The Exchange — Restaurant in Northern Ireland

Modern, chic but underwhelming. As a 1st timer visiting, I was surprised how easy going staff were. The restaurant is decorated absolutely beautifully, relaxed but chic & modern. We entered & stood wandering at the entrance/bar waiting for someone to greet us. Staff at the bar made no eye contact. A young female server walked past & slapped her friend off duty on the back & began chatting, to which my husband said excuse me can we have a seat? She led us to the back of the restaurant beside a table of 8 patrons who were very loud & there were other 2 seater tables away from this area so I was surprised. I called in advance asking what gluten free options were available & the girl advised they could make any course gluten free & even had gluten free batter. She confirmed all sauces were gluten free. When we sat down I asked ‘so everything can be made gluten free?’ - the woman said, ‘uh not really but what is it you want?’ I suggested the carbonara & the server said she’d ask the chef. The woman came back & said as I’m gluten intolerant I couldn’t eat any of the pasta dishes, or battered fish dishes or battered chicken. I was taken back, due to the conflicting info on the phone earlier.

I ordered plain chicken & chips due to the fear of being contaminated with gluten as I’m severely intolerant & rarely eat out in the hospitality industry but this was our anniversary date so wanted to try at least.

The food was actually delicious & we were happy with our drinks & the ambience & the food was reasonably priced. I would visit again but not on the weekend as it seemed staff were fed up & had little...

The food is lovely, but you don't even get 2 hours at the table you've booked. They have a que of people out the door, waiting for a table. So they rush you off yours.

We had just finished our main meal and were going to give it 5 and finish our £7 cocktails, when the girl came over and started slamming the glasses together- keeping in mind we had just finished our main meal, we weren't sitting around. She was that loud that we had to stop talking. When she left, the manager came straight over and told us she needed to move us as she has a que of people out the door.

We had just literally finished eating steaks, ribs and chicken. We were all stuffed and the last thing we wanted to do was move.

We were so quickly rushed off, that we didn't even have time to grab our mask. When we asked for it they told us that they binned it, that what else were they to do with it... honestly they could've just handed it to us. We were standing right beside them?

I found the service really lacking. The food and drinks were lovely, but I wouldn't recommend. Not even having 2 whole hours to order, eat and drink. I understand that they want to get you in and out, but people are equally excited to go to a restaurant and have a sit down meal. Having 10 mins after your meal to drink your drink and settle your stomach, isn't too much to ask for. Especially considering we hadn't even had the table for the 2hrs. The night felt too rushed to...

We came into the exchange 3rd January for my partner Birthday met at the front of the restaurant by the blonde haired waitress and told we had a 30 minute wait time and we said yes that's fine we sat down and waited and another 2 people came in a while after us, the same blonde waitress came skipped us, tabled them before us, we got a table after that,we had ordered food and the young lad waitresses landed with just the main courses and no sides and he walked away,i thought he was away to get the sides so i was waiting for a while and seen he was delivering to the other tables, I politely asked the waitress that  had seated us at the start that we received our mains about 10mins ago that we never received our chips, she said I'm sorry I will go get them for you, i had seen she hadn't went to the kitchen to bring the sides after couple more minutes had past I had seen here walking past looking directly at us walked past no interaction and continues to seat and talk to everyone that came in the front door, I stopped another waitress and told her the situation, she was very polite and she said she could reheat or mains course and bring them out again I told her no I wanted to just eat my food and leave, she said the charge of the sides order will be removed,maybe it was just a bad night of luck for me the food i had tried was very good but the service i had from the waitress was enough for me...