The Lost Boy — Restaurant in Waverley

I came in on Saturday evening with my girlfriend. We had booked a table of 2 for 7:30. After waiting 15 minutes to be seen to at the door, we were told that the bookings had been screwed up that evening and were told we could wait at the bar. We were only seated at 8:15, 45 minutes after our reservation and began another long wait to receive our drinks which I had ordered at the bar, prior to being seated.

Our hosts were apologetic. Working in hospitality ourselves, I understand the struggle so we didn't mind waiting. However, I think being seated 45 minutes after your reservation clearly indicates a lack of management from the host(s).

It's a shame because I had been before and knew it was a nice pub. Another half hour wait for starters, which I must admit were disappointing. I wanted to order a calamari, to which I was told they had just served the last portion, so I went for halloumi and my partner had the meatballs. My halloumi was good but was overpriced for just a handful of fries - a dipping sauce may have been a nice option with these. My girlfriend's meatballs were in a tasty tomato sauce but the meatballs themselves were just bland - they tasted entirely unseasoned.

Onto the mains, we had kleftiko was which absolutely delicious and was a good sized piece of lamb shoulder too and a piccante chicken which was also lovely. My only complaint here would be the small portion of braised potatoes, but that can honestly be overlooked considering how good the food was.

Our drinks throughout the night were very nice, despite the long wait at times. Our servers were great, it was just the awful delays and lame starters that really let our evening down.

I noted that we were also not an exception, other customers were also experiencing a long wait for drinks and were seated late. We were unlucky to have it particularly bad as people who came in the restaurant after us (in larger groups) had their mains at the same time we were seated.

Our bill arrived - in full, with a service charge. This was a sticking point for me, as I believe someone should've recognised we had been made to wait far too long throughout the evening. I had to ask to remove the service charge and explained I wasn't comfortable paying for all the entire bill. I absolutely hate doing this! The manager apologised and took off what I had requested. I just feel that someone should've done this before we had even recieved the bill, in recognition of our poor experience.

I think a couple of quick tweeks could've made our night as great as I was expecting from the Lost Boy: The host could've communicated to the bar staff that we had been made to wait longer. They could then make our drinks faster to make up for this Same goes for the kitchen (they could've sent our starters out within 15-20 minutes knowing we had ordered an hour after our reservation).

Without this communication, the staff in different areas are none the wiser.

I do apologise for the long review, but this is genuinely nicely decorated pub, with good food (on the whole) but for the price point your food is set at, I would've expected a better experience. I hope this feedback is valuable and I do hope my next visit...

Popped in for lunch yesterday on a whim. I ordered the poached eggs avocado and sour dough toast. I asked for my eggs very well done and the avocado without the pesto etc actual put on it. And no olive oil. It arrived with 2 runny eggs and a bowl full of hard avocado chunks covered in pesto and olive oil. They redid the eggs and brought a bowl of rock hard unripe avocados all brown at the edges as if they had been cut up yesterday. Couldn’t even cut them with a knife never mind eat them. I was told they were today’s delivery and fresh. Oh yeah?? They replaced my awful meal with a salad which consisted of literally ONE lettuce leaf, some rocket, some shop bought hummus, some slimy chunks of sweet potato and some dry couscous with minute red dots of tomato and green dots of parsley. No lemon juice or anything. Just dry. And obviously I told them to forget the avocado on it. The best thing about this meal was the hummus. Probably from Waitrose. They didn’t charge us for my food and we wouldn’t have paid for it anyway. What planet is your chef on? Who serves rock hard chunks (not even slices) of unripe avocados? The waitress said she told him to cook my eggs well not runny. The presentation was appalling. My husband’s meal of fish and chips was fine fortunately. We have eaten there a few times and there is always a problem of some sort. On Mother’s Day I gave the bar a recipe for my favourite cocktail. Only 4 ingredients and they’ve made it before for me. This one had something else in it that made it undrinkable. We love the pub but until you get a competent chef we won’t be eating there again. Interesting to see similar reviews as well so I know I am not...

We booked very last minute (2 hours before) & when we arrived they had a terrible water leak all over the indoor restaurant floor, we had to walk all around the front to get to the garden area passing men working on sewers so not nice. This had clearly been a problem during the morning & yet no one informed us this was the case. Service was slow, I appreciate it was Fathering Sunday but they should have been prepared for this. I actually felt they should have closed down, not the most hygienic having work done on sewers whilst people dined albeit 10 metres away. For the high prices I would expect exceptional service, our food order was wrong, the starter arrived with main course but we’d waited so long so just accepted it. The staff were clearly rushed off their feet which I don’t feel is their fault, management should have taken control. Then a senior staff member came out & barked so rudely & unprofessionally at the young waiters in front of customers it made us feel embarrassed for the waiters. Our food was not even cleared away from the table at any point, we even stayed for a coffee & not cleared. The food was delicious but I won’t be visiting again. I understand it was a difficult day & everyone under stress but in reality they should not have taken our booking if they were too pushed due to the emergency. There has to be consideration to their staff & building limitations rather than just keep bringing...