The Abingdon — Restaurant in London

Terrible experience! My bf and I went here for a drink and a small snack, on a lovely summers day. We are locals so we decided to check this spot out as it was near another favourite of ours. Having come in with nothing but kind energy, we were not treated in the same way by a certain waitstaff. This waiter, rudely came over and dropped the chips we had ordered on the table, and completely ignored my partner and I, even though we said “thank you” - despite being in complete shock. This maltreatment is unacceptable and completely ruined our experience here… I reported this to the bartender (who I will say was absolutely lovely and she said she would pass the message to her manager. This is where it gets much worse so brace yourself, I approached the manager - I explained what happened and he smirked that he knew about it, and that was it. I had to request (shocking that I had to prompt) something be done about this as it is not okay to provide such horrible service and expect us to pay for it. The manager then did not come back to follow up with me at our table outside. I then had to enter the premises again to ask what was being done - I then explained that this has ruined our experience and we still had quite a lot of our bottle of Cremant left and this has left a really sour taste in our mouths to be treated with such dismissive and rude service. He said to me he was not the manager normally and was only the man here for today, so he could only offer me a £5 refund for the chips. I then asked him how he would like to be treated like this, I could see that he was smiling sarcastically and not taking me seriously. I then said I want something to be done about this, after not being taken seriously when complaining I requested a full refund. He promptly told me he doesn’t have the authority to do this (even though he is a manger) this is questionable as someone who has worked in hospitality for over 10 years- that is literally the managers job! So once again - we have been dismissed, treated abysmally and the mistake made - still was not rectified. This manager (for this day only, as he said) then took my contact details and said the owner would be in touch - it has been two weeks, I have heard nothing from the owner or the pub. This is very disappointing and honestly hurtful. It is the law in this country that you can request a full / partial refund if the service is not up to standard, the service was well below what you would expect and not only have I not been refunded - I have not been taken seriously either.

A message to the owner - think properly about who you have in the role of manager because if this were my pub - I would fire this guy!

Date we came to the pub so you can check who was working this day: 2nd August - around 3/3.30pm - I am still requesting a refund now for the full bill, after being treated so badly at your establishment! I hope this can be taken seriously now by...

Staff is miserable and rude.

Absolutely no empathy and warmth. They should be ashamed of themselves . I have a whole lot of hospitality experience and know that a little bit of warmth goes a long way when it comes to families and kids! Went for a quick snack after school with my 11 year old son. No smile whatsoever from the bartender - it almost felt we'd walked into a surgery or an army camp. (And btw the place was empty). Cold and rubbish attitude by the server.

Then, asked a woman also standing behind the bar for the bill (couldn't wait to get out), she says, "Almost as obnoxiously as the guy,"I don't work here! " Why are you standing behind the bar, lady??

We are locals but won't go back! Neither will my local friends. Stay away.

Teach your staff professionalism. Serving food anyone can do. It's an "experience people are after".

All the more problematic if they are "usually" very kind and professional but chose to be rude in front of a child.

What a...

We had a dinner reservation with a required card hold for the outside heated patio. Upon arrived they checked us in and said it would be just two minutes before they could seat us. We clarified our name and the reservation was for the heated patio. After waiting fifteen minutes we inquired if there was a problem with our table. They told us again they would seat us shortly. We waited again. We could see that their patio tables were occupied. Once the staff member finally came out to us with menus he asked us to follow him inside. We reminded him that our reservations for dinner were for the outside heated patio. He said he was sorry but because of short staff they wouldn't be serving food on the patio tonight, only indoors.

Prior confirmed booking for the heated patio with a card held. Late seating, only to inform us we couldn't eat at the table that we had reserved. A big disappoint for the situation and for the lack of attentiveness by staff for our...