Ego at Stanney Oaks, Little Stanney — Restaurant in Little Stanney

Table service extra fee, that would be OK if the service had some briskness to it. The restaurant was surprisingly empty on Sunday, lunch time. We were seated by greeter with soup of a day offer (leak and potato) but when we ordered a soup waitress just turned away and left us in moment of confusion, then she came back repeted an offer and asked us if the day offer is OK, which was basically the first reason why we odered it at the beginning. (Paid table service😬) Nobody can carry four plates in one go these days???🙄 I appreciate if somebody come to ask if everything is ok with the meals, but to approach someone who is obviously just having a moment what you see from far, is not funny. I worked myself in every role in restaurants of all kind but I would be ashamed to provide such a service so I truly didn't bother with tip.

Meals were mediocre. We had roast, soup and pate. Roast gravy was missing the promised flavour of horse radish. But anyway potatoes were hard as stone also meat was chewy definitely not pink, vegetable needed bit TLC but cabbage was nice (therfore a second star and the environment is nice but soulless). A lot of dishes had the same pungent taste tail, like soup or onion chutney. I wasn't in a mood to argue about the bill but we asked for 2 course menu (main and a pate 22,95) and extra soup and asked to get it all together as a main. Then we have been charched separately for each meal. 17,95 roast, 5,95 soup and pate 7,95. No bill treat. I guess it is confusing for staff if you give "Sunday ala carte menu" very similar to "Sunday roast menu". I am not cheap but as mentioned I worked in hospitality for a while and I would never charged customer extra if there is a way to make it cheap as possible and they were always pleased.

By the next table was a lady who's returned her lunch as there was some misunderstanding over her order... in almost empty restaurant where plenty of staff seemed to have nothing to do. These sort of (middle)posh restaurants are hit or miss because authentic cheap bistro can provide much more pleasing service and well made meals. This one is miss for me but most of them are. Ego chain claims to be Mediterranean cousine restaurants (I do not concider Ego to be a good name for any kind of business), but there are plenty cheaper and much more flavourful places, where service has pace and you get a bill treat with your free...

On arrival we were given a long list of things on the menu that were not available, this led us to take up the two steaks for £30 offer and we were told they had all the steaks in though limited in number. The deal hadn’t been reflected in the bill which we pointed out and our server amended it but it didn’t take the full discount off as it turned out we had been given a larger steak each which had incurred an additional charge. My husband queried this and was told it was because they had run out of the smaller steaks despite the fact this hadn’t been communicated, he gave feedback and the guy on front of house did offer to refund but we didn’t take it as it was more the principal that it shouldn’t of been done. In addition the steaks came Rare when we asked for medium rare, there was no tomato as stated and the chips were undercooked, we didn’t feed this back as the lady that served us was rushed off her feet plus we were too hungry. The starters were really nice and my little boy was made up with his diy pizza though I think £9.95 is a bit much considering he made it himself and toppings were limited, smallest amount of cheese I’ve ever seen. The lady that served us was lovely, friendly and helpful but she was clearly run off her feet. My little boy had ordered the kids steak which we double checked with the guy that first saw us, was available and he said it was. Shortly after our order had gone in the lady came to tell us it was out of stock which was a great disappointment to our son, the lady was really helpful as he wanted ham not chicken on his pizza which she accommodated despite it not being a topping option, however we would of gone elsewhere had this been communicated earlier as it was the main reason we went to Ego in the first place. Starters were good, mains weren’t good, service was good (from the lady that looked after us), communication was dreadful! I doubt we’ll revisit, for the price we paid there are...

We (2 dinners) arrived around 2 pm for lunch, quickly seated and opted for the 3 course fix price lunch. Ordered our drinks, waited and made our choices, order taken. Reminded server about drinks, waited ...drinks arrived. Starters arrived 5 minutes later. Calamari nice with garnish. Garlic mushrooms with bread. The bread was burnt on the base, the garlic was far too strong ( I cook with fresh garlic in my kitchen, there is a balancing act that needs to be correct, not tasting it until the following day) no check from server to ask if food ok. Dishes cleared away.... asked for another round of drinks. Took quite a while for drinks to arrive. 1 bar staff 2 servers.... 1 guy drinking at the bar. Mains arrived eventually, chef forgot to put the pot of tartare sauce on fishcake plate, asked for it, waited, asked again, sauce arrived. Again heavy garlic on the pasta linguine. Picked our desserts choices...with a coffee. Dessert arrived no coffee, reminded staff, asked for bill, bill arrived. The servers had gone for break and bar staff was left to give coffee. Coffee was cold we were fed up chasing staff. It was now 3.30pm The bill was folded over with total showing and l went to bar to pay. Not happy, I know this brand and eaten elsewhere with no issues. Paid bill and left, checked bill much later when emptying receipts out of wallet and a 10% service charge had been added to the bill for 2 dining. My fault I guess for not checking receipt properly, I'm used to 8 dinners or more having a service charge. Not 2 pensioners, who normally tip if the food and service was good, this was not worth the £5.37 tip or "service charge".

Bread burnt, no tartare sauce, cold coffee, heavy hand on the garlic mushrooms and pasta linguine.

We were thinking of returning, however there are plenty of places to eat...