"We visited Cottiers on Xmas eve 2022. It was me and my friend and our two young children. We had tickets for an event downstairs afterwards and decided to have lunch first in the Attic. Upon entering, the place was beautiful and atmospheric with a very traditional Christmas vibe. However, the greeting from the server was not welcoming at all. She seemed disinterested from the off and did nothing to make the children (or us feel welcome. The menu was different to what had been advertised on the website fair enough, it 's Christmas. But, there was no vegan option on the kids menu. We had to ask what the chef could make for my friend 's son and weren 't given an option so eventually asked for a plain tomato pasta. (I mean, it 's an established west end restaurant, surely a vegan option should be par for the course? . I opted for the crispy fried gnocchi with vegan parmesan. When it came, it was not crispy, more soggy, with stalks (not heads! of tenderstem broccoli through it. Very odd. And there was no vegan parmesan to speak of, so we asked for this to be brought to the table. We felt like we were bothering the waiting staff by making simple requests for things that should have been served in the first place. A further example there was no salt or pepper on the table and nor was it offered. When we asked for these, the girl brought an empty salt mill to the table (as I noticed someone else mentioned in a previous review . This resulted in a longer wait to eat our food as we had to ask for it to be filled up (again, no apology or recognition that this was unacceptable I mean, these are basics! . Everything was so slow even though there was only one other table dining and it felt like an inconvenience for the staff to do anything for us (what they are getting paid for! . My daughter ordered a burger and OK, it 's a kid 's meal, but please don 't assume children don 't like salad or veg it was a basic burger on a plate with skinny fries. She would have gladly eaten a side salad. At the end of the meal, my friend asked for her son 's pasta to be boxed to take home (conscious of zero waste as we all should be . A couple of boxes were dumped on our table for her to do herself! I 've never known a restaurant to do this, usually staff are more than happy to box food up for you, even in casual pizzerias! The next problem came when we ordered two kids ice creams. They came with some sticky pink sauce on top which wasn 't on the menu and neither kid likes. We sent these back requesting plain ice creams as we had not asked for any sauce. This took more than 10 minutes to arrive, by which time the kids were fed up and the event downstairs was due to start, so the ice cream (which arrived without spoons!! was left untouched.. yet still charged, of course. Time to pay the bill full cost on the receipt, despite us expressing how poor the whole experience had been to the waitress. A lame, insincere oh sorry was muttered. It doesn 't end there, my friend got 20p change when it should have been 2 pounds, so even that part was wrong! Normally we would leave a generous tip, but not a chance after that disastrous dining experience, and on Christmas eve too. Highly disappointing. We felt like we were bothering the staff just by being there! Service was slow and sloppy and they didn 't even seem to care. I dread to think how they would cope at busy service times. The staff definitely need hospitality training as they are not skilled or equipped to be serving customers in what is known reputable west end establishment (if anywhere at all . We went on to complain in writing to the manager, the reply came with no justification, no apology, they simply said they welcomed our feedback. And pater to discover from the press the place is infested with mice! The whole experience actually makes me feel ill. A beautiful venue, lovely location, a real shame. Not recommended."
