Bounce Old Street — Restaurant in London

We had a staff Xmas party having visited the other bounce location previously and enjoying the experience.

I have to say this one was no where near the same standard and this is mainly down to the staff. Ok you know it's going to be busy for Xmas and that's a given but the rudeness and unwillingness to be pleasant to your customers is just not acceptable.

The food had to be chosen before hand which wasn't an issue but the portions were a little skinny as most people commented but were tasty. The brownies were however very dry and you found yourself having to drink to wash it down. With a small scoop of ice cream it just didn't have a balance and most of the table left half their deserts.

We asked a member of staff if they would take a photo with one of our teams phone cameras. The guy wasn't actually doing anything at the time so it wasn't like we were putting him out. We were courteous and at first thought he was having a joke with us when he said no but then we realised he was actually being serious. He walked away...

That aside after the Ping Pong had finished we vacated our table and moved to the bar as all tables in the venue were booked for other clients. Whilst standing at the bar we opened a tab there and everyone had a couple of drinks.

THe bar stocks a lot of "generic" brands and when one of my team asked for a drink they were given a generic brand. The said brand didn't taste anything like the proper brand and so we commented on this and asked for the drink to be taken off the bill.

To say the barman was terse and condescending was an understatement. He was so rude I asked to speak to his manager so he scurried off and spoke to them before they came over and asked the issue. I explained my narrative on the situation and the manager said they would not refund the price of the drink that had just had a sip out of it.

I then asked to speak to the general manager who had been relayed totally different facts and when I explained the situation he apologised and refunded the drink cost. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but the principle of how we were treated in this matter had me seething and I really was shocked that we were treated so appallingly.

To add to this, although we had already paid for the main meals and drinks plus gratuity, to add insult to injury, the barman had added a further £35 gratuity onto the bar bill for the drinks we had ordered at the bar (which we also had been stood at to consume).

As mentioned before we have previously visited the other location and enjoyed it so I am being very subjective but this just didn't stack up. It's not about being penny pinching, it's about customer service and...

As a place to visit, Bounce is a great choice for a fun activity to do along with drinks. There are a couple of other locations including this one, and they're quite fairly priced.

I think our deal was £10pp for a big group of 30+, which included two table tennis tables, a shuffleboard and a beer pong table (not exactly a package but you can book them independently for the same time if you wanted).

A couple of problems, both during booking and on the night:

Firstly, the response time to emails was very slow. A quick reply to the first email was followed by 3 days of no replies despite chasing. When I called, the slot I was provisionally trying to confirm booking for were gone and made it harder to sort the evening out. I also live near enough the venue, I went by a few days before to confirm things in person but they said you can't book future days in person and you have to do it over the phone.

Then on the night, the pre ordered drinks weren't ready on arrival because they had been tagged with one of my later tables. Despite explaining this on the phone to them before, they said 'it can't be moved to the earlier table' which just meant our drinks weren't served till 20 mins after we arrived.

Perhaps the most pointlessly disappointing thing happened at midnight. With the venue half empty and clearly getting quieter, (and is open till 1am), when a couple of us returned to our earlier table to play a bit more table tennis, a member of staff came over and kicked us off. Having spent hundreds of pounds here as a group, and with plenty of free tables, this felt a bit of a kick in the teeth and unnecessary.

Overall, Bounce can provide a fun experience but could do with improving its systems for...

I was served raw chicken wings and when I told the waitress, she took the plate without an apology. She returned saying the wings was safe to eat as they had been marinated.

Update on 7/3 Thank you Greg for your prompt response regarding my recent visit.

Regarding the food, my main concern was that the chicken wings seemed noticeably undercooked. The issue wasn't isolated to just one wing but was apparent in the entire dish. The meat was very pink near the bone, and the texture was unusually rubbery, which are common indicators of undercooked chicken. Understandably, this raised concerns about food safety and made it difficult for me and my party to enjoy the meal.

As for the service, the waitress initially took the plate without an apology. This startled me and affected the ambiance of the evening. After consulting the chef, she returned ensuring that the chicken was cooked. I knew it wasn't and would have appreciated the opportunity to show her. Whilst I was presented with an alternative dish option, my fear of eating raw chicken meant it was only replaced with fries. The first apology of the evening came when paying the bill. This was the third interaction with the waitress after I told her about the raw wings, which was too late in my opinion.

Aside from the food issue, I've visited bounce several times and always the experience of playing interactive ping pong.

I'm grateful for your understanding and willingness to address these concerns. I look forward to your reply.

Best...