The Wama's Lounge — Restaurant in England

Worst hospitality I've ever experienced:

My family and I organised a surprise 85th birthday for our Dad. We had people come all the way from Sussex to celebrate. My mum and dad had visited the restaurant once before and enjoyed their time.

We originally booked the table for 5pm, but shortly after changed to 4.30pm. We received email confirmation that the time had been amended.

We stopped by the restaurant earlier in the day to drop decorations off. The waitress on shift kindly let us decorate the table but incorrectly had us down for 5.00pm. She mentioned that we had the option of moving outside a little later in the evening, to which we declined due to my dad's age and the fact that a great portion of the outside area was taken up by shisha. Notice that we were told we had the option - this will factor in later. We also told her that the party was down to 12 guests instead of 15. We had paid a £150 deposit for our table, due to come off the bill at the end of the meal. - also important.

All went to plan and Dad was pleasantly surprised. At the beginning of the meal, mum told us to get in as many drinks before 6.00pm, as the website had advertised bottomless drinks:

ENJOY 90 MINUTES OF DELICIOUS FOOD AND BOTTOMLESS DRINKS Saturday & Sunday 11:30 - 18:00

After ordering a few, the waitress mentioned that bottomless drinks weren't actually in effect due to it being something to do with brunch. I felt that the website was incredibly misleading, and suspect this is intentional to encourage a bigger tab.

Later on, we were finishing our main meals, when we noticed the staff were being very hasty whisking our plates away. We were then told we would have to leave by 7unless we moved outside. What had been presented as an option in the first instance revealed itself to be the only way we could continue to enjoy our time. We restated that we were unable to moved outside due to the elderly members of the family and the presence of shisha. They repeated we would have to leave. This was a disappointment but we tried to understand. We had a little time so asked for a desert menu. My sister-in-law asked what the difference was between a brownie and a fudge cake, to which the waiter said that the brownie was nice and hot. When they bought the brownie out it was presented in the form of a milkshake and it became clear that they wanted us to leave immediately. I believe they should have not offered desserts if they knew they wouldn't be up to the standard advertised

MOVING ON TO THE UNACCEPTABLE:

Mum then went up to pay and was met by a senior staff member, potentially the owner. She noticed they had only taken £130 off the bill, not the full £150 she had paid on the deposit. The owner said that this was due to only 12 of the 15 showing up and we were told it was on the website. The way the senior staff member was talking to her was patronising, disrespectful and plain rude. Mum started to say:

"When I came with my husband last time we had a lovely time, so I'm quite..." And then the staff said: "If you have a complaint you can go on the website"

And subsequently every time Mum tried to speak, this woman cut her off brazenly. I've never seen anything like it in a restaurant, I was shocked and disgusted. Eventually the only response she then came up with is that we could have moved outside if we wanted to and that the shisha fell in line with council guidelines. We strongly suspect this is not the case. Clearly this woman wanted to get on with other things, but here we were, having bought 12 people into her restaurant, celebrating what could be the last big birthday celebration of our lovely dad and we were event allowed to voice our concerns. You would think that spending £400 would allow us to speak for more than 5 seconds before interruption.

The fact that this woman seemed to be a manager, or perhaps the owner, was incredibly concerning. I felt a strong need to report this behaviour and warn others.

If you want to go to a place that cares only for their profit margins; wama's lounge is the...

This was our first visit to this restaurant. The positives were: it was clean and nicely decorated.

The food was good, however a bit overpriced for what you get. The waiting staff were generally polite and pleasant.

So why did I give them 1 star?

It's because it was one of the worst experiences I have had dealing with a MANAGER of a restaurant. She was rude and evidently had little training in customer service.

We ordered a chicken burger that comes with free sides according to their menu. However, they sneakily charged us for the sides. When questioned, the manager insisted we had ordered a particular side option that was chargeable, which I repeatedly corrected. She continued insisting until I pointed out a note on the receipt which confirmed I was right. Then she reluctantly said that the side I actually ordered is also extra but she would take it off the bill as a good will gesture. It would have ended there and we would have appreciated the gesture. However it wasn't to be: she went away and came back to say she had checked with her staff who advised that they had told us that the sides we ordered will cost extra. There were 15 of us, and none of us heard her say that. This stubborn manager wouldn't budge however.

Not wanting to argue further with this rude woman, we agreed to pay and suggested some feedback to make it clear on their menu that some sides cost extra. This was met with a petulant response of "we have never had this happen with any other customer before". At which point we stopped the conversation and proceeded to exit the restaurant.

In summary, the food was good but overpriced. This was reflected by the fact that the restaurant had been empty most of the night. Staff are pleasant but management is terrible. Plenty of better options in Kettering who deserve your money more than Wama Lounge.

P.S. Happy to verify all the above...

I recently hosted a party at Wama's Lounge, and I regret not reading the reviews beforehand. I would not recommend booking this restaurant for any event, especially a large party. First and foremost, the manager/owner, Yalda, was incredibly rude to our guests. She continuously shouted at them as they ordered drinks at the till, creating a very unpleasant atmosphere. This lack of professionalism is unacceptable. Additionally, I arrived late to my own party because my vendors called to inform me that they were not given the space I had agreed upon with Yalda. Despite confirming our arrangement, she did not provide the necessary space for decorations. This caused significant stress and delays. To make matters worse, although Yalda agreed for us to stay until 1am, everything was shut down by 12am. This was misleading and disappointing, as it cut our celebration short. The service was atrocious. The agreed setup and schedule for the party were changed on the day without prior notice. Some of the food arrived late and cold, and the dessert was served without any announcement, leaving guests unaware. The overall service was poor, and despite paying a service charge, the experience was far from satisfactory. The staff, although nice, were clearly under pressure and struggling to manage the event. At one point, a waiter even dropped a tray of drinks, adding to the chaos. In conclusion, I would not recommend Wama's Lounge for a big party. Their lack of experience in handling large groups and the poor service make it a place to avoid if you want to enjoy your event. Save yourself the trouble and book...