Josephine's — Restaurant in Nottingham

I'm the friend mentioned in the previous review by Henna. I want to start by saying that my tea was lovely. The waitress who seated us was also very pleasant and we both commented how nice the Christmas decorations were. My first impressions were positive and I have no issues with how we were greeted upon entering the restaurant.

However, I want to say that the majority of the response to Henna's review is unfair with a lot of assumptions made about our motivations for doing things. Firstly, nobody mentioned the tables being pushed together to accommodate a larger group. The waitress never told either of us this yet it was later claimed that my friend knew this but ignored it? She did not. She wasn't told and neither was I. The tables are small and I assumed they were pushed together for this reason. I've never been here before so I wouldn't know. There were 2 of us, plus a small child, pram and several shopping bags. We were not at all taking up more room than needed. Honestly if we had been told that the other table was needed for another guest or that it would be a struggle to fit us in without a booking then we would have gone somewhere else.

Both me and Henna thanked the waitress as she cleared the table. We did not sit ourselves their out of anything but tiredness, not a sense of entitlement! We had been shopping most of the day, a fact we communicated to the waitress when she noticed our bags and asked if we'd been shopping. She stated that she would prepare a table and my friend followed. There was no 'barging' in as claimed.

When my friend requested a drink without ice for herself and her son, she apologized to the waitress for the inconvenience. She was not rude to her. It was also not mentioned at the time that this may incur an extra charge. Had this been mentioned, an obvious solution would be to remove the ice and just return the juice. This option was not offered to my friend though it was later claimed that it was. When the waitress explained that decision had been made to charge for two drinks by the manager, my friend then asked to speak to the manager herself. There was no abuse aimed at this waitress. I feel as though the word 'abusive' is a strong word to use against a customer who has not so much as raised their voice to you, or swore or used foul language in any way.

I did not hear the entire conversation between my friend and the manager as this took place over the phone, which I thought was odd. My friend was informed at this point that our order had been cancelled. I was never addressed personally in regards to the cancellation of our order, despite the fact that I was a paying customer too and it was also my food that was cancelled. I had been nothing but polite to the serving staff and the cancellation of the order seemed like an overreaction to what had actually happened.

Even after being told that the order was cancelled, I still tried to calm down the situation by offering to pay for any drinks we had had up until this point. After initially being presented with a bill of £49.50 for food which we hadn't even received, I clarified with the waitress that we'd had no food and was then told that I owed nothing. Previously we had been told that the issue with replacing a drink for one with no ice was wastage and the cost to the business so this didn't make much sense.

This whole experience was unpleasant and I feel like it was badly handled. I don't know how it escalated to the level that it did when the initial request for no ice had not been asked rudely. Many assumptions were made about the motivations for doing this, requests for discounts or special treatment but I drank my tea without incident and offered to pay for it even after been asked to leave! Also the request was made for the drinks to be swapped for ones that didn't contain ice. It was a swap for a drink that hadn't even been drank from. To assume that the motive of doing so was some kind of ploy for a discount or something similar is unfair. My friend did not ask for this and I've never even visited...

Today was my first and last time I enter the place, the disgusting service I got made me cry on the way out of this unwelcoming place.

Today I took my friend for a Christmas meal and told her how good the food was as I’ve been here many times before. As I entered the place I was asked at the door for how many people I said 3, the waitress said give me a few minutes and il give you a table, we happily waited, she gave me a corner table which we were happy with and we didn’t make any issue about it. As we sat down the waitress came up to us and asked what you would like to drink I said could I have one diet coke and one orange juice, and I also ordered mine and my 2 year olds food. As the orange juice came there was ice in the drink so I said to the waitress is it possible to not have ice she said ok and took the orange juice and got another one with no ice in. Again happy about that there were no issues what so ever. Next minute another waitress came from the back and said I’ve just spoken to the owner and she said i know have to pay for two orange juices, one that had ice in and one that didn’t have ice in, this was not mentioned to me when the waitress got the orange juice without ice in, so I was puzzled as to why they didn’t say that before bringing out the second orange juice, I even asked how much is it for the orange juice and if it’s possible to speak to the owner? So she spoke to me on the phone as she was not there, I explained to her about the issue with the orange juice and I said if that was the case then they could of just removed the ice from the original juice as it was for my 2 year old, the owner then said that option was offered to you, but it wasn’t and luckily my friend was sitting with me because she also said that was a lie, secondly the owner then blamed me saying I took the table that was suppose to be offered to people who go to the theatre, so I said I was given this table what does that suppose to mean? Jo the owner turned around and said your getting aggressive and your talking over me so I’m going to ring the kitchen and cancel your order. She hung up the phone, so I went to the till and the chef came out and said it’s the order from the owner and you need to get out! So I asked the waitress have I done something wrong? was I being aggressive? And the chef turned around and said to the waitresses not to speak to me, so I asked the chef again and she came across so horribly and kept telling me the owner had insisted you get out! I bursted out crying and bare in mind the food was ordered and I didn’t say anything to anyone, I was there in tears as I’ve just lost my grandad 4 weeks ago and am grieving so much, I just lost control of my emotions, my friend went to the till to pay for the drinks and was told she had to pay £49 but she said we haven’t eaten anything so why are we billed then she was told by the waitress the drinks are free too, so what was the issue with the ice in the orange juice? It could of just been removed. As I left crying the three waitresses were laughing at me till I exited the door, and I did not stop crying till I went to the bus stop, I am very shocked about the customer service and especially from the owner, they say customers come first and all I wanted was a nice meal with my friend but it totally hurt me how I was treated today, I would never expect this on anyone, and reading the reviews already on here just goes to show we’re customers stand, and customers are not right here, I had two different waitresses at the time and the one with glasses was really lovely, she served me without any issues but it was the other waitress and the chef and the owner who really disappointed me, and I swear I would never recommend anyone to visit this place otherwise you will end up feeling exactly how I am today. I walked out quietly but voices were raised at me like I done something so wrong, after all this I thought I will write a review to really tell customers what I went through today? and I will be taking this further, I promise to not...

This is the worst tearoom in Nottingham!! Customer service was absolutely appalling!! I visited Josephine’s today for a cream tea (scone with tea and jam, served with a side of fruit). Halfway through my meal I was disgusted to find ROTTEN FRUIT on my plate!! Absolutely appalling and not acceptable.

When I told the owner Steve about this he was totally and utterly rude!! He responded with sarcastic comments, had an unprofessional anttitude and was outright disrespectful. He told me that it was not a “big deal” and “these things happen”. He then proceeded to compare being served rotten food by ‘supposedly’ trained chefs the same as buying a punnet of grapes in Tesco that were not fresh. To add insult to injury he repeatedly mocked me and made it clear he did not care that the hygiene and food standards of his establishment are not up to parr. Imagine telling a paying customer that being served rotten food is unavoidable and ‘easily missed by the chefs’. I was totally shocked. To make matters worse he kept on repeating ‘it was only half a grape’, which of course had no relevance since the grape in question was mixed in with other food items and may have contaminated them also. What if I had eaten that rotten item? It may have made me severely ill. He further mocked my concerns by saying that he would compensate me with one grape. Vile comment.

What made the whole ordeal worse was Steve’s disgusting attitude. He was totally and utterly obnoxious!! If this is the attitude taken to serving ROTTING food to customers, I can only begin to imagine the monstrosities that must occur behind closed doors. Prior to this incident, my friend and I had to return the cups we were given due to them being dirty on the inside. Something which the table seated before us had to do too. Clearly a lot is ‘missed’ at this tearoom.

I never take the time to write a review but I felt compelled to warm other people not to dine at this establishment (not that it deserves such a title). Steves attitude was honestly atrocious. He set no example for the staff members that were privy to our conversation. I do hope whoever reads this takes heed of my warning and dines somewhere else. Please also read the other 1 star reviews that detail Steve’s poor customer service and RUDE attitude. We cannot all be wrong. I could move past the ‘mistake’ but I cannot move past Steves rude words and manner. When I left the tearoom Steve (the owner) then said ‘go and write a bad review now, they all do’. Clearly they do Steve. I have read them.

I have photographic evidence of the rotten item and have reported this incident to Nottingham City Council. In the meantime here is a list of tearooms in Nottingham that you should go to instead, where the staff are friendly and food is up to standard;

Biscuit and brew The white rabbit tea room Fox cafe Delilah’s Derby Brian tearoom

I repeat DO NOT under any circumstances visit Josephines tearoom. I only wish there was an option for zero...