The Blue River Cafe — Restaurant in Great Britain

I visited Blue River Cafe for some food with a friend outside in the courtyard by the river yesterday lunch time (16.09.23) It was a nice sunny day. There were several issues from start to finish. Firstly, the new patio slabs have replaced the grass area outside whichi thought was a bit naff. When we walked to the bench to sit down we both tripped because there are 2 levels with an unfinished ridge which firstly you don't notice when walking towards the bench to sit down. Very badly designed in our opinion & is most definitely a safety hazard! Be warned. I ordered the Thames burger & my friend ordered a cajun chicken burger! The 1st thing we spotted was the naff buns. They were not nice crisp brioche buns but rather cheap supermarket sesame seed buns. The 2 burgers in my bun instantly made the bun soggy on both sides which made it impossible to pick up to eat even when cutting the burger in half. The chips were also quite a small portion. My friends chicken burger was not "cajun" but rather a bland tasting piece of chicken which she was disappointed with. Her bun was also soggy! The new girl staff who handed us our food offered to get us some sauces or salt etc. We asked for salt & ketchup which didn't arrive so I left the bench to go & get them myself. What came as my surprise was the venue was quite empty with only a few people sitting outside. When I asked where the ketchup & salt was she told me she'd forgotten!? For £16 for each burger we expected much better. Sorry to say we don't rate the food or service & won't be coming back again! Last but not least my car was damaged where I'd parked in the side car park. I came back to my car to find 4 scratches down the passenger side of my car wing so who ever was parked next to me "Thanks for nothing!!" I will now need to spend a couple of hundred pounds getting the deep scratches removed & the wing resprayed! Overall I am NOT happy with our visit to the Blue River Cafe. I thought the place had been closed for a year or so for refurbishment. You would think therefore it would have been completed before reopening. Mind your step if going to sit in the garden on a bench close to the river! A very disappointed...

I cannot commend you strongly enough NOT to go to this place. By all means go and admire the views but do NOT eat or drink there. Why?

Service - 15 minutes to get tap water, 20 minutes to order food then the first two meals to be brought up were wrong. They were left on the table while the waitress went to check. She returned, took the incorrect food away and then took it to another table. Second set of food brought over, she dropped chips on the floor and left them there. Last out was food for our two year old more than 50 minutes after arriving at the restaurant.

The Food - Where to start? Stale bread - not just a little stale but really stale bordering mouldy. Terrible chicken, chips which were not cooked through. Then the final straw was the kids meal - the bun looked like it has been eaten before, the baked beans congealed and disgusting and the pot they were served in too hot to touch (and given to a 2 year old).

The handling of complaints - we raised the issues to the manager who was very angry with us for complaining. Rather than calming the issue he escalated it.

Please, please can I urge you not to go to this restaurant - appalling service, disgusting food with questionable hygiene standards and ludicrously...

This is one of my local restaurants. I booked a window table for 3 for mothers day and was told there would be an alacarte menu as well as a mothers day menu. When we arrived we were allocated a table as far away from a window over looking the Thames as possible. We queried the 2 empty tables by a window and were told they were reserved. Well so was ours. The only menu available was the mothers day special and were told they had under estimated the amount of carveries that were needed. We ordered drinks and food and the order was taken by 2 different inexperienced waitresses. The only vegetable served were parsnips as the others had run out. When the bill came they tried to charge us an extra `£15 for deserts. I have a privilege plus card which should entitle me to a 10% discount but was told I could not use this and no reason was given. So we were over charged for the meal over and above what the carvery would have cost, vertually no vegetables, Wrong seats, over charged overall and the service was at best poor. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYONE. i HAVE JUST READ THE CONDITIONS TO MT PRIVELEGE CARD AND SEE THERE IS NO REASON WHY i SHOULD NOT HAVE RECEIVED A 20% DISCOUNT....