My family and I had been looking forward to booking this restaurant for a long time. We thought booking 7 weeks in advance and confirming online for the first night of re-opening was going to be fantastic, unfortunately we have been left very disappointed.

We had requested to sit at the back of the restaurant so that our 3 year old could look at the animals and view of bushy park, we even phoned a week prior and had this all confirmed. On arrival we was placed right at the front of the restaurant by the window. Being that it was busy already, and us looking forward to the evening we continued and looked forward to the evening ahead. 15 minutes into our meal we found out the reason why, two groups of how they described as regular customers arrived and we're immediately moved to sit wherever they wanted and we overheard one group saying they were thankful to be squeezed in at such short notice, before being placed in the exact seats we requested.

On visiting the toilets with my 3 year old there was no soap or any had sanitizer to wash our hands. I would say in normal times this would be frustrating, but surely this is mandatory for any restaurant now? Clearly not. I mentioned this to the bar staff on the way back and was told it would be addressed.

Food was absolutely fantastic. We had a variety of different meals and all of us agreed how lovely it was. In fairness, this was the restaurants first Friday night back in business and the place was very busy so a few errors were to be expected.

The whole meal was ruined as we approached the end of the evening. We requested the waitress clear our food on 3 occasions, and if we could order some deserts at the same time that would be great, this was due to us not wanting to over run and delay any further bookings, but also as the children really needed to be in bed. Unfortunately this took 40-50 minutes for our table to be cleared and our order to be taken.

Dead on 20.30 a group arrived. The waitress had originally said their table was not ready and requested they waited outside for 5 minutes. The gentleman quite rightly refused as it was pouring down and requested to see the manager. The manager approached and decided to use the following excuse "This is your table (Pointing at us) and unfortunately they've been very slow". I was shocked as this was completely unfair and put us in an awkward position as we were so close to the door. The manager then allowed the group to stand over our table, which if I am honest wanted me to slow down. My 3 year old was finishing his ice cream and I was happy with that.

The gentleman in the group, who clearly thought he was slightly above the rest of the restaurant decided to continue pointing and pacing up and down the bar, which was highly amusing. He only needed to wait 5 minutes with a drink in hand, but decided to let the restaurant know and the staff know how important he was....the staff clearly thought he required pandering to, I'd of left him to it.

What followed, was his partner approaching our table, tapping her watch at a 3 year old and telling my parents to hurry up as this was an absolute JOKE. Clearly, this wasn't going to go well and I was more than happy to address the fact that this was entirely the restaurants fault for overbooking, slow service and not leaving gaps between each booking. There's was 20:30 and ours finished at the same time. I clearly told the lady how rude she had been to a child and that there was no need for her behaviour. The staff did not help the situation whatsoever, I spoke with the manager who did try to calm the situation down but I think it would of been fair for her to address the group and tell them the real reasons as to why the booking was delayed.

On review. Restaurant was nice, food was very good, toilets were a disgrace and the ending could of been handled in a very different way. We did get an apology from the manager but it was a little to late.

Huge shame for a restaurant that had such high reviews in the past and one we were all looking forward to visiting.