We had booked west lodge for my mums 80th birthday lunch 24th February it is somewhere the Lacey family have been coming to for over 70 years with many keystone moments celebrated with you. Having booked our table for Saturday 24th, I called back to ask if I could make the day extra special. I spoke to the most lovely lady a member of the restaurant team who said of course I could bring in a flower centre piece, table confetti a cake what ever I wanted to make mums day special. On the afternoon of the 23rd I arrived at reception with the flowers and confetti, after I introduced myself a young man said he was the restaurant manager and with no customer engagement took the flowers and rudely dismissed that the hotel didn’t allow table confetti, when I explained I had been encouraged to bring it up and he shot me down rudely and I was dismissed. Saturday lunchtime I arrived early with a couple of our guests and sat at our table at the bar, there were plenty of staff around but no one came and took our drinks order in the end I had to go to the bar to order. When the rest of the party arrived no member of staff came to welcome them, I took the ladies coats and then asked a member of staff- male mature long hair. if the coats could could be taken, I was rudely told there were coat stands in the restaurant, your member of staff then turned his back and walked off - leaving me holding the coats- how rude! Appalling service and certainly not what I expect of west lodge. No one came over to take drinks orders again I had to ask the waiter, when my husband asked for a non alcoholic lager he was over Guinness zero?…. At no point were we told our table was ready, so we made our own way - juggling coats, glasses and customers over 80 with sticks - no help at all from any member of the restaurant or bar team! we sat at the table and were given menus - the waiter came to take our order without offering us drinks -I had to ask for a wine menu - surely from your perspective that is “sales prevention” there were water glasses laid out, no water was offered. We had a lovely round table great location but shoved into the corner with no room around it for your staff to execute silver service, I do no expect my mum on her 80th birthday to serve meals and have to collect plates to pass to your staff. The food was lovely - a big thank you to the Chef. But we were very surprised and disappointed by the fact the 3 course menu did not have a meat option. But again we were let down by the restaurant team, unused glasses not collected, wine not served, no ask if we wanted additional drinks when the bottle was empty - again “sales prevention” The room was cold, the radiator next to us off, I asked the waiter if it could be turned on - he told me how to do it, after 30 minutes ut was still cold and so when the restaurant manager was serving main courses I told him - again I was rudely told all heating was on a central system and so I was wrong to be told it would heat up. When it came to desert the table was still littered with side plates and used and unused glasses - no liqueurs were offered - sales prevention! When it came time to settle the bill I was presented with a card machine - to my absolute horror and extreme embarrassment- “card fail” I was mortified it was announced to the table. I was then told that the machine rarely works that far into the room, as soon as we got to the entrance to the restaurant and reentrred my details the payment instantly when through. Firstly in this day and age there is absolutely no excuse for no Wi-Fi connection and more importantly why would you humiliate your customer by telling the table the card had failed when you know it is YOUR connection problem, it was horrific and so so embarrassing. As we left again no one came to help us with coats I had to help our guests into their coats. There was no remembrance of the flowers or cake, I had to ask for them to be prepared for me to take home for mum. The man I believe to be your restaurant manager hugely let down your restaurant hotel and brand - he was rude, offish and dismissive and constantly looked down his nose at us. There was nothing welcoming , professional or kind about him. This was a special day, the food was lovely but the whole experience was completely ruined by your restaurant manager and his management of the restaurant. You are probably wondering why I didn’t complain at the time, why I didn’t refuse to pay the inclusive service charge - it was my mums 80th birthday - I didn’t want to do anything extra to what your team had done to embarrass us. And ruin my mums day. I just love my family’s history with West Lodge and the history of West Lodge, your restaurant manager is in serious danger of serious,y impacting on your reputation and future customers. g , professional or kind about him. This was a special day, the food was lovely but the whole experience was completely ruined by your restaurant manager and his management of the restaurant.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.