"Things didn't get off to a great start when we arrived there was no one on reception. A member of staff then came to reception and faffed about a bit, ignoring us. That person went away and another came over looking a bit flustered. Then the maitre d arrived. We were a bit early (about 19 15 for a 19 30 booking) so I asked if this was ok, which it was, although it felt a bit like he was doing us a favour (the restaurant was about 35% full at that time). He showed us to our table (a bit out of the way, around a corner but fine). The menus gave a poor impression very tired looking with stains on them (ditto the food menu in the room). Not a good look at all. After allowing what would be a reasonable time for the waiter to come, I started the old hand half up and down, waving to try to attract attention to the waiters but to no avail. After another few minutes, I got up and went to the reception, where the maitre d was chatting to someone. As i stood there, he continued his conversation, finishing it off before acknowledging me and asking if I was ok. i said not really as we were being ignored and could we get some service please. Of course. Back to our table. Shortly after that, a waitress appeared and said in a clipped voice (verging on the aggressive) You want service . I said that yes, we did. What do you want . I resisted the temptation to walk out and politely defused the situation but the tone was set. I ordered a gin and tonic, which came in a surprisingly small glass given the current vogue for fishbowl type glasses. Felt quite disappointing. We ordered bread and olives and the scallops to start followed by the sharing steak and a bottle of Pomerol. Things were looking up as the scallops were excellent, the bread and olives weren't bad and the wine was excellent. The couple on the next table then complained about the length of time their dessert was taking to come."
