First Flush Darjeeling
Kiln

Kiln

United Kingdom, NE6 1LN, Newcastle upon Tyne

Vegan • Coffee • Vegetarian • Street Food


"…but that seems a long time ago now. After my last rather disappointing visit a little while ago, I thought I’d give it another go. Didn’t have a reservation but the friendly staff member 1 got me a table. It was the only table without a candle or light, pretty dark there, I thought they would bring me a candle once seated but that didn’t happen. Small details… The entire service brigade seemed exchanged, I do like a bit of continuity, in particular when they used to have excellent staff and front of house who even knew what my first drink would be and what cocktail I’d have after food. I always wondered why there was such a high turnover of excellent members of staff, they certainly are an asset to the business, it seems strange. I ordered lamb koftas which I had in the past, also some crushed potatoes. The wait for my £9 cocktail was rather long, after perhaps 30 minutes it was eventually presented by staff member 2. I then waited for the food. 1 hour 10 ! for the two rather sad looking kebabs put in font of me by staff member 3. Potatoes were a no show, I waited another 5 minutes for them and decided not to let the kebabs get cold. The £11 kebabs were very dense and chewy, the pickles required a chisel and I am sure it said cauliflower on the menu but that was missing too. The kebabs from years ago were tender and succulent, pretty much the opposite of what I had now. It reminded me of the burrata that once was really good but then became uninspired and dull. Once finished, staff member 4 asked ‘can I take these?’, referring to the plate and cutlery, without asking if I liked it. I had enough and asked for the bill. The bill still had the potatoes on it so I asked for them to be taken off. While waiting for the amended bill, staff member 5 came with some potatoes. So they didn’t forget them as I had assumed. I said “sorry, these are about 20 minutes too late, I am already in the process of paying”. Also, the £5 potatoes didn’t look crushed, they just looked like boiled potatoes to me. There were occasional problems with Kiln in the past, once I had badly undercooked fish on two separate occasions, I even contacted the place via Messenger with a picture and the reply was “we won’t reply via social … you can ring us” which I thought was very inappropriate, it’s not ‘social’ and I used that from of contact because I didn’t want to write a bad review as I really liked Kiln, then. Based on the pic, I would have been petrified if that had been my restaurant and I didn’t even get a ‘sorry’. Anyway, I won’t go back, I used to wave the flag, now it’s chaotic, the food has gone downhill dramatically, I also find it too expensive for what it is and where it is and I think that the monstrosity of a new bar has ruined a lot of the old cosiness."

Afternoon Tea Prestonfield

Afternoon Tea Prestonfield

Prestonfield House HotelPriestfield House, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Tea • Drinks • Seafood • Afternoon Tea


"This was the most disappointing tea experience we had in the UK. I wanted our last afternoon to be special and really do it up with a fancy afternoon tea experience to round out our vacation. After pouring over reviews and photos I settled on Prestonfield. We reached the rather remote location and were fairly quickly ushered upstairs to a lavishly, if not garishly, decorated room filled with sofas and tea tables. It was very dark and overstuffed with furniture. Being August, I had assumed we would be seated outside because of all the pictures I had seen online, but the weather was a bit iffy that day, so inside we were. There was a family slouched around one of the sofa sections as we entered which was not the upscale atmosphere I was looking for based on the price and location. We were seated in a corner with a loveseat and armchairs and 2 low tables. Our server was very attentive and explained everything in detail (except that the portions were massive) and we all ordered One tea each which turned out to be way too much food. The food itself was lackluster, but there was plenty of it. There were actual buckets of scones. I had the champagne add on for 15 pounds which was just a scant pour. We were also treated to another large family being seated right next to us with kids running around and playing videos on speakerphone. In short it was NOT the experience I had hoped a 50 pound tea would provide. If you decide to try it based on the glowing reviews here and on TripAdvisor, just be sure to determine where you will be seated (all the views are downstairs with the windows and light and there are actual tables to sit at). It did not look a thing like the pictures online. And don 't order more than one tea per person. You will be bagging up dry scones to go. Honestly I wouldn 't bother."