A friend and I went to Chez Bruce on Friday 21st May, and I have to say we were very disappointed. What has happened to this restaurant? Firstly we asked if we could move as we were seated in between two busy tables, although there was plenty of room in the restaurant. We ordered our food and a nice bottle of Montrachet.. which we had to pour ourselves (not what you expect from a Michelin star restaurant) Then our starter arrived while my friend was away from the table. The starter was ok.. but not to a partculary high standard. My friend also requested to have an alternative type of potato as he doesnt eat butter. This didnt seem a problem at the time. We said that we felt it was poor for food to arrive while one person is absent. Then the same then happened again with the main?? And according to my friend is was sitting there for a good few minutes. At this point we were quite disappointed, so decided to pay for the wine, and leave. We didnt want to make a fuss, just said we felt the service was poor.
Then to our amazement i receive a call from the man himself, Bruce Poole, he was ranting and raving, and generally being aggressive towards me. He accused us of walking out of his restaurant, and not paying the bill, although we paid for the wine… which was not cheap.. and we didnt eat the main. He then said we asked to move, and also asked if we could change the potato. Surely this isnt a big deal to a restaurant of such high standard. I explained that the food (both dishes) arrived while one person was not present, and asked him if he felt that was acceptable? He kept talking over me… then slammed the phone down. Outrageous! Surely he should listen and take the comments onboard. We even said we'd come back, but he made it quite clear that wasnt a good idea. His attitude was awful, totally out of line. I called him back explained that we eat out a lot, and this paricular experience was disappointing… But all he kept doing was shouting. I mean, who does he think he is? Gordon Ramsey? Not! Maybe this was an off day, but I can honestly say I will not be recommending this restaurant to anyone. His attitude has completely let it down.
Chez Bruce has certaintly gone down hill.. and if you ask me i think its Michelin Star should be reviewed…
