The Grand, Southport — Restaurant in Sefton

An enjoyable experience tainted by the sting in the tail.

• BEWARE *

We had a birthday celebration meal here.

We were both extremely impressed with the opulence of the place, it was delightful to see that the building had retained its original character with a contemporary vibe. Grand by name, Grand by nature!

We both managed to choose a suitably tempting dish despite it being a limited menu. Both meals were very tasty, exquisitely presented, and served by very professional, polite, respectful staff, which enhanced our enjoyment of the evening considerably. Nothing was too much trouble

A cocktail finished what was a very enjoyable and delightful evening. It is rare that my expectations are fulfilled these days but The Grand was an exception, exceeding my expectations by delivering a truly wonderful dining experience we will both remember.

In recognition and appreciation of the dedication and professionalism of the staff in ensuring that our experience was memorable, I chose to leave a sizeable tip for them to enjoy ( the option to do this was displayed on the payment terminal).

Sadly, disappointment was to ensue when I discovered the following day (whilst taking a photo of my bill to authenticate my online review.) that a 10% service charge had been added to our bill which hitherto I hadn't been aware of. No doubt it was mentioned in tiny insignificant print stealthily hidden on the menu, but if it was I didn't see it, nor was I made aware of it at the point of payment.

My thoughts on service charges are that they are a "stealth" tax", based upon an assumption that the service received was acceptable. It is a very long time since I have witnessed a service charge at a restaurant which was an ancient practice that I thought such establishments had dispensed with long ago. A gratuity should not be assumed or expected, it should be earned and welcomed when given in appreciation of personal service experienced.

Nobody likes "hidden extras" to be added to any service, if I had been aware of the service charge I would have asked for it to be removed from the bill as I chose, quite rightly, to duly reward the service staff personally and voluntarily based upon the standard of service that we received, which, I have to say was nothing other than exceptional.

So, as it turns out, I unknowingly paid a 33% uplift on our meal. I was extremely displeased by being conned in this fashion so I wrote to the manager to voice my dissatisfaction and disappointment with this archaic practice.

His response ....."Thank you for taking the time to write to us, we absolutely value all feedback and have been delighted to hear all the positive elements of your dining experience with us."

he continued....." I am however equally very disappointed to hear of you not being advised of the discretionary service charge added to the bill. This is something that although is printed at the bottom of the menu, we do advise to all tables in our brasserie on presentation of the bill, however on this occasion we have very disappointingly failed to highlight this. I have spoken to the member of staff concerned and further highlighted to the rest of the team to ensure this never happens again. I thank you for bringing it to my attention."

I was refunded several weeks later.

I have since revisited with friends, low & behold the sneaky stealth tax (aka service charge) reared its ugly head again, no mention of it when the bill was presented, so the aledged "team-talk" evidently fell on deaf ears it.....so lessons haven't been learned and their promise "to ensure this never happens again" have not been heeded.

I requested that it was removed, and it was, without fuss, but i shouldn't have to request this. Interestingly, not one person in our party had even noticed that there was a service charge, clearly The Grand stand to make a Grand bonus from their diners ignorance.

A grand experience that was somewhat tainted with a bitter taste. Such a shame to have an enjoyable evening tainted in such an...

Had a bad experience here on Monday afternoon, we have only been here a couple of times before and had drinks, so it was our first time having food. Me and my boyfriend got the brunch menu. Started off ordering coffees, then ordered our food, we both ordered eggs benedict with ham. Everything fine up to now, then a couple of tables came in after us, we finished our coffees and food hadn’t arrived yet which was fine, but our cups were empty for a while and nobody came to clear them and ask if we’d like another drink. Not a huge deal, we would have asked for more drinks when the food came, but roughly 45 mins went by and still no food.. the restaurant was really quiet there wasn’t many tables in at all so we didn’t understand what was going on, mistakes happen understandably when it’s busy but when it’s so quiet there’s no excuse not to be on the ball. Then, we noticed the tables that came in after us were being served their food! We were blatantly looking around at staff to get their attention but still nobody looked or came over, it’s like we didn’t exist. We then stopped a waitress and asked her for another drink and also asked her how long our food would be, she said she would find out. But she never came back and informed us anything?! Still, all the staff just walking about ignoring us. So my boyfriend called the guy who was stood at the pass, he pretended he didn’t hear us at first but then eventually turned around and said ‘it’s coming now’ we said okay. 5-10 mins later it came and the apology wasn’t sincere, he practically whispered ‘sorry about that’ with no explanation. It was clear our order had been forgotten about. Then when our plates were cleared we were told the chef had slipped and fell over, and that’s why there was a delay. If that’s true then why were the tables that came in after us receiving their meals ?? Surely if there was a delay it wouldn’t just be ours. Makes no sense and I think it was a blatant lie they just didn’t want to admit they’d messed up. We would have respected them more if they were honest. Now let’s talk about the food, it was the worst eggs benedict I’ve had. The ham was very fatty, and the Hollandaise sauce was terrible, it just tasted of vinegar. The only reason we didn’t send it back and ask for it to be remade is we were hungry and had waited long enough, and with the service being so bad we just wanted to leave. The lattes were lovely and my espresso martini was perfect. Just the service and food was appalling and I think it was written all over our faces we weren’t happy at all, but received the bill with no discount or anything taken off to apologise. Won’t be...

This is review of the Irish bar, which I visited after having fantastic service at the Piano Bar (great meal also) previously. So, I entered the Irish bar, good atmosphere, got a pint, sat at the bar. Maybe an hour later, I was hoping for another pint but the 2 barmaids had no interest in seeing whether I wanted a beer, despite me being the only person at the bar, with an empty glass in front of me. They were chatting, dancing, doing anything other than what they are paid to do ie serve customers. After a couple of frustrating minutes, I started to film my empty glass and the barmaids chatting in the background. This provoked one to serve me, and the other to demand that I delete the video "because I filmed her bending over" (I didn't).

I asked to speak to the manager, which resulted in security hovering over me. The manager arrived and told me that filming staff is illegal (it isn't) and these were her best bar staff (god help the place). I showed her the video to prove I was only filming my empty glass and the barmaids not doing their job. She told me that "this is not like them, they are my best staff", which obviously acknowledged that her staff were not doing their jobs. The manager was very confrontational, overruling the clearly more competent assistant manager who was there and just wanted to resolve the issue (he invitrd me to sit in the Piano Bar to finish my beer, but the confrontational manageress was having none of it). He also knew that filming people in public is not illegal in the uk, so clearly knows more than the confrontational manageress.

The manageress was not interested in resolving this uncomfortable situation.... only in defending her staff, who were not doing their jobs. The manageress and assistant manager left to "speak to the bar staff" who they had seen, on video, not serving, leaving me being watched over by security. Feeling extremely unconfomfortable, I left, with the security lady complaining that she hadn't seen me delete the video.

I just don't understand how someone can invest a lot of money into creating what should be an excellent venue, and clearly is in the case of the Piano Bar, and then to recruit bar staff who won't serve people and a hostile, confrontational manageress, who has no interest in improving service.

It's a pity the assistant manager isn't in charge. I suspect if he was, they might have staff in the Irish bar who are as competent as the great staff in the Piano Bar.

It's not a place I would return to. They must be making millions to treat paying customers...