Sandy Mount House — Restaurant in Wales

We'd booked a table for 8 people on a Friday night to celebrate my nephews 28th Birthday. Half our party had arrived before us. When we walked in, directly in front of the entrenece there is a tall meet and greet style table which had the sign "Please wait here to be seated". Two members of staff were there talking, we waited but not one one them even lifted their heads to aknowledge us. Being ignored, we decided to walk through the restaurant to find our own table. This was not the best first impressions.

On finding our family we sat down and looked at the the menu. We were seated in a little nook next to the kitchen. It was really cozy and we were enjoying our conversation until a party of 12 adults arrived and sat directly behind us. They were extremely loud to the point we couldn't even hear ourselves speak. This cozy little nook became an amplifier, and it was horrendous.

Our meals were lovely, no complaints there. All 7 adults received theirs but for some reason my daughters kids meal of sausage and chips had been delayed. They did however give her a free bowl of chips whilst she was waiting, which she was happy with.

Throughout our whole meal we couldn't even have a conversation because of the extreme noise. We wanted desserts and coffee's but didn't want to stay there a second longer. When my sister went to pay, a member of staff said she acknowledges how loud the table next to us are and offered us to sit in a section between the garden and restaurant to have our coffee's and dessert. We went there and the difference was incredible. Our ears were ringing after being in that noise but we were actually able to hear eachother speak.

We had our coffee's but what a shame we never got our desserts. We were told there would be a 15min wait for them when we ordered, which we said was fine but after 25minutes, we were told there would be a further delay. We cancelled the desserts order and got the bill. They informed us they'd taken off the coffee's as a gesture of good will for the noise we experienced throughout our evening. We thought this was very generous.

Having paid not far off £260 we went home and studied the itemised bill, only to notice they had infact charged us for the coffee's!

A few from our party had been to SMH before and enjoyed the experience but this, in our opinion was a disaster. We all live on the island and feel as locals more should have been done. A manager should have taken the initiative and asked the party of 12 to keep the noise down - making them aware that there are other customers in the restaurant trying to enjoy their meals.

Another option would have been to move us from that nook to the section where we had our coffee's BEFORE our meals arrived. This would have aloud us to have a conversation during our meal.

We all left feeling disappointed and upset that a crowd of 12 rude, inconsiderate people had ruined our evening but also felt let down by the staff for not taking control of the situation and dealing with it accordingly.

I personally will not be...

Oh Sandy Mount...how I really loved you when you first opened. Great service, fantastic surroundings, exceptional food. But, what has happened? I know we're in the throes of a Pandemic and I tried to forgive the shortcomings, but honestly, I don't think the problems could be excused. Service - your staff are friendly and polite, but I think they forget that they have a job to do. Shown to seats for drinks on 2 occasions, no one bothered to come back and take our order until, eventually, we called them over. It then took an age for the drinks to appear. On our third visit, this time for food, we were told that my son couldn't have Pepsi due to a problem with the postmix, which is fine, but this was left on our bill despite being told it would be taken off. After waiting for about 40 minutes for our food we asked the waiter if it would be much longer, he said he'd go and check. Never came back to us. So we asked another waiter. Exactly same reaction and outcome. My husband then left his seat to ask a woman who seemed to have some authority she came back to us to advise it was being plated up. Just an hour to wait for food then. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely not. We both had fish finger sandwich. Much more tartare than fish. Such a disappointment. The chips were soggy and soapy tasting - a sure sign that they were cooked ages ago. When you first opened, I had perhaps the best sandwich I'd ever eaten, and oh my goodness, the chips were exceptional...crispy outside, light and fluffy inside. But everything seems to have slipped and deteriorated, which is a massive shame. I perhaps wouldn't have minded so much if it was mad busy. Of course it wasn't, due to Covid I assume. I also assume that you'll tell me staff numbers are reduced, but there was no reason whatsoever for them not to ask what we'd like to drink, or to come back to us when we'd asked if our food would be long. The bar across the road seems to have a better set up, and in future I think that will be our first port...

The food was excellent, but sadly, that's the only positive thing about this review. It's not the first time we've had poor service at SMH, hence the reason I'm posting this review this time. We had lunch for 3 people, the restaurant wasn't busy. We were taken to our reserved table in the restaurant. Rear entrance doors were wide open, and it was very cold. We asked if we could move to the bar area, and there was no offer to show us to a table. Asked at the bar if we could put 2 single tables together, no offer of any help. When our table was cleared, we had to ask if they could wipe the table. There was no offer of any drinks while deciding on food orders. 2 out of 3 meals served, we had to wait 5 minutes for the third meal. No offer of any condiments, we had to fetch our own. Table cleared, no offer to see dessert menu. I had to go to the bar to ask for dessert menus and coffees. A soup spoon was provided with the dessert, I had to go to the bar to ask for a dessert spoon and fork. No apologies were made for any of the above, and throughout the meal, we weren't asked if we enjoyed our meal or if there was anything else we needed. The staff did not look happy in their work. The gentleman who was making the coffees, his white shirt was coffee stained, and his apron was filthy. Although he was quite pleasant compared to the other 3 members of staff. Sadly, we won't be rushing back to the SMH. Management need to revisit basic service standards to ensure diners are served in the correct manner. The manager was engaged in a meeting around a table at the back of the restaurant, who was totally oblivious to what was going on him. All in all.....excellent meal, very poor service....