Fourteen Sky Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Milton Keynes

Let me start with the positives ,busy bar and restaurant resulting in a good atmosphere,restaurant presents well with neatly laid tables, and nice views with the floor to ceiling windows. Lady who showed us to our table possibly a manager unsure, could have been more welcoming ,greeting it was Luke warm at best. Our waitress however was lovely and came back several times to see if we were ready to order our drinks. Drinks arrived in a timely fashion and the wine was presented well in a wine cooler with napkin. Wine was poured for us ,order for food taken all good. From then on it all went down hill,my husband ordered the prawn and crab linguine with chilli,garlic and cream , this came minus the crab, the chill,the garlic and the cream,it was basically a bowl of boiled linguine in what tasted like a fish stock and 5 plain prawns bland and awful . My daughter ordered the soup starter as a main that was supposed to come with a beetroot falafel it was soup minus the falafel,but the soup was tasty enough. My other daughter ordered the pepper stuffed with halloumi this should have had seeds in it, there were no seeds. My fishcake was tasty but was supposed to come with spinach and mushrooms, no spinach and the side of green vegetables were over cooked and soggy. We make our choices based on the description of the food,if you are not going to serve it as described on the menu then the food is misrepresented. There was NO check back, so we were not given the opportunity to tell anyone .When a different waitress came to collect our plates she asked if everything was ok ,too embarrassed to real off all the things that were not quite right we decided just to complain about my husband's meal as this was absolutely terrible. The waitress was lovely and said she would convey our concerns to the manager. When she returned we were offered a free dessert. After discussing this offer we decided it really wasn't good enough ,due to the poor quality overall of the food and that the linguine lacked so much of the ingredients it was meant to have, so we told the waitress he did not want a free dessert and was not happy to pay for such a poor dish.. My husband's meal was taken off the bill which we felt was fair but it felt as though somehow the management thought we were in the wrong !!!!! We did not pay service charge either not because our two waitresses were not pleasant but because overall it did not come close to expectations and service is not perfected.The venue , it's ambience and decor which has so much promise simply does not match with the poor food quality. Such a shame what a disappointment. The manager or matre de possibly,also could do with perhaps attending a course in good customer service and invest in a better attitude when both greeting customers and dealing with...

Where to start with this shockingly overpriced, imitation fine-dining restaurant. A case of "It's good because it's expensive, not expensive because it's good". An instagrammable location with food that looks nice enough, but when you dig beneath the surface things aren't quite what they seem.

5 of us visited the restaurant for a birthday meal. We won't be returning. I'll break the review down by individual meals and include prices.

Meal 1 - Asked for a rib eye steak with chips swapped out for spinach mornay. They forgot to swap out and we had to ask for them once all the food had been brought out. Price: £36.50!

Meals 2&3 - Chateaubriand - Asked for this to be cooked medium. Steak came out almost well done, with small patches of medium-cooked steak. Wasn't too bad but when you're paying so much for a piece of meat you expect perfection. On top of this, the "garlic butter" they serve with the steaks actually turned out to be margarine. What chef in their right mind would serve margarine with a steak?! We did question this with both the waitress and the manager who confirmed it was in fact "vegan butter"...ON A STEAK! The manager did say they'd be taking it up with the chef. Price: £70!

Meal 4 - Rib Eye Steak. Asked for rare, received medium-well done. Asked to swap out fries for truffle fries but received normal fries. Also received garlic margerine. Price: £36.50!

Meal 5 - Fish curry, parmesan fries, spinach mornay. Curry was fairly tasty but nothing special. Clearly a jar sauce. Rice was very plain and tasted like a packet rice. 2 small naan breads were shop-bought and microwaved. Not high quality. Truffle fries were tasty though. As these were an added side as opposed to swapping out they seemed to be a bigger portion than the others and had more parmesan and truffle oil on them. Again they forgot to bring out the sides with this meal until prompted. Price: £35.

2 of my family members ordered espresso martinis. They were wishy-washy and fairly tasteless. I could see through the cocktail from where I was sitting, which isn't normal for an espresso martini.

Desserts were fine. Drinks were fine, although they do charge £4.50 per bottle of water! They will also ad a non-discretionary service charge of 10% to your bill. This is common practice but make sure you check the bill before paying. We had this removed.

The total cost of our meal including drinks was an eye watering £370 before removing the service charge. This is definitely a restaurant that is taking advantage of it's location, and is definitely pretending to be something it's not. All fur coat and no knickers as they say. The food is average at best. You could easily get the same quality food for half the...

3 stars (and that’s being generous — the views saved the day!)

Let’s start with the positives: the views are lovely. Unfortunately, that’s where the excitement ends.

When my husband booked the table online, he mentioned it was my birthday. They even asked for a photo of us so they could “make it special” by recognising us on arrival. Cute idea — in theory. In reality? We walked in, no one had a clue who we were. So much for the big birthday surprise.

We were sat in the middle of the restaurant (romantic, right?), surrounded by other tables, while several window seats stood empty. When we asked if we could move, we were told it wasn’t possible. Funny enough, an hour later those same tables were taken… by other couples. Apparently, the “no window table” rule only applies selectively.

Before I’d even settled into my seat, we were asked what water we wanted — sparkling, still, or awkward silence? I hadn’t even opened the menu, I just wanted a glass of wine.

Our drinks order took 20 minutes, but at least by then I had that very expensive glass of water to sip on. The waitress was lovely and apologetic when the wine finally arrived. She asked if we were celebrating something… yes, my birthday — the one I mentioned online, with the photo. So, the booking form clearly went straight to the digital bin.

Then came the music. Pop tunes blasting away in a place trying very hard to be fine dining. Imagine eating a fancy burger to the sound of Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” It’s giving date night at Nando’s, not rooftop elegance.

Speaking of the burger… oh dear. Dry as the Sahara, flavour missing in action, and the bun could’ve doubled as a frisbee. My teenager makes better burgers (and seasons them too!). The salt and pepper pots on the table looked like they came straight out of a 90s pub — charmingly out of place.

The waitress did check in (bless her, she was the only redeeming part of the evening) and offered to make another burger, but it was my birthday date, and I didn’t fancy eating alone while my husband watched.

By dessert time, I’d lost the will to chew, so I ordered a cocktail instead. Thankfully, that was delicious — and it arrived faster than anything else all evening.

We finished our drinks, took a stroll to the terrace to admire the pitch-black skyline of Milton Keynes, and headed home.

Oh, and that whole “upload your picture for special occasions” thing? Don’t bother. Might as well upload a photo of your cat — it’ll get the same attention.

Overall, I might return for a cocktail and the view. But if you’re hoping for a special night, save your photo and...