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Dieci Restaurant at No. Ten Manchester Street Hotel

Dieci Restaurant at No. Ten Manchester Street Hotel

10 Manchester Street London, W1U 4DG, United Kingdom

Beer • Wine • Indian • Italian


"I arrived on time and presented my self to the receptionist saying I had a reservation for afternoon tea. A waiter immediately popped out and greeted me by name and led me to my prepared table. As well as a dessert plate with cutlery my table had a small side plate and butter knife, a selection of 6 jars of jam (raspberry, strawberry, apricot and marmalade (all Wilkin , salt and pepper mills and a bowl of sugar.My order was taking promptly and the requested glass of tap water and pot of tea arrived promptly. A small jug of milk and some pats of butter were also brought.Soon my sandwiches arrived. There were six sandwiches; two each of grilled aubergine and cream cheese; chicken and salad; smoked salmon and cream cheese. The grilled aubergine and cream cheese isn 't something I would have thought of creating my self but it was surprisingly tasty. Along with my sandwiches were nine fancies; a small pastry cup of vanilla custard with strawberry, a small pastry cup of vanilla custard with a fresh mint sprig and a small pastry cup of chocolate custard with cranberries as well as two each of three different biscuits. All were excellent with the chocolate custard being particularly memorable.A few minutes later my scones (one plain, one fruit arrived fresh from the oven along with two little pastries and some cream.A requested hot water top up for my tea was no problem and I was offered more sandwiches which, as the food originally brought was so plentiful, I regretfully had to decline.This was an excellent tea and I enjoyed it very much. The food was very good and the staff attentive but discreet.My only niggle is the discretionary service charge . It 's not mentioned on the website and it 's not mentioned on the menu posted outside. I 'm not sure if it 's on the table menus as I didn 't really look at it, knowing already what I wanted. In the UK I 'm used to paying the price quoted for goods and services so to have 12.5% added without warning is a step in the wrong direction. I 'm guessing management will say that, as I don’t have to pay it, they don 't have to mention it beforehand.Anyway, the meal would be good value at £26 service but I had a offer so got it for £16 service which made it exceptionally good value."

Piecebox

Piecebox

2 Polwarth Crescent, EH11 1LW, Edinburgh, City of, United Kingdom

Tea • Kebab • Coffee • Chicken


"My partner and I were looking for a change of breakfast venue. We always go to The Antiquary in St Stephen Street as we love it. No one has a patch on it yet. So we headed to The Piece Box. On entering we were happy to see there were hand sanitizers and given a seat very quickly. We sat at the door, but there was a bit of a breeze everytime it opened, but this was to be expected. We just didn't want to take up a table for four.Orders were taken quickly. I ordered the full breakfast and my partner ordered pancakes and bacon with maple syrup. Tea and coffee also.The place started filling up very quickly mostly with people under 40 or maybe 30. So we got there in a good time.As we waited on our food I just sat back and observed. I noticed one of the waitresses take a clean teaspoon to accompany the coffee she was going to give out, and she dropped the spoon on the floor and without any hesitation she threw it in the sink in the kitchen and got a clean one. This was nice to see. Which wasn't nice to see was the cook running around like a demented chicken trying to probably juggle more than he can chew. This was stressful to watch and not feeling a relaxing atmosphere at all.Breakfast came. My partners was fine. Mines was disappointing. The plate didn't feel all that warm, my bacon was cold and chewy, like eating an old slipper. The chipolata sausages not to my liking, but the worst was the mushrooms! They were awful awful!! They were like eating earth, bad earth. I said to my partner you can have them as he loves mushrooms and would eat anything but he could not eat them. We were thinking they were either out a tin or boiled and as dark as a miners pit. Best bit of the breakfast was the poached egg. Only got one piece of toast with butter that was to my liking. I was also given a choice of black pudding or haggis...for £10.50 I'd expect both. My local pub does an amazing breakfast for £8.50, good quality ingredients and top up coffee. Really disappointed with the Piece Box effort. Service was good, waitresses polite, stuck to all the COVID rules, but I won't return. I like a nice hot breakfast."