Addendum at The Apex Hotel

9 Feb 2012

Having been to this restaurant several times over the last few years, and generally liked it despite slightly slow service and not particularly effusive service, this was the first visit in some time. I was hoping that the place had improved somewhat compared to the 2 reviews already provided – alas not. Shame when we were eating there for a friend's birthday.

The service is still slow – doesn't matter what way you slice and dice it, speedy they are not. 3 of the 5 plates came out together and some minutes passed before the other 2 came, so the first three were getting cold. We had to remind them of a beer order as it never came.

For the burger I had asked for fat chips instead of fries – it came with fries and when I pointed this out was told the chips were just coming. Several minutes later and a rapidly cooling burger later, they turned up.

4 people had the linguine with chili – apparenty it was excrutiatingly hot! 2 gamely ate theirs but whilst going very red and perspiring heavily. The other two, who do like spicy food, just could not eat it as it was far too hot. Upon sending them back to the kitchen and advising that there was too much chili compared to previous times when this dish has been eaten in this restaurant, they were told that it was only a small pinch of chili… We reckoned a giant was now working as their chef…

The two ceaser salads which were then ordered to replace the linguine's, unfortunately both came with chicken when the vegetarian had asked for it without… By this point she had gone off eating altogether and said don't bother bringing her anything else – this time they did come back with a chicken-less caesar even though she didn't want it.

One chees and biscuits was ordered which 2 people were going to share – when it eventually arrived there was no time for the birthday girl, who had to leave. “Biscuits” consisted of 1 digestive and 3 small round crackers – not enough for the actually good helping of cheeses provided.

Not once through the duration was a “sorry” proffered.

Thankfully we had a 50% off the bill offer or we would have kicked up a major fuss – as it was we removed the 12% automatic service charge and ensured they did not charge for both caesar salads. We all agreed its just not worth returning – there are plenty of options in the City (although none with the lovely aspect that Addendum has, so a shame they can't get the service sorted…). Shame.

Surprisingly empty for a weekday lunchtime, which made for rather a lack of atmosphere. Although we had booked the day before via telephone, there was no record of our booking — so the many empty tables played in our favour as there was no problem seating us. You would think that if attendance was so low, they'd look after the few bookings they had.

Service was somewhat slow — again, surprising given the emptiness of the place. A colleague asked for a Caesar salad without the chicken; it was nevertheless delivered with the chicken; the salmon ravioli was something of a surprise, smothered in pink foam, but was very tasty. My Mushroom Risotto was very good.

Overly long waits between courses and difficulty in getting someone's attention to settle the bill meant the lunch overran by nearly an hour. All in all, a bit disappointing.

It must have been chefs night off. Both the starter and main were missing items described on the menu. For example, when questioned where the mushrooms from the main were (as the menu said it included mushrooms) the waitress told us that the chef had stated that the steak didn't come with mushrooms but offered to cook us some any way. Really felt that an apology would have been nice rather than a slightly huffy indignation. So aside from items missing, the food was of generally poor quality. I think at full price (without the 50% offer) £17.95 is a lot to pay for ribeye steak. It was described to come with thick cut potato chips so I was a little upset to see oven chips!! Also got a bit of wilted salad.
We went on a Saturday night but the restaurant was dead which didn't help the atmosphere. Service was average at best. On the plus side, they gave us a free cocktail for booking through this website. Still, it wouldn't be enough to tempt me back again.