Ballot Box — Restaurant in London

Generally the experience was very good. I checked in, got a table, stickers etc. 45 minutes in a woman comes to say she's ready for face painting. I start shipping the kids o her only to see a she needed to finish preparing I'd completely forgotten about it and our host, the manager for the day, was on the till for most of it. Three kids in she tells me she can't do many more children as we only had 10 minutes before we had to go to the room. When i protested this, she said we only pay for who gets done. Which of course isn't true because i paid for 15 kids to have their faces painted and it was part of the package. We go upstairs having disappointed 10 kids. The area was an absolute state. However, the host was better at this point and did his best to get the cake lit, the happy birthdays and the food out - with his HANDS!! Actually picking up fish fingers and chips in his hands. However a good time was had and it was time to go and i went to pay. I argued with the woman on the till - the face painter - that i wanted a discount as i hadn't had the face painting except for 3 kids. She then had the audacity to say that the kids HAD been done. I asked "are you trying to tell me they've all come downstairs and had their faces painted?" and she replied they had, pointing inside where one kid had come back for it. I spoke to the manager (our host) who was brilliant and knocked a fair bit off the bill for it, after i had to argue that the mascot was part of the package. I later found out that the face painter had told my friend that she was waiting ages for kids to come and they didn't!! In all honesty the organisation was crap and we are just waiting to see what's going to happen in terms of vomiting kids, but that was nothing compared to the bare faced liar who painted faces, EXTREMELY badly to the point that the rabbit looked evil and the four year old was desperate to get it...

So, we started off in the childrens play room. We arrived after our party and was able to walk straight through into the play area with no questions asked and no attempt to stop us. (We could have been anyone)... once our reservation came round we moved into the main dining area where no one attempted to help guide us to our reserved table other than a polite older gentleman sitting at a table eating his dinner, he pointed us to our table, after seated there was no indication on how or where to order our meals, We had to head up to the bar to ask questions. We orderes our starters and they were PERFECT, they arrived at the same time, all HOT and tasty. Once finished we moved onto our mains where we ordered a variety of meals to caiter for vegetarian and pregnant... When the food came out, Again came out together and HOT however the "Large plate" is not as advertised the portion sizes are not what expected they are sized for a child but presented on a large plate.. As we began to eat i noticed there was a hair in 1 of the plates.. we asked the plate to be removed and not to be re-cooked as my appitate had subsided and started feeling unwell, we had to request the dish to be taken off the bill rather than approached, while the rest of my party was eating i had time to observe the staff coming in and out of the kitchen taking no time to sanitise through transitioning.. no hygine protection (hair nets, aprions were being worn) and felt this was very unhyginic, moving onto desert again we ordered through the app for the party but still had empty plates and dishes on the table FROM OUR STARTERS.... Overall my party enjoyed there meals, other than the 1 dish with the hair and the portion sizes however i feel there should be changes to ensure hygine and more of an effort to be made to WAITER for the customers.. i feel some re-training is what is needed to ensure all customers...

Had a long day and the time had gone past 15:00. Was accompanying 13 visitors from Japan and had to find a place to eat as they had nothing to eat all day. Came over as the place served food all day.

Greeted by Kiandia and Ian at the bar who made us feel very welcome. As the visitors were unable to speak the language, I had to explain, translate and interpret accordingly, which took a while to decide, nonetheless Kiandia was being very helpful and patient throughout, furthermore was knowledgable about the menus and their options.

Very good selection of beer and ale.

The visitors all ordered fish & chips in conjunction with other menus. Now, when such menus are opted for in such quantity all at once, usually quality slips up, especially when deep frying is involved. I know this, as I myself is a keen cook!

However, I was astonished that the food was cooked to perfection. The skilful chef knew what he or she was doing. Nice crispy finish with succulent flavour locked in. Same went for other menus. Moreover, nice big portions making them real value for money.

The Japanese are often very fussy with their food and quality, in other words, have high expectations. It was not just me enjoying the food, but also all 13 visitors did and complimented how great the food tasted. Some wanted to try fish and chips for the first time and this definitely has set a high benchmark standards. Not many places in the UK can achieve this. This speaks for itself.

The courteous, friendly and professional staff together with great quality food, the overall first class experience made an excellent start for the duration of stay for my visitors from Japan. Another group will be visiting next year and we will definitely coming over again.

Highly...