As a resident of Greenwich, I have tried many restaurants in the area but undoubtedly the San Miguel Tapas Restaurant has the worst customer service in Greenwich. A friend and I booked well ahead of time a table in this restaurant only to find ourselves waiting half an hour for our table. We stood waiting for our table with no notice from the staff to how long we were going to wait. The lack of hospitality made the wait long and tedious but we were determined to find out what the food was going to be like. Eventually we noticed that people who did not book a table were being seated before us and promptly asked why this was so. The rude Head of Service said that it "could be 5min, 10min or 50min so what do you want me to do". We explained how we had booked a table and would like to know how much longer we had to wait. Not longer than 30seconds later we were shown to various tables which were available and were confused why we weren't seated sooner.
We sat down and ordered from the menu determined to make the most of it all. We ordered a starter and several small tapas dishes for our main course. Our starter arrived and we began to relax. Not even half-way through our starter, our main course arrived. What was all this about? We were confronted with all our food with no break between the starter and the main course. Since we could not let our main course get cold we abandoned the starter. Our little table was completely cluttered with dishes.
In the end the food was nothing special, in fact it replicated what you would get in Tesco… quick dishes warmed up in a microwave one waitress joked lightly. Not knowing whether to take this seriously it did explain the quick turn around and how the sea food based dishes we ordered tasted more fresh than the other meat dishes. Should I return to this restaurant I would only order the sea food based dishes.
The waiting service were over worked, no smiles or hospitality could be seen. The lack of management of the floor was unforgivable and clearly more staff would create a more positive service.
Finally our table was cleared and we were given our dessert menu. Keen to try out one of their desserts, we waited another half an hour before someone came to take our order. We could not believe the time management in the restaurant and ordered nothing. Who knew how long we would have to wait for that. We asked for our bill and would you believe it they were prompt. Within 1minute we had paid our bill and began to leave.
As we left the Head of Service rudely said "Is that it then?" and we promptly left.
San Miguel Tapas Restaurant is not a place I would recommend unless you are brave enough to face and experience the lack of customer care. It is not a restaurant for families and certainly not for a romantic meal. There are several restaurants in Greenwich, all which have a decent service to the paying customer. Will we ever return to San Miguel Restaurant? No way.
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Never had any problems with the San miguel. One of my favourite restaurants in Greenwich
Essexgirl2006 02.10.2006 12:47
Welcome to Ciao! Good first review, but I would have liked a bit more info about what was on the menu and the prices.
COOOEEE 02.10.2006 01:20
A promising first review - If you feel you would like to add or expand on the details in the review at any time in the future you can do this by pressing the edit link in the centre at the top of your review as you read it.
Welcome to Ciao!. Fionaxx
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Oct 1st, 2006
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