Aspect Bar & Bistro — Restaurant in Lancaster

We called ahead for a table of 3 on Sunday evening of August Bank Holiday weekend, around 6:30pm. We were told the table would be about 30 minutes, as someone was just finishing up, so we decided to go anyway and kill time in the bar if the table wasn't ready. When we arrived 20 minutes later it looked as though they were tidying up after an event, as the tables and chairs were all out of place. The cocktail bar side looked busy and the tapas menu looked appetising, but our treatment was a shambles. We told a young girl in the restaurant we had a booking so she went off to check and knew nothing about it, spoke to an older man who said we could have a table but we'd need to wait 5 minutes, fine we thought, we'll get a drink. Another young girl served us, 3 soft drinks, not that difficult, but she managed to forget to put ice in two despite offering. Not a problem, we'll cope without the ice. Then we sat in some armchairs, not offered a menu or anything to look at whilst we waited and we were forgotten about for around 15 minutes. We asked an older woman who looked like she was in charge as she was directing the younger girls which tables to move and set up and she confirmed it was her we'd spoken to on the phone, she said our table was ready around the corner and just left us to it to move, no showing us to the table or offering menus, just "yeah, it's the booth around the corner and it's ready". This table was ready when we walked in, so why were we told we needed to wait? We sat at the table for 5 minutes and asked for menus and an embarrassed young girl said, it'll just be a couple of minutes. She came back a few minutes later and told us all the menus were being used, so we would have to wait. At this point we were beginning to regret our decision to give this place a go, but we waited a few more minutes. During the wait, we heard two people complaining, one that they'd been waiting 40 minutes for their food, and the other that they'd been ready to order for 20 minutes, so that explained where all the menus were. At this point, I realised when we looked around that only one table had food on it, everyone else had menus or were waiting for their food. We decided to give it a miss and went to the bar to pay for our drinks, which they knew nothing about as they hadn't opened a tab! Overall the front of house team here were a shambles, no one knew what anyone else was doing and as a result the restaurant was filled with unhappy customers and the staff looked miserable. Other than to admire the views, I'd give this place...

We ordered afternoon tea for my friends Birthday on 4th May 2020. We share the same household. When my friend arrived home from work on 2nd May the afternoon tea had been delivered!!! He called aspect in total shock since it was 2 days early! He was told they would come out and collect it and then being us the afternoon tea on the correct date. They did just that. Although they delivered 30 minutes early on the 4th that wasnt a problem. However when we looked at the box we found someone else's name and address on it. We had also specifically stated NO fish as im allergic. You guessed it there were tuna sandwiches too! We called aspect and explained the situation, they said the boxes were standard but they would send more sandwiches and they would be with us in 20 minutes. An hour later we called again! As my friend was on the phone the bell sounded and it was them. But on the phone the person my friend was talking to said she had sent the sandwiches to the wrong address!!! They would do nothing to compensate us. Ok so we opened the box to stale scones, sandwiches with hardly any filling, cheese that tasted off and partial crusts left on the bread. I have tried to leave a review on their Facebook page but no review button and they claim on Facebook to do 1000s of afternoon teas and had no complaints. Good luck if...

Looks good, great location. But…

We booked, arrived on time, were seated. Then we ordered pizzas, and were told we would have to wait an hour for pizza. So we ordered something else, and had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes for that to arrive, and it arrived without the salad! By this time, we couldn’t be bothered to wait any longer, so we ate. The food was ok, not great. We mentioned the missing salads, got an apology but nothing else. There seemed to be plenty of staff around, so we have to assume that our delay - and others around us - were due to staff issues in the kitchen. If we’d been told when we arrived, we could have taken an informed decision about whether to stay. The staff spent a lot of time complaining to customers about how bad their life is. Not something you should be doing to your customers.

I accept that there may be staffing issues. Especially now. But communication is everything. If there’s going to be a delay, TELL your customers. Don’t just leave them waiting with no...