The Gem Stansted — Restaurant in Uttlesford

It's SAD when management refuse to take what gold dust is provided to them and instead, choose to go on the attack. After the response made to my initial review, I am now no longer surprised at the three-star service I received whilst at this establishment two weeks ago for lunch.

I was getting my haircut at Linos, and I remembered that a close friend said I should check out the Gem if in the area to preview it for a future girlfriend gathering, so what a perfect opportunity, after getting my hair cut to check out this new establishment?

On the day, the restaurant was being looked after by three members of staff, all who seemed young and inexperienced. Having been a young member of restaurant myself in my native US, I was careful not to judge this but did take note. I asked the young woman who took my order a few questions of the menu, for which she didn't know the answer to. For example, at the end of the meal, I was considering dessert, to which I asked her what kind of sorbet they had, to which she replied, "Vanilla" - to which I said, "Vanilla? I've never heard of Vanilla sorbet" and given that sorbet is a palate cleanser, they are usually fruit based. When questioned, she went away and quickly retracted.

At the start of my time there, I decided to try the bartender's ability, but being that I had to go back to work, I wanted something non-alcoholic. I asked this same waitress for a mocktail menu or their best non-alcoholic drinks, to which she replied, "It depends on what you want" which was clearly unsatisfactory, as I was looking to be inspired by the staff with my selection, given that I don't work there and have no clue what they have behind the bar, or what they have the ability to make.

Eventually, the bartenderess came out from behind the bar and said something similar, "Depends on what you're looking for, I can make pretty much anything -- just put some syrup and soda together? Bloody Mary?" Given that I haven't had a decent Bloody Mary since I was last home in Texas, that suggestion did tempt my tastebuds and I went with her suggestion. After an inordinate amount of time and a lot of giggling by both of these ladies, the bartenderess came back from behind the bar to say, "Here it is, and I'd just like to say in advance, this is my first Bloody Mary I've ever made so if you don't like it, I'll take it away and make something else." I appreciated her honesty, and I told her so but I am too kind to tell her it was the worst Bloody Mary I've ever had in my life. The waitress took my order, a starter and a main, and although the scallops for the starter were decent, the main (risotto) was too stodgy and left much to be desired.

Needless to say, I did not finish my risotto or my poor Bloody Mary (I only took two sips) but yet when the bill came, I was still charged for the drink, which really surprised me when it clearly did not meet my expectations based on the fact that I hardly drank any of it.

The three staff members spent more time giggling and talking loudly with each other than they did checking in on me (and I was the only person in the restaurant) so I would have serious reservations about coming to visit with a large party or when they're a bit more busy because I can only imagine how poor the service might be in that instance.

I am due to see my same friend who recommended that we visit this new establishment tonight, and if she suggests again that we should visit the Gem, I will share my experience, and most notably, the highly unprofessional comment that the management made to my halfway completed review (stars only) before coming later on to complete the full review this morning.

I work in global leadership consulting, and if there's one thing I know, is that "everything rises and falls on leadership" so if the management/owners have piss poor attitudes about the valuable feedback provided by their customers (regardless of how minimal it might be) then it's no surprise that the young staff members have much to be desired in their hospitality practices. Good...

I would not recommend a stay at this hotel. I have recently booked in my mum, dad and sister for a Christmas Eve stay ahead of them joining us for Christmas Day. This was booked a special pre- Christmas treat for my family.

My mum booked into the hotel restaurant online, only to be told on arrival that the restaurant was closed because the hotel had had staff walk out on them that day. They were booked into the Turkish restaurant over the road, however, this isn’t what my family had booked for Christmas Eve.

Upon arriving and after her flight, my sister was looking to run a bath. She reported that there was no hot water and told to run a tap for a couple of minutes for the water to come through. She did this and it didn’t work. My family were on a tight timescale to get to the Turkish restaurant, after calling down twice and over 30 minutes later, my sister was told by the lady owner “sorry my husband was supposed to come up, but he’s dealing with an issue in another room” the water was mistakenly switched off and hot water resumed.

My parents and sister met in the bar for a planned pre-drink before their meal at 7pm where the lady owner proceeded to tell them about the issues they’d been having with their team and how they’d be taking back presents they’d brought for those who failed to turn up for their shifts. It was clear they were having troubles and my family empathised saying they were sorry they’d had issues, the lady owner responded “it’s ok, it’s a good job I like you or I’d have kicked you out” although my family were sure this was tongue in cheek, this isn’t the kind of professional behaviour you expect in a hospitality environment. This is a special time of year and I wanted my family to have a nice stay. Instead, they were being told about the internal dynamics of a business that clearly wasn’t staffed with enough people to provide a service on Christmas Eve of all days. Instead, they were made to feel uneasy at the problems that were divulged to them.

My family asked for confirmation of breakfast time for the next day, first being told 7:30 - 9:30, then that breakfast started at 8 and finally that the lady owner was “mixed up and losing her head” and that breakfast was in fact starting at 9am. No problem, the family were due to arrive at my home for 10:30 where we had morning activities planned with the rest of the family.

The following day, my family arrived down to breakfast at 9:15 and the door was locked. There was no way to get into the breakfast room. Finally the lady owner arrived and said that more staff had walked out. Another table appeared to be complaining and the gentleman owner said “don’t you have a go at me, it’s not my problem”. My sister ordered a latte and the lady owner said “I’m not very good at coffee but I’ll give it a go” - after about 20 minutes tea and the latte arrived, the latte was lumpy and horrible, my sister ordered a different coffee and empathised with the lady saying how she’d have something else, the lady made her another coffee. Breakfast arrived at 10:10 almost an hour after ordering and my family arrived late for Christmas Day.

Whilst I believe there is room for understanding and empathy (especially at Christmas time) there should also be good service as a bare minimum. Hospitality, by its very nature, should be hospitable. My family were caught in the fireline of clearly a staffing issue and were disposed to information about the team, that they shouldn’t have been. I followed up their stay with an email, to first try and resolve this internally. However, I was met with a response that I was “looking for a freebie” this is not the case, I am however looking for basic hospitality which was not given and rather an environment that was clearly laden with staff problems.

I would not recommend staying at this hotel until they have resolved their issues. This is a shame because the hotel is visually beautiful, the service however...

We have used the Linden for previous work meetings and were mostly happy with the food and service so we thought we knew what to expect and we booked our work Christmas meal there. |Unfortunately we didn’t read the recent reviews before booking.|The venue is a nice building with one large dining room and a bar. The bedrooms are stunning and nice and clean.|In the days before the event we were sent a slightly unusual menu and asked to send in our food choices. There were no starters or side dishes on this menu, just mains with a ‘bubble and squeak’ or mashed potato option and a choice of three desserts. After a telephone conversation with the venue we got some starters added and a ‘carrot and swede mash’ option was also added. The vegetarian options were poor. There were no ‘extras’ i.e. plates of vegetables put out on the tables either which would have been nice.|I created a spreadsheet with full guest names and choices of food on and this was sent to the venue a few days before the event.|There were 26 of us and we were seated on a long table and were the only ones dining I believe.|There were two or three waitresses serving us who were really lovely and obviously doing their best but I would say that the place just wasn’t able to deal with such a large booking.|It was clear that all was not going well from the beginning, the starters were brought out and given to the wrong people, they then had to be swapped around and given to the right people by which time some of them had started to go cold, the same thing happened with the mains and also the desserts, even though another menu list of everyones names and choices were given out to the staff again during this time to help them out. |One of our guests was gluten free and as there were no gluten free options on the menu we were sent I requested one of the dessert choices on the menu to be gluten free. This was highlighted in red and quite clear, however I thought I’d better check during the meal if it was in fact going to be gluten free, only to be told that no it wasn’t so it seems that the guest would have been given the gluten choice without knowing but because I had checked they were offered something else as a replacement, it was a bit last minute though and I feel just lucky that the only choice they offered was acceptable.|We weren’t offered drinks, we had to catch the servers attention separately and ask for ourselves throughout the meal.|The food, if you were lucky enough to get it when it was hot, was quite nice though but if you didn’t like mashed potato you would have been hungry. |One of our guests stayed in one of the lovely rooms and had paid for breakfast, they were told it was from 8 – 10am however when they came down in the morning at 9.30 there was no-one to be seen, the place was in darkness all doors were locked leading to the dining area, a cleaner tried calling someone but got no response so our guest and his girlfriend had to leave without having any food.|I think on the whole if you are staying here or dining on your own or as a couple it is probably fine but I just wish we would have been told that they didn’t cater for large groups before we booked because to be honest it was quite a disappointment and a...