1665 Brasserie at The Mitre — Restaurant in London

This has always been one of my favourite places whenever I visit Hampton Court.

However, on this occasion, on Sunday 11 August 2024, it wasn't such a pleasant experience. Inside the restaurant, I was greeted (or more talked at) by a very snotty staff member, whose name I was then told, is Morgan.

I first asked if I could have a drink outside and was directed to the terrace bar, with complete disdain I might add. I proceeded to the terrace only to find all parasol tables were unavailable, on that particular day, temperature in the sun was of 31 degrees and I am very prone to heat strokes.

So I came back to reception where, again, Morgan was rather dismissive, with absolutely no customer service, problem solving skills, warmth or smiles, and then gave me the brush off on the account that the place was being reset for dinner. And that only drinks were available. Fair enough. I was about to leave when I decided that no, I really wanted to stay and came back to reception... Morgan again, this time looking rather annoyed and irritated, I told him I understood the restaurant was being reset for dinner, but kindly asked if I could possibly sit inside. Pointing to a giant double 8-seater sofa by the foyer, he told me to sit there. I asked him if there was another smaller table with a view, he went looking, but still looked annoyed. He then found an area with window river view tables for 2. Progress. Told me to sit anywhere where tables weren't already set for dinner. I did that and sat at a table that was a bit in the sun, he was kind enough to pull the curtain, but again did it like it was a bother.

Enters Alison, with a bright smile and warm manner! 😊 She went out of her way to accommodate me. She made my experience that little bit better. But after I left, I still couldn't shake off Morgan's very unwelcoming manner.

As I told Alison, I simply couldn't explain nor would I stand for it, having worked in the leisure and hospitality industry for years, as a barmaid, waitress, receptionist, staff manager, staff director in several settings including restaurants, bars, night clubs, retail outlets, cruise ships, hotels, with more often than not, very long shifts on my feet for up to 10-12 hours, sometimes more, and in very warm conditions, with a headache, stomachache, whatever ache or thinking of unwell family members back home. I was still smiling, accommodating, and delivering the wow factor, no matter what day or time of day or night.

So I simply cannot understand Morgan's manner or attitude on this particular occasion, especially when I've always had a warm welcome on my previous visits...

In my opinion, if he was my staff member, I would put him on an intensive customer service training / refresher course asap. What is possibly more worrying, other than personally treating me poorly, is that he might have the same attitude with every single customer... He might serve, but there is no warmth or smiles, problem solving skills, and quite a few bothered looks or sighs....

On a side note, the drink I had, left me with mouth ulcers within 15 mins of consuming it...

So altogether, that's £9 for a low quality soft drink, a packet of ready salted crisps and a very lukewarm welcome... I think I'll give this place a miss on...

Hmmm…had high hopes for this establishment as it has a partnership with Hampton Court Palace for an afternoon tea…it sounds very grand indeed 1665 Brasserie, but sadly our experience was anything but grand and I would not advise setting your high hopes on a faultless dining experience here for the following reasons… Let’s start with The good… The afternoon tea, when it finally arrived, was in fact delicious . Freshly made sandwiches and quaint delicious patisseries, along with fruit scones, clotted cream and jam looked like a veritable picture. The young waiter was attentive and listened carefully to our requests for more jam and cream as they were just short for the scones that we had. The first waiter however, didn’t listen at all so nil points for him. Now The bad… We sat twiddling our thumbs for 25mins before even being served a standard pot of tea. We waited what seemed an extra earth age for the actual afternoon tea. 3.There were flower decorations being put up around us, for either wedding parties or just to brighten the rather dull place up. Fair enough, but when customers are in? Boxes strewn everywhere, ladders to reach yonder heights? A bit of an unwelcome distraction for what was, for us, a special occasion. And The downright ugly Smoking!! Nowhere did it say this was a smoking area…if it did we would have moved elsewhere along with the couple and their very young newborn sitting close by. At least two people smoked in that area, which meant of course, that we all did, as you just cannot get away from the noxious plumes of nicotine clouds floating in the ether for all to casually inhale. The overtly loud, childish fart blasting, bugger everyone else and what they’re here for brigade that encompassed the round table in the raised area. They were also smoking ! At one point, calling a waiter over to complain about the tardy service, then announcing that they were from SA and were impatient nation. (Now of course I realise that this wasn’t 1665 Brasserie’s problem, strictly speaking but staff did not even attempt to ask them to desist, and they could have because the merry party were loud enough to be heard across the river) So, not a pleasant experience, altogether very mush the Parson’s egg…good in places…but not good enough for us to...

We visited to celebrate a special anniversary, I had included this in our booking but it was never mentioned . On arrival it was not clear where to go with the first welcoming station being closed. We made our way down some unmarked stairs and arrived. We were ignored by the first member of staff who was at the bar. We felt further ignored as the next person made a great fuss of customers who arrived behind us and immediately took them to their table, they were given choices of where they could sit. We were told the person was coming back to us, they did not. When another member of staff did arrive he walked very quickly to a table and barely spoke to us. He seated us and gave us water and called another waiter over. They were pleasant but intent on selling us the restaurant red wine, there was no discussion how it would go with various food. Service felt perfunctorily . We did not feel the welcome was consistent. Our food The starters were delicious however the pasta main meal was dry and overpriced. We were excited to have cheese but the menu choice was not enticing; Cheese course was very dull offering one piece of cheddar priced at £14.00and we choice to go to Mute Swan and had a selection of 5 cheeses there priced 14.75. From the moment we walked into their establishment to leaving the welcome and service was warm and consistent, the service at the Mitre fell short of this and we were disappointed. In comparison to restaurants and hotels of similar quality the service at...