Skewd At The Grove — Restaurant in Three Rivers

I went to Skwed last Sunday early evening with my friend and her nearly 7 year old daughter. I have a feeling that maybe this was a bit of an off day for the restaurant. The restaurant was not very busy when we arrived. We waited for over 5 minutes at the entrance area with staff walking past us before we were asked if we had booked our table. My friend said to me this was not a promising start as no one attended us and the restaurant was not busy. We ordered our meals. My friends' daughter had her starter brought to the table (taramasalata) and within a couple of minutes her main arrived. We did ask of we could get a little bit more cucumber for her taramasalata but we were told it was not possible but later the waitress came back and said we could have a bit more cucumber which was brought to the table for her. We two adults had not even had our starter delivered. So there was her daughter with stater and mains at the table at the same time. That meant her main course was sitting on the table whilst she was eating her starter. Our starter, we shared a portion of scallops was fine. Our drinks were attended to. We all only had soft drinks. The kids meal looked very dry and the chips were definitely overcooked and dry. We adults had octopus. The portion was generous. Three tentacles each. Two of my tentacles were fine, the third was a little slimy. I scrapped away from the third tentacle what was a sticky white substance from the tentacle with my knife. The taste of that tentacle meat was fine. Our chips were dry and overcooked. When our plates were cleared we were asked if everything was ok. We did say all our chips were overcooked and dry. We were offered more chips but we declined them as we had finished the meal. We shared between the three of us a baked alaska for desert which went down very well with my friend and her daughter. I feel we went on an off day. Having said that £185 is a lot to spend for a meal which did not overall live up to expectation. A plus point a male member of staff entertained a little boy at the next table juggling with some limes. The little girl with us was most impressed and he came to our table to show her his juggling skills. Another plus point is the atmosphere. Lovely eating oudoors with canvas protection overhead I have heard great things about Skwed and the reviews are generally very good. I was...

My recent visit to Skewd at the Grove was, unfortunately, one of the most disappointing dining experiences I've had in a long time. The entire evening was marred by utterly atrocious service and food that failed spectacularly to justify its premium pricing. The chaos began the moment we arrived. We were left waiting for an unreasonable amount of time just to be seated. This initial frustration set the tone for the rest of the evening. Once finally at our table, the waiting game continued. It felt like an eternity before any staff member acknowledged us to take our order. Throughout our interaction with the staff, it became painfully clear that nobody seemed to know what they were doing. There was a complete lack of coordination, attentiveness, and basic competence. Getting anyone's attention was a challenge, and simple requests seemed to cause confusion. It genuinely felt like the team was utterly lost. When the food eventually started arriving (after yet another significant wait), the service failures compounded. Sadly, the food offered no redemption. To call it mediocre would be generous. The grilled meats, which one assumes should be a highlight, were a particular low point. They arrived cold – inexcusable for freshly grilled food – and the quality was questionable. The lamb, which I believe is pushed as a signature dish, was tough, lacked flavour, and was a huge letdown. Considering the hugely inflated prices charged for these dishes, receiving cold, poor-quality meat felt like daylight robbery. Overall, our experience at Skewd at the Grove was defined by shambolic, incompetent service and overpriced, underwhelming, cold food. It was a frustrating and deeply unsatisfying meal from start to finish. If you’re going to charge the prices you are, the experience needs to be exceptional and it just wasn’t even close. Save your money and your patience – I strongly recommend...

We visited Skewd restaurant as part of a dinner and cinema package to celebrate our 30th anniversary. The Grove is a lovely location to visit, but we only go there for special occasions, such as last night. We opted to dine indoors due to the strong smoke fire used for the wasps. The manager on duty escorted us to our table, and a waitress arrived to present the menu. The food was absolutely delightful, from the starters to the dessert, so kudos to the chefs.

However, the atmosphere was rather dull; the table was set very simply with just starter plates and cutlery, lacking candles or even a small flower arrangement, which is typically expected for a dinner outing.

We observed that every person who was on break seemed to be going back and forth.

My husband's main course was served on a chipped plate(we made a picture but there was not option to uploaded)

Later, the room was filled with a family with children, and we noticed that everyone else received complimentary bread before their starters, but we did not.

Another manager on duty welcomed a couple and discussed the specials on the menu, highlighting the little details that matter when dining at an upscale restaurant.

While dining at a Turkish restaurant, we found ourselves missing the Turkish tea, which unfortunately was not included on the menu. That was...