L'Atelier Du Vin Wine and Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in Great Britain

As a few other reviewers have commented, the service is not great here. We popped in at the weekend with some visiting friends. We asked for a table on the roof terrace (surely the key reason to visit here) and the guy looked at us as if we were mad. He looked quite stressed and then said he could probably find us a seat there in 10-15 mins. The main bar area was practically empty so we (not he) suggested we'd have a drink inside and then take a table on the terrace when/if available. Quite quickly the waiter returned and said he could actually accommdate us on the terrace, but in an igloo-type structure on the roof terrace - we accepted. Ordering four G&Ts took ages and, whilst there's an extensive gin menu, there's just regular and diet tonic on offer, not a wider range - and no advice on any of the gins. From our igloo we watched the terrace empty a bit and other people take up vacant tables...only for the stressed-looking waiter to return and move them back as appareantly the tables had been booked (no reserved signs to indicate this). My advice would be forget booking the tables on the roof terrace and relax - then focus on serving the customers well, and quickly. And get rid of the igloo as you could fit a few...

First visit; the staff kept fussing over where we could/could not sit. Our table was booked beforehand but we were not really allowed to stand or sit anywhere as we were in the way. I got up to look at the gins and tonics available behind the bar and was asked what I was doing and told to sit down as the waiter will serve me. Pretentious nonesense.

Second visit; I arrived, telling them I was meeting my partner in the rooftop Prohibition bar and made my way up there. I was told to 'STOP!' and asked where I thought I was going. I told them again I was going upstairs and they said 'No, no, no. Excuse me sir you can't go up there'. I ignored them, but the Prohibition Police follwed me up there and hovered around just in case I might do something dreadful (like order a fizzy water in an area designated for champagne and cicktails only?)

Seriously, this is the biggest amount of pretentious nonesense I have ever met in Brighton. To survive the market, they need...

With high expectations for both quality of product and customer service, we were disappointed to leave l'Atlier du vin with such low reviews. We were moved twice due to errors in their booking system, although other bookings never showed up and I was explicitly told roof top bookings were not allowed. Even though there was an extensive list of drink options, it took between 35 and 45 minutes for drinks to arrive and numerous checks to ask where they were. The waitress, who did apologise for the delay, explained that there was a backlog of orders however there can't have been more than 20 people in the whole place. Overall, we felt that we were not cared for as paying customers and hope that it is a learning curve for the business as the location and decor is lovely. Hopefully in a few months we shall return to find a...