Peggy's Skylight — Restaurant in Nottingham

This place is awesome generally, but just had a bad experience in the extra seating area (satchmo/ella seating). It’s very much an add on and you don’t really feel part of the venue. We’ve been to the venue a lot over the past 5 years and loved it, but now really feel let down. Such a shame, feel really deflated…. Music was great, experience was terrible

UPDATE AFTER RESPONSE - I understand that you want to defend your venue, but perhaps I can give the full context and then you can choose whether this is helpful to you to improve the experience for people like us.

For context, we've been a lot over the past few years (you checked our booking for that night, so you can look at your records and see that we have come regularly).

On that evening, we arrived first in the Ella/Satchmo area (again, you can check), and when the manager seated us he explained that we'd be able to move to the main seating area if there was space at the interval. We said that was kind and that would be lovely if possible.

We heard him say the same thing to the other people who were arriving in the area after us - there were 4 tables in total that night. I think his tone was somewhat apologetic to all of those he seated. I think this is because he recognises that these seats don't give an appropriate Peggy's experience, even at a lower price.

It's just not close to being the same experience - the main difference is that the music comes through one speaker, so whilst you get a glimpse of the band, the sound quality is very different.

We were a bit disappointed that the experience was so different, but as you said, we knew what we were getting ourselves in for.

However, the other tables obviously didn't. They were agitated through the first half. One couple kept leaving their table and standing at the bottom of the stairs, blocking our view. They also kept hassling the staff to move into the main area. They arrived last, and I did see the manager explain in the first instance that people could move at the interval and that people who arrived earlier would be given the opportunity first. However, this couple kept hassling and eventually the manager said they could move to a free space. This was during the first half when the band was still playing.

I was a bit miffed (we'd had a full meal (again, you can check)) and they hadn't, but they had been putting the manager in a difficult position, so I get it. I was disappointed that being difficult means you get your own way, but that's the way it is sometimes.

At the interval, the manager then walked past us and moved another couple from another table into the main area who'd arrived after us and had less to eat (again, you can check). We just felt stupid for sitting quietly whilst others agitated around us and got what they wanted. It's hardly the end of the world, but we felt really bad and it ruined our evening. We'd spent the first half being bothered by people trying to get out of the area and the second half watching them lapping it up in the main area.

It'd surprise me if we're the only people to have had this sort of experience. I really like what you're doing overall, but I don't think those Ella / Satchmo seats are worth it if you're just going to be putting people off.

Probably an email would have been better to you, but I was cross and wrote the 1 star review on the way home. The food and the music was great, but that was probably the worse evening we've had out in Nottingham in a decade.

Again, perhaps this was a one off, but I really don't think it was. Your manager was lovely, but put in a difficult position and I suspect that this situation is stressful fairly frequently. I also get that you want to defend your venue, but being honest about what works and what doesn't should help you, your customers...

Edit: In response to Peggy's Skylight comment to my review. It was not the cost of the pizza that was the issue exactly it was the size of the pizza. The portions were extremely small. I ordered the Israeli Lentils dish for £7 it arrived the size of a small saucer plate, without a matching cup, lol. It contained a few spinach leaves, 3 small table spoons of lentils, 2 baby new potatoes cut in half topped with a few cooked red onions. So it's a good job that I ordered some flat bread and houmous to go with it or I would have been left as unsatisfied as my friend was with her extra small pizza. I've dined at plenty of tapas restaurants before and the food portions are very adequate in size and to the cost, some including dishes that cost the same as they do at Peggy's Skylight.

Initial Review: I went here for the first time on Friday 28th Jan 2022 with a friend for an early birthday celebration and to see Torn Sail it's not really my usual type of music, but I enjoyed it. The service is great, the staff are friendly and was very accommodating for me, especially Megan who dealt with my enquiries over the phone prior to the Friday and came to introduce herself and check all is well with our seats, etc on the night after we arrived. We were seated in the theatre seats in the dizzy seating area via my request when booking our seats online. So, we had a great view of the stage and the main room. The food was delicious but the portions were really small. My friend was very disappointed when her £8 pizza arrived the size of a small plate (as she thought it'll be bigger judging by a photo of it advertised at Peggy's Skylight & for the price), she was unfortunately left a bit unsatisfied and she didn't want to spend the cost needed to order more food. So the food is very expensive for the size. It's debatable, but it might be more quality than quantity. Thankfully, I had ordered a couple of side dishes with my main, so I was left satisfied. They offer different types of cocktails that I've not heard of anywhere else; my friend absolutely loved hers. I will visit here again for special occasions if the music being performed on the day is to my liking again. If you enjoy live music, nice tasting tapas food and don't mind the expense for a good experience then I recommend...

Me and my partner have just been tonight - we both enjoy our jazz so we decided to book at Peggy’s to celebrate a special occasion. Turned up (literally the first people to walk through the door for the evening show) to find out that they missed our booking completely (or maybe I think they swapped us to a different show - possibly the Twilight one? - considering the chit chat I’ve overheard). I booked those tickets at least a week before, requesting some seats next to the piano (which would have been very special to us). Because of the error with our booking, they first sat us to a table next to the entrance door (with no guarantee of being able to sit us in the main stage room, as it was a fully booked night), then they eventually found a space for us on to the staggered seats (my least favourite place), just in front of the sound engineers. The point is - whilst I understand and appreciate that the staff went a long mile to try and find us a spot and accommodate us, to me the whole remediation just wasn’t good enough and I left hugely disappointed - even if we tried to make the most of our night. We have paid, in a moment where money significantly counts, 30£ for 2 tickets (exactly as everyone else in that room!) and we were left experiencing the first 20/30 minutes of our special night (which should have been consisted of settling down and enjoying ourselves, ordering drinks and food) stressing out and possibly trying to find up a plan B. In the end, we decided to stay and entertained ourselves, but again, was left hugely frustrated by the whole experience and it did significantly reduce the night’s mood. I don’t think such an error is excusable, especially on the main night show - we paid a ticket that was valid exactly as everyone else’s. On top of that, we were offered absolutely nothing for the trouble, nor a drink, not a dessert on the house - which again I understand it’s not a given, but would have been such a significant gesture of reconciliation. Customers give you their time and their money to make sure a unique and valuable business such as yours survives during uncertain times...