctant to approach her for fear of getting the same treatment. Thankfully, a lovely young waitress eventually came over, gave us menus, and politely explained it was table service. She was an absolute credit – calm, polite, and attentive throughout – despite being openly bossed around by the coloured-haired lady in front of everyone.

Later, a family asked about sauces with their meal. When the young lad requested peppercorn sauce, the coloured-haired woman shouted across the restaurant, “well, it won’t come out quick because they’re really busy in there!” You could see the boy’s embarrassment instantly. Since when did asking for a sauce become something customers should feel guilty about?

She might mean well, but her whole manner is far too loud, crass, and unprofessional for this type of establishment. She could learn a lot from the younger waitress, whose politeness and professionalism put her completely to shame.

As for the food – my fish and chips were good, but not worth £19. My wife’s fish finger sandwich was two small battered pieces of fish lost in a massive ciabatta roll – plenty of bread, very little substance.

In short, the food was average for the price, but the coloured-haired lady’s attitude single-handedly ruined the atmosphere.

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