Banyan Bar & Kitchen - Harrogate — Restaurant in Great Britain

Visited here with a group of work colleagues for someone's leaving do. She booked online and then sent the link to "pre-order" our food if we wished. I believe 2 or 3 of us pre-ordered.

Upon arrival, I met some of my team, and tried to order from the QR code on the table. When I tried to go to my basket and pay, it kept saying error occurred, so had to go to the bar which was fine enough. Tried again a bit later, and didn't work again, so went to the bar. I was the only person waiting as the man tending the bar must have been washing glasses and couldn't see me. I was standing there for 2 minutes as the only person at the bar, and two other members of staff were at the kitchen window/till area and saw me stood there, and didn't let the bartender know someone was waiting. He finally popped onto the bar with hands full of glasses to put away which is fine of course, but he didn't acknowledge me, give eye contact or say "I'll be right with you", and I was stood directly in front of where he was putting the glasses so he knew I was there, and only once he put the glasses away did he give me ANY sort of acknowledgement.

Then, the food shambles. Our food pre-order was confirmed by the head of the group at 5pm, so when everyone else food turns up but ours, we're confused. Apparently the morning manager didn't let the evening manager know of the pre-order. There was apologies from the staff which was appreciated, but nothing was offered to us as an apology - we had to ask for olives and pitta (which did end up being free, thankfully) to tide us who pre-ordered over as the rest of them sat eating. After a lot of back and forth between us and the staff over 3 missing dishes, twenty nine minutes after the first lot of food was brought out, our pre-orders came, after everyone else had eaten. I added onto my pre-order notes that my mac and cheese come without the crumb, but it came with it on. No mega biggie, just wish they'd checked the actual pre-order before telling the kitchen to make our food as I didn't enjoy as much because of the texture.

The flavour of mac and cheese was okay, though, if a bit bland. Very cheesy but not much flavour. It was a decent portion. I ordered chips on the side which I couldn't finish (£4.25 for an average basket of chips is a bit steep too in my opinion, I'd have paid £3.50 maximum for that portion size if I knew and probably skipped on them). We finished our food and very slowly but surely the plates started to be cleared.

As the night grew on, we condensed from two tables to one as people started to leave, but the rest of us didn't have space for our bags/coats in the booth, so we left them at our the higher booth some of us occupied previously. One of the waitresses came over and was starting her closing cleans, and attempted to clean the table with our belongings on, which then made us feel like we had to clear up and go, so that's what we did, and it was only around 9:30. It wasn't especially busy, and cleaning the one table would have only taken her 2 minutes at the end of the night. I work in a shop and cafe and when I'm clearing tables or starting to close down, I avoid where the customers are sat so as to not make them feel rushed.

Overall, an unpleasant experience and I honestly don't think I'll return, even in a smaller group or just for drinks. Completely been put off by the service, the lack of organisation, the ignorance of the staff, the prices and the subtle push for us to leave. What should have been a pleasant leaving do quickly turned into a...

Came for dinner with some friends at around 6:30pm. The place was very quiet with enough staff to serve the two tables that were eating. We ordered drinks and saw them sat on the (quiet) bar for 5minutes before anyone brought them, I heard ‘service’ was shouted and staff continued to stand and talk instead. We were then the only table left and waited over 35minutes for our mains which included a burger, pasta and a vegan dish. I’m unsure as to why this took so long? We then ordered more drinks which again, took a ridiculous amount of time to come. Looking at the comments on previous feedback you’re ‘working on the speed of service’ it seemed as if the staff just didn’t care and it would be interesting to know how this is being worked on. Optional service charge - I’ve never had an issue with this being on a bill as hospitality staff work hard and deal with all kinds of people daily. However, in this circumstance it was removed to not be shared with the team and tipped the waitress we had personally as she was very polite.

Definitely a place to stick to on a Friday night for cocktails, cheap Prosecco and atmosphere, we will not be dining again...

Got there 10 mins before rest of party joined, ordered a beer from our booked table. Incredibly slow service... It was quiet and there were plenty of staff on, but most I could see them stood behind the bar, arms crossed, chatting away to each other. Took nearly 10 minutes to get my drink. Wasn’t a brunch either I was paying full prices. Same thing happens with my second drink, last drink I ordered - then after a while I asked for the check - the check came before my drink so I cancelled the last drink. Guys on the bar, if you’ve got time to lean - fair enough - do so, but sort your customers out first eh!

Other disappointment - we were a Party of 6, 3 first choice items were not available. Food was good, hot and tasty to be fair although my wife complained about the freshness of her salad and nothing seemed to get done about it.

Price included a 10% ‘optional’ tip. I dislike that, but I can see the logic from a business perspective (although it’s bad from a customer experience perspective - shows where their priorities are) - however I begrudgingly paid it. Doubt I’ll be going...