The River House — Restaurant in Great Britain

Firstly I would like to say, that I reached out to this restaurant, my complaint was acknowledged, but they DID NOT came back to me as promised. The main course was a total disaster.. meals were all brought out separately,, one finished before another received theirs. All sides were brought out at different times too. A few of us had ordered sea bass (off your menu) and about 45 mins after everyone’s food they were brought salmon… with the explanation being ‘the menu has changed and the fish choice is now salmon’ What the annoying part is, we had preordered all our food, and not once where we told that you weren’t able to fulfil our choices. No one explained to us on arrival that your menu had changed, and we were just given the alternative without being told. The 2 people that didn’t want the salmon were then told, ‘if you want the sea bass you will have to wait another 35 mins’ considering they hadn’t eaten, then this is what they chose, as they were starving by this point. I asked to speak to the manager, as we were really disappointed by now… and did not want to pay for something that we hadn’t had. The manager arrived and was not very sympathetic, he did apologise and ask ‘what do you want me to do!’ He explained that the menu had changed and the options we had picked were not available. I explained that we weren’t happy to pay full price for the people that had not eaten, and he said I can take £10 off their bill (the set menu was £30 so basically he wanted to charge us £20 for starters and a dish of icecream! He said ‘well I have to charge you for what you have eaten!) I said this does not work our fair.. and where is your good will gesture for our disastrous meal.. so he offered the two people a free drink (quite insulting to be honest) The worst part is yet to be explained.. some of us wanted to pay by card and some cash. I collected all the cash, and worked out everyone’s amount.. and they all paid their own card payments. The bill came out without the £130 deducted.. so explained this, and he said that’s fine.. well Sort it out. Everyone then paid their amount and we were about to leave. The manager then came over and said there’s still a balance of £120 to be paid… I said there can’t be as everyone has paid their total amount, and that the deposit hasn’t been adjusted. He basically argued with me that I had to pay £120 as this is what I owe. By this point I was so upset as the whole occasion had been spoilt.. and I didn’t have another £120 and knew that everyone had paid up and didn’t owe anymore money! I quite rightly refused to pay… and he told me ‘just go, I can’t make you pay’ and waved me out!!! I was so angry and upset by now!!! I could clearly see, that the receipt had not been adjusted to include the £130 that I had paid. I then went to another member of staff and explained to her, and she could clearly see that I was right.. and that we had paid in full! She then went to your manager, as I was too upset by now, and explained to him… As we were about to leave he then came over and said ‘it’s my mistake I’m sorry, I owe you a drink!’ How insulting!! I just walked out!

Not only was this terrible customer service, it cost them a lot of money, as you had to make extra food that no one could eat.. and now I will never return to you food Not one of the 13 people on that table would return to your venue. All of this could have been avoided, by just letting us know the menu had changed.. and giving us the new menu the day before.. or on our arrival, instead of serving us different food and hoping we would...

Living locally we thought we would try The River House for the first time. This place is right on the river and the front the restaurant looks very appealing. We were very excited try this place out for our breakfast but our experience couldn’t be further from the truth. Unfortunately the service and staff behaviour was terrible. We will never be going back, even when we live across the road.

I have never had such a rude encounter with a waiter. We waited 20 minutes to receive our two orange juices and after a further 45 minutes we still hadn’t received our food. The two tables next to us came and ordered after us and even left before we had our food. After sitting patiently we asked if our food was on the way and we were reassured that it was.

Eventually after an hour we got our food. We mentioned to the waiter that we had waited an hour and that we would appreciate this was reflected in the bill. He said, ‘let me look into this for you’.

This waiter never returned and after eating our food I popped in to have a word with the staff. I explained the situation and the argumentative and dismissive nature of this staff member was unbelievable. He was in a different shirt to others so I assume he was the manger.

I went on to explain that we had waited an hour and he interrupted me saying, “tough you have eaten your food so we don’t do refunds” I couldn’t believe it. Surrounded by other costumers I felt quiet embarrassed at his tone and volume, but they couldn’t believe the way this man spoke to me either.

I then went on to say politely that we had already spoken to his colleague and he was going to look into it for us so wondered if he had chance to do that. He interrupted me again and shouted ‘we don’t do refunds, if you are unhappy then you can just leave, just go!’ and aggressively gestured towards the door.

Speechless I walked away to never return again. Not getting an apology or even a refund is one thing, but being asked to just ‘leave’ because of it was shocking. It’s as if they don’t want the business or even bothered about reputation.

As I returned to our table my partner was speaking with another couple who said they had also had to wait for their order. How can this place still be in business. How can this man be in a costumer facing position.

Avoid this place! They don’t deserve...

I would not reccomend this establishment, poor quality ,poor service, and exceptionally rude and condescending management.

In responce to the owners reply..

Blackmail.... I did not attempt to blackmail you in any way. I pointed out that i had not left a review,despite being sworn at, having the wrong order given and poor food.Nor did I receive any CCTV footage, nor did I eat all of my meal, and yes I did complain about the pork on the day.

It's clear once again that you are missing the point. As you have from the very beginning.

Had I not been charged for the deposit for those that could not attend , I would have paid my bill and just never returned. I had no desire to berate you or your team in public.

But the facts are the facts. The food was not great and the service was poor. Had it been good food and fabulous service I wouldn't have chased for the deposit refund.

I believe that given the circumstances , I was quite right to do so.

Keep the £20  you clearly need it more than I. I just hope that at some point, you are able to take a step back and realise that this is not the way to make customers return to your establishment.

You are rude and clearly unable to take criticism,  or take into consideration the wider connotations of your behaviour.

I hope when you and your family next go out to eat, that you have a similar experience to ours. I wonder then if you would leave a positive review. I doubt it.... having been on the receiving end of your scaling tongue,  and witnessed your rudeness.

Have a...