SMOQUE — Restaurant in Tandridge

Smoque is taking a unique take on the established turkish restaurant experience and there's a alot to be said, allow me to put my thoughts in order that I experienced them;

TLDR: Food is fab, restaurant is trying to push Michelin star service in a high volume environment without superior management or understanding of what and how a Michelin star restaurant front of house is executed and is failing miserably at it. I could write of ages on this but the fault here is the poor front of house manager that was far too busy hanging around at the back end of the restaurant. The manager needs to understand his client and the business need and not be sitting in the back of the building on his laurels, this restaurant will soon fizzle if these poor experiences continue.

More detail below; From when i walked from the car park into the building the security chap was warm, welcoming and inviting into the premises 5/5 As we walked in we gave our reservation backed up by text message and website url which although with the name of the booking being misunderstood was very quickly resolved and no issue at all - 5/5 We had 2 groups on the table arriving 10mins apart, the first groups drinks order was not delivered correctly, minor issue but resolved this was only 3 drinks - 3/5 Second groups drink order, 2 drinks was a fail, the staff communication was completely disjointed, we had to re-order 3x to get 2 drinks delivered, even though underscoring with the trained waitress what we wanted. 1/5 When we ordered the food the waitress was quick and professional and controlled portions to minimised wastage. 5/5 Food came out without issue, 5/5 more issues with drinks orders, serving staff were not allowed to take orders then chose to take orders but didnt execute on the order leading us to chase down our waiter to order the drinks 1/5 paid bill, no issues 5/5

Further thoughts: Train your servers to take the order or instil without question they would get the trained waiter over to the customer asap. Perfect the front of house system, get the manager back into the grass roots to understand where his training is lacking and he can improve, standing out the back of the restaurant admiring himself is simply not an option, nor is taking a iron fist to the establishment This is an awesome restaurant, please, please sort...

Last time we sat in the restaurant as you go in on the left and it was a very pleasant experience. This time we were sat in the part of the restaurant out the back. As we walked in it was like walking into a rave with booming music. The service was extremely poor, 2 out of 6 drinks came in 15 minutes but the other 4 took about 30 minutes to arrive, even through we where watching everyone else around us receive their drinks after ordering after us. Starters came but forgot the gluten free bread. When the mains arrived only 2 out of 4 came gluten free… (our waitress apologised and stated that the chefs ignored the gluten free order) one of the waiters then tried to persuade me to have it anyway even though I’m intolerant… the gluten free meal eventually came after declining the none gluten free meal, when it eventually came out the chicken was cooked beautifully. The Service in general was awful, it took an hour to get one glass of white wine, when the bill came out they had charged us for 2, probably because we had to ask multiple times for the glass of wine. The manager offered us a round of drinks but then very quickly walked away and we never got this offer again. The bill eventually came out with extra charges, which we quickly had removed and makes them take the service charge off. In terms of the atmosphere… 2 of us had to leave early as the music was so loud it had given them headaches. Overall we won’t be going back, if you want good Turkish food with excellent service and a nice atmosphere where you can talk to each other then I recommend Med Kitchen in...

Decided to try this restaurant for an early dinner with the family. Very friendly staff, very accomodating. I made a comment about wanting a hot drink as I was feeling a bit cold. I didn't actually think the restaurant was cold, I was just feeling a bit under the weather and a bit run down myself but the staff turned on the heating straight away (I really didn't expect them to, esp as I understand how energy prices are so high right now for everyone including businesses... they were very sweet and thoughtful. Have been to numerous restaurants where I have had to eat in my coat but have never complained due to understanding the businesses difficult situations nowadays!

My children love mac and cheese and they said it was the best mac and cheese ever! My husband had the mixed grill and I had the succulent chicken thighs with salad and rice. We also had nachos with bbq chicken and the prawn starter. We wanted everything to all to come out at the same time. Everything was cooked to perfection! Meats all with a great charcoal grill taste and so juicy, not dry. The portions were very big...I wanted to eat all of my main course dish but I just couldn't physically fit it in! Very delicious! We usually go to Med Kitchen in Sanderstead but I think this is our new favourite Mediterranean restaurant! Well done to the staff at Smoque and compliments to the chef(s)! Keep up with...