We had a night planned at the Philharmonic Hall and wanted to grab some food before we went, I had been the Philharmonic Rooms before, but only for a quick drink and was really impressed by the grandeur of it all. Having researched the menu before hand it all sounded tasty, so we chanced it on a Friday at 4pm. The place was rammed, customers looking round like headless chickens trying to get some direction from the staff, I approached the bar and asked did we need to book for food, the man struggled to grasp what I was saying, eventually he said 'no no walk in till 5pm, can sit over the, just not in the grand dining room as its closed'. Well 'over there' was to little side rooms with about 6 two seater tables in each, both packed. We spotted a table with no chairs and jumped on it before anyone else could get it, we hunted out 2 chairs and we were at least sat down anyway. You'd think the staff would be used to this level of business and offer more direction to customers, not everyone is a regular patron. Ready to order we went the bar, when I said I wanted to order food another staff member said 'ill need to check if that's ok', puzzled I waited and when he came back he said 'sorry we only do walk-ins till 4pm' stunned in amazement, after battling to get a table and already been told it was ok till 5pm, I asked him to check again, he came back and apologised at his mistake. As I was new to the pub app I got a free cider voucher (Yay, highlight of the visit!) We were squashed against a doorway, with people constantly going in and out, unsurprisingly it took a while to get our food, but when it did arrive it was hot and tasty, but the prices are premium for the portion size and quality so could only give 4* for food. We didn't have much of a chance to look around because there was just so many people, it was also incredibly hot in them side rooms, was melting.

Overall the visit didn't go the way id of hoped, I think it would be of much benefit to the venue if the staff offered more guidance and direction to customers who haven't visited before or who are clearly looking confused. We did get our food and it was good, it just would have been nicer in a more relaxed environment.

I would visit again, when I was able too during a more quieter day / time of day.