The Waterside Café — Restaurant in London

The OED definition of a rowlock is 'a fitting on the gunwale of a boat which serves as a fulcrum for an oar and keeps it in place.' We hired a boat, at the steep cost of £30 for an hour, whose rowlocks were too loose to act as fulcrums and had worn the oars away so much as to allow them to slip out of place too often. So the boat was hard to propel or direct. Eventually I developed a technique of short, shallow strokes that put minimal strain on the rowlocks and we limped back to the dock.

The lifeguard who had helped us into the boat recognised the trouble, said he'd mentioned it more than once to management, and was evidently embarrassed. The manager I spoke to conceded too, saying it was a problem they were gradually solving as and when they could purchase new rowlocks and replace the oars.

Can it be that rowlocks and oars are so costly for a boat hire operation in one of Britain’s most lucrative locations? Apart from rent I can't see that their other costs would squeeze out such essential expenditure.

I could have taken a pedalo of course but I have pretensions to membership of an island race.

Rating up from 1 to 2 stars as location really fine and...

Beautiful location with over priced food (£3.75 for a kids carton of orange juice!) and very rude staff. Queued outside to be told they could only serve ice cream and I couldn't order a coffee despite displaying the full menu next to the window. Queued again inside and was ignored by several staff who served other people who were behind me. The person who eventually gave me the coffee handed it to me and as I asked him a question he just shrugged and turned away. They didn't offer a receipt but I asked for one as the bill seemed high (£28 for a slice of cake, ice coffee, two waters and an orange juice) and they had charged me for two items that I didnt have. No apology offered and made to feel it was my mistake when they had the inconvenience of refunding me! The cake was hard, dry and so stale that my seven year old, who usually eats anything, refused it. Would never...

Dreadful customer service. Got order wrong and when I mentioned it they wanted me to have it anyway instead of provide what I really ordered. I declined as I ordered a decaffeinated iced latte yet they served caffeinated. When provided with the new drink, there was a full inch missing from the top. The cup very clearly was not filled. I kindly mentioned it and the barista’s response was ‘You are picky’.

While waiting for my order, another customer, who was given a number to be served, came in to say it had been 30 minutes since he ordered his drink. The manager told him it was his fault for not hearing them call his name (why do they give you a number if not to serve you?) and gave him his drink to check if it was warm still.

Please find some workers who care, enjoy people or can at least...