SeaSalt Bistro & Takeaway — Restaurant in Scotland

It is said that the true quality of a hospitality provider is to be judged on the basis of how they deal with situations where things have gone wrong. I cannot comment on the quality of the food in this restaurant, which I understand to be excellent, but the attitude to customer service when there is a problem of any kind is very poor and unprofessional.

I had booked a dinner table for my wife and myself a couple of weeks in advance by email, and as far as we could tell (they offered us a table for 7.30pm, which I accepted) everything was in order. When we went there, they could not find our reservation (and they were fully booked, of course: Port Ellen is a very small place and there are no other restaurants in town, apart from the excellent Islay Hotel... which is also constantly fully booked).

The lady who dealt with us admitted that it was their fault and apologised - apparently, "someone" from the restaurant should have emailed me back with a confirmation and, as they had not done so, our reservation in fact did not exist. But she could not or would not offer any remedy beyond an apology, in a situation where the lack of alternatives meant that we were likely to go hungry that evening.

When my wife (who had been looking forward to the meal all day) made clear that she was very unhappy and upset at the situation, the lady from the restaurant abruptly became quite hostile, said rudely that my wife should get off her "high horse", and told us we would have to leave - which we were already about to do anyway, as she had made clear they could/would not serve us.

This is no way to react to unsatisfied customers, particularly when the establishment has already admitted it was responsible for the situation. The food in this restaurant may be the best on Islay or on the entire planet, but I am afraid I cannot possibly recommend the place, on account of the arrogant attitude and very poor customer service in the face of an evident mistake that was not the...

Booked a table for 4 last Saturday at 5.30pm for the Tuesday (last night).

Arrived, checked in and were sat down - tables spaced apart and duly signed in - Covid compliant.

Drinks order taken, food order taken, drinks arrived, food arrived....owner arrived !!

Thrusting the booking diary in our faces he said we hadn't booked and despite repeated assurances that we had, we were accused that we'd taken advantage (of something, not sure what) and essentially we'd lied our way into the restaurant and lied about making a booking.

We were told we'd have to: 1) eat quickly or 2) have the food as takeaway or 3) leave - this is whilst the food is sitting on plates cooling untouched in front of us and other customers are looking on with bewilderment.

Booking errors happen so we'll forgive Sea Salt for this, but the approach of the owner, effectively accusing us of lying was jaw-dropping.

Rather than explaining that perhaps there'd been some kind of mistake which could be sorted out he proceeded to start arguing repeatedly that we hadn't booked.

For context, there weren't other customers queuing and/or waiting to be seated and we were a family group of 2 parents with 2 adult children; not exactly a boisterous group chancing their luck!

We paid for our drinks and left.

In the cold light of the following day, the experience was so bizarre that on reflection its almost funny in a Fawlty Towers sort of...

Went in to try and buy take away fish and chips and were told they weren’t taking orders as they were busy…we had to come back and order half an hour later. We said we’d have been happy to be given a long wait time (usually what happens when a restaurant is busy..) but they somehow thought that by not taking orders it would help them make food quicker… and couldn’t have been more stubborn on this stupid idea. In 10 years of managing hospitality venues I’d never experienced that. When we did get the food it wasn’t salted and there wasn’t sauce or lemon so we had to make our way back and pay for sauce. We were told lemon was only available for dine in customers (which we couldn’t do). Despite the large bowl of lemon on the bar which I even offered to pay for. (Luckily the gent of a barman down the road gave us some with a smile). I’ve had some bad hospitality experiences over the years but as someone who’s in the industry and knows how hard it can be I’ve never left a bad review. But this was something else. Expensive saltless fish and chips with no lemon and rude staff that were inflexible to the point of stupidity, really put a damper on a great Islay trip filled with great service everywhere else we went. Screw your guys, if you can’t handle being a little busy, get a...