The Crooked Well

We found the crooked well through bridebook.com, this is how we contacted them (more on this later).

 

Absolutely awful experience from top start to finish.

 

In retrospect, alarm bells should have been ringing when on our first meeting Dann ( the manager) not only completely forgot we had a meeting booked in but also said "I can't imagine why anyone would want to get married".

 

We then proceeded to tell him what we wanted, he agreed to everything including our proposal of a hot buffet meal for our guests with pre-bought bottles of wine to be placed on the tables for our guests to serve themselves. He assured us The Crooked Well could provide any type of food we wanted .We went over what we wanted to spend and agreed a minimum spend at the bar.

 

We have never organised a wedding before, so in hindsight we should really have cottoned on to how blasé and wishy washy he was being with details, but we took him on his word for everything and continued to plan our wedding, safe in the knowledge we had our reception venue sorted.

 

Email correspondence was like getting blood out of a stone. It would usually take at least a week for an email response and sometimes we would get no response at all.

 

We were starting to get worried so asked for another meeting and asked to meet with the chef also to discuss our buffet menu.

 

Upon meeting Dann and the Chef*, we outlined what we wanted on the buffet before the Chef told us that the Crooked Well did not have the facilities to provide a buffet service and that the only option was a sit down meal.

 

We had not wanted a sit down meal. We had wanted a Mediterranean style buffet, but we found ourselves reluctantly agreeing to a sit down meal of contemporary British food, at a considerably larger price per head than agreed initially.

 

It was here we really started to worry as it became evident at this moment that Dann, not only didn't know what a buffet was but also knew he had really messed up. Instead of apologising to us and trying to fix things he sloped off into the background, sulking and embarrassed

 

More frustrating email communication followed before we decided that we needed our minds put at ease, then Dann started trying to change the terms of our verbal agreement. He suddenly started saying that the minimum spend for the night now didn't actually include what our guests spent at the bar and that we had to spend that before the reception had even started. He also now wanted to include a 12.5% service charge on the wine placed on the tables , which guests would quite literally be serving to themselves.

 

He then started trying to make out he was being generous by not charging a cakeage fee for our guests to have cake on paper napkins, cut by us, despite not one even mentioning such a fee.

 

We started to think he was trying to push us into cancelling as he was obviously in way over his head.

 

so drafted a very professional e-mail highlighting all of the questions we really needed answering as definite. We had no contract, so we really needed some of this info in writing.

 

All of the questions were completely ignored and we received a response that essentially said "look, we don't really have the facilities for the level of service you want, if you want to cancel that's fine".

 

We responded and pointed out all of the services listed on bridebook.com (how we contacted them), and we got a response of "oh, we don't use bridebook anymore contact them if you have a problem with the information, it's  not our fault"

 

We contacted bridebook. Not only did they inform us that all information is provided by the Crooked well, but it also needs to be reviewed yearly when their annual (fee paid) subscription is renewed. This information is all entirely incorrect and this is entirely the fault of The Crooked Well.

 

They have offered absolutely no apology whatsoever for the 6 months wasted on them, the hundreds of pounds wasted on a DJ booked for the venue, invitations printed and travel and hotels booked.

 

We decided that even with 3 months until our wedding, it was better to start from scratch and find a new venue that continue with this farce.

 

I cannot put into words how truly awful it was trying to deal with The Crooked Well, I personally would avoid this place and go somewhere else.

 

 

*I have referred to the Chef simply as 'Chef' as I do not wish to sully his name and reputation, and we wish him every success with wherever his business takes him in the future, none of this was his fault.

Gastropub, new-wave British food. Seasonal menu with an eclectic and imaginative cocktail menu. Upstairs room available for private hire. One of the few venues in Camberwell/Peckham that aims high and doesn't fall short.

We wnt to the Crooked well last night for the first time. Had heard good things about it but hadn't got round to visiting. We arrived early and had cocktails, very good. Then were brought over the menu to look at. We sat down dead on out booked time and the waitress was lovely. I stsrted with salt and pepper squid, very good. My husband had a pork terrine, also good. I had the steak with flavoured butter and my husband had duck leg. We sharded a pear tatin pudding which was delicious. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening. Will be returning soon.

I've talked before about the difficulty of the Restaurant of Death. That sad spot repeatedly filled with restaurateur after restaurateur desperately trying to work with a location that no one ever seems to go to. The Crooked Well is definitely in one of these, or rather has been. In recent incarnations it's been a Parisian cafe, a local pub and a trendy cocktail bar, and that's just the last two years. The stripped back aesthetic, necessary to remove layers of paint from so many recent refurbs, is both understandable and sympathetic and the new owners have done a fair amount with the look. Currently, comfortable wooden chairs and pre-laid tables occupy most of the old boozer. There are a few sofas, but this is a restaurant that you feel comfortable having a drink in, rather than a pub. In short, the refurb works pretty well. A cheerfully chippy website describes the story of four friends settling on a pub to share and show their passion for great food, the kind of guff that so often ends up being a marketing line, here I'm fairly sure it's not. The service shows this, on our Wednesday night visit it's friendly, relaxed and assured. Elsewhere on the website they talk about an obsession with British food, in actuality a loose descriptor for modern gastro style dishes, a loose concatenation of rustic, European influences. Starters, generally around the £7/8 mark include smoked salmon, pork belly (with an intriguing tuna creme fresche) and squid ink risotto. On first visit we didn't sample any of them, though I was sorely tempted by duck confit and a chicken terrine served with a mango salsa. Following beers from a reasonable selection, we went for the house special, a shared rabbit and bacon pie with a side of greens. Thankfully there's no effort to sell up either on the reasonably priced menu or wine list, and along with an enormous fluffy puff of pastry crust, the buttery, wilted greens are more than adequate. Underneath the fresh baked crust there's almost more filling than we can cope with. At least a rabbit's worth of meat, slow cooked to melting point with just enough bacon to give the rich flavour it a salty smoky overcoat. Stuffed and struggling after finishing the braised bunny, the atmosphere's enough to keep us for a coffee, though neither of us have enough room for puds. I could possibly have had a go on their cheeseboard, £2 a lump with some really interesting suggestions. Next time though, and there will be a next time. I think this place is a stayer.