Calico Bar & Eatery — Restaurant in Reading

If I could give this place a zero, then that’s what they would have got!

Having previously eaten there a summer work gathering, the food was good so thought we’d try it again for our Christmas meal too.

How wrong we were to even try!

As an ambulatory wheelchair user, I called ahead to enquire about access. When we went back in the summer, my mobility was slightly better and I was able to use my walking stick. I did struggle with the front steps at the time so thought I’d call ahead in the absence of any information online. When I called 2 weeks ago, I was told that I could use one of two spaces behind the restaurant and come in via the back entrance. When I arrived, I couldn’t see any spaces, so had to call my colleague to speak to a member of staff and ask for help. They directed me to a tiny little area by the fire exit. Not only was it underneath the elevated smoking area it was covered in broken slabs and dirt. There was absolutely no way I could get my wheelchair over it or in the door. I had to struggle with my walking stick and in through a fire door.

The table service was shocking, we waited a good 35 minutes before having to ask where our starters were. They came out shortly after. I chose the Parsnip and lentil soup, however there wasn’t a lentil in sight and the focaccia bread wasn’t even toasted and was very doughy. They eventually cleared our plates and we were in for another long wait. Eventually our mains came out and we were all in for a massive shock! Most of my colleagues had ordered the turkey roast. The menu stated ‘with all the trimmings’ well if you can call a third of one supposed fondant (hadn’t seen any butter or oil in its life before) potato, an anaemic pig in blanket, two stems of broccoli, half a shrivelled carrot and a sprout cut into quarters, all the trimmings then that’s the new definition. I opted for the tandoori lamb, that came with the same measly ‘trimmings’ as the roast! No hint of stuffing, cranberry sauce, or a few more sprouts! The plates were huge but only a third filled, the turkey wasn’t even cut from a crown or full turkey, instead resembling more of a reformed Bernard Matthew’s Turkey Breast Roast from the 1980’s.

Two colleagues opted for the Beef Wellington, that was well done rather than a nice juicy pink medium. Then my poor colleague that organised it all and kept having to chase kitchen opted for the vegetarian Cauliflower Steak. She waited ages for it to arrive and the person sat next to her had just finished his last bite as they brought hers out! To make matters worse, they started clearing the empty plates after giving her hers! So rude. Again we waited forever for the desserts, we had to physically ask the kitchen to bring them out.

I opted for the Baileys Panna Cotta, well, this thing was whiter than milk and certainly didn’t have even a dribble of Baileys in it. Also tiny.

Not a single person was satisfied with any part of their meal and to think that they had the audacity to charge £54.95 for 3 courses, when all 12 meals combined wouldn’t have cost that much to buy the ingredients for in a supermarket.

To make matters even worse; when it came to paying the bill, they charged us the full amount. In order for a large group booking to be accepted, we had to pay a £27 deposit each. This was paid to the colleague who organised and she made a bulk payment to them on 11th October. This payment was over £300 and when we questioned them, they said that we hadn’t paid. My colleague had proof of the payment and yet they still insisted we hadn’t paid. So £708 had to be paid on the night before they’d let us leave!

We are now having to fight with management to get our money back and we also expect compensation for the huge failure of the entire experience.

Then the icing on the cake at the very end, I got back to my car to discover that some delightful smoker of Marlboro Cigarettes thought it’d be a great idea to flick their lit fag butt onto the bonnet of my clean white car! It now has a yellow spot and damage to the lacquer finish. AVOID...

We have been to Calico Bar & Eatery before and had a lovely time. So after a long awaited and anticipated visit, we were really looking forward to coming back to enjoy some food and drinks.

Unfortunately, this did not go to plan. Another rather inebriated customer spent the moment from when we stepped in staring at me, waving and trying to get my attention in some way or another. Anytime I scanned the room I found him desperately trying to gain eye contact with me, waving, and shouting over when all we were wanted to do was enjoy dinner.

I was purposely ignoring him completely avoiding any sort of interaction. It was making really uncomfortable but I did not want to ruin our dinner by making a fuss. However, after an hour/2 hours of this happening it took other customers to report to the manager that we were uncomfortable and only got them came over even though he even said he had noticed his behaviour prior to it being reported. He simply came over and said the customer was too drunk and wasn’t being served anymore. After the manager left our female server then followed up with us and she asked if I was uncomfortable to which I said yes. She then said she was going to call security. We then watched as the security guard approached this individual with the look that something might be done just to turn it into a laugh and joke. It took 15 minutes for him to move the guest from this table to another behind so that he was not in eye line.

Then the security guard took it upon himself to approach our table and ask what happened. “What did he do that was actually wrong?”, “He was just trying to give you a compliment, and tell you’re wonderful and pretty”, “I would take it as a compliment”. I said that is harassment and my friends backed this up also. I asked him how would he feel if he was trying to have an intimate dinner and someone was shouting, waving and staring at him, to which he had no good reply. At which point I summoned the manager to ask for the bill and said I really wanted to leave. I was upset and furious and took myself outside. I came back to find the man and security gone after my friend had spoken with the manager and we had been provided with a small discount for the inconvenience. I was then led to believe the man had been kicked out. We paid the bill and left, to find the man and security guard at the door having a laugh.

The only positive of the evening was our female server, I did not catch her name but she was empathetic and was actually the only one to apologise for the way the situation was handled. She was really supportive and seemed shocked when I let her know what security had said to me.

I would really appreciate an email or phone call to discuss this situation further.

Safe to say we will not be returning anytime soon. The approach to women’s safety was appalling and felt...

Went to the Calico Eatery for a birthday party. There were 18 of us and we had pre ordered our food several days before, the restaurant was not even half full. The atmosphere and decor are lovely however the two staff that were working that night treated us like dirt. Upon arrival I ordered my drinks which took nearly an hour to be served. I had cocktails which were basically ice very little taste and no hint of alcohol. 3 others in our party had the same cocktails in larger volume glasses, when I queried why mine was smaller I was told that all those glasses had run out (all 3?) when I asked if it had alcohol she just said yes it does with a disgruntled attitude. The food also took over 45 minutes to be served at which point I ordered a glass of coke that I had to ask again for after my desert 45 minutes later as that also didn't arrive. I was told they would bring it over in a minute. 20 minutes after that we were leaving so I told them not to bother. The desert Eaton mess which 4 of us ordered had strawberries in. At first I thought it was my tastebuds playing up but the other members of the party said the same unprompted that the strawberries had a strong taste of garlic. When I explained very politely almost in a curious manner that the strawberries tasted of garlic he basically and sarcastically accused us of lying. There was no apology or offer to exchange the desert and he walked off saying a sarcastic comment across the room. I took him to the side and told him politely in hindsight way too politely that although the decor was lovely his customer service was not as I had waited over an hour for a glass of coke. He proceeded to talk to another diner whilst I was saying this and when I said you aren't even listening to me and that I would just write a review instead he put his hand on my shoulder and sarcastically said you do that we would love to hear from you. Honestly we were all in shock at this point and could only compare the customer service to Karen's diner. Such a shame as we had all bee saying yep we are going to come here often but I wouldn't go back there for a free meal after they way we...