Green Note

21-01-2007
emma

Great venue! Great atmosphere!! Great food!!! Second time there last night - awesome - of course!!! Check out MHB for more dates in the future - they tear the place down!!! Would recommend it to any acoustic/blues/live music fan

11-01-2007
nadine greatheart

I had great expectations, but this restaurant did not live up to any of them. The food was fine, but unremarkable on the whole. And the wine: I had come with 11 vegetarian friends. We were a group looking for a regular vegetarian place to meet monthly. I ordered a glass of their South African wine. It tasted faintly of warm vinegar. I cannot remember the last time I sent a glass back. I asked the waitress if it would be possible to exchange it for a glass of the Rioja. She asked if something was wrong with it. I said while I didn't think it was corked, it was exceptionally undrinkable. Her reply was that it was there policy to not exchange wine just because the customer didn't like it. I reminded her that we were 11 people at the table-- surely she could make an effort. She said no. I sent it back anyway-- life is too short to drink bad wine! The manager then came out and repeated: "It is our policy not to give free wine just because the customer didn't like it. Would you like another glass?" I told her that I was not going to pay for another glass when they made no effort to take my word that it was undrinkable.You see, I think if a restaurant sees a table of 11 people, and one person politely asks if she can exchange a glass of wine, they should do the math, remember that they are in the service industry, and exchange it. I am not sure what financial model the restaurant has, but let's see: had she been pleasant and exchanged a glass of wine that cost them all of �2 (minus the customer markup), the restaurant could have endeared a group whose bill was �140. That's �140 minimum a month they don't earn (our group has 8o+ members, and 11 was a low turn out as January is usually slow).Another interesting moment was when people came to sit next to us and started smoking. They asked for an ashtray and the waitress gave it to them. It took about 15 minutes for the manager to come out and tell them that actually, this was the non-smoking section.I think a restaurant should make you feel welcome, and give the customer the benefit of the doubt. This place instead made me feel ripped off and unwelcome. Well, at least I am happy that we will deny them 70x the price of the wine each month!