The Surprise Inn — Restaurant in London

Horrendous! Worst experience in a restaurant ever, terrible food, poor service, but the worst thing was the manager and her partner were rude and argumentative. Thwre were only 12 people in the restaurant, so it should have been easy for a Friday night. Given wrong wine menu and was told it was 6 months out of date and had to change the order. Told there was barely anything left on the menu when tried to order food. Waited over an hour for starters. One didn't arrive until everyone else had finished, it was only bread that had to be warmed up. The covent garden pie was the exact same veg as the side dish simply covered in mash and they were charging £10 for it, no sauce or anything (could have ordered the veg and mash sides for half the price). The 2 prawn and avocado starters had no avocado (we weren't told this, we just discovered it on eating). The sword fish was pretty under cooked and so we asked for it to have more cooking. The fire alarm went off twice during the meal. We were also told after pur starter, that our main would be delayed because there was one other table on the restaurant (!?!?!). So, when we asked to see the manager, she came out very confrontational and the first thing she said was "who ordered the sword fish, you should have said how you wanted it cooked", to which we replied "We weren't asked". We then started to list the issues, but the manager just became defensive and kept interrupting, at one point she started wagging her finger at us. She wasn't apologising, just started making excuses, such as "we have a new chef", "we're under-staffed", "We were busy yesterday and at lunch today so don't have much left" (we only booked the table 2 hours before eating and could have been told this then), she also said "this isn't fast food like McDonalds", but we'd waited almost 2 hours for mains and there was only one other table in the restaurant the entire time we were there. Then, her partner came over, he'd been drinking in the bar that evening and he chimed in, being incredibly rude too. It was an absolute shambles. We finally got some kind of apology (although it came with many caveats). It was easily the worst food and worst experience o jave ever had. I have never had a manager of a restaurant blaming customers for the issues, being so rude and argumentative on my life. No wonder it was empty on a Friday night!!!...

When i phoned to book a table for 15 people Scott was so helpful I asked in advance if I could bring a cake balloons We are a group of nurses celebrating a colleagues retirement, I was told that would be fine anything I need just let them know however on arrival was met with a rude women that worked in the restaurant I asked would it be possible to put the cake in the kitchen and she said no and that she hopes iv bought my own plates or napkins because I can’t use hers I was shocked to say the least I was then given dirty looks by her as I put balloons around the table , another member of our party ordered a round of drinks and tapped her card on the machine was about to pass the the drinks and was told by the same person she can’t take them to the table before the card has gone through yet and she has to wait and if she was in that much of a hurry she should have bought cash she actually wasn’t walking away she was passing the drinks to the other guest, I only wish. Had made a complaint on the day there was 2 other younger women that worked there who were fine it was an older women that made us feel very unwelcome. The food was good but this was the first time we have been there and sadly because of the hostility we received will not...

Discovered this pub as it's right by the windmill we were visiting; I'm sure they get plenty of trade due to this, which is well-deserved as the pub is an absolute winner. We had drinks before our windmill visit, and were served by polite bar staff in what is a splendid interior, traditional in some ways, yet smart, clean and modern in others - it all comes together well. There's a great little area with old leather sofas and a Churchill theme, while at the back, there's a very nice garden beyond a spacious restaurant area (though you can dine in the main pub too). We returned to have a late lunch and were impressed to see fresh seafood in their own customer-facing ice-based chiller - we knew right away this was a serious venture. After some mini-size starters (nice idea for those of us who often go straight to the main meal) of smoked salmon, and prawn cocktail, we enjoyed sauteed salmon with green beans and potatoes, and a sardine salad. The dishes were simple, showing off the freshness of the ingredients. Desserts were delicious; a creme brulee went down well, as did my thick, dense, cocoa-rich cheesecake - really delicious. The staff are thoroughly lovely and we had a...