MR PORTER Restaurant, Bar & Lounge London — Restaurant in London

I came here for my birthday and unfortunately had a very disappointing experience. We accidentally arrived half an hour late for our booking (thinking it was 6:30 instead of 6). We apologised for the confusion on our end suggested using the table until 8 (the original booking slot) and moving if needs be, however the 2 hosts were being very difficult and couldn’t accommodate this.

We were seated in the lounge instead, and before sitting down were even looked up and down over our outfits despite the dress code being only smart casual (we wear wearing jeans, a nice top and smart shoes as advised over the phone). There was also no music for the first 15 minutes which wasn’t great.

Additionally, that morning we’d also recieved a very rude, abrupt phone call checking we were still coming and to “make sure we wear nice clothes and don’t be late”.

At this point the hosts had put such a down on our mood, being my birthday we considered leaving, but thought it would be logistically complex to secure a booking elsewhere, therefore regretfully stayed.

The food itself was great and our waiter and waitress were both lovely. At this point we gave the prior experience the benefit of the doubt.

However, after we payed, we noticed a £100 “late no-show fee” had been charged to my boyfriend’s bank, even though we were there the whole time and had paid our bill. A no-show policy is intended to cover the loss when guests fail to attend at all, so it is not reasonable to apply this fee when we were present and dining, albeit late.

It took 40 minutes of back-and-forth between waitresses and managers (who never spoke to us directly) before they finally agreed to refund it.

The fact that a particular waitress was almost shouting at as that they should be able to charge this £100 was completely out of order for a so called fine dining atmosphere.

While the food and servers were good, the unprofessional handling from the hosts and management ruined what should have been a special evening. Sadly, I...

Firstly when we arrived, the wifi wasn’t working. My partner asked several times and dealt with a gentleman who initially quite unhelpful. He then went off and lo and behold the Wi-Fi then worked. However he didn’t come back to us at all.

Having just finished my starter, I asked the waitress if I could have another beer. She came back to me around 5 mins later to say the beers are not cold so would I mind waiting. I said ok no problem. I probably then had to wait another 10+ minutes for a beer which when it arrived was lukewarm. I’ve never had that issue in any other restaurant.

As it was a birthday celebration for myself, my partner asked the hostess ( a lady) if she could do the whole happy birthday thing with a candle. As we approached the end of the evening my partner asked the waitress if we could do the whole happy birthday thing and she said she knew nothing about it, that the hostess had told her nothing about it. My partner then had to go through the whole thing with her again.

On the positive side, the food and ambience of your restaurant is lovely

However I would be lying if I said that on the night we wasn’t very disappointed with the service given to us over the matters highlighted above. To the point where I think we won’t visit again. I paid the 15% service charge on the night as to not cause embarrassment, however I really shouldn’t have paid it as I believe on the night the service wasn’t up to scratch which despite the positives left us with an overall negative experience. Especially the issue around the beers, I’ve never had that anywhere else and the fact I was then charged full price for two lukewarm beers was really poor.

I had sent this in an email to them but sadly have received no reply so therefore I have no choice but make this...

We recently had a dinner reservation that was ruined by an unprofessional and highly inconsistent front-of-house experience. Upon arrival, my wife was denied entry due to her footwear (sneakers). While we respect the existence of a dress code, this policy was not clearly communicated during the booking process, which is a basic standard for high-end dining. More concerning than the denial itself was the arbitrary nature of the enforcement.

As someone who gives a lot go business to the Hilton Park Lane from the Middle East, this was quite shocking. I spoke to the Duty manager who is a friend, and before he came to speak, my sister arrived, she spoke to them, and they let us in and then came the real shock! Once we were finally seated, I observed at least twenty different people wearing athletic footwear. This demonstrated a profound and unacceptable inconsistency in policy application.

The manner in which the initial issue was handled by the staff was equally disappointing. A duty manager was called, who proceeded to scroll through a device for several minutes before delivering a dismissive and unhelpful response: "Oh sorry, you would need to rebook!" This casual failure to offer any solution or apology reflects a significant lapse in customer service training and professionalism.

This negative experience stands in sharp contrast to the high standards of service and relaxed atmosphere generally associated with the Hilton Park Lane. Due to the arbitrary enforcement of rules and the dismissive handling of a valid concern, I cannot recommend...