La Petite Auberge — Restaurant in London

All staff including manager need further training to handle and resolve situations - luckily we were not injured with broken glass. The food and drinks were lovely, however, the waiter accidently knocked a large glass of drink which fell onto my mother, her handbag which was drenched inside, her coat, me, an expensive birthday gift - an 8 person raclette grill, on the table, floor, and I had to pick the broken glass off my mother and gift (which was wet). We still effectively had to pay the full bill and only had £30 off which technically covered the 'complimentary drinks'.

Further to this, the manager and staff were all apologetic and quickly mopped the floor, tidied the table and my mother's chair was changed. It is a shame we were not offered somewhere else to sit despite the floor and my chair still being wet. We didn't want to cause a scene, ruin the my little sister's birthday and understood it was an accident. As a result, my mother had to go to the toilet to dry off but a small toilet dryer did not work and she was still completely soaked - trousers, lingerie and one of her shoe. We choose not to go home because it would take to long to drive back and forth to the restaurant and it was already an hour into our dining experience and still had not ordered the mains.

My mother requested to change tables as she was still completely drenched and could not bare to sit at a table where the floor was still drying off after the mopping. Again as part of the customer service, this should have been asked to us whether we wanted to change tables. The waiter who accidently knocked the drink took responsibility for his actions and I am grateful he apologised and staff were very helpful in assisting to move our drinks and starters to the new table. My sister and I could not have our starters immediately which was left on the new table because we had to go to the toilets to wash and dry my mothers bag as there was a puddle of liquid inside and her purse, money, items were drenched.

At this point the waitress did not realise we still had to order the mains. My family went to the effort to order a custom hand-made birthday cake but when it arrived there were no serving plates or cutlery. My little sister just sat there staring at the cake after she blew the candles, at which point we had to request for plates and cutlery.

We were offered 4x complimentary non-alcoholic drinks as we had to drive back home but only received around £30 off the bill. and paid over £100 for our dishes and drinks that we had ordered. Clearly the £30 was to cover the 'complimentary drinks' and so we effectively paid for our full bill despite the table, my mother, the birthday gift was soaked with drink, broken glass on my mother and in the gift bag, my mother had to sit in her wet trousers, lingerie and shoes for the evening, no plates and cutlery given after the birthday cake was at the table. My sister (birthday girl) did not want to kick up a fuss as she was so upset the evening was ruined. All she wanted to do is pay and GET OUT! Once we left I discussed the evening with her and explained she should not have paid for the birthday meals, and she expressed that she just did not want to be in that place any longer as it was ruined from start to the end.

I am not expecting a michelin star customer service but the way the situation was handled was extremely poor and we effectively still paid our full bill which should not have happened after receiving a service like that. If we had to stay in the same place and there were small fragments of glass on our table where there would be a higher chance we got injured whilst dining, I would have not been so light on...

If I could leave zero stars, I would, and even that would be too generous for the appalling treatment I received.

From the moment I entered, it was obvious I came to do work. I asked to be seated near a plug point before even sitting down, clearly indicating my intention to use my laptop. Once seated, I placed my order, directly with Arbri, the so-called manager, with my laptop open and work visibly underway. It couldn’t have been more obvious that I was there as a paying, respectful customer intending to work.

What followed was nothing short of degrading. Despite the place being practically empty, I was left waiting an absurd amount of time to be served. The staff were cold, distant, and completely unwelcoming, they didn’t even bother clearing away the extra glasses, unused cutlery, or even dirty plates (which STILL sat there after I was thrown out!) The overall lack of basic hospitality was already frustrating.

Then came the food. I ordered the calamari, and to say it was a greasy, unpleasant mess would be an understatement. It was swimming in oil, completely unappetizing and clearly cooked with zero care or attention.

But the worst was yet to come.

Without a single word of conversation or warning, Arbri slammed the bill down in front of me in full view of other customers. No excuse, no discussion, just sheer hostility. It was as if the moment he realized I wasn’t going to order anything else, I was no longer welcome. The way I was confronted and effectively thrown out was not only disrespectful, it was outright humiliating. I was treated like a nuisance, like I didn’t belong there, like some kind of peasant.

His demeanor was abusive, aggressive, and completely inappropriate, especially coming from someone calling themselves a manager. I’ve never encountered such open contempt from someone in hospitality. There was zero courtesy, zero professionalism, just smug, dismissive arrogance.

To be treated this way is disgraceful. This experience was not just disappointing, it was dehumanizing. I left feeling utterly disrespected and publicly embarrassed for simply working in a space that should, at the very least, offer common decency to its patrons.

Avoid this place at all costs unless you enjoy being overcharged for oily food, ignored by unfriendly staff, and then publicly humiliated by someone who clearly doesn’t understand the first thing about customer service.

Shameful doesn’t even begin to cover it. Disgustingly...

I had previously enjoyed a truly superb meal here and looked forward to an enjoyable evening with friends. The starters were mouthwatering all round on a busy Friday evening. Two hours later, however........no main course and no response from our waitress as to the delay. Having caught the attention of the floor manager we learned that one of the courses, chicken, had, apparently, been dropped by the chef on the kitchen floor. Fair enough....accidents happen. Choose another main please ..but no chicken.....no steak....(we have run out)...but please try duck. Our other guests’ meals finally served 10 minutes later.. but nothing for the ‘chicken’ guest. On asking why the problems and why such a delay without informing us, the floor manager said ‘your complaint is spoiling other guests’ enjoyment......if you don’t like the service then just leave’. Wow! How dare we question waiting for over two hours and then having lukewarm food served to 4 of the 5 guests....and one left with nothing on her plate. Manager immediately apologised for the restaurant’s shortcomings and the approach of the floor manager. Sadly, too late as our evening had been ruined. We felt that we had to leave. Not a great experience but think it resulted from the restaurant chain offering a 25% reduction on mid week bookings and not being able to cope with the...