I have been a customer for 20 years and…
I have been a customer for 20 years and like to meet friends for the business lunch. The atmosphere in the outside inside long room is like an old temple and I loved it, especially when they rolled the roof open, just wonderful. The lunches came with a free soup and the food and service was great.
The food and service are still very good at lunches though the soups has gone.
What is very startling and has been over the last few years is the move towards it getting the atmosphere of a startup works-canteen. Whole teams come in and whole swathes of tables are reserved for larger more famous startups. A couple of years ago there were the groups there but this year the work team groups have taken over at lunch until the whole place is full of them, lots coming at once, rocking up in groups of 6s and 7s. OK I admit it's fun to play spot the IT team, spot the marketing team, spot the sales team but the lovely atmosphere is being affected. Also the startup teams although very diverse all seem to be in the same age range which makes you wonder where older colleagues disappear to. It used to be a dinner couples place. Well I guess this is a good way to have a revenue stream, other restaurants come and go in the area. If I go again I guess I will try and sit in the older area rather than the huge temple room. At least the food comes really fast now, they have to be ready for all the teams coming at once. What was once a 4 star experience for me is now kind of at a 3 and I feel sad.






