Wagtail — Restaurant in London

In short: don’t waste your money at Wagtail. It’s atrocious that we paid for whatever you call what we got (I shudder to think they actually called that ‘service’). We came on Saturday for a friend’s 30th birthday brunch, and I have never had service at a restaurant that was so egregiously lacking in actual hospitality.

In long: upon arriving, we were the only table, so they were absolutely not busy. Nobody took my drink order when I sat down, and in fact, nobody approached the table for about 15 minutes to ask if I would like a drink. We had to chase down waiters, who on multiple occasions actually actively ignored us, but served other guests at neighbouring tables.

It was emphasised to us on multiple occasions that the table was required after two hours, which I understand, though the constant hurrying of us like we were naughty school children was irritating to say the least when the issue at hand (food and drinks being served incredibly slowly) was not anything to do with us. With this in mind, I expected that when our orders were taken, the food and drinks would come out quickly.

They did not.

Not only was the food service desperately sluggish, what was served to our party is something I personally would have been mortified to serve dinner guests at my own house, let alone a so-called award winning restaurant. The burrata was the only beautiful dish, but the soggy pastry my friends were served was diabolical. The food tasted okay, but it was nothing to write home about flavour-wise, and certainly not anything at all like the gorgeous food on their instagram page - it genuinely looked dreadful. The portion size was also absurd and small for the crockery; the food looked like it was drowning in the oversized plate, and at times was hard to eat off said plate (i.e. ice cream). The steak knives were also very blunt.

The cherry on top was when dessert arrived. Our mains plates had been sitting empty for over 15 minutes, as had everyone’s drinks; I was watching the time because of the constant reminders from staff, but the staff walking back and forth past our table were obviously not heeding the same reminders. As the end of our 2 hours ticked nearer, dessert struggled to make an appearance.

At 1:11pm, our desserts arrived, and they were dire. The banana in my dessert was hard and uncooked, and the ice cream was melted. There was none of the Chantilly cream or peanuts that were promised on the menu. If I am honest, the ‘French toast’ looked absolutely disgusting. If it were my dish, I would have sent it back. At 1:16pm, 1 minute after we were supposed to have vacated the premises, and barely 5 after we had received the poor excuse for ‘dessert’, the waiter came around with the bill and eftpos machine, whilst we were still eating, to passive-aggressively ask us to leave.

I cannot stress how rude and inattentive the waiter for our table was. I cannot stress how sluggish the service was, and how unacceptable the food presentation was for this calibre of restaurant; I feel like I was falsely advertised to, comparing what we were served to what is presented on their social media. We were hurried the whole time, whilst the staff did nothing to alleviate the reason for the needed haste: their poor and inattentive service.

I paid £50+ for the privilege of having unappetising food served to me slowly whilst being hurried by inhospitable waiters. The only redeeming feature of the experience was the company I kept, and the free glass of bubbly the manager gave us in an attempt to placate us.

I am absolutely baffled that this restaurant and bar has won any awards that aren’t ’shoddiest service’, frankly, and I’m furious they had the nerve to attempt to charge a service fee for what we experienced, let alone that we had to pay full price for THAT. Swimming in the Thames would have been more enjoyable, and I’m sure the food at the hospital afterwards would be better than what we got.

I will be telling everyone I know about this experience, as I wouldn’t want anyone else to waste their time, money, or...

I had the misfortune of booking Wagtail’s igloo for my birthday, which was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. I am beyond upset with how things unfolded, and I feel compelled to warn others about the appalling service and lack of care from the staff and management.

First, I didn’t even receive a confirmation email for my booking. I had to call them FIVE times in one day to ensure the booking was confirmed. After the fifth call, they finally sent me the confirmation email. Fast forward to the day of my booking: I had a gut feeling to double-check, and thank goodness I did. Just TWO HOURS before my reservation, they informed me that they had double-booked the igloo and couldn’t accommodate me. This was utterly unacceptable.

After repeatedly asking to speak to the manager, I was reluctantly put through to someone who didn’t care. The manager was unhelpful and dismissive, but after much complaining, they allowed me access to the igloo for one hour instead of the two hours I had initially been booked. I agreed to avoid further stress on my birthday, but the frustration didn’t stop.

Once we were seated in the igloo, the service was terrible. While eating, the server arrived, picked up our plates, and told us we had to move into the restaurant so other guests could sit. This was incredibly rude and unprofessional, but again, I didn’t want to create a scene, so we moved halfway through our dry, tasteless meals.

The issues continued inside the restaurant. After finishing our meal, we ordered drinks, but they took over an hour to arrive. I had to ask three times where our drinks were, and each time, the response was lazy and unapologetic: “Sorry, we forgot.” I eventually gave up and asked them to cancel the drinks—waiting an hour for a gin and tonic is ridiculous. The waitstaff couldn’t have cared less.

To add to my disappointment, I requested a birthday dessert, but the waiters refused, claiming they don’t serve it because they " create a scene.” They still said no even after we assured them we were making a noise and wouldn’t sing. Then, 30 minutes later, they brought out a dessert without explanation. This level of disorganisation and indifference was infuriating.

The staff, the manager, and the entire establishment disregard their customers. From double-booking my reservation to the dry, tasteless food to the incompetent, uncaring service, every aspect of this experience was a disaster. The manager should have gone out of their way to make things right after the booking error, but instead, they did the bare minimum and showed no concern for my experience.

They dared to ask for a service charge to top it all off. For what? The horrible service and stress they caused? Not.

Do yourself a favour—stay away from Wagtail. The rooftop is tiny, the food and drinks are subpar, and the staff don’t care about their customers. If you’re looking for an igloo experience, go somewhere where they know how to treat...

I'm really shocked at how bad this place is. The place looks lovely on the surface but it's all a facade. I booked this place for my girlfriend's birthday after seeing a write up on how good it was. I thought it would be perfect for a hot summer's evening; rooftop, sun, cocktails, etc. I booked it stating in special occasion 'birthday' and any requests 'girlfriends birthday...'. When we sat down we were brought menus and we started to look over them. She settled on the lobster linguine for mains and I wanted the duck breast for starters. We called a waiter to take our order and told him what we wanted and then he told us the duck and lobster linguine were off the menu so we laughed and went to choose something else. The waiter told us the lobster linguine is now a crab linguine. I asked if there was a price difference, which I thought was fair enough but the waiter bluntly told me no, same price. In the end I chose the Devon crab to start and the cheeseburger for a main. My girlfriend chose the tartare to start and the crab linguine for a main. We called the waiter and told him what he wanted and we were then told the crab linguine and the Devon crab are both off the menu. At this point we weren't finding it funny anymore (but as I'm writing it, I'm seeing what an absolute joke it is). We ended up settling on a few starters; the ceviche, the tartare and the scallops; and the cheeseburger to share. We were contemplating the fillet of beef and the halibut but after receiving our food I'm thankful we didn't considering the price of those dishes. The scallops came on a bed of cooked frozen peas; the tartare was okay I guess; but the cheeseburger was dry, tasteless and overcooked. What a joke for that price. The worst bit though was ceviche which was meant to be served with orange and watermelon. After telling our waiter we were missing these he then told us they had run out. At this point I was just annoyed. Couldn't believe this was the meal they were given us for my girlfriend's birthday. That's the crux of our experience. But not only that. They got my girlfriend's drink wrong three times. She ordered the same drink each time and they came out different colours and tastes each time. The consistency of the cocktails was absolute zero. My cocktails were okay but not good. The staff were all rude and didn't care at all. Not about their service, not about the food or drink and not about us or our experience. And to top it off they didn't even mention my girlfriend's birthday, let alone make it special in some way. We obviously did complain. Not that they cared. Avoid this place like the plague. It's a joke. You can't present yourself as luxury and then deliver the furthest thing from that. They...