Liam's Deaner Brunch Bistro — Restaurant in Suffolk

We had a really unfortunate experience recently here. Upon arriving, we were ignored for a bit while waiting to be seated, which wouldn't have been so frustrating if one of the staff hadn't walked right up to the hostess stand on the phone and ignored us completely. A simple 'One moment' would have made it less frustrating. We should have just turned around and went somewhere else from that point but stuck it out because of the recommendations we'd seen. After being sat on what is probably the most uncomfortable seating I've experienced at a restaurant, we waited quite a while for our food order to be taken. Once it was taken, our server also took the order of the table next to us, which was sat after us and had more people. About ten minutes later, we watched as the table that was sat and had ordered after us received their food before we did. No big deal, maybe their food was somehow quicker though it looked pretty similar to the basic meals we had ordered. Another 5 minutes later, they brought our neighboring table the rest of their food. Our waitress then said our food would be coming right out. After another 5 minutes of watching plenty of other plates come out, we were getting a little frustrated. We decided that we'd give them a few more minutes and then leave if we weren't served, because at this point the table that ordered after us had been served 10 minutes ago. When we still weren't served or even acknowledged after another 5 minutes, we decided that we should pay for our drinks and leave. We were met with excuses about how busy it was for why the server wasn't communicating, but at that point we just wanted to pay and go. We were then told that we should at least take the food to go and it would be comped, to which we replied that we didn't need to. Upon attempting to pay, my husband was told he needed to pay for the food as well since it was already cooked. At this point I'm livid, as we didn't even want the food, regardless of them saying it would be comped. Finally, an owner or manager comes out to speak with us and immediately gets defensive and asks what the issue is since we only even waited 19 minutes to get our food. Not only was that not correct, as the server likely dropped our order a bit after placing it, but we explained that we were frustrated that the table that ordered after us received their food 15 minutes before we decided to leave because we hadn't been served. She then proceeded to argue about what kind of meals they ordered, claiming they ordered 3 kids meals and an adult meal, which didn't make sense as there were 3 adults and a child. Whatever, I explained that we didn't even want the food so we would appreciate a refund for the food charge. She then claims there was a misunderstanding, that the food was supposed to be comped and she was told we wanted it. If she had let us explain that to begin with, instead of getting an attitude about how "short" our wait was, then we could have sorted it out much quicker. So we said no, they told us since it was cooked we had to pay for it but we didn't even want the food, we were just going to take it since it was comped and didn't want to be wasteful. She agreed to the refund but then keeps bringing up the order in which the food was brought out, claiming she wants to get to the bottom of the issue. We are so far past even caring and just want the refund so we can leave but she keeps going. She asks if the other table ordered before us, which they didn't, and I had already told her. I had to ask again to just get the refund. I understand wanting to figure out the problem, but coming to us straight away with an attitude, along with holding us there while you try to work out what the issue is when we've already explained it, is just not acceptable. We were willing to come back and try again a different day up until the point at which the owner came out and was treating us less than friendly. We left the food that was offered and do not plan...

Things started going downhill the moment we walked in (brunch on a Sunday morning.... 10am ish). There was no dedicated hostess, so we had to wait for one of the waitstaff to be free long enough to seat us. While waiting, we saw one table visibly displeased at the amount of time they had to wait just to pay their bill, and they had to flag someone down just to pay. Once seated, it took about 20 minutes for anyone to come take even our drink order. The waitstaff is all in regular street clothes, so at first we weren't really sure that the person was even a server. After the first person in our party ordered a drink (coffee), the server walked away. Not sure why, but we're thinking perhaps she was new and needed help putting it into her tablet? When the server brought our drinks to the table, she didn't even attempt to put them in the right location (apple juice for me, water for one person, coffee for the third); she just left them on the table for us to distribute. I'm guessing my apple juice must have been from a fresh bottle (or can?), because it was warm and served on ice. Individual creamers in a bowl on the table were chunky.... luckily we noticed before it was poured into the coffee. On to the food: after waiting what seemed like a while for our food (they were busy, so we expected this, even though there were only three of us), my food was made incorrectly. When I informed the runner of this, she said she would have it remade. I again waited quite a while for my food (the others in my party ate so theirs didn't get cold), and when I finally got my food, I realized it was again incorrect, but I was hungry so I accepted it. We realized while eating that we were never given any napkins (silverware is provided in a paper pouch), but since nobody ever came to check on us, we were never able to ask for any. Servers around us definitely seemed to be focused solely on their own tables, so we weren't able to ask anyone else for any either. I ordered a veggie omelet, which while eating appeared to have a slice of bacon inside. After closer inspection by my husband, we realized it was fried cheese not bacon. Not long after my discovery, we noticed the table next to us complaining about something with their omelet to their server. A few minutes later, the chef? / kitchen manager? came out to speak with the table. I'm unsure who this person was, because he too was in plain clothes. It seemed like they were complaining about a slice of bacon they also found in their omelet. A couple of minutes after he went back into the kitchen, we saw ANOTHER table picking what also appeared to be a piece of bacon out of THEIR omelet and hand it to their server. When our server noticed we were done eating, she came over to ask if we were done and ready for our check. We said yes, and also asked for a couple of napkins since we didn't receive any for the duration of our meals. When she brought us the checks, she also brought napkins, and handed me a glass of water and asked if I "meant for it to be to go?" I was puzzled, because nobody at our table had asked for a refill of their water (I didn't even have water). While paying our checks (HEADS UP: 20% gratuity is automatically added!!!), we noticed the owner(?) came to the table next to us (that had been talking to the chef), and we were able to hear her say that the customer was incorrect that it wasn't bacon she found, but rather fried cheese. I don't know what the outcome was of the conversation, as we were leaving, and weren't really listening anyways.

All that to say, we definitely won't be returning to this restaurant. We all ate our food, which was decent, but the overall experience was less...

I didn’t even want to leave a public review for this place, I’d much rather have spoken to a manager about the terrible experience we had. Given that I’ve been unable to reach any staff member via phone, I’m only able to warn others against an experience like ours on this public platform.

We ate at this restaurant on a Sunday afternoon so we expected it to be busy, and while the restaurant was occupied it was not at capacity. Still, having only two servers we were subject to a near constant wait on everything. Our group of 5 sat immediately but weren’t greeted by our server who introduced herself as Cici, for about 15 minutes, after which she laid silverware on the table and walked away. When she returned some time later we placed our drink orders and she came back some time later with those. Instead of asking us to put in our food orders she left and began to tend to other tables. It took us some 45 minutes to get asked if we were ready to place our food orders, during which in that time we watched tables get sat after us, order food and drinks, and even begin eating before we’d put our order in, tables that our waitress too was serving. Nothing about our waitress’ demeanor was friendly or inviting but always rushed and straight to business. Regardless, we put our orders in and began to wait.

After over an hour of waiting for food, 3 of the 5 people at our table are served with the assistance of the waitress helping our own server. No one says anything to myself and the other member of my party about whether our food is still being prepared or if it’ll be out shortly. About 15 minutes after they start eating and we’re still awaiting food, the other member of our party gets her food and I’m asked what I got again by the waitress assisting ours. After telling her, she brings out half my order and leaves. She, the assisting waitress that’s not our own, comes back shortly and asks about the other part of my order and says she’s going to be right back with it (an order of french toast). She never returns. Everyone is hungry at this point that no one is going to wait any longer for the missing parts of my meal and within about 20 more minutes everyone is done eating and ready to leave. Our waitress never comes back to the table and even asks if everyone had all their food, if everything tasted fine, etc before everyone’s finished.

When she does return, I tell her I don’t want the french toast anymore because at this point, everyone’s ready to leave and it was never brought out or checked on. She proceeds to say with an obvious attitude, “Okay, well if you would’ve said something, I would’ve got it.”

If that comment had not been made to us, I wouldn’t have bothered with this complaint. I would’ve chalked up the slow, unenthusiastic service and unprofessionalism as the workings of a growing business on a busy day. But for the waitress, Cici, to be rude when hardly anything about our experience had gone right was so shocking to me. We didn’t say anything to the waitress in the moment and we did not complain, but I will never be returning to this place again.

It was my first time trying this restaurant and it’s sad to say that the food was good for it to be such a poor, uninviting atmosphere staffed by people who obviously have little care for a customer’s experience. I wanted to resolve the issue privately but this place is making it impossible to do so despite my attempts at reaching them at different times throughout the day. Be wary of eating here if you want to...