The Fisherman's Cottage — Restaurant in Reading

We were becoming regulars, enjoying good food and friendly staff, except for the consistently standoffish and rude owner. Today, he went above and beyond his usual sullen behaviour. We brought our friend, for his birthday, out for a meal. Halfway through the meal, our friend was asked to leave—just for politely asking for clarification about an extra portion of chips that we had ordered.

The rudeness was shocking, and we asked if we were meant to leave with our friend? Continue eating? It was so bizarre. While we were refunded (which was also really weird), we left feeling unwelcome and disappointed.

A great spot, spoiled by one person’s behaviour. We won’t be back, and won't hesitate to share this very odd experience with others.

*Edit I see that the owner has responded. He conveniently leaves out having come over and aggressively scolded my 51 year old lawyer husband for "not making an order clear" and not indicating, at any time, that they were going to change the order, take the order back, or simply bring back the 1 portion of chips.

When our guest went up to enquire whether we were actually going to receive either the new gluten free portion, or the original portion (note: my husband and I have ordered this exact meal numerous times, the only change being our guest asked for a non gluten free burger bun. Why would he, alone, want 2 extra portions of chips? That doesn't make sense.)

The crux of the matter is that the owner (who is the only person we had any interaction with during this debacle) scolded my husband as if he was a 5-year old, for not making his order "explicitly correct', not clarifying whether we were going to get a new order, whether the original chips would return, or if we were, indeed, going to receive a gluten free portion. It was not a big deal, it was just unclear.

Our friend (not me - I did not record anything) simply asked the owner, twice, for clarification. Our friend only decided to record the owner when he started becoming incredibly rude - our friend has a 4 second clip of the owner trying to slap the phone out of his hand. The owner then decided to solely kick our friend out.

I had barely begun eating, so I grabbed a few fries and put them in a napkin. The owner gave my husband a full refund only after my husband asked whether the owner expected us to sit and finish our meals whist our friend was asked to leave, repeatedly.

There is no "looking innocent" there is merely a story about an owner that seems singularly unsuited to working in the hospitality industry. Having read a number of other reviews, it appears this is not an exception, but instead a rather unfortunate pattern of behaviour...

Lovely location, along the river Kennet with plenty of seating out the front facing the river or in the rear garden with beach huts, all with lights and heaters plus some other tables with umbrellas. They sell home made cakes, many of which are gluten and dairy free, Thai curries which are very spicy, pizzas which are really good, stir fries which taste amazing with loads of fresh vegetables, Turkish meatballs which are so tasty and other food too including a very large breaded chicken burger. The Thai Red chicken curry is so good, freshly made paste that morning so it was very spicy but I was offered extra coconut cream to cool it down, such a big portion with loads of chicken, if there is anything you don't like/can't eat just ask for it to be omitted and they are all made fresh to order. They do a Thai prawn curry too with absolutely masses of prawns so they are really good meals! The Moroccan stew was good, very liquid but very tasty, the Turkish meatballs are really tasty with a tomato based sauce on cooked aubergine and a big portion of rice. The carrot cake was amazing and we got a massive slice! The Mediterranean vegetable pizza with caramelised onion was massive and so good! The toilets are not the best, the hand dryer is far too high on the wall so the water can drip up your arm as you use it if you are not that tall, plus the air blows in your face while using it, but if you stand to the side it is easier. Other than that they are clean and tidy. Very friendly staff and amazing decor too! Would definitely go again! Oh and doggie friendly even having water bowls and dog food on a bar menu! We ordered two slices of Raspberry Cream cake which was dairy and I think gluten free, as you can see from the pictures they are massive slicesand I can say it was so good and light with fresh raspberries in the centre! We love it here! If you haven't already been I would put this on your list of places to go! Not only do people take their dogs along with them here, but also I saw a couple with their cat on a lead come in and sit by door. All animals it seems are...

As much as I like the place and the staff are likeable, we had a few problems. Apart from forgetting about some of the drinks, make us waiting 40 minutes for food, serving everything together instead of starters first and telling us to leave in 1.30 hours because they'd booked the table, all things I could, let's say, understand at a busy time, we had a problem with portions. The starter tortilla costs half as the main course one, but it's the same serving, and the empanadas main was two small pieces and sides. We were asked about the food and raised the concern, and the manager came to speak with us and was quite upset about the comments on the empanadas. " I don't see what you are trying to get with this. For that price, what did you expect? ". A main, since that's what the menu said. I had to reassure them that we were not trying to pick up a fight and we were kindly offered some drinks . Still, I can't get over that rude remark. We chose a main, so we were to be served a main-sized portion. Deciding the price is something they did, it's not like we...