Colicci Serpentine Lido — Restaurant in London

Myself and my sister visited the establishment and bought ourselves some lunch to sit outside. It was very hot, so she went inside to get 2 glasses of what we thought was refillable lemonade as it was on tap by the door. When we were leaving about 20mins later, my sis went inside to refill again and was told by one of your waiters that she had to pay for all the drinks. He then proceeded to put a price tag in front of the lemonade that had not been there before. She apologised saying she thought refills were free and started waiting in the queue when she realised she didn’t have her wallet. As she went to get her wallet, another server (Khalil) started shouting at her and calling her a thief. She was taken aback and told him to hold the drinks while she got her wallet if he didn’t trust her, but he continued to shout at her.

I went inside when I saw what was happening, and it had escalated to the point of him threatening to call the police and accusing us of being too poor to pay. We had paid for both of our meals, and were trying to pay for the drinks, but he was extremely aggressive and dismissive. It seemed he didn’t want to understand or find a solution, just keep accusing us of a theft that hadn’t occurred. My sister had to tell him to step back a few times and to stop speaking to her as he was shouting in her face. We tried to make a complaint on the spot, but he was kicking us out of the restaurant.

We are unsure as to what would make him think we were too poor to pay, seeing as we had spent nearly £30 on sandwiches. We can only think our appearance was what made him not trust us.. We were told that they had been watching us from the start when we first got the lemonade, and my response is that if they had witnessed us making a mistake, then they could have easily come up to us and informed us, as we didn’t try to run and continued to eat outside for another 20mins.

This kind of treatment is rude...

Male staff are sexist and confrontational.

I bought two drinks, considering that I would be there about an hour (more than fair for considering the price of a table), I left about 45 minutes after.

Within ten minutes of me sitting at a table, a male manager asking me to move for a family to sit who I watched walk in and not even wait five minutes. I said no, five minutes later three other tables were available for them to sit, and that was only near me not the rest of the restaurant. Another time, while I was NOT the only single person sitting at a table but the only SINGLE WOMAN, a random man chose to sit at my table, and brought the manager when I explained it’s not for others to sit (it’s a small table). There were two other men sitting near by at their own same sized tables, one infront of me and another next to me. The men were not asked the same request, but I was harassed because I was a WOMAN ON HER OWN and it was because a random man wanted to sit at my table and not with other men. The manager, a waiter and a third man surrounded my table, confronting me, claiming I had been there 3 hours, I pulled out my receipt to show I wasn’t event there one hour. They were using intimidation because I was a woman. The manager leaned over my table, got close to my face and pointed his finger in my face.

This is appalling, sexist and completely inappropriate. Treat women like you treat men. I didn’t even manage to sit a full hour before being harassed...

I had a very disappointing experience at Colicci’s café a few weeks ago. My family and I were subjected to unprofessional and distressing treatment by a staff member (Kassim), who shouted at us in front of our toddler and other customers. Despite outlining the incident in detail and sending a formal complaint, including a follow-up email to Colicci’s management ( Sarah Bellamy, and the owner Rob Colicci ) , my requests for an investigation, a formal apology, and reassurance of improved staff training have gone unanswered.

Almost three weeks later, I still have not received any resolution or acknowledgment of these specific points. The lack of accountability and failure to respond to a serious customer concern is unacceptable. The incident left my toddler so frightened that he was afraid to return to Hyde Park for the remainder of our trip — turning what should have been a joyful family experience into a prolonged source of distress to him and us.

Families, especially those with children and dietary needs, deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Sadly, Colicci has not shown this. I strongly urge management to take customer complaints seriously and address staff conduct...