Baked Potato
The Avenue

The Avenue

9 Court Street, East Lothian, United Kingdom

Pub • Steak • British • Scottish


"Had a very disappointing lunch on Sunday at the avenue, I ordered chicken broccoli in a creamy Stilton sauce with a pastry lid, which had clearly been microwaved my plate was an oil slick looked disgusting. My friends hubby ordered paella which was a rice dish but not proper paella it looked like and uncle bens rice pouch some peppers a few prawns and mussels, he said it was completely tasteless, my husband had a mediocre meal but was at least edible it was beef olives again microwave heated and gravy was congealed. My friends wife had fish pie which again she ate but was not great the mashed potatoe had big lumps in it and was dry as looked also to be microwaved. During service the young girl server was lovely but really busy we had to go to the bar to replenish drinks which was fine, but at the end when we did complain she's asked why we didn't tell her but we didn't get the chance as she was so busy we hardly seen her. When I mentioned my oil slick on my plate she did agree it looked disgusting and the two meals we complained about would be taken off the bill, but when the bill arrived both meals were not deducted at that I went to the bar to explain to the girl/manager on the bar she completely flipped and said the paella had been eaten all day and that they were a small business this was in the bar on front of people, was very unprofessional. I myself have a small business in Haddington so wasn't trying to be nasty but my food was disgusting as was our friends and the rest wasn't much better but didn't want to create any fuss as this lady had clearly no customer service skills whatsoever. I called twice to try and speak to a manager but sadly owner not around and manager not capable and still had an attitude on telephone! Very sad as have had some lovely evenings in the avenue but now I would say steer clear unless you want to come away feeling ripped off and berated. It takes years to build a business and customers and one incident like that to loose them and you lost 4 people two of which have businesses in Haddington themselves."

Birnam Arts

Birnam Arts

Station Road, Perth Kinross, United Kingdom

Sushi • Cafés • Asiatic • Mexican


"We visited to see the Beatrix Potter Exhibition with family who were visiting and spent a lovely hour going around the exhibition, however our nice time was rudely interrupted by the elderly lady working in the cafe with dyed black curly hair. We have one child with serious allergies, so instead of one child feeling left out and risking cross exposure, we packed safe snacks for all the kids going anywhere with allergies is an absolute nightmare, so we always do this. Most places are trained and appreciative of how hard it is to eat out with allergens and happy to make reasonable adjustments for this. All four adults ate from the cafe. When part of our order was delivered, we were told “this isn’t a picnic area, you can’t eat your own food, you wouldn’t take food in to McDonald’s” (whilst looking at the 2 year old eating her snacks) when I responded yes I actually would, we have a child with allergies, she asked if it was serious allergies to which I said yes and she scoffed and left, no apology, nothing. I must add that whether the children would be eating or not, they would still have to sit at the table and take up the same amount of space. Would the children also be prevented from sitting because they didn’t buy from the cafe? Still waiting on my food order twenty minutes later and having already finished my coffee and frustrated at the wait, I asked for a refund as we now felt hurried to leave because of how upset she was at the children eating snacks at the table without purchasing them in their cafe. I got the refund for my missing meal and we left without going to the shop or seeing the other art, it has left a bad taste in my mouth. We spent just shy of £100 in the place and to be spoken to like that was horrible. The elderly employee with dyed black hair really needs some training on customer service and manners. The way she looked at us as we left was awful, we will not be returning. This place is not welcoming of children or those with allergies I dread to think how they would react to someone who is tube fed, probably told to eat outside just avoid."