Pea Porridge — Restaurant in West Suffolk

Started of well, within minutes we were asked if we were ready to order to which we responded if we can have 5 more minutes please, and were greeted with the response. "Ok 5 minutes no problem but hurry up" a little taken back by this but we ignored it and carried on.

First impressions count, I think this was meant as a joke, but with the following service and food quality and hindsight now I think this was a pre-cursor to what was to come.

Ordered a starter and two mains, needless to say we eat out twice a week as a minimum and at very decent restaurants. I have lived and worked in London all my life and always eaten at some of the best restaurants. The food was Disgusting, the chips were, wedges not chips, roasted then deep fried and burnt. The lobster had zero flavour and was drowning in Oil, my partners Ray (fish) was also literally swimming in Oil (on complaining we were inform this was butter not oil - but no mention of sorry how can we make the better)

We raised this to the waitress and I asked for my lobster to be re-plated. At this point and raising our concerns that both meals were literally downing in oil, butter etc. We were informed this is how the meal comes, trust me NO MEAL comes like this. Anyways the manager never even made an attempt to come see us or to discuss the matter we were left alone.

Once I could eat no more (due to the Vial tasting food and copious amounts of Oil/Butter, we called it a day and the manager passed us by and asked is everything ok, and politely I attempted to explain that my chips were deep fried and burnt, my meal was tasteless and downed in oil, I actually felt physically sick. The response we got was several. No other customers complain (As if then somehow is meant to negate our complaint or make it unfounded) This is how the meal comes She is sorry it is not to OUR pallet (As if the issue was with OUR pallet and not the clearly obviously burnt chips, and drowned food - literally downed in oil /butter)

There was a total clear understanding that was being made that in her eyes there was no issue with the food, it was simply OUR pallets, even after showing her the burnt paprika Wedges, she still denied any issues and that this is how they come as they use King Edward potatoes, and they are hand cut! what a joke, and insult....they are clearly very over cooked. Not at any point throughout the meal were we offered new or alternatives.

The restaurant bore Zero responsibility for the food even after physically showing them, even after requesting a clean plate without all the oil, even after presenting burnt chips. No offer was made. We were simply told it was our pallet! Quite insulting to be honest.

Needless to say, we refused Desert and requested the bill to leave. a 12.5% Optional service charge was even added, as if it wasn’t insulting enough, they had the audacity to add a service charge of 12.5% which was optional. This clearly shows a total lack of empathy with a dissatisfied customer or ANY acknowledgement of dissatisfaction. In fact it show the complete opposite, that they do not listen to customers feedback and that they will charge service charge even if they do not deliver. Simple happy to take our £95 and see the back of us.

We requested this be removed and the response from a dark haired waitress was one of utter disgust, and who would not even respond to me, other than to remove it and keep quiet. We said goodbye and we're not even responded too.

All in all, very disappointed, disgusting food, shocking attitude from staff, Zero service, zero responsibility.

Honestly we spoke to three people, two at length about the meal before we had even even eaten 5% of the meal and nothing was done to resolve it, I even had to ask for it to be...

Please note the one star is based entirely on the service provided at Pea Porridge - this is not a comment on their standard of food as we left before we had the chance to order.

I don't normally post reviews, and after my visit to Pea Porridge in September 2013 I didn't think of sharing this, but in the last few weeks I have been in London and Edinburgh, enjoying the exceptional dining and service once again at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon and The Pompadour by Galvin amongst others, and I couldn't help comparing the service standards to Pea Porridge.

I have been to Pea Porridge a few times, but my recent visit was the first in about three years.

We booked a table for four at 2000 on a Friday, and on arrival were promptly and politely shown to our table.

We ordered and were served drinks very quickly and we were all ready to order food by 2015. My partner caught the eye of one of the waiters at 2020 and asked if we could order; he told her in a condescending manner that someone else was looking after us and they would be with us in a couple of minutes.

Although I thought he could have taken our order (as any other restaurant I have been to would), we waited patiently until 2040 for our allocated waitress to serve us, and she came to our table asking are we ready to order.

My partner said we have been ready for 25 minutes but didn't make any issue of it, and was about to order when the waitress decided to start talking about the ambience of the restaurant and that they do not like to rush people, rather than just ignoring the comment or perhaps apologising for taking some time to take our order on a night that wasn't particularly busy. We were not looking for an apology at all, but we did want to make her aware we had been waiting a fairly long time, and we had been told 20 minutes ago that she would be with us in 2 minutes.This comment didn't particularly add to our ambience, and changed the mood somewhat for our table where we questioned whether we wanted to stay or not. The waitress could see this, so she asked if we wanted another couple of minutes to decide what we would like to do. We agreed and took a couple of minutes to decide that we did want to stay, and the waitress returned. Her direct quote was -

'Have you decided what you are doing, as this table (pointing to the table next to us who had been there for about 10 minutes) are ready to order'.

That was enough to change our mind and leave the restaurant.

I don't like any fuss at all, but I did say to the waitress that I felt that comment was incredibly unnecessary, rude and made us feel very unwelcome; she did apologise and try to justify her comment by saying she meant that we are her priority before any other table. If that was the case, I can't understand why you would mention another table before attempting to serve us.

No further attempt was made to appease the situation at all.

This restaurant has got it all wrong for me. The staff we encountered seem to think it is a privilege for us paying customers to be there, rather than it being an inclusive pleasure for everyone. It has that really annoying false formality from the staff that I cannot stand. It's disingenuous, and it is such a contrast when you encounter genuine good service in restaurants, whether it is Prezzo or The Pompadour - it's not all about airs and graces, it's all about being genuinely interested in making the customer's dining experience as enjoyable and inclusive as possible, not telling them how they should be feeling and justify slow service by talking about the ambience.

I'm left with the feeling that this restaurant has got a bit stuck up its own...

We visited Pea Porridge for an evening meal on Saturday 4th May for a birthday celebration. My partner has a known severe intolerance/allergy to shellfish and so, as most people who suffer with allergies, stated this on the booking form. I was quite surprised to then be seated, have a drinks order taken, and then the first food we were offered as a special was ‘scallops’… There was no acknowledgement from any of the staff regarding the shellfish allergy stated on the booking so on placing our order, I raised this with the waitress myself, to confirm the food we had ordered did not contain any shellfish/traces of/potential contamination. Without confirming with the chef, or checking any allergen information, she confidently replied ‘No’ and that food preparation was completely segregated. Admittedly, at first I was quite impressed and assumed she obviously knew her stuff having so confidently answered, and perhaps what you would expect from a Michelin star restaurant? By the time we arrived home, my partner began vomiting profusely and feeling increasingly unwell; Exactly the reaction he has had previously when ingesting shellfish. We contacted the restaurant directly to make them aware of this, and to confirm the food we had ordered definitely did not contain any shellfish. Rather strangely, the response we received was actually more of a challenge as to whether my partner had ingested shellfish, and it was implied possibly food poisoning instead. Yes, the symptoms my partner experienced could have been either of those 2 things, although being a medical professional I was not convinced, given the absence of diarrhoea/fever/stomach cramps which are characteristic of food poisoning. I’ve also witnessed my partners response to ingesting shellfish before, and this was an exact replay. Either way, each scenario is unacceptable after paying £150 to dine in a Michelin star restaurant. I was very surprised that the chef suggested my partner arranges a stool sample, rather odd given that Salmonella is a notifiable disease, which would more than likely be traced back to the restaurant if it returned positive. We responded to the initial email detailing our disappointment in the lack of acknowledgement of the allergy and that the response was just more of a discussion doubting the allergy, rather than offering any apology or form of compensation (not that this was the aim of getting in contact). The second response we received was much the same as the first, and despite previously suggesting possible food poisoning, stated that by apologising or offering compensation would be accepting blame in the situation… We’re real foodies so were really excited to dine here. When contacting the team we made sure to compliment the high quality produce, attention to detail and mentioned the waiting staff were incredibly attentive and friendly.

All in all a disappointing visit and really do not recommend, particularly for those with food intolerances/allergies. We tried to deal with this with the restaurant directly and privately, but after little understanding and apology, I’m not sure they grasp the impact of such an experience, and hope this review will prevent anyone else experiencing the same. Certainly not the Michelin star experience we...