Gilby's @ the Bay

My husband and I had a memorable meal for all the wrong reasons! Poor service and a below average meal.

I booked a pre-theatre meal and show for my husband as a Christmas present. We arrived at the half empty restaurant and waited a while, no one greeted us so we found our own table and I lifted a chair out of the way so my husband’s wheelchair would fit at the table.

A waitress asked if we would like a drink, then she promptly disappeared. Another waiter took our meal order and we re-ordered our drinks. We ate our starter, pearl las, which was very pleasant and asked for some more bread. The bread never arrived.

The main course, sea bass, arrived and looked very unattractive and unappetising, oily fried fish on top of creamy rice with no garnish and no thought to presentation.

The best bit was when my lemon possett arrive and it was frozen! I called the waiter over and he said ‘are you sure?’ So I tapped it several times with my spoon to show him. He promptly whisked it away. There was no apology or mention of a replacement. In fact the service was so slow there wouldn’t have been time, or for coffee. By now time it was 7.45pm and the show started at 8pm. so I asked for the bill and said to deduct the amount for the dessert. Even this took an age and I had to go up to the counter. We were left with 6 minutes to get to the theatre.

On checking the bill at home I found that the reduction had not been made.

This episode spoilt what should have been a a very enjoyable evening for us. Gilbey’s is over rated and over priced!

Another thing was that a couple, one a wheelchair user, came to the restaurant during our meal and were turned away. They were told it was pre-theatre meals only. That couple don't know what a lucky escape they had!

I wrote a letter of complaint and am still awaiting a reply.
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disguise - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, April 07, 2009

A lovely restaurant but unfortunately not a good experience. The service was slow and after we ordered we thought that the food would never arrive. My wife and I ordered the Scallops with pancetta to start, the Scallops were overdone and the pancetta was two strips of streaky bacon and virtually tasteless. My wife had the Rack of Lamb, three miserable little chops, asparagus wrapped in parma ham and very hard I had the braised Shin of Beef with Truffle Mash, I could not find any taste of Truffle but the accompanying Steak Suet Pudding was not too bad, but not excellent either. One of the friend we took ordered a dish for a starter with Homous he got minced Chick Peas with not taste, no olive oil, this was sent back and an equally tasteless dish arrived.

The wine we chose was the House White,a Sauvignon Blanc and a Merlt both French and reasonable value, all other wines grossly overpriced.

I would never darken their doors again. The reason I did not complain at the time was because the couple we took out chose the restaurant and we did not want to make them to feel uncomfortable.

The guide price given above at £25 must be an error it is about £45 per head and that was for two course each with coffee.
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David
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Sunday, March 08, 2009