The George, West Bay

My family visited on 18/08/11 Firstly we were seated for a good 10 or more minutes before anyone came to the table to take our drinks order, when the drinks arrived l had asked for a large glass of rose wine but was brought a small white,l didn't want to make fuss so said nothing. About 30 minutes after ordering our food arrived. My sons meal did not have the side order of vegetables with it and my husbands meal was cold, after several attempts to attract the attention of a waitress to point out the problems my husbands meal was taken away, after about another 5 minutes his lamb shank was brought back minus potatoes, veg and gravy, we then pointed out again that my son still didn't have his vegetables, a few minutes later they were then brought out along with my husbands potatoes and veg, still no gravy. My husband by then had started to eat his food as it would have gone cold again, and the rest of us had almost finished. At this point we asked to speak to a member of management but were told that no one was available. As my husband finished his meal, as if to add insult to injury his gravy was brought to the table. We then asked again to see who ever was running the restaurant that night and eventually the chef came to talk to us. he said that he had not been told about the problems and he apologised and agreed that the service was not good enough and said he would take off the cost of the two meals that were unsatisfactory. He said the bill came to �125.15 (or thereabouts) so our amended bill would come to �100.15 which we paid by mastercard and left, as we had found the whole episode embarrassing. As it was late and we had children to get to bed l didn't have time to examine the bill properly, however l had a nagging feeling that the bill was higher than it should have been. When l checked it the next day adding up the food that was on one of the slips and the drinks on the other l discovered that in actual fact the bill should not have totalled �125.15 it was approx �102, then deducting the 2 meals that the chef agreed to we should have paid about �77. I later went back to the pub and asked to see the manager but yet again no one was available so l had to return later. After being kept waiting I was approached by a woman who said she was the manageress, I explained what the problem was and as we were talking she was joined by a man who turned out to be the manager who had walked past me twice whilst I was waiting and had ignored me, he was also in the bar the previous night when we were told that there was no manager available. She then handed the bill to him muttering to him that she could not verify whether l was telling the truth as there could have been more slips with the bill, even though l had tried to show her the credit card reciept proving how much we had paid. He then tried to add up the bill again but got impatient and said " l haven't got time for this, how much do you think you're owed" I told him �23 and he slapped it on the counter and turned to walk away from me. I asked could I please have my bill back and he said "no you can't you've got your money back" and walked away. Both the man and the woman were incredibly rude (she kept butting in when l was explaining the problem and at one point turned to speak to a staff member whilst I was speaking) and he never made eye contact or spoke to me apart from his surly comments about being too busy. I have never experienced such rudeness, these people should not be in hospitality. I would like to point out that the restaurant was not particularly busy that night, there were several empty tables the staff were not rushed off their feet they just didn't seem to care, hardly surprising when you see the style of management. I have been visiting West Bay for many years and have always wanted to eat in The George... what a disappointment, some of the food was ok, the service was appalling but the most worrying thing is the major discrepancy in the adding up of the bill. I would like to think that it was a genuine mistake but the cynical side of me wonders if maybe this is how complaining customers are dealt with, add a bit on so that they can appease by giving a discount. On my return home I looked up the pub on Tripadviser I was not at all surprised by what I read I only wish I had seen it before my visit.

26 Aug 2011 23:03