The Carpenter's Arms

Sophie D. ( 30s, Female, London )

Quite disappointing. Booked a few days in advance and were advised that we could have our table (for 6 people) from 8.30, however our order wouldn't be taken until 9pm due to “congestion in the kitchen”. On the night it was nearing 9.45 before our order was taken, so we decided, as we'd consumed quite a lot of wine by that point and it was getting late, that we'd skip starters and head straight for mains to speed things up. After numerous prompts and requests for ETA's our mains finally arrived until 10.30pm!! The waitress was lovely and very apologetic but it is extremely irritating when we were hungry and all had the additional expense of babysitters at home. I calmly complained to our long suffering waitress however she explained that they could not offer a discount as the manager was not authorised to deduct items from the bill to compensate our delay, so they removed the service charge instead…an optional charge in the first place?!? I complained that surely it wasn't fair to penalise the waitress but the response was that this was all they could/ would do. The food was good but surely a professional kitchen charging £13-17 for mains should get thier act in order.