Eighteen Ninety Four — Restaurant in Northern Ireland

A group of 8 friends, all professionals, ate at 1894 on Sunday evening past. We had the most amazing meal, food and service at the table were top class. Could not and would not fault it in any way. That was until we (4 of us) asked the barmaid for a drink after dinner while we waited on our taxi (20 min wait). We were greeted with "how long is your taxi going to be" and when asked about a specific cocktail, dismissed and told "we dont do that one" (it wasnt an out of the ordinary cocktail). We ordered other drinks and sat down. This initial greeting left us very shocked and shortly afterwards we were handed a bill for the drinks and the bill was incorrect. Added a bottle of wine rather than a glass. When I went to speak with the barmaid, she immediately went on the offensive, when I was trying to be constructive about our experience so far, and raised her voice and at one stage when I asked to speak to a manager was told "to keep my managerial thoughts to myself". The manager had left early and left this young barmaid to lock up the restaurant for the evening. This situation was difused by another member of staff (josh) who was extremely professional and handled everything with the greatest level of experience and understanding. The Barmaid once again tried to "clarify" things with us and we asked her just to leave us alone. Josh again got involved and she ended up shouting and him in behind the bar and treating him terribly in front of us all.

The whole experience of 1894 was ruined by this one person working there. I understand things are only opened up again and hospitality are finding it difficult to get staff, but this is no excuse for the unmannerly and unprofessional behaviour of this young barmaid.

On speaking with the Manager 4 days after the incident, after leaving emails and phone messages, all she did was apologise citing the above reasons for us being treated the way we were. That to me is certainly not satisfactory. We have all visited other Browns Restaurants over the years and enjoyed them, but this has left such a sour taste in our mouths, that we will neither be visiting or reccommending them to anyone...

Absolutely horrendous experience with male waiter (English accent - I didn't wait to find out his name) after we were seated. This man's behaviour was obnoxious - rude, unmannerly, dismissive (I could go on.) Unbelievable that a 'waiter' whose job it is to be polite (at the very least) thinks he can treat customers this way. We politely explained to a lady who appeared to be the manageress, that we would not be ordering food after the way we were treated when seated. We took our custom to Amici restaurant instead, and had a lovely experience there, with friendly, welcoming, polite and professional staff. I would prefer not to award this restaurant any stars, for obvious reasons. However, I had to select one, in order to...

Ate here for Sunday Lunch in September 2022. Superb - in a word. The setting is excellent with a nice interior and excellent view. The service was outstanding from start to finish - the staff were attentive, informed and professional.

The stand out was the food - I've ate in the other Ian Orr & Marcus Roulston restaurants and it rarely disappoints, but this was truly exceptional. I had roast beef, it was perfectly cooked and well presented.Others in our party of 7 said the same about their meals.

In summary, I would say this is likely the best restaurant in the Portstewart/Portrush area and will go on to be...