Browns - Kingston

What is it that restaurant staff find so difficult to manage nowadays? Don't they recognise that they are in the service industry and that looking after customers is their priority? Today I endured a meal at Brown's in Kingston-upon-Thames that typified what is wrong in catering in the UK today. Why are workmen fixing fittings during times when customers are in the premises? Why cannot this be managed before customers arrive? Why are staff so busy when the place is half empty that it takes more than five minutes to order a round of drinks? Why does it take more than 50-minutes for a simple food order to arrive? Why do I have to ask what the reason is for the delay? There is no excuse when enquiring why there is a delay to be told that a large previous party ordered just before you placed your order. An attentive manager would have noticed the delay and apolgised for the service problems. Why do the kitchen staff then deliver food that is plainly inedible and which should have been consigned to the bins rather than given to waiting staff to deliver to your table? Do they think they can get away with serving poor food because so few others complain? When asking to see the manager I was told that they were busy in the office doing paper work. This is no place for a manager during peak hours. Their job is surely to make sure customers are taken care of and that their staff are doing their job. I did eventually see the manager who could only apologise for the service. There were offers of vouchers for future meals and much more that I politely declined. A manager should be on top of their job, directing staff, caring for customers and making sure quality service is delivered. If head office insists on the paperwork being completed at the expense of customer service they should be fired immediately.

Thought I would have a nice quiet bite by the river on a sunny day. However when finally seated the waitress accidentally spilt a drink over us. Then when our food arrived mine had hairs in and instantly returned it. We then got ignored for ages which was annoying as it was really loud and kids screaming everywhere! Will avoid this place indefinitely!

I went to Browns for the first time this evening with family after hearing from many friends about how good it was. However, to my disappointment my experience of Browns Kingston was the complete opposite of what I was expecting. Firstly, after calling up at the beginning of the week to reserve a table for tonight, somehow the restaurant did not have this booking logged onto their system which meant we had to wait 25 minutes for them to set up a table for us, even though the restaurant did not seem very busy at all. Secondly, they ran out of all the sunday roasts, venison and rib eye steak, meaning you were only left with half of the menu to choose from, resulting into my main course being an overpriced burger and chips! The service was slow, the waiters were not helpful or friendly. and we didn't get an acknowledgement as we left the restaurant after our hefty bill for seven people. Food however, was of good quality, although I certainly would not go back to this restaurant.

I must say I am a bit shocked at square meals review above as it seems to be a generic review of browns rather than this particular branch. We tried out the new opening today and were pleasantly surprised. The service was impeccable and there seemed to be a waiter for every 4 or 5 tables which meant we were always being looked out for. The sunday lunches were of excellent quality and I was very impressed with the portion sizes. Oysters were not on the menu however which we were quite looking forward to after seeing the review on here. There were lots of offers on which we were told ran everyday (champers for £25 and cocktails for about 3.50 i think). Going to be a fantastic spot for a drink and something to eat in the summer months.